Response to "An Observer's View of Sport Sociology"

In this article the author presents his views on the comments by sport sociologist John J. MacAloon on sport sociology in the U.S. According to the author MacAloon's comments are scholarly objective, positive, and programmatic. But in the face of MacAloon's clear explanation of the problems created when people join and follow leaders in academic traditions or paradigms, this approach is not taken in this article. Instead, an attempt is made to draw out the implications of his comments as they relate to the professional activities and roles of social scientists concerned with sport. Starting from a general acceptance of MacAloon's main ideas. The authors remarks that perhaps the ugly secret that undermines much of the study of sport is that most people who engage in sport value it, while those who study them believe it unacceptable that persons actually find meaning in mere games. In the sociology of sport is the often unacknowledged assumption that people ought not place so much emphasis on sport, either personally or socially, because sport is alleged to have no redeeming personal or social value.