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Abstract This study examines sports and physical activities among Chinese aged 18–65, using network analysis on a significant random sample. It categorizes sports into 11 groups based on public selection, with a community detection algorithm aiding classification. Variables like age, gender, and education were integrated, revealing how life stages, gender disparities, and social class influence activity participation. The mixed graph model shows both positive and negative correlations among activities, highlighting the role of sports as both a social integrator and divider, reflective of broader societal norms and inequalities. The exponential random graph model further illustrates a complex network of demographic-driven participation patterns. The purpose of this investigation is twofold: to advance methodological approaches in the study of sports-related social networks and to explore the broader implications such networks may have on individual and collective behaviors within this field.

Sociology points to the contribution of sports to many areas of life. One stream of research focuses on how sport socialises its participants and fans into an entire world of values that extends beyond the realm of sport. This article explores whether and to what extent sports benefit young fans by facilitating an increased awareness of the global space. It found significant differences between national flag identification abilities of sport fans and non-fans. No significant differences were found between these groups on other factors. Implications of the study potentially support approaches that conceptualise sport as a social learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dede Korkut Spor Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Dede Korkut Spor Bilimleri Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article aims to provide the reader with a brief introduction to Mário Filho's O negro no futebol brasileiro (The Black Man in Brazilian Soccer). While emphasizing the importance of this classic book, I will discuss a few of its central ideas, the context in which these ideas were produced, and how they came to shape the perception of sports and race in Brazil. Furthermore, in the last sections of this article, I will examine how issues of genre classification regarding Mário Filho's book have affected the way it has been read and interpreted over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary Works such as novels and stories depict a fictional world designed by creative writers. Reality, aestheticized by literary arts, appears in the text as “literary reality”. However, even Works woven with imagination and fantastic elements offer clues about the facts of the society in which they exist. “Humor” is a branch of literature that, with its irony-laden language, can undertake criticism of the social structure and system when appropriate, as an expression of the society it is in. As an opposition intellectual and humorist, Aziz Nesin criticized “modern sports”, an element of social structure, in his texts with his perspective of humor for the benefit of the public. In this study, it was aimed to analyze the author’s novel “King of Goals” from a sociological perspective. Rather than an understanding of analysis that takes into account text-related elements such as style, narrative elements, form and aesthetics; the “Sociology of Literature” method which focuses on penetrating the realities of society through fictional text has been adopted. In this context, the approach that took into account the “Literary Map”-“Objective Map” comparison suggested by Ömer Naci Soykan and the message of the novel was applied. In the novel the distorted understanding of sports is depicted and a sports system that is not beneficial to society is criticized. The corrupt relations network around the main characters, the heiress Sait Sarıoğlu and the tabloid figure Kerkenez Sevim and the intrigues in the football world are revealed in an ironic manner. The phenomena such as playful club managers, sloppy reporting and manipulatiin in the sports press, football-politics relationship, and match-fixing are a product of macro social system. Millions of people who make up the society watch and talk about sports rather than doing it for fitness, health and strengthening. Rather than focusing on the real country’s problems, the negative situations and people in a society where everyone from age to age are fascinated by sports pages and are addicted to football are portrayed. In the final analysis, it can be said that the work criticizes society through football.

