Showing papers in "Quest in 1983"

Leaving Competitive Sport: Retirement or Rebirth?

Abstract: This paper reviews existing information on retirement from sport and offers an interpretation of the retirement process that will both challenge widespread assumptions held by sport sociologists and provide hypotheses for future research. The dynamics of the retirement process are discussed for athletes in top-level interscholastic and amateur sports as well as in professional sports. Existing data suggest that retirement for athletes in each of these contexts is not an inevitable source of stress, identity crises, or adjustment problems. It is argued that the dynamics of the sport retirement process are grounded in the social structural context in which retirement takes place. Factors such as gender, race, age, socioeconomic status, and social and emotional support networks shape the manner in which one makes the transition out of sport. Therefore, retirement from sport sometimes may be the scene of stress and trauma but, by itself, it often is not the major cause of those problems.

The Symbolic Dimensions of Spectator Sport

Abstract: This paper argues that examining the symbolic dimensions or meanings of spectator sport is a useful approach to understanding its powerful appeal. Spectator sport is analyzed through six categories of symbolicity: recurring life issues, transcendence of human limitations, rebellion against industrialized society, aesthetic unity and completion, religious overtones, and political dimensions. Beyond demonstrating the usefulness of these categories, this theoretical introduction should inspire researchers to look for other meanings which spectator sport carries.

Assessment of Doctoral Programs in Physical Education: Reports, Rankings, and Recommendations

Abstract: Drawing upon five recent studies, this essay provides a summary analysis of the assessment of academic quality of doctoral programs in physical education. Specifically, the analysis focuses on 12 rankings of doctoral programs and examines them in terms of three methodological issues: subjective versus objective measures, measures of quantity versus measures of quality, and single versus multiple measures. In conclusion, two composite rankings of the academic quality of doctoral programs are given, and recommendations are made for future quality assessment studies in physical education.

Competition: A Model for Conception

Abstract: Competition is a very different proposition from one person to another. Debates surrounding the effects of competition on culture and on the individual often lack specific reference; such debates are necessarily problematic. A literature review of definitions of competition revealed great diversity among writers. A model for the conception of competition was offered as a possible solution to some of the confusion and differences surrounding the nature of competition. When examined metaphorically, the constituents of competition take on increased significance. Positive and negative analogies of definitions serve to reaffirm or reconstruct one's understanding of the construct. Congruent articulations between the theoretical framework, the antecedent belief structures, and workable definitions of competition provide the basis of the Model for the Conception of Competition.

Broadening Horizons: Interpretive Cultural Research, Hermeneutics, and Scholarly Inquiry in Physical Education

Abstract: After outlining an interpretive or hermeneutic concept of human social life in which sociocultural phenomena are considered to be constituted in large part by mutually influential relationships between shared understandings and social interaction, the suggestion is made that the interpretive research paradigm may frequently be more appropriate than the natural science paradigm for the study of such phenomena. Therefore, physical educators who investigate activities such as education and sports, clearly major features of human social life, are urged to study these activities more holistically, guided by the interpretive cultural research model. Although this paradigm seems more appropriate in many instances for the conduct of social research, criticisms or points of contention nevertheless touch this investigative tradition. Two of the most important of these are discussed: problems concerning generalization and cultural relativism in social research, and problems related to seeking truth through interpret...

Identity, Commitment, and Type of Sport Roles

Abstract: Drawing on the concept of commitment, this paper focuses on several varieties of primary sport roles and their concomitant identities. Specifically, commitment to a sport role is attributed to the social support factors, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and satisfactions. A typology of sport roles is presented utilizing a three-dimensional model of commitment to help explain one's identity within each of the sport roles. Additionally, the commitment model might be generalized to develop a greater understanding of other sport roles.

Coming Out of the Maze: Sport Management, Dance Management and Exercise Science — Programs with a Future

Abstract: In recent years there has been evidence of an identity problem within the field of physical education. The problem appears to be largely one of organizational confusion. Form one standpoint, physical education has developed as an umbrella program with no real focus. On the other hand, from the public perspective, physical education is associated with the gym class. The irony of the situation is that fine work within the field of physical education is not receiving due attention while the popularity of sport, dance, and exercise programs has reached an all-time high. The proposed solution is to reorganize. Physical education should be replaced with viable programs with a future: Sport Management, Dance Management, and Exercise Science.

A Research Model for Determining Causal Effects of Teacher Expectations in Physical Education Instruction

Abstract: Research on the self-fulfilling prophecy has recently begun to emerge as an important consideration for researchers interested in unraveling the complexities of teaching in physical education and sport. The idea that teacher expectations may have a profound effect on social and psychological phenomena occurring in the physical activity setting has led researchers to attempt to identify some specific causal connections among teacher expectations, social interactions, and student performance. This paper will describe a model from which causal determinations can be made in teacher expectancy research. The proposed model suggests three steps for the researcher to follow in determining causality: a) determine descriptively the causes of expectation formation and how those expectations relate to teacher-student interactions and student growth; b) develop an experimental paradigm where one group of teachers receives inservice information from the results of the first step while another group serves as a control ...

