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ChapterEight

Chapter Eight discusses the sociology of sports as a social phenomenon, focusing on its cultural and social implications, including violence and fan behavior. It highlights the emergence of sports sociology in the 1920s and its significance in American society, while examining issues like hooliganism, the impact of media, and the evolution of sports. The chapter also explores collective action among fans and the role of excitement and civilization in shaping sports culture.

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2 views

ChapterEight

Chapter Eight discusses the sociology of sports as a social phenomenon, focusing on its cultural and social implications, including violence and fan behavior. It highlights the emergence of sports sociology in the 1920s and its significance in American society, while examining issues like hooliganism, the impact of media, and the evolution of sports. The chapter also explores collective action among fans and the role of excitement and civilization in shaping sports culture.

Uploaded by

drhgriffiths03
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter Eight

Sports
Those who make peaceful revolution
impossible will make violent revolution
inevitable.
-Kennedy
Introduction
• The Sociology of Sports focuses on sport as a
social phenomenon and on the social and
cultural structures, patterns, and organizations
or groups engaged in sport.
• Includes sport and socialization, sport and social
stratification, sport subcultures, the political
economy of sport, sport and deviance, sport and
the media, sport, the body and the emotions,
sports violence, sport politics and national
identity, sport and globalization.
Continued
• Sociology of Sport first emerged in the
1920’s, came into prominence during the
1960’s.
• Sports are fundamental to American
society, and are a cultural universal.
• Sports are an integral part of our
educational system (Why?)
• Sports create desirable attitudes of fair
play, competitiveness, teamwork, self-
control, respect for authority.
Gary Marx, Six Traditions
Sports fit into three of the six traditions

1. Group Emotion (violence before, during,


after games)
2. Social Influence and Interaction (chants and
cheers)
3. Behavior outside traditional culture
(innovation, fads)
Group Emotion, Spectator Violence

• British football (soccer) hooliganism reflects the


mixture of British football fans and the stadium
set-ups.
• Most stadiums are located in mixed
commercial/residential areas, near shops and
pubs.
• Most stadiums are accessible by public
transportation.
• Large numbers of male fans, age 14-25
“spectate” while standing in the end zone
terrace.
Continued
• Distinct subculture with clothes and argot
(aggro = violence)
• 1960s, hooliganism was associated with
skinhead fashions or cheap work wear.
• When police focused too much attention
on these clothes, hooligans started to
wear more expensive clothing brands,
including: Polo Ralph Lauren and
Burberry.
• Now wearing Prada is a warning flag.
Continued
• Why does fan violence erupt? It may be
an outlet for social strain.
– Rough sports provide an acceptable outlet for
personal aggression (catharsis) and offer a
safety valve for release of social strain.
• Especially in Mass Hysteria and Value-
Added theory, sports are a less damaging,
more socially acceptable outlet for
individual frustration and social strain.
Continued
• HOWEVER, sports violence may actually
reinforce existing violent tendencies.
• The idea of spectator violence as catharsis
minimizes the property damage and loss
of life that accompanies sports, which can
be extremely destructive.
• No distinction is made between violence
as acceptable catharsis and violence as a
threat to society.
Spectator Violence as a Cultural
Trend
• It is also possible that spectator violence
reflects the level of violence in the society
we live in.
• For example, studies suggest that football
hooliganism is widespread, truly violent
behavior that poses an economic threat
and uses up local resources (police,
budgets, repairs).
Continued
• Hooliganism is historically associated with
aggressive masculinity and the working
class, gang rivalries stemming from
association with certain teams.
• Violence is sometimes scheduled between
rival supports, occurring in parking
lots/pubs/local neighborhoods, before and
after games.
Football Spectators Act (1989)
• Response to many incidents, including fan
death and injuries.
• English law effected following death by
crushing of 95 fans at Hillsborough
stadium grounds.
• Provides restrictions on alcohol use at
football games, penalties for racism,
throwing things.
• Bans fans from field and chronic offenders
from games.
While not as violent as Hooliganism
Eagles fans' behavior during one Monday night
game in 1997 and then another game year later
caused Philadelphia to assign a Municipal Court
Judge to The Veteran’s Stadium on game days to
process rowdy fans removed from the stands.

