Title: Sociology of Sport
Authors: Jason Hitzeman (jhitzema@highlands.edu) & Lisa Jellum (ljellum@hioghlands.edu); Georgia Highlands College
Source: Readings on Sociology of Sport Topics by Jay Coakley (jcoakley@uccs.edu)
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Sociology of Sport
1.1. Why should I take sociology of sport course?
1.2. The sociology and psychology of sport: What’s the difference?
1.3. Play, games, and sports: They’re all related to each other
1.4. Professional associations in the sociology of sport
1.5. Where to find sociology of sport research
1.6. Basketball: An idea becomes a sport
1.7. People’s sports versus Prolympic sports: What are the differences?
Chapter 2: Producing Knowledge
2.1. Sociologists use more than one theoretical approach
2.2. Sports are more than a reflection of society
2.3. The meaning of pain: Interactionist theory as a research guide
2.4. Specific theories used in the sociology of sport
2.5. Feminist theories in the sociology of sport
2.6. Sociology of sport research today is based on a critical approach
2.7. A European approach: Figurational approach
Chapter 3: Socialization
3.1. Socialization and sports: A brief overview
3.2. Making decisions about sport participation during adolescence
3.3. Sports and character development among adolescents
3.5. Why do people believe that “sport builds character”?
3.6. Saving the world with youth sports: Who is doing it and are they succeeding?
Chapter 4: Youth sports
4.1. Youth sports: what we know
4.2. Youth advocacy guidelines: Do we need them in sports?
4.3. Mead’s Theory on the development of the self: Implications for organized youth sport programs
4.4. The “logic” of sport specialization: Using children for adult purposes
4.6. Citizenship Through Sports Alliance: Youth sports report cards
4.7. Project Play: Re-creating youth sports in the U.S.
Chapter 5: High school & college sports
5.1. Research faculty are not eager to study intercollegiate sports
5.2. A brief history of NCAA academic reforms
5.3. School–community relations
5.4. Ethnicity and sport participation among high school girls
5.5. Conformity or leadership in high school sports
5.6. Academic detachment in college sportsPage Break
Chapter 6: Gender
6.1. Definition and explanation of sexual terms
6.2. A continuing struggle: Women’s professional basketball in the United States
6.3. Reasons for men to police gender boundaries: Preserving access to power
6.4. Using myths to exclude women from sports
6.5. Newspaper coverage of Caster Semenya and IOC/IAAF rules for intersex athletes
6.6. History, impact, and current status of Title IX
6.7. Lost between two categories: The girl who didn’t fit
Appendix
Chapter 7: Race/ethnicity
7.1. Knowledge about race today (from PBS, “Race: The Power of an Illusion”)
7.2. Media coverage of Joe Louis
7.3. Racial ideology in sports
7.4. Native Americans and team mascots
7.5. Samoan men in college and professional football
7.6. Profit motives and desegregating sports
7.7. Sports as sites for transforming racial attitudes
7.8. Why aren’t all sports racially and ethnically desegregated?
Chapter 8: Social class
8.1. Social class and the future of high school sports
8.2. Home countries of the 100 highest-paid athletes
8.3. Year-round sports participation and future career options
8.4. Professional football players and poverty rates by state
8.5. The World Cup and the Olympics: Who benefits in Brazil?
Chapter 9: Age & disability
9.1. We’re not handicapped: We just can’t hear
9.2. How can I wear shoes if I don’t have feet?
9.3. The hit isn’t real unless it bends steel: Men and murderball
9.4. Paying the price: The cost of sport prostheses
9.5. Tensions in the Olympic family: Siblings with disabilities
9.6. “One of God’s favorites”: Religion and disability
Chapter 10: Politics & government
10.1. Politics in organized sports
10.2. Protests and boycotts: Politics and the Olympic Games
10.3. There’s nothing so over as the World Cup
10.4. Qatar and Slovenia: Two approaches to using sports as a developmental strategy
10.5. The soccer stadium as a political protest site: Looking back at the Arab spring
Page Break
Chapter 11: Religion
11.1. Christian sports organizations
11.2. Ramadan as an issue for Muslim athletes
11.3. Self-indulgence for the “glory of God”: Christian witness in high-performance sports
11.4. Skateistan: Skateboarding and gender barriers
Chapter 12: Deviance
12.1. Using deviance to create commercial personas in sports
12.2. Deviant overconformity and underconformity: Is there a connection?
12.3. Is sport participation a cure for deviance?
12.4. Defining performance-enhancing substances
12.5. Why is the challenge of substance control so great in sports today?
12.6. Sport doping in recent history
12.7. Arguments for and against drug testing as a deterrent
Chapter 13: Violence
13.1. The social psychological dynamics of violence in sports
13.2. Sports violence: More barbaric than you think
13.3. Fan violence: Ultras in Italy as a case study
13.4. Violence and animal sports
Chapter 14: Economy & Commercialization
14.1. Women’s professional team sports can’t get traction
14.2. Turning spectacle into sport: Mixed martial arts
14.3. Red Bull and high-energy sports
14.4. Why business and political leaders love new stadiums
14.5. Franchise values and making money in professional sports
15.6. A tale of two hockey lockouts
14.7. Fantasy sports and esports: New commercial frontiers
Chapter 15: Media
15.1. New media: Consuming sports 24/7
15.2. Putting media to use: The NFL as a marketing machine
15.3. Live by the tweet, die by the tweet: Learning to use new media
15.4. Virtual sports: Play safe, stay home
15.5. The stronger women get, the more men watch football: A prediction from
1990
15.6. People who don’t watch sports on TV subsidize those who do.
Chapter 16: Change & the future
16.1. Sport fans as agents of change
16.2. Technology and change in sports
16.3. Working for change: Charity versus social justice
16.4. Using sports to make social change: Does it work?