SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS
3.3 The Event
WHAT HAS AFFECTED YOU MOST?
Biophysical
Refers to the way
scientific knowledge can
be applied in an attempt
to improve performance
in physical activity.
Sociocultural
Other factors which may
influence performance and
performance
improvement. These may
include:
 Functional anatomy
 Gender
 Biomechanics
 Commodification
 Skill learning theory
 Technocentricity
 Sports psychology
 Body as a machine
 Healthism
 Scientism
 Body as a project
SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS
-Masculinity
-Social
construction
GENDER
-Femininity
-Stereotypes
• Many factors influence us to participate in sport (Family, friends, gender etc.).
• It is fairly common to see boys playing rugby at school and girls playing netball. This is
largely due to the gender and stereotypes we as a society have developed.
• Does swimming conform to gender stereotyping?
• Are sports continuing to be gender specific?
• Who influences us to think that some sports should be males/female only?
ACTIVITY
Challenge the following statements.
Write your responses in your books.
1. When men play sport they are seen as being ‘Gay’ if they choose to wear/use
pink coloured clothing/equipment.
2. Women in the 2012 Olympics are being hailed as the role models we need “in
the age of the Kardashian”. Great Britain's women won 22 of the total 65 medals,
10 of them gold.
Commodification
Athletes seen as being
marketable
How sport is represented
Sponsorship at major
sporting events
Marketing sport
Athletes’ bodies
- When products, people, sports are turned into commodities
- Corporate sponsors expect huge levels of commitment from participating athletes.
- Star athletes compete on sponsored circuits.
- Athletes are lured with prize money. Injuries may be ignored, educational opportunities
are put aside in the quest for success and banned substances are employed to enhance
performance.
- These individuals no longer represent their club, their country or themselves, they
represent the corporations who provide the money for their sport.
ACTIVITY
Critically discuss how this video portrays the All Blacks.
Who is being impacted?
What is the impact on New Zealand society?
TECHNOCENTRICITY, HEALTHISM
& THE BODY AS A PROJECT
These 3 factors are very similar but here are the main differences.
Technocentricity
Body is measured and
analysed by sports
professionals (e.g. coaches)
with an end point of
improving human
performance.
Healthism
A set of assumptions, based
on the belief that health is
solely an individual
responsibility.
The Body
as a Project
View of the body where it is
seen as an object to be
manipulated, modelled and
sculpted into a mostly
unobtainable societal
perfection.
Body seen as an entity that
is in the
process of becoming a
project.
TECHNOCENTRICITY
Body Profession’s e.g.
Coaches, PE teachers,
Sports Scientists.
-
-
Body is a machine
Bodies as objects or products that
can be reshaped
Improvement of
human performance
Scientific approaches to enhance performance in sport.
It treats the body as a machine, which is measured, analysed with an end point of
improving human performance.
‘We can change our bodies for the better’- mentality.
View of the body suits athletes who want to improve their performance in sport
(elite performance)
Does not account for athletes who participate in sport to make friends, build
communities, movement for fun.
The scientific view of the body often tends to ignore the idea that people have other
dimensions to their identity other than the physical – that is the emotional,
intellectual, spiritual and social.
WHAT IS ‘THE PERFECT BODY’?
Exercise is presented as the only useful and valid knowledge about bodies and the
performance of bodies. It is used to maximise efficiency and performance for
athletes.
So what makes up “The Perfect Body???
Think of as many examples as you can…
Responsible for own Health
Illness treated with
medicine
Diet and Exercise
HEALTHISM
Prevention of diseases.
-A
set of assumptions, based on the belief that health is solely an individuals responsibility.
-
Concept that body is a machine that must be maintained and ‘kept in tune’ like a car.
-
Ignores all the SPEECH (societal, political, environmental, economic, ethical, cultural and
historical influences on individuals health.
-
Some individuals feel superior to those who ‘choose’ to be unhealthy.
-
Those who fail to take responsibility for their health are undeserving of ‘healthy
individuals’ sympathy or assistance (financial).
-
Fitness industry promotes healthism and promotes the view that looking after our
bodies are our responsibility.
-
Does not take into account people that work around dangerous chemicals, polluted city
environments and damp housing due to financial difficulties.
Activity
How is swmming impacted and to
what extent?
Who is influential?
Who benefits and who does not?
How could New Zealand Society
be impacