Power Point_ FINAL Studying the Past

8/3/2019 Power Point_ FINAL Studying the Past

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2009 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited.All Rights Reserved.

SPORTS IN SOCIETY:

Issues & Controversies

Second Canadian Ed.

Jay Coakley and Peter Donnelly


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Chapter

3Looking at the Past:

Does it Help Us toUnderstand Sports Today?

Understanding History while Studying Sports in Society / Sports

Vary by Time and Place / Ancient Greece / Ancient Rome /Medieval Europe / The Renaissance, Reformation, and

Enlightenment / The Industrial Revolution / Using History toThink About the Future / Summary


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General Historical Issues

Evidence suggests that physical activities and

games have existed in nearly all cultures There are fewer contrasts between the games

that different people play today

Decreasing contrasts are due to culturaldiffusion and the power and influence of

nation-states and sponsoring corporations


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Historical & Cultural Variations

Variations exist because

Sports are cultural practices that can servea variety of social purposes

People create sports within the constraintsof the social worlds in which they live


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Characteristics of Dominant

Sport Forms Today Secularism

Equality

Specialization Rationalization

Bureaucratization

Quantification Records


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Modern sports have seven characteristics that have notappeared together in the past

Table 3.4: Historical Comparison ofOrganized Games, Contests, and Sport

Activities


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Figure 3.1

Organizedcompetitive

sports are a

recent invention.

Physical games inancient history

were usually tied

to religious

rituals andceremonies.


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Sports in Ancient Greece

Grounded in mythology

Linked with religions beliefs

Characterized by

Gender exclusion

Frequent violence Absence of administrative structures

Absence of measurements & record keeping


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Of the thousands of evils in Greece there isno greater evil than the race of athletes

Since they have not formed good habits, they

face problems with difficulty. They glisten

and gleam like statues when they are intheir primes, but when bitter old age comes

they are like tattered and threadbare old rugs.

- Euripides, Greek dramatist (fifth century BCE)


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Roman Contests and Games

Emphasized spectacle, combat, and the

power of political leaders Characterized by

Diversions for the masses

Exclusion of women as athletes Absence of quantification and record keeping


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Figure 3.2

Dominant sportforms in society

tend to celebrate

forms of

masculinity that

emphasize

aggression,

conquest, andDominance.


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Medieval Europe

Folk games played by peasants

Tournaments played by elite for purposesof military readiness

Gender restrictions grounded in religiousdogma and beliefs

Games lacked specialization and formalorganization


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Renaissance, Reformation,

& Enlightenment

Increasing control over peasants Peoples lives often restricted by labor

Calvinist and Puritan beliefs did not

promote or support leisure

Sports constituted diversions for people


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Industrial Revolution:

Early Years

Organized competitive sports emerged,

especially among elite Time and space for games were limited in

urban areas

Slavery among Africans, and exploitationof other workers limited widespreadinvolvement in sports


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Industrial Revolution:

Later Years

Growing emphasis on rationality andorganization in society & sports

Most sports were segregated by socialclass and race

Womens participation in sports was verylimited


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Capitalism and the industrial revolution were not organized toprovide play spaces for anyone, including children. Play did not lead

to profits. But there were children who found ways to play


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History Lessons:

Origins of Distorted Views

Who tells the stories about what sports were like

in the past? Whose perspectives are used to frame these

stories?

How is power related to whose stories are told

and how they are told? Why are histories usually incomplete?


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Sports often were used by wealthy people toreinforce status distinctions

The organization of sports favored the interestsof people with power and wealth

Increased sports participation opportunities forworkers, especially men

(continued)

Organized,Competitive Sports

in Canada: 1880-1920


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Sportparticipation comes to be linked withcharacter development

Organized sports were tied close to ideas about

masculinity and femininity

skin color and ethnicity

age and disability

Organized,Competitive Sports

in Canada: 1880-1920 (cont.)


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Girls and women did engage in physical activities during the early20th century, but those activities usually emphasized grace and

beauty as the basis for ladylike character


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Meaning(what do sports and participationsymbolize)

Purpose(to be fit and fair or to win and set records) Organization(what is official and who decides

this)

Conditions of participation(who can play whenand where)

Sponsorship(public, private, corporate, individual,etc.)

1920 to Today:

Struggles Continue Over Sports


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1920 to Today:

These struggles are often related to issues such as: Entertainment, professionalization, and

commercialism

Masculinity and violence Nationalism and chauvinism Gender inequities and homophobia Racism and racial discrimination Physical abilities and access to participation Class dynamics and use of resources Media images and narratives


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The histories of sports are linked to ideologies in society.


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Meaning and Disability

Through History Disability has been associated with revulsion,

shame, dread, resentment, sinfulness, andlimitations

Retard and gimp = terms that carry negativeconnotations, just as racial and ethnic slurs do

People with disabilities have been defined asothers, segregated, and treated by therapistsand holy men in the hope of normalizingthem


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Sports History does not

just happen

Sports history has always depended on theactions of people as they construct physicalactivities in their lives

Historical changes in sports have often occurredin connection with peoples visions of whatsports could and should be like


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History and The Future

Sports history will forever emerge in connectionwith struggles related to the ideals that peopleuse to organize sports in the present andenvision them in the future

Turning our visions into realities is a key basisfor how we participate in social worlds. Sittingon the bench takes you out of the game.


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Question for Consideration:

Discuss these quotations in relation to chapter material:Do you agree? What kind of political meaning can sportshave within a given time-period? Give specific examples

from the text, outside knowledge, or personal experience.

Just as the dominantclass writes history, so

that same class writesthe story of sport.

- James Riordan, socialhistorian and formersoccer player (1996)

Sports have been revered by fascists andcommunists, by free-marketers and filibusters.They have also been, paradoxically, reviled by allthose political factions. Sports may be among themost powerful human expressions in all history.

- Gerald Early, Professor of Modern Letters,Washington University, St. Louis (1998)

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Power Point_ FINAL Studying the Past