SOCIOLOGY OF
SPORTS
Society and Sports from a
Sociological Perspective
SPORTS: FROM SPARE TIME
ACTIVITY TO ITS MODERN
MEANING
 Desportare:
(Latin) having fun, hanging
around
 Desport: (French) to entertain, to amuse
 Sport: (English) using spare time,
entertainment, hobby
DEFINITION OF SPORT
A
physical and spare time activity with a
set of rules and institutions, resembling
both a game and a profession, applied in a
form of competition (Georges Magnane)
 An institutionalized physical activity based
on competition which lies in a place
between game and profession (G.
Luschen)
DEFINITION OF SPORT
A
worship of intensive and habitualized
muscular activity which depends on the
will for progress and even for risks which
might lead to situations including danger.
(Pierre de Coubertin)
 Physical practices which possess their
own values, rules and rituals in a form of
joyful competition. (Carl Diem)
INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SPORTS
 Rules
of the activity gets standardized.
 Organizing actors supervise the
application of and obedience to these
rules
 Increasing significance of the
organizational and technical sides of the
activity
 Formalisation of acquiring game skills
WHY STUDY A SOCIOLOGY OF
SPORTS?
 Sports
as a part of human social life.
 Sports as a cultural determinant
 Many actors within the realm of sports,
with direct or indirect participations and
roles.
GENERAL THEMES
 SPORTS
AND SOCIAL CLASS
 SPORTS AND GENDER
 SPORTS AND POLITICS
 SPORTS, IDEOLOGY AND
PROPOGANDA
 SPORTS, ETNICITY AND NATIONALISM
 SPORTS AND ECONOMY
GENERAL THEMES
 SPORTS
AND GLOBALISATION
 SPORTS AND IDENTITY
 SPORTS AND VIOLENCE
 SPORTS AND IMPERIALISM
 SPORTS AND EDUCATION
DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISCIPLINE
 CONTRIBUTIONS
OF ANTHROPOLOGY
 HEINZ RIESSE AS THE FIRST TO USE
THE TERM “SOCIOLOGY OF SPORTS”
(1921)
 JOHANN HUIZINGA: HOMO LUDENS
(THE PLAYING HUMAN), 1938
 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SPORT
SOCIOLOGY (1966)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISCIPLINE
 HARRY
EDWARDS
 JAY COAKLEY
 NORBERT ELIAS
 ERIC DUNNING
 JEAN MARIE BROHM
SOCIOLOGY OF SPORTS IN TURKEY
MUSTAFA ERKAL’S “SPORTS FROM A
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE” (1978) AS
THE FIRST STUDY IN TURKEY.
 İBRAHİM ARMAĞAN’S “SOCIOLOGICAL
BASIS OF SPORTS” (1981)
 YILMAZ ÇOBANOĞLU’S “SOCIOLOGY OF
SPORTS” (1996)
 CAN İKİZLER’S “SPORTS IN SOCIAL
SCIENCES” (2000)

HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF SPORT

The Neolithic Age: Survival and the need for
physical strength
 Social division of labor and the warriors class.
 Specialization and professionalisation in warfare
(archery, horseback riding...)
 Settled communities and the phenomenon of
spare time.
HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF SPORT

Spare time as a consequence of the slave mode
of production
 Ancient Greek city states: birthplace of first
organized sports activities.
 In addition to spare time, struggle against nature
and other societies contributed to the genesis of
sports
 Defensive-offensive sports as the first sporting
activities (wrestling, boxing, archery...)
ANCIENT GREEK EXPERIENCE
 Gender
dimension: Masculine monopoly
 Social class dimension: Male citizens only
 Philosophical dimension: Ideal state with
an education system based on sports as
well as philosophy, arts and sciences.
 The Gymnasium
 The Palaestra
FIRST ORGANIZED SPORTS: THE
OLYMPICS (776 B.C.)