Whilst understanding the social norms of trash talking is an emerging field of research, the extent to how esport consumers perceive its practice in esports is currently limited. Guided by Chung and Rimal (2016) framework to identify how social norms and moderating attributes influence behaviour, this study investigated consumers perceptions of trash talk in FPS esports. Focusing on Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and Rainbow Six: Siege scenes, this study used data harvesting through the popular social media forum – Reddit and gathered 1,724 comments for analysis. Subjective and descriptive norms were influenced around the context of trash talk and the moments it occurred. Behavioural, individual, and contextual moderating attributes also influence consumers perspectives on why esport players do, or do not engage in trash talk. As an area of research still in its infancy, this paper aids in enhancing how communities reflect, discuss and debate relevant themes within esports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The modern world and Russia in particular is characterized by intensive migration processes. Ethnic, socio-cultural, religious conflicts and migrant-phobia are spreading in the countries that receive migrants. This requires a search for new means and mechanisms for the adaptation and integration of migrants, as well as the prevention of migrant phobia among the local population. The aim of the study is to give a sociological description of migrantophobia in Russia and substantiate the potential of the social values of the sports movement in its prevention. The content of the research is based on: 1) the analysis of bibliographic sources on the topic of the article; 2) a secondary analysis of sociological research on the perception of migrants and migrant phobia. Sociological studies demonstrate a downward trend in the level of migrantophobia in the Russian society, however, there is a need for new ways of preventing it. It has been concluded that sport as a social institution and such social values of sport as activity, self-realization, communication, respect, friendship, tolerance can play a significant role in the adaptation and integration of migrants, as well as in prevention of migrant phobia among the local population. Interpretations of the social functions of sports in relation to migrants have been given. The macro-, meso- and micro factors of the involvement of migrants in sports have been indicated.

In the past 15 years, sport scholars have expressed an increased interest in public sociology, while the rapid acceleration of digital media has led to significant shifts in the sport media landscape. In this paper, we analyze our experiences at the confluence of these two trends as scholarly bloggers about hockey. We present self-reflexive personal vignettes—centred around themes of engaging publics, marginality, and negative outcomes—and use intersectional analysis to critique how our privileges and social locations enabled or constrained our public engagement. In doing so, we raise theoretical and practical questions about the possibilities and challenges associated with sport scholars' digital public engagement and provide fresh contributions to ongoing debates about public sociology of sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying is increasingly considered to be an important moral, political, and social issue within modern society. Academic research on this issue has mostly been examined through a psychological lens, often using questionnaire data to examine and explain the prevalence of different types of bullying. In this position statement, we apply a figurational sociological perspective to examine issues of school-based bullying in physical education. We critically reflect on attempts to position bullying amongst young people as a "social justice" issue and argue that core figurational principles might potentially help researchers strive toward a more reality-congruent means of conceptualizing the power-relationships that are inherent within bullying. We further maintain that the development of a more detached understanding of issues relating to bullying might provide a more adequate basis to contribute to future ongoing policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst widespread inequality, advocates of sport and physical activity have proposed ways in which sport might support those on the social, economic, and geographic margins. In this essay, we consider the place and role of sport in responding to various forms of inequality, and reflect upon its place in pursuing social justice. In so doing, we bring a perspective of critical sociology to the question(s) of whether and how sport can play a role in responding to inequality. Our main argument is that sport has had, and continues to have, a place and role in the pursuit of social justice, but only in so far as sport's advocates are willing and able to differentiate between justice and charity. To build this case, we draw on the differentiation between the dominant and transformative models of sport for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new material turn in social sciences and humanities has drawn attention to how the material interacts with the social in the world where both human and non-human actors produce power relations. To include the material objects and their environments within the social analysis, new materialists argue for a new onto-epistemology that departs from the humanist social constructionism. To explore what this might mean for sport sociologists, I discuss three themes characterizing the new materialism: the focus on processes of materiality, post-humanist tools needed to engage with the material processes, and post-qualitative research methodologies and ways of representation that include the material world. I advocate studying the body in motion as a unique focus for socio-cultural scholars of physical activity who can connect the material with the social into research that matters in the contemporary world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hearing impairment is a worldwide problem, and the World Health Organization estimated that 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. Hearing impaired; inability to verbal function in daily life due to partial or total hearing loss. Speech and language delays in the hearing-impaired individuals and the problems in communication could affect the individual's life negatively. Self-esteem is important for mental health. Self-esteem is the value that the individual gives himself when he evaluates himself as a human being. