Showing papers in "International Review for the Sociology of Sport in 2019"
TL;DR: For example, the authors argued that sport serves as a site where societal inequalities such as racism, sexism, economic stratification, and other forms of oppression are reproduced, exacerbated, and/or ignored.
Abstract: Historically, sport has been viewed as an apolitical space where organizers, managers, coaches, spectators, and sponsors expected athletes to focus solely on their performance and adhere to functionalist origins of the activity, including physical fitness benefits, character building, teamwork, and social entertainment. Despite these various positive attributes, the institution of sport does not operate in isolation from broader society. Instead, sport serves as a site where societal inequalities such as racism, sexism, economic stratification, and other forms of oppression are reproduced, exacerbated, and/or ignored. Throughout history, several African American athletes, sport scholar activists, sport institutions, and entrepreneurs have critically reflected upon this arrangement and courageously engaged in actions to promote social justice within and beyond sporting spaces. Recent actions by African American athletes across participation levels have raised questions about the term activism and how it is...
75 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the urgent need for critical analysis of the relationships between sport and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals enshrined in the United Nations’ global development framewor...
Abstract: This article addresses the urgent need for critical analysis of the relationships between sport and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals enshrined in the United Nations’ global development framewor...
63 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how social class differences in organized sports participation of youth persist, despite several decades of sport for All policies, despite the fact that sport for all policies have been widely accepted.
Abstract: Despite several decades of Sport for All policies, social class differences in organized sports participation of youth persist. However, few population-based studies have examined how social class ...
43 citations
TL;DR: This article discussed the ways in which identity fusion can help understandings of football violence and found that the fundamental cognition underlying the extreme behaviours exhibited by both cultures may be remarkably similar, while hooliganism in the UK and the phenomenon of torcidas in Brazil operate under culturally distinct loci.
Abstract: Football violence has been a global problem for decades. A new way to approach the phenomenon comes from the theory of identity fusion, an extreme form of social bonding implicated in personally costly pro-group behaviours. Using British and Brazilian fan cultures to illustrate, this article discusses the ways in which identity fusion can help understandings of football violence. While hooliganism in the UK and the phenomenon of torcidas organizadas in Brazil operate under culturally distinct loci, the fundamental cognition underlying the extreme behaviours exhibited by both may be remarkably similar. Through this discussion, the football landscape is shown to offer researchers unique opportunities for understanding culture and the human psyche more broadly.
40 citations
Abstract: Sports are popularly believed to have positive integrative functions and are thought, therefore, to be able to galvanise different, and sometimes divided communities through a shared sporting interest. UK government and policy rhetoric over the last two decades has consistently emphasised the positive role sport can play in building more cohesive, empowered and active communities. These positive impacts are particularly important for communities with high numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the challenges associated with co-producing a participatory community sport initiative with 28 young people, the aim of which was to work towards greater social cohesion in an ethnically segregated borough in north-west England. Although a great deal was learned from working towards this, the initiative was ultimately unsuccessful because, for a variety of reasons, the young people removed themselves from the process. A major contribution of this article is its consideration of how we reflect on the realities of project failure and how future community sport initiatives might have greater success. In particular, we argue that for sport to make a difference, participants must be enabled to develop a sense of civic engagement and critical awareness which go beyond either sport or community development, emphasising wider sociopolitical development instead.
32 citations
TL;DR: In 2015, the England Women's national football team finished third at the Women's World Cup in Canada as mentioned in this paper, and the success of the women's soccer team has been attributed to the success in the Women’s Super League (WSL).
Abstract: In 2015, the England Women’s national football team finished third at the Women’s World Cup in Canada. Alongside the establishment of the Women’s Super League in 2011, the success of the women’s te...
31 citations
TL;DR: Following decades of significant economic and political reform, a once-closed China has emerged as the world's fastest growing and arguably most interconnected political economic system as mentioned in this paper. But, as a result, it is also prone to economic instability.
Abstract: Following decades of significant economic and political reform, a once-closed China has emerged as the world’s fastest growing and arguably most interconnected political economic system. In the con...