Professional Preparation: A Process of Discovery

Abstract: Preparing prospective physical educators is a challenging task. The development of a “human service educator” may be the key to the direction of professional preparation. Teacher education must be seen as a process of becoming, of personal discovery. This self-awareness leads to growth, change, and full functioning. In achieving this growth, four guidelines may be valuable: increased autonomy; more adequate assumptions about reality, possibility, and value; improved competencies; and increased awareness and openness to experience. Prospective physical educators must be put in the position to achieve success, feel competent, and be aware of their potential.

The Legitimation of Sport: Pindar and Weiss

Abstract: Allen Guttmann has discussed the quest for records as a distinguishing characteristic of modem sport. I contend in this paper that while on the surface a distinction between modern sport and earlier forms of sport can be made on the basis of that characteristic, this may conceal or obscure a significant continuity or parallel between Greek athletics and modem athletics. The parallel that I propose is the similarity, both functional and substantive, of records in modern athletics and the victory odes of Pindar in Greek athletics with regard to the possible legitimation of sport in the context of a symbolic world view. This parallei is developed through a discussion of Paul Weiss's treatment of records and an interpretation of Pindar's victory odes.

Directions for Leisure Research: A Critique of the Radical View

Abstract: This article is divided into two main parts. The first provides an account of the radical view of leisure research as it has emerged in recent literature. This focuses upon views of social class as the main dimension of social composition in leisure groups, explanations of change which stress the causal significance of class conflict, and theories relating to the social significance of leisure groups for ideological control and class domination. The second section of the article provides a critique of the radical view and suggests an alternative formulation of research orientations and issues. In particular, a range of significant dimensions in the social composition of leisure groups is postulated, and conceptual formulations are proposed for the study of change which take account of configurational and multifactor approaches. The suggestion is made that the nature of the satisfactions derived by participants from their pursuit of leisure activities should be an essential feature of any analysis of the s...

Relating a Proposed Taxonomy of Sport and Developmental Physical Activity to a Planned Inventory of Scientific Findings.

Abstract: On the premise that profession does not know where it stands in regard to the developing body of knowledge in the many subdisciplinary and subprofessional aspects of sport and physical education, it is recommended that an inventory of scientific finding arranged as ordered generalizations be developed to help the field's many professional practitioners — be it as teacher, coaches, performers, scholars and researchers, superviosor, or administrators. This paper discusses the 20th century development of the field. Based on this development, the discussion will consider what a comprehensive taxonomy of the profession's knowledge base should include, how a plan was formulated for an inventory of scientific finding and how that inventory would be constructed, why a systems approach is needed now to consolidate the evolving profession's future status and what is needed as the profession develops in the next few years. A concluding statement explains that this golden opportunity to achieve true professional stat...

Women and Leisure in Feminist Fiction

Abstract: Leisure–defined as a state of mind characterized by feelings of freedom, pleasure, and growth–is employed as a vehicle for examining changing women's roles in feminist fiction Such fiction suggests that many women experience a dearth of leisure in the traditional roles of wife, homemaker, and mother Women who assume these roles more often view their lives as dominated by antileisure, that is, by activity undertaken compulsively, as a means to an end, and from a perception of necessity In the novels chosen for consideration, a pattern emerges The sequence of getting married, making a home, and having children means an increasing abridgement of leisure for women, while this same sequence results in an increasing realization of leisure for men The recurring theme in this literature is that women, like men, have compelling leisure needs which may take them beyond the bounds of homemaking and child-rearing

Erroneous Assumptions in Graduate Physical Education.

Abstract: Graduate physical education is not always as it seems. Those committed to graduate education, consumers (students) and designers (administrators and faculty), hold a variety of assumptions prior to and during the academic year. Students assume they are educated by knowledgeable and dedicated mentors. Faculty assume that the curriculum meets the needs and interests of students. Administrators presume that effective teaching and learning occur in each graduate class. These assumptions may not accurately reflect the current status of graduate physical education programs. This paper examines the milieu of erroneous assumptions. Values and maxims surrounding graduate programs must be clarified. Such assumptions, by and among concerned parties, should be explicit and should be shared to produce a scholarly atmosphere for learning.

Play as an Ideal: Toward a Biosocial Model

Abstract: A clarification of the nature of play is examined here in light of professional purposes. An evolutionary and biosocial analysis of play behavior is advanced and associated with contemporary cultural views of play. A tentative biosocial model of play is developed that helps to frame the problems around which human play behaviors can be valued. Implications of how a culture can positively satisfy human play needs is briefly discussed in light of professional play service goals.

Veblen Revisited: Excerpts from and Contemporary Comment on Thorstein Veblen's The Higher Learning in America

Abstract: In 1918 Thorstein Veblem, one of American society's most and caustic critics, aimed his analytic eye at the institution of American higher education. The thread of economics ran through most of Veblen's work, including The Higher Learning in America. He described the businesslike posture take in American colleges and scrutinized, in particular, the place of college athletics within the “business” of higher education. This paper considers how Veblen's commentary applies to contemporary college athletics.