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the level of self-esteem between hearing-impaired individuals who do sports and do not sport. Materials and Method: In totally 91 hearing-impaired individuals aged between 15 to 25 years who do sport (n=44, 48.4%) and do not play sport (n=47, 51.6%) participated in the study. The Turkish version of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to assess participants' self-esteem. The scale consists of 10 items measuring general self-esteem. Responses to the scale are evaluated with 0-6 points. It is accepted that 0 -1 points are "high", 2-4 points are "middle”, and 5-6 points are "low" self-esteem. Results: The average age of hearing-impaired individuals who do or do not play sports is 19,16 ± 3,18 and 20,34 ± 2,92 years, respectively. The average duration of participating in sports is 5.93 ± 3.39 years in the individual with hearing impaired who do play sport. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale average scores were 0,84±0,59 for who play sport hearing impaired group and 1,53±0,77 for who do not play sport hearing impaired group. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p <0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that participation in sports activity improved self esteem in individual with hearing impairment. Self-esteem affects the quality of life of the individuals. Previous studies showed that people with disabilities are much more likely of living sedentary than are those without a disability. It is advised that to supported for active lifestyle by participating in sportive activities in order to improve the self-esteem in the individuals with hearing impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Movimento (0104754X) is the property of Movimento, da Escola de Educacao, Fisica, Fisioterapia e Danca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many of us want to engage in public application of our academic work, to not just understand the world, but to take part in addressing issues we investigate. Perhaps the metaphor of 'taking a knee' can be useful as we consider for ourselves, individually and collectively, how to do this work. Specifically, this paper considers the metaphorical meanings of 'taking a knee' to pause, reflect and consider ways to engage. The work of Ibram Kendi suggests that we look to how the economic, political and cultural self interest of powerful groups of people shape public life—including laws, policies and social norms to further their own self interests. In particular, this work considers the issue of the social construction of race in protests at sporting events during the national anthem and public responses to those events, finding as Kendi would predict, both progress toward racial equality and the advancement and evolution of racist ideas. Lastly, this investigation extends Kendi's work by examining Title IX and athlete sexual assault, through firm scholarly research, as an example of both progress toward equality and also re-entrenchment of sexism and sexist ideologies, at the same time, by following the trail of self-interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of physical activity resources are too difficult to be easily read and understood by most U.S. adults. Attempts to ensure that such resources are written in the most accessible manner possible have been advanced (e.g., 2010 U.S. National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy). For this study, physical activity educational resources were collected through the Internet (N = 163), and their reading grade levels were analyzed. Over 50% of the resources were written at an unsatisfactory level, with the observed reading grade level being greater than eighth-grade (M = 8.98, SD = 2.92, p <.001, 95% CI [8.53, 9.43]), the maximum recommended. Suggestions for future research and publicly engaged sociology of sport praxis are discussed, with a focus on increasing the equity of written physical activity educational resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emerging agenda in relation to concussion in sport to illustrate the threats and opportunities currently faced by the sociology of sport as an academic sub-discipline. The article begins by delineating aspects of the “crisis” in sociology, Burawoy’s call for an enhanced public sociology as a (part) solution, and responses to these ideas within the sociology of sport. It then identifies how the engagement of sociologists in this terrain must be understood in relation to the recent medicalization of sports-related concussion, and illustrates the impact of this on sociologists of sport through an examination of recent social scientific scholarship in relation to concussion. It argues that a successful public sociology of sport should be predicated on the subdiscipline’s distinctive contribution to the production of knowledge. To this end, the article concludes by reporting the findings of an empirical study of concussion in English professional soccer, to outline a framework for sportrelated health research, and thus the basis on which a socially influential sociology of concussion in sport could develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have identified similarities between collegiate athletics and total institutions for profit-athletes, but few examined the relationship for athletes participating in other sports. Drawing on qualitative data collected from a sample of NCAA Division I athletes participating in four different sports, this study examined how collegiate athletics might approximate a total institution according to Goffman’s 1961 conceptualization. Consistent with Goffman’s conceptualization, athletes experienced 1) an absence of barriers between their spheres of life, 2) insularity of the athletic community, 3) strict schedules, and 4) institutional objectives used to justify totalitarian practices. These aspects of the institution helped to facilitate pervasive surveillance and extensive institutional power and control, aspects of the institution that athletes of all sports types perceived as stressful. These findings suggest that structural aspects of collegiate athletics may operate as ambient strains