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a critical examination of the racialised and gendered processes that reinforce disparities in sport coaching by exploring the experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom is presented.
Abstract: The current article provides a critical examination of the racialised and gendered processes that reinforce disparities in sport coaching by exploring the experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom. The findings are based on in-depth qualitative interviews with coaches from two national governing bodies of sport. Using a Critical Race Theory approach and Black feminist lens, the coaches’ narratives illuminate the complex, multifaceted and dynamic ways in which ‘race’, ethnicity and gender are experienced and negotiated by sport coaches. The coaches’ reflections are discussed under three themes: negotiating identities; privilege and blind spots; and systemic discrimination. The narratives from the coaches’ experiences emphasise the need for key stakeholders in sport to recognise the intersectional, structural and relational experiences that facilitate, as well as constrain, the progression of Black coaches in order to challenge racialised and gendered inequalities.
30 citations
TL;DR: This article explored how the introduction of women's boxing into the Olympic Games involves practices of inclusion and exclusion in elite boxing and found that these practices affect the involvement and engagement of women in boxing and how, and in what ways, female boxers have experienced discrimination, exclusion and unequal treatment.
Abstract: Marginalisation and exclusion of women in elite boxing has emerged as a substantial international problem, threatening women’s democratic right to equal participation in sport. Since the London 2012 Olympic Games women’s boxing has been an Olympic event. However, only 3 of the 10 weight categories were included in the Olympic programme for women. Today, male boxers compete in 10 out of 10 possible weight categories. While female boxers have gained accessed to a previously closed realm, discrimination, exclusion and unequal treatment of female athletes remains a widespread problem in international elite boxing. This article explores how the introduction of women’s boxing into the Olympic Games involves practices of inclusion and exclusion in elite boxing. In particular, this analysis focuses on the following two research questions: (a) how practices of social exclusion and inclusion affect the involvement and engagement of women in boxing; and (b) how, and in what ways, female boxers have experienced recog...
29 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the meaning of sport activities for refugees living in a reception centre and argue that liminal spaces constrain the organisation of sport activity and its possibilities for realising sport's ascribed positive spillovers, such as increasing feelings of belonging.
Abstract: This article focuses on the meaning of sport activities for refugees living in a reception centre. We conceptualise the reception centre as a liminal space and analyse how this liminal space affects the meanings of sport activities for refugees. Based on interviews with refugees living in a reception centre we show how sport in this liminal space is to a large extent experienced as a way to overcome the boredom experienced at the centre, to forget about their daily struggles, but also has a large social function as it is an easy opportunity to meet with others. We argue that liminal spaces constrain the organisation of sport activities and its possibilities for realising sport’s ascribed positive spill-overs, such as increasing feelings of belonging. We call for future research, including creative social research approaches, that focus on refugees’ own narratives in order to better understand the role social space plays for the meaning of sport activities for this particular vulnerable group.
26 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored gender differences within the Australian primetime broadcast of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, finding that the Seven Network devoted nearly equal clock-time to male and female athletes, yet 14 of the top 20 most mentioned athletes (70%) were men.
Abstract: This study explored gender differences within the Australian primetime broadcast of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games. Forty-five broadcast hours from the Seven Network were examined regarding clock-time, name mentions, and descriptions divided by biological sex, finding that the Seven Network devoted nearly equal clock-time to male and female athletes, yet 14 of the top 20 most mentioned athletes (70%) were men. In terms of word-by-word descriptors, gender differences were also uncovered on many levels relating to attributions of athletic success, failure, personality, and physicality. The findings of this study suggest that—at least within an Australian sports context—gender portrayals ranged from relative equality to significant differences depending on the metric employed. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.
TL;DR: This article presented a unique analysis of four decades, from 1984 to 2014, of British print media covering the same two week summer period in six national newspapers, in order to assess whether societal and cultural changes have been reflected in the predominantly patriarchal domain of sport.
