Chapter 14: Factors affecting access to sport and physical activity V
– the cultural level
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Rasi, Stewart and Johnston
Chapter 1 Motor learning theory
and physical
skill2010
The cultural level of Figueroa’s framework
Figueroa’s cultural level refers to the level at which societal norms and
values impact upon the participation of groups or individuals in society.
This level also looks at which beliefs and assumptions are identified as
being entrenched with cultural expectations brought about by the very
powerful process of socialisation.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Question for Understanding
•What is SOCIALISATION?
•The process by which people acquire the
values, beliefs, attitudes and behavioural
norms of their culture
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Cultural influences on body image and sport
How people perceive their bodies can have a dramatic impact on the
choices they make with regard to sport and physical activities. This is
because we are influenced by the culture of a society’s generalisations or
ideas about specific body shapes and various sports.
Many generalisations exist about the correlation between specific body
shapes and various sports that remain as a powerful influence on the
choices that individuals make about their own participation.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Cultural influences on body image and sport (cont.)
Body image and gender are social constructs (that is, dominant ideas and
interpretations of body image and gender made by members of society)
that can reflect the interpretations of masculinity and femininity of society
at the time. In turn, this dictates and influences the paths we take and
choices we make in regard to sport participation.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
• Activity 14.1 pg 391
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Factors influencing gender roles in sport
Biological differences – in the past, biological differences between male
and female were used to explain why certain people with specific body
characteristics were successful in certain sports compared to people who
did not possess the same bodily characteristics. For example, cricket or
Rugby League were sports that were designed for male traits only and
sports like ballet were for the graceful female body.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Factors influencing gender roles in sport (cont.)
Naturalism pg 392 seeks to explain that the human body has evolved
over time to look or perform the way it does as it acts in response to the
physical demands placed upon it. For example, African Americans are
good track athletes, Asians are good at table tennis and Caucasians are
good at swimming.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Factors influencing gender roles in sport (cont.)
Inheriting such physical attributes predisposes us to certain physical
activities and this leads to social generalisations about gifted and natural
athletes.
Social thinking – as biological differences were used to differentiate the
sexes and their sport roles, it became a belief or accepted as part of a
conditioned Australian society. Individuals then became typecast to
particular sports according to their gender.
Australian society has since evolved, providing access to all or most
sports for both genders.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Factors influencing gender roles in sport (cont.)
Constructionism argues that the values and beliefs, both at a personal
and societal level, determine the ideal body images of the time (for
example, wafer-thin models and muscular buffed males of today) and
that humans aspire and respond to these desirable physical traits by
attempting to emulate them.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Factors influencing gender roles in sport (cont.)
In this way, the dominant culture of the day will influence individuals by
socially constructing what the ideal body shape should be and
influencing the sport they wish to participate in.
As identified by Figueroa’s framework, powerful cultural understandings
or misunderstandings about gender roles in society affect the access to
sport for most male and female participants.
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Sport as a microcosm of society
Life itself is made up of diverse facets that are also reflected in sport.
Sport therefore becomes a social construct of society itself and will reflect
all of our positive and negative traits of culture within that society.
Gender perception, values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are
displayed within a culture will be evident in sport. For example, issues
pertaining to drugs and racism also exist in sport.
Such societal issues in sport can impact one’s access in participating in
sport and physical activities.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
The social construction of gender and its impact on access to sport
Gender refers to the social significance attributed to the biological
differences of males and females.
Gender indifferences play a key role in influencing the accessibility to
sport and the equitable distribution of resources and rewards.
Gender differences are sociological because gender is socially
constructed.
Psychological differences between genders determine the way we think
and what we do.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
The social construction of gender and its impact on access to sport (cont.)
The socialisation processes that determine gender are exposed to us on
a continual basis and we respond to them in varying degrees over time.
Over time, we receive messages from society that have the intention of
developing our preferences in line with social norms and accepted
dominant versions of gender.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
The social construction of gender and its impact on access to sport (cont.)
Society constructs generalisations as a result of the dominance of certain
behaviours within each sport and are defined as masculine or feminine.
Using Figueroa’s cultural level, sport becomes one of the agents of
socialisation that people use to determine and express their personal
interpretation of gender.
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Common assumptions about sport and exercise in Australia
Figueroa’s framework allows us to explore cultural reasons as to why
certain ethnic or socioeconomic classes of people are or are not
participating in certain sports and activities.
Generalisations within society lead to common assumptions about sport
that often go unquestioned. That is, boys and girls are categorised or
assumed into sports as according to their sex and gender.
It is the cultural influence of gender stereotypes that guides males and
females towards these sports rather than their psychological disposition.
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Common assumptions about sport and exercise in Australia (cont.)
Assumptions are made about people according to their gender, class
structure and ethnicity in regards to sport participation.
A common assumption held by egalitarians of society is that sport is a
level playing field where all participants are part of an environment free of
society’s inequities and injustices. However, in reality it has been shown
that sport is a microcosm of society and burdened with the same
problems.
Male cultural domination (patriarchal) of sport in Australia affects all
participation in sport.
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Media influence and the evolution of culture
• Media is the most influential agent of social change in society.
• Role models become very influential at the personal level and the
cultural level of Figueroa’s framework.
• Young people are influenced in part by images of sport as portrayed by
the media and how they identify with them as an expression of their own
masculinity.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Media influence and the evolution of culture (cont.)
Media provides us with selected information, interpretation and
entertainment and connects us to parts of the world, which enables us to
construct our version of that world.
As individuals we construct our sense of reality in the process. In this way,
the media heavily influences what we think about and in turn contributes
to the shaping of our values, beliefs and attitudes towards sport and
physical activity participation.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Nationalism and the impact on sport participation
Australia is a country that is obsessed with sport mainly due to the
massive exposure and support it gets in the media. This is vindicated with
our nation’s success on the global stage.
Due to the popularity of sport, Australians are strongly influenced at the
cultural level of Figueroa’s framework to believe that sport is important
and, therefore, value it highly.
This leads to participation by choice in three ways:
• a preference for parents to place their children in sport
• viewing as live spectators at events
• to watch sport from home.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010
Nationalism and the impact on sport participation (cont.)
Sport engenders an extreme sense of pride in one’s country.
Examples of national success that has instilled national pride for all
Australians:
•
1932–33 Australia vs England Cricket Bodyline series
•
1983 – Australia’s victory over USA in America’s Cup (yachting)
•
Australian Davis Cup victories and other tennis tournaments
•
Olympics
•
World Cup Football qualification/participation.
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© Kiss, Kleoudis, Rasi, Stewart and Johnston 2010