that could have consequences for athlete well-being, a possibility that should be explored in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some recent appraisals of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) research have found it to be deterministic and ideological, and lacking sophistication and specificity with regards to theory and method. Notably, such criticisms dovetail with the foundations of Actor Network Theory (ANT). Based on fieldwork in Kingston, Jamaica, we draw on ANT to ‘re-assemble’ the understanding of SDP programs by examining their constitutive elements. The results illustrate the connections necessary for SDP to cohere, and the range of actors in the field, including international funders, funds themselves, and concepts regarding sport’s development utility. Investigating these assemblages facilitates a non-deterministic understanding of the ways in which sport is mobilized in the service of development and peace, while allowing for a nuanced and empirically sound assessment of power and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the field of sport-for-development (SFD) has developed, there has been increasing debate over the ability of SFD programs to effect lasting structural change on target communities. Highlighting the barriers to SFD program delivery in five Pacific Island nations, in this paper we argue that numerous challenges emerging at macro-, meso-, and microlevels must be explored, understood, and accounted for to enact structural change. Building on thematic findings from our empirical cross-nation research project, we discuss the importance of addressing SFD challenges at all levels of society to ensure that interventions are appropriately tailored for the specific and often divergent sociocultural contexts in the Pacific Islands region. We argue for a more holistic approach to planning, management, and evaluation when attempting to deliver structural change through sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lacking in the philosophy of sport is discussion of the gendered numbers of sets played in Grand Slam tennis. We argue that the practice is indefensible. It can be upheld only through false beliefs about women or repressive femininity ideals. It treats male tennis players unfairly in forcing them to play more sets because of their sex. Its ideological consequences are pernicious, since it reinforces the respective identifications of the female and male with physical limitation and heroism. Both sexes have compelling reason to reject the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Platonic definition of courage as the ‘knowledge of the fearful and the hopeful’ is often eschewed by philosophers of sport. In fact, the passionate nature of sport itself seems to testify against such a definition. Hence, accounts of courage within sport tend to emphasize the affective dimension of courage at the expense of the cognitive dimension. This essay argues in defense of the Platonic vision of courage as a species of knowledge as opposed to contemporary attempts to recover the affective dimension of courage, as exemplified by John Corlett. I shall argue that far from producing an overly intellectualized vision of courage, treating courage as a species of knowledge, even within sport, throws valuable light on the exercise of courage in sport and on the shape of sport itself with regards to the exercise of virtue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport leaders are redefining organizational paradigms by blending elements from traditional forms of organizing. Leaders of emergent hybrid forms face unique challenges in managing tensions associated with the paradoxical elements they embody. This paper introduces the concept of hybrid organizing and examines its applicability to Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Specifically, Battilana and Lee's (2014) multidimensional framework is used to examine the core practices, workforce composition, organizational design, interorganizational relationships, and organizational culture of hybrid SDP entities. Findings from this exploratory empirical work with nine organizations indicate SDP hybrids operate under a multitude of legal structures yet are underlined by shared beliefs that these new forms provide better opportunities for achieving social impact and organizational sustainability. Organizational leaders appear to use a multitude of internal mechanisms for managing the seemingly paradoxical nature of hybrid organizing. Strengths and challenges associated with these efforts were revealed and are critically examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, which was delivered as the Alan G. Ingham Memorial Lecture to the 37th annual conference of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, I extend Ingham's ideas regarding sport as civic ritual and combine it with my own work on the relationship between sport and the increasing militarization of US cities in the post 9/11 era. I suggest that militarized civic rituals have now become an ever-present feature of urban life and represent a troubling new conflation between military and civilian discourses and practices employed through sport, specifically the NFL and the Super Bowl. The term "citizen soldier" is used here to provoke thought about the role of "ordinary" citizens in this context where domestic security telescopes down from the highest levels of the US Department of Defense to the micropersonal. Legally equated with a soldier at war, the NFL fan's call of duty is received through a mobile phone application, everyday citizens recruited to assist, in the name of patriotism, in terrorism prevention. This blurs legal and operational separations between intelligence-gathering and citizenship and further collapses civilian-military boundaries suggesting a changed notion of duty for all of us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the ways of emergence of public sociology of sport in the United States. It mentions the need to work upon public engagement and the role of critical scholars of sports and physical cultures in developing sociology of sport. The writer of the article being a graduate in kinesiology University of Illinois aspired to become physical therapist but turned to the field of sociology of sport inspired after reading the works of bell hooks, Malcolm X, Derrick Bell, Marilyn Frye, and Michael Messner.