In addition to local competitions held in sacred
festivals in various Greek city states, the
Olympic games is considered to be the first
organized sports activity.
Olympics as worship: dedication to the
Olympians (Gods and Goddesses)
Olympics as a tool for sacred truce in the
Hellenic world (Ekecheiria)
Only male Greek citizens allowed to watch and
attend the Games
Naked status of sportsmen
MYTHOLOGICAL BASIS OF SPORTS
AND BODY IMAGE
 Age
of Heroes and the strong hero image
 Hercules (Herakles) as the forthcoming
hero of mascular strength
 Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.) and the
legend of Pheidippides
 Atalante: the she-warrior
 Odysseus and his bow
ANCIENT ROMAN EXPERIENCE
 Sports
for the entertainment of the free
citizens
 Slave warriors: gladiators
 Ex-slave trainsmen
 The audience, the arena and social control
MIDDLE AGES
 The
Feudal system and two sides of
sports
 Knighthood competitions
 Noble sports for the aristocracy
 Common sports for spending spare time
for the peasants
 Pre-modern forms of football
RISE OF THE EUROPEAN BOURGEOISIE
AND SPORTS
 Rise
of modern sports
 More disciplined, organized and with rules
 Sports as a uniting tool for promoting the
ideals of Western liberalism: freedom,
brotherhood, equality and coexistence.
 Sports: a reflection of the capitalist way of
life; competition.
Common “team” sports for the proleteriat:
football
THE BIRTH OF FOOTBALL
 British
imperialism and the UK as the
global exporter of sports
 British bureaucrats as sports
missionaries all around the Empire.
 Sports and imperialism: sports
imperialism
THE BIRTH OF FOOTBALL
 Revival
of a middle-age common spare
time activity among Cambridge students
(1848)
 Popularisation of football in a short period
More spare time for the proleteriat by
means of legal regulations on work hours
Weekend off after Saturday afternoon
Advancements in public transport
Sports and class: the UK case

Working class and football
 The Roman Method: canalization of the energy of the
ordinary masses
 Good and loyal citizens via a collective belonging
 While elite sports in the UK remained to be
mostly individual sports; common sports like football rose
as team sports.
 First football clubs founded by trade unions or simply
workers of single factories
 Church teams (Aston Villa,Birmingham,Bolton,Everton)
EXPORT OF FOOTBALL TO
CONTINENTAL EUROPE
 1878:
Copenhagen
 1887: Hamburg
 1888: Paris
 1885: Vienna
 1893: Genova
 1886: Budapest
THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES
 Baron
Pierre de Coubertin
 1896 First Olympic Games in Athens
THE USE OF OLYMPIC GAMES AS A
POLITICAL TOOL
 Internationalisation
of sports and use of
sports as a tool of international politics
1920 Anvers Games
1936 Berlin Games
1948 London Games
1972 Munich Games
1980 Moscow Games
1984 Los Angeles Games
OLYMPISM and its CRITIQUES

Olympism as an ideal for sports and society both
on the national and global scales

Critiques of olympism as the tool of European
capitalism and imperialism

The anti-democratic status of the Olympic
administrative organs

Coubertin’s anti-feminism
SPORTS BRANCHES
 Individual
 Survival
 Elite
and team sports
sports and spare-time sports
sports and common sports
BOXING
 Civilizing
process and sports: Boxing as a
good example regarding this context
(N.Elias)
 Historical origins date back to ancient
Mesopotamia
 Classical Boxing in ancient Greece and
Rome
EARLY BOXING & MODERN
BOXING

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
Rules (from a no-rule and no-referee violent
showgame to modern boxing): punchable body
parts, standart durations for rounds and breaks,
points earned, medical staff...etc.
Weight divisions (no divisions in former)
Use of accessories (from bandages and wooden
spikes to gloves and headguards)
Ethics: from warrior ethos of honor to fairplay
From a fully offensive game towards an
offensive/defensive one
BOXING AND CONTROL OF
VIOLENCE
 N.Elias:
Civilizing society, civilized ways of
settling personal disputes among males
rather than gun duels.
Use of the fists as a more civilized way
Modern society, social rules and its
reflection on sports: modern boxing
Violence limited and controlled by game
rules
TENNIS
 Historical
roots in medieval France
 Badminton and croquet
 Field tennis in Britain as an elite sport
 The significance of the lawn in elite
activities
 From the field to the lawn: Walter Clopton
Wingfield as the founder of modern tennis
(1873)
TENNIS BECOMING
WORLDWIDE
 Mary
Outerbridge and the import of tennis
to USA (1874)
 The First Wimbledon Championships
(1877): local British tournament
 Tennis goes international: The Davis
Tournaments of 1900
 International Lawn Tennis Federation
(1912)
TENNIS AND CLASS
 Pacification
of the British upper classes in
the 18th century.
 Pacification of political conflicts among
upper classes and pacification in other
areas of social life
 Combination of rural customs and upperclass manners: elite sports like cricket and
tennis
BASEBALL
 Bat-and-ball
games
 From Britain to USA
 Alexander Cartwright as the founder of
modern baseball (1845)
 The 19th century: popularization of
baseball in the US and becoming a
national sport.
 National League established in 1876
BASEBALL
 Negro
National League in 1933
 Jackie Robinson as the first black player in
the US National League (1947)
 Races united dating from the 60’s
 Babe Ruth League (1947) for the
popularization of baseball among the
American youth
BASKETBALL
 James
Naismith as the founder of
basketball (1891)
 A team sport available indoors during cold
winter
 Colleges and the popularization of
basketball as a common sport
 Foundation of the NBA (1949)
 Afro-Americans and basketball