Abstract: Media analysis is an established area of sport sociology which has been documented by researchers systematically since the 1980s. Despite the extent and breadth of the area there have been some methodological trends which include a focus on print media, the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative content, and the analysis of the portrayal of female athletes. This study presents a unique analysis of four decades, from 1984 to 2014, of British print media covering the same two week summer period in six national newspapers, in order to assess whether societal and cultural changes have been reflected in the predominantly patriarchal domain of sport.Outcomes have been mixed, but overall it is clear that there is continued under-representation of female athletes and, that what were once considered to be the major British summer sports (athletics, cricket, golf, tennis) have been replaced by a dominance of soccer reporting. . We provide an overview of the trends documented during the last four decades and ...
TL;DR: Body-building has been rapidly developing in different parts of the world as a distinct body culture with its own practices, discourses, organisations, key figures and focal points.
Abstract: Natural, i.e. drug-free, bodybuilding has been rapidly developing in different parts of the world as a distinct body culture with its own practices, discourses, organisations, key figures and focal...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the lived experience of weather, including weather work and weather learning, in specific physical-cultural worlds of distance-running, triathlon and jogging in the United Kingdom (UK).
Abstract: Weather experiences are currently surprisingly under-explored and under-theorised in sociology and sport sociology, despite the importance of weather in both routine, everyday life and in recreational sporting and physical-cultural contexts. To address this lacuna, here we examine the lived experience of weather, including ‘weather work’ and ‘weather learning’, in our specific physical-cultural worlds of distance-running, triathlon and jogging in the United Kingdom (UK). Drawing on a theoretical framework of phenomenological sociology, and the findings from five separate auto/ethnographic projects, we explore the ‘weather-worlds’ (Ingold, 2010) and weather work involved in our physical-cultural engagement. In so doing, we address ongoing sport sociological concerns with embodiment and somatic, sensory learning and ways of knowing. We highlight how weather work provides a key example of the phenomenological conceptualisation of the mind-body-world nexus in action, with key findings delineating weather learning across the meteorological seasons that contour our British weather-related training.
TL;DR: This paper examined how newspapers in post-communist Poland nurture a gendered national identity through their disparate coverage of men's and women's European basketball championships, and found that the coverage of women's and men's games was correlated.
Abstract: This study examines how newspapers in post-communist Poland nurture a gendered national identity through their disparate coverage of men’s and women’s European basketball championships. Agenda-sett...
TL;DR: Despite surfing's ageing demographic, neither the ways in which age impacts on surfing identities and mobi... as discussed by the authors showed that surfing has consistently been framed as a youth focused, male-dominated sport and culture.
Abstract: Surfing has consistently been framed as a youth focused, male-dominated sport and culture. Despite surfing’s ageing demographic, neither the ways in which age impacts on surfing identities and mobi...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on how engaging in hockey as an elite athlete influences educational paths, using qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews with 36 ice hockey players in the US National Hockey League.
Abstract: This paper focuses on how engaging in hockey as an elite athlete influences educational paths. It relies on qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews with 36 ice hockey players in ...
TL;DR: Coaching is a male dominated area of sport as mentioned in this paper and women coaches represent a small minority and only a few women coach male athletes, in Norway it is estimated that only about 19% of all coaches are women.
Abstract: Coaching is a male dominated area of sport. Globally, women coaches represent a small minority and only a few women coach male athletes. In Norway it is estimated that only about 19% of all coaches...
TL;DR: In this article, the intergenerational transfer of a sports-related lifestyle within the family is a potential way to explain the social differences in sports participation that are displayed by young people.
Abstract: The intergenerational transfer of a sports-related lifestyle within the family is a potential way to explain the social differences in sports participation that are displayed by young people. In th...
TL;DR: The theory of the cultural omnivore has been applied to many cultural domains as discussed by the authors, but given the pervasiveness of professional sport in contemporary societies, less is known about omnivorous behav...
Abstract: The theory of the cultural omnivore has been applied to many cultural domains. However, given the pervasiveness of professional sport in contemporary societies, less is known about omnivorous behav...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used English professional football club Birmingham City FC as a case study to examine the place of football within the globalised economy, and used it as an example of the importance of football in the global economy.
Abstract: This article utilises English professional football club Birmingham City FC as a case study to examine the place of football within the globalised economy. In October 2009, the Hong Kong based busi...