Copyright of Beytulhikme: An International Journal of Philosophy is the property of Beytulhikme: An International Journal of Philosophy and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rationale/Purpose: In commercialized youth sport, parents choose who coaches their child. An entire industry of youth coaches exists to meet this demand. However, parent-coach relationship dynamics has received little empirical inquiry. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between parent and coaches. Design/methodology/approach: The value congruence literature guided this study, with a focus on the mediators explaining how value congruence leads to positive outcomes. Parents (n=17) and coaches (n= 20) of youth tennis players participated in interviews and focus groups. Findings: Results indicated poor communication, mistrust, and a lack of shared goals between parents and coaches. These results suggest the child's development is compromised. Practical Implications: Communication strategies are proposed to enhance predictability and trust in parent-coach relationships while accounting for contingencies. Research Contribution: We extended the use of value congruence to examine parent-coach relationship dynamics. The current study extends our understanding of this relationship while raising important concerns regarding the ways in which it is managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale/purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine a single sport-based youth development program across a variety of contexts and examine programmatic differences and similarities that lead to positive outcomes. Research methods: Through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and direct observation, we analyzed the program inputs and designs of ten different sites operating within the same sport-based youth development organization. Findings: Programs operating across different environments used a range of strategies to tailor the needs to its community, including changes to program design, recruitment, co-participation, and parental investment. Practical implications: Findings outline potential strategies for sport-based youth development programs to incorporate their community into the program to achieve outcomes. Research contribution: Findings suggest that individual environments are essential to a program design that creates optimal interactions, and that using local approaches can help create an environment that incites true community development rather than singular individual outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a significant part of the twentieth century, Hong Kong was seen on the forefront of football development in Asia, and it was just in recent decades that the so-called "beautiful game" has been relegated to a less prominent spot in the cultural fabric of citizens' everyday life. However, amidst the current socio-political conjuncture of the Special Administrative Region, which has been slowly unfolding over the last decade, football has again become a meaningful platform to imagine, articulate, and perform a local(ist) identity. Social scientists, cultural studies scholars and anthropologists have long examined the multi-faceted dimensions of football fan cultures around the world. The subject of study, however, has often been limited to European or American perspectives, with incomplete accounts of Asian experiences in this domain, calling for more interventions in the form of culturally informed research. First, this article aims to offer a qualitative overview of Hong Kong's football fan culture, using a thick description of a supporters' group that rearticulated and materialized subcultural practices of the popular local forum LIHKG – an online community that has later emerged as a central catalyst of recent protest movements. Second, the research attempts to provide an alternative understanding of the politicization of football fandom, by emphasizing the multiple fan identities being negotiated between consumerism, activism, and localism. By critically investigating common fan categorizations that have been put forward in the context of football's hyper-commodification, the research questions the suitability of Eurocentric models on residual or emerging sporting cultures in non-European contexts. The paper further argues that the re-appropriation of football as a site of imagination and performance of identities reaffirms the idea of sport as a resource for cultural citizenship, as well as a decoding device for the ever-changing politicization of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the importance of sports in Russia has increased dramatically, which is determined primarily by the country’s hosting international sport events, in particular, the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup 2018. The influence of sports on social processes has increased, sports began to strengthen its position in public opinion as a prestigious sphere of employment and an important social category [24. P. 60]. Thus, there is an obvious need to identify the relationship of physical culture with society as a whole and with all elements of the social structure and specific social institutions. The article examines the origins and prerequisites for the formation of sociology of sport as a relatively independent scientific discipline; presents the issues of sports sociology in the historical perspective - in the context of both their social genesis and contemporary sociological theories; considers the social role and social functions of sport education and sports. The authors believe that the differentiated social distribution of sports practices is determined by the interconnections of the space of possible practices (supply) and the space of demand for certain practices. In the article, the well-known foreign scientists are presented in the new perspective - as sociologists who provided for both Russian and foreign authors the incentive and direction for theoretical studies of sports issues. The article also presents to Russian readers the original studies on sociology of sports conducted by famous scientists - Norbert Elias, Eric Dunning, Anna Ingram, Georges Hébert, etc.

