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Upward Mobility Through Sports
Stanley Eitzen's article "Upward Mobility Through Sports" is an analysis of the ability of individuals to raise themselves upward through the social stratification that currently exists in America. Sports are often seen by those on the lower end of the social strata as a means of rising up and becoming economically successful. However, Eitzen points out that the chances of rising socially and economically through a career in professional sports is not likely. This article fits in with the readings from our textbook as they discuss the existence of social stratification and the effects on an individual of their position within that society.
Chapter 7 in our textbook opens with Murray Milner's theories on high school social structure as a means to begin a discussion on social stratification; or the inequalities among individuals and groups within society. This leads to a listing of the three characteristics that all social stratification systems share. Firstly all social rankings apply to categories of...
Secondly people's lives are dependent upon how their social category is ranked, and thirdly, social ranks tend to change very slowly. Different ranks of social strata can include forms such as slavery, caste systems, or more common in the West, class. Class as a means of ranking can differ from slavery or caste systems because class systems are fluid, positions within the class are partly earned, class is equated with economic resources, and class systems are not based on individuals but impersonal groups. It is suggested in the readings that class divisions, particularly in Western nations, are beginning to weaken. Finally, the chapter ends with a discussion of the most influential theories of social stratification, theories put forward by Karl Marx and Max Weber. Marx's theory of social stratification is based on economics and more specifically in relation to the means of production in an industrialized society; and divides society between either industrialists or the workers.…
Sports Sociology Sports played either by professionals, amateurs, or just for leisure, are a large part of all industrialized societies. Nonetheless, early on sociologists have looked at sports with distain. For instance Emile Durkheim thought of sports as simply ritualized civic ceremonies, whereas early feminists viewed them as masculine cultural displays (Giulianotti, 2005). However, Bourdieu, Elias, and Dunning were among the first sociologists to take a serious approach in viewing sports
Sociology of Sport: The Ideals of Sport as a Reflection of Society Sport has become a central part of society, introduced to children at a young age and often continuing to be part of a person's life throughout their lifetime. Sport impacts on people in a number of ways. In childhood, the focus of sport is often on participating, working with other people and aspiring to be the best you
sport has come to be the leading definer of masculinity in mass culture." Bob Connell, 1995 This statement covers such a huge amount of sociological assertions, a doctoral dissertation would not be able to do it justice. What is "masculinity" defined as and how has that definition evolved? What about "mass culture?" How far back shall we trace "historically recent times," and what was the situation before said times? What
26). The fan culture that sprouts up around MediaSports is a curious social phenomenon. While there were no doubt fans of ancient Greek athletes who booed for their most vilified opponents from the rafters, the obsession with sports in modern society is unprecedented. Hovden (2003) points out an even more potentially destructive facet of MediaSports: the "sexualization and erotization of women's sport and female athletes," (p. 11). The relationship
Scully and Noll dispute that the dispersion of victory could be calculated by evaluating the real performance of a group to the performance that would have happen if the group had the greatest degree of competitive equilibrium in the logic that all players were equivalent in playing potency. A smaller amount of the variation of real association performance and presentation from that of the model league however the better
It is this struggle to maximize benefits that leads to such movements of social change in both politics and social revolutions. Conflict theory exists in direct opposition to the tenets of functionalist theory, arguing that instead of a society where everyone plays are particular part, society instead exists as a pyramid structure, with a group of elites that dictate the rules to the masses. Thus, all major societal institutions,