TL;DR: In this paper, an exploration of a non-western nation's responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span is presented.
Abstract: This article presents an exploration of a non-Western nation’s responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span. The concept of...
TL;DR: Since its introduction in New Zealand during the early 20th century, netball has been considered "unambiguously for women" and it continues to represent one of the few team sport environments not c...
Abstract: Since its introduction in New Zealand during the early 20th century, netball has been considered ‘unambiguously for women’ and it continues to represent one of the few team sport environments not c...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the extent to which gender inclusivity is supported and contradicted in the gendered discourses and practices of specific capoeira groups in Europe.
Abstract: Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian bodily discipline that has now become a global phenomenon. In 2014 the cultural significance of capoeira was recognized on the world stage when it was awarded the special protected status of an ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. In the application to this organisation, and in wider advertising material and practitioner literature, capoeira is celebrated as a practice that promotes social cohesion, inclusivity, integration, racial equality and resistance to all forms of oppression. This paper seeks to problematize this inclusive discourse, exploring the extent to which it is both supported and contradicted in the gendered discourses and practices of specific capoeira groups in Europe. Drawing upon ethnographic data, produced through two sets of ethnographic research and the researchers’ 24 years of combined experience as capoeira players, this paper documents the complex and contradictory contexts in which discourses and practices of gender inclusivity are at once promoted and undermined.
TL;DR: A survey of 291 Australians before and after consuming varied levels of Olympic media revealed key relationships between national identity, psychological connections to the Olympic Games, and media as discussed by the authors, and media consumption.
Abstract: A survey of 291 Australians before and after consuming varied levels of Olympic media revealed key relationships between national identity, psychological connections to the Olympic Games, and media...
TL;DR: While the practice of nationality swapping in sports traces back as far as the Ancient Olympics, it seems to have increased over the past decades as discussed by the authors, and cases of Olympic athletes who switched their natio...
Abstract: While the practice of nationality swapping in sports traces back as far as the Ancient Olympics, it seems to have increased over the past decades. Cases of Olympic athletes who switched their natio...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors contribute to the existing research on the gendered nature of equestrian sports by discussing how power relations continue to position females on the margins of the sport.
Abstract: This purpose of this article is to contribute to the existing research on the gendered nature of equestrian sports by discussing how power relations continue to position females on the margins of N...
TL;DR: The authors examine social capital and Ray Pahl's personal communities through an ethnographic study of women hockey players' discussions about their intimate connections and engagement in family-like practices in an Australian metropolitan field hockey club.
Abstract: The community-based sports club is often recognised as a key site for the development of social capital. Intergenerational ties and connections to place can generate a strong sense of identity and can foster practices of psychological and material support. In this sense, community sports clubs can also be seen as an extension of the family. We examine social capital and Ray Pahl’s ‘personal communities’ through an ethnographic study of women hockey players’ discussions about their intimate connections and engagement in family-like practices in an Australian metropolitan field hockey club. Women hockey players’ experiences of family-like bonds are threatened by the drive towards competitive growth and increasing professionalisation as local sporting bodies strive for survival and success. Their narratives reveal experiences of loss and conflicted relationships in the context of these broader structural changes in the club’s organisation and operations. Ultimately, the strength of a local sports club as a s...
TL;DR: In this article, the role played by a football fan club (Carsi) in one of the largest social movements in Turkish political history, the Gezi Park protests of June 2013, was investigated.
Abstract: This article problematizes the role played by a football fan club—Carsi—in one of the largest social movements in Turkish political history, the Gezi Park protests of June 2013. The authors suggest that as “unusual suspects” in social movements, Carsi’s role in the Gezi Park protests can be understood with the conceptual toolbox provided by theories of contentious politics. Since action repertoires, or “known sequences for acting together,” are key to contentious politics and social movements, Carsi’s organized and effective performance during the Gezi Park protests shows how previous encounters with the police can be decisive in terms of social upheavals. This study suggests that Carsi members, who were already accustomed to making ethical judgments on a variety of issues both political and non-political, should be taken as a prominent example of how supporters on terraces and fan clubs facilitate the framing processes described by the social movement literature.