This paper discusses the nature of competitiveness and argues (contra Jones 2015) that being competitive does not essentially involve a strong desire to win or to outperform others. The appeal of the ‘desire-to-win’ analysis of competitiveness can be explained away provided we distinguish between virtuous and vicious competitiveness. It is conceivable (even if it is not typical) that a virtuously competitive athlete lack a strong desire to win or to outperform others. Moreover, there is empirical evidence that virtuous competitiveness and vicious competitiveness are distinct character traits. If being virtuously competitive does not require a strong desire to win, then being competitive simpliciter does not require this. Other recent accounts, e.g. Kretchmar 2012 and Russell 2014, may appear to support the desire-to-win analysis, but careful reflection reveals that this is not the case. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Grounded in Scanlan's sport commitment model (SCM), the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between feelings of teammate acceptance and sport commitment in a sample of adolescent female volleyball players (N = 209). Despite theoretical justification for including social forms of influence such as social support and social acceptance as direct sources of sport commitment, empirical evidence has not been supportive of this association. Therefore, direct and indirect relationships between teammate acceptance and sport commitment within the SCM were tested. Findings supported the indirect relationship between teammate acceptance and sport commitment through sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, and investment opportunities, accounting for 48% of the variance in sport commitment. It appears that teammate acceptance may be better situated as a distal source of sport commitment, but further research with more diverse samples is necessary. Sports psychologists who can collectively help athletes, coaches, and parents develop responsive interpersonal skills while reducing corporal punishment and aggression tactics can facilitate greater levels of social acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to conduct an in-depth examination of the stress and emotion process experienced by three sub-elite-level male cricketers over a series of five competitive performances. Using reflective diaries and follow-up semistructured interviews, the findings highlighted the impact of appraisal, coping, and emotion on performance, with perceptions of control and self-confidence emerging as variables that can influence the emotive and behavioral outcomes of a stressful transaction. Postperformance, guided athlete reflection was advanced as a valuable tool in the production and application of idiographic coping behaviors that could enhance perceptions of control and self-confidence and influence stress and emotion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This collection of commentaries emerged from ongoing conversations among the contributors about our varied understandings of and desires for the sport studies field. One of our initial concerns was with the absence/presence of feminist thought within sport studies. Despite a rich history of feminist scholarship in sport studies, we have questioned the extent to which feminism is currently being engaged or acknowledged as having shaped the field. Our concerns crystallized during the spirited feminist responses to a fiery roundtable debate on Physical Cultural Studies (PCS) at the annual conference of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) in New Orleans in November 2012. At that session, one audience member after another spoke to what they saw as the unacknowledged appropriation by PCS proponents of longstanding feminist--and feminist cultural studies--approaches to scholarship and writing. These critiques focused not just on the intellectual moves that PCS scholars claim to be making but on how they are made, with several audience members and some panelists expressing their concerns about the territorializing effects of some strains of PCS discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study on psychological momentum (PM) in sports provides the first experimental test of an interconnection between short-term PM (during a match) and long-term PM (across a series of matches). Twenty-two competitive athletes were striving to win a prize during a rowing-ergometer tournament, consisting of manipulated races. As hypothesized, athletes who had developed long-term positive PM after two successful races were less