“Judge Seamus McCaffery handed out fines and jail time --


while the game was going on! -- in a make-shift courtroom
in the basement of the Vet, the only stadium in league
history with a judge on the premises to process the criminal
element in the stands.” (Paolantonio 2002: “Eagles
Preparing to Leave Veteran’s Stadium.”)
Using Value-Added to Interpret
Hooliganism

1. Structural Conduciveness (SC)


2. Structural Strain (SS)
3. Growth and Spread of Generalized Belief
(GS)
4. Precipitating Factors (PF)
5. Mobilization for Action (MfA)
6. Action of Agents of Social Control (AA)
The Hillsborough Tragedy
SC, MfA, and GS: “As fans surged into the
ground, determined to get their place on the
terrace for the start of the game the obvious
route was through the tunnel directly in front
of them. This led to pens 3 and 4, which
soon became overcrowded.” (Purvis 2002: “The Hillsborough
Tragedy.”)

SS: “[When] officers arrived…many of the


fans were in severe distress…[Some fans]
climbed across into adjoining pens.” (Purvis 2002: “The
Hillsborough Tragedy.”)
Continued
AA: “Officers began to help the victims out of
the crush and the pitch was soon crowded
with injured and dying people.”

AA: “Emergency services arrived late and


there was chaos as bodies and injured fans
were taken to the gymnasium.”

“Ninety-six people died as a result.”


(Purvis 2002: “The Hillsborough Tragedy.”)
Quest for Excitement vs.
Civilization Process
• Elias and Dunning (1986) suggest that that
humans are constantly active, and playing
sports is one reflection of the “quest for
excitement.”
• Civilization is the effort to control
excitement, channeling it into family and
other social institutions.
• Civilization attempts to influence sports to
be more orderly. (record keeping, rules,
separation between spectator and player).
Continued
• Hooliganism reflects a failure of the
civilizing process to totally control the
quest for excitement.
• In a sense, spectator violence represents
individual need to have an active
(excitement) role in the game.

How can we view Media and Product


involvement in Sports?
The Evolution of Sports
• Traditional sports evolved from common
folk games played socially that become
institutionalized with officials rules and
associations.
• Many games evolved as part of collective
celebrations related to holy days and were
regionally identified.
• To a lesser extent, games also served a
means of honing survival skills,
determining hierarchical ranking, and
settling grudges.
Continued
• Historically, authorities have banned
football, boxing, soccer, racing, and
women’s athletics (among others).
• Following institutionalization, sports rapidly
became professionalized, trademarked,
and targeted by media and corporations.
• X-Treme sports are a logical extension, as
these games were created by corporations
as a marketing tool.
Professional Wrestling
• Is WWF Wrestling real?
• Merchandising!!
• Historically, promoted stereotypes
There are five characteristics that influence
the relative popularity of wrestling:
1. More spectacular than other sports
2. Celebrates violence
3. Consistent players (no striking)
4. Wrestlers have complex characters
5. State of the art effects
Sports/Collective Action
Review, McPhail (SBI)

• Two or more people (sports fans) adjust


their ongoing actions to make the current
perceptions correspond to similar or
related images in their minds.
– i.e. cheering a score, applauding a good play,
cheering for the home team, booing the
visiting team.
– Very key—Coordination! (from officials, i.e.
calling for “the wave,” from grounds crew,
etc.)
Continued
• Through communication and practice,
people are capable of engaging in
organized and complex forms of collective
action—“closing the feedback loop.”
• For example, coaches spend time creating
a “playbook” of detailed maneuvers
practiced day after day by team members.
• For McPhail repetition is essential for
developing collective action, as is practice
in order to develop shared cognitive
symbols.
Continued
• However, fans may simultaneously
respond to the same reference signal
without prior practice.
• For example, when the home team scores
a goal, many fans cheer because they all
share a reference point (the goal) and a
cognitive symbol (cheering, a collective
vocalization, is a form of celebration).

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