sensitive to a negative momentum scenario in the third race, compared with athletes who had developed long-term negative PM after two unsuccessful races. More specifically, the exerted efforts, perceptions of momentum, and self-efficacy were higher for participants who had developed long-term positive PM, and their perceptions of momentum and self-efficacy decreased less rapidly. These results illustrate a typical complex dynamical systems property, namely interconnected time scales, and provide deeper insights into the dynamical nature of PM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Sport Management is the property of the Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sport climbing relies materially on the existence of routes equipped with bolts: vertical itineraries with anchors that allow climbers a safe ascent. Without bolting, sport climbing simply would not exist. In many countries, bolting is an altruistic individual activity that is usually neither organized nor regulated. Sport climbing bolting requires expensive hardware and sophisticated technical skills. However, equippers earn no money or prestige for this effort, which benefits many climbers. This paper develops a sociological approach to rock climbing bolting as a common-pool resource facing a deep crisis. In its early years, bolting was ruled by generalized reciprocity. The popularization of sport climbing quickly changed this framework. A small group of very active equippers has become net providers of public goods without compensation in economic or status terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the contemporary history of the U.S.-Mexico rivalry in professional soccer. Soccer leagues including the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Associación (FMF), the U.S. Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer), Major League Soccer, and World Cup Soccer, are discussed. Topics explored include both Mexican and Mexican-American soccer fans, the political aspects of soccer matches between the countries, and the marketing aspects of such events.

Responding to a series of articles in sport management literature calling for more diversity in terms of areas of interest or methods, this study warns against the danger of excessively fragmenting this field of research. The works of T. Kuhn (1962) and J. Pfeffer (1993) are taken as the basis of an argument connecting convergence with scientific strength. However, being aware of the large number of counterarguments directed at this line of reasoning, a new model of convergence, which focuses on clusters of research contributions with similar areas of interest, methods, and concepts, is proposed. The existence of these clusters is determined with the help of a bibliometric analysis of publications in three sport management journals. This analysis determines that there are justified reasons to be concerned about the level of convergence in the field, pointing to a reduced ability to create large clusters of contributions in similar areas of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the articulations of sport and 'Big Data'—an important though to date understudied topic. That we have arrived at an 'Age of Big Data' is an increasingly accepted premise: the proliferation of tracking technologies, combined with the desire to record/monitor human activity, has radically amplified the volume and variety of data in circulation, as well as the velocity at which data move. Herein, we take initial steps toward addressing the implications of Big Data for sport (and vice versa), first by historicizing the relationship between sport and quantification and second by charting its contemporary manifestations. We then present four overlapping postulates on sport in the Age of Big Data. These go toward both showing and questioning the logic of 'progress' said to lie at the core of sport's nascent statistical turn. We conclude with reflections on how a robust sociology of sport and Big Data might be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews several articles including "Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media" by C. Stavros, M.D. Meng, K. Westberg, and F. Farrelly in the journal "Sport Management Review," "Look after yourself, or look after one another? An analysis of life skills in sport for development and peace HIV prevention curriculum" by S. Forde in "Sociology of Sport Journal," and "Title IX literacy among NCAA administrators and coaches: A critical communications approach" by E. Weight and E. Staurowsky in "International Journal of Sport Management."

The purpose of this research project was to examine the impact of participating in a sport-for-peace event and one's social dominance orientation on prejudice and change agent self-efficacy. In Study 1, participants (n = 136) completed questionnaires both before and following their participation in a sport-for-peace event. The event was designed to ensure both high levels of and quality intergroup contact, with interactions confirmed through a manipulation check. Results from the doubly repeated measures analysis of variance indicate a significant decrease in prejudice and a significant increase in change agent self-efficacy. Social dominance orientation did not influence the nature of these changes. In Study 2, the authors conducted focus group interviews with 27 participants to better understand how the event impacted prejudice and change agent self-efficacy. Results indicate that the team-based sport environment and social opportunities were instrumental in prejudice reduction while the educational platform was important for increasing change agent self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dominant analyses of sporting subjectivities suggest the contemporary athletic subject embodies a win-at-all-costs instrumental rationality. Yet, as Carless and Douglas (2012) argue, athletes are able to find less problematic alternatives to this understanding of sport. In this article, I use Foucault's concept of "practices of the self' to undertake a sociological analysis of ethical subjectivities within Ultimate Frisbee. I focus specifically on ascetic, or self-controlling, practices of the self through which players create relationships between their self, Ultimate's moral code and others. I use this case study to argue that ethical subjectivities offer a productive perspective for sociology of sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization has been researched and explained a lot over the past two decades and the sociology of sport has contributed a lot to it as the sport has been a highly important driver of globalization processes, for example through the mega-events such as the Olympics that have worldwide television audiences. As the sociologist Roland Robertson said, globalization ‘refers both to the comprehension of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole’. It was the same sociologist that added that globalization is a multi-faceted process featuring various cultural, social, political and economic dimensions. He emphasized that ‘local’ and ‘global’ are not in opposition to each other, but interdependent. Global sport can be discussed from political-economic points of view, as well as from socio-cultural aspects.

In the current U.S. economy, leaders in the golf business are increasingly concerned with the long-term growth potential for the game, particularly at the recreational level. Adding to that concern is the underrepresentation of Blacks and Hispanics who participate in golf at a time when the latter group is demonstrating exponential growth in the U.S. population. This article examines those and other factors that are contributing to the declining trend in golf participation by using a three-level analytic framework. Specific examples of factors at each level are discussed along with strategies for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a biographical overview of Minseok Ahn’s career, specifically highlighting his role as a public sport sociologist. Notably, Ahn has spent time as a student activist, worked as a physical education teacher, served as a scholar with a university appointment, and held office in the South Korean National Assembly. Throughout his career, he has sought engagement with multiple publics in multiple ways to pursue reform in sport and physical education. An examination of Ahn’s career can offer insights regarding the processes and challenges involved in pursuing public sociology and provide a cross-national perspective that helps us consider the possibilities that exist for scholars to seek progressive change in sport through public engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent research has examined how sports events and sport-for-development projects can create, sustain, and maximize positive social impacts for local communities. This article takes this debate forward by arguing that the cultivation of safe space is a key ingredient of sport-for-development management and community event leverage. Safe space is conceptualized as a multidimensional process that involves physical, psychological/ affective, sociocultural, political, and experimental dimensions. Drawing on empirical findings from Sri Lanka, Israel, and Brazil, the article shows how these dimensions of safe space operate and interact in practice, and identifies practical strategies that sport managers, policymakers, and practitioners can use to cultivate safe spaces in and through sports projects and events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociology of sport literature is now sufficiently broad to allow a general analysis of research patterns in this field. To facilitate the identification of these vectors of expansion, sources referenced in articles published in Sociology of Sport Journal and Journal of Sport and Social Issues between 2003 and 2011 are examined in terms of sources referenced. Highly cited sources often used together in the same sources can be combined through bibliometric methods in clusters of similar influential publications, which together can be used to map the field. The resulting clusters show that a dominant pattern in these clusters is the preeminent role played by authors like Foucault, Bourdieu, and Connell. To help explain the preeminence of these authors’ work, a hypothesis is proposed, which interprets it with the help of institutional theory as an effort of a field to find legitimacy by developing research from reference academic disciplines that concerns sport or is closely linked to it (e.g., through the concept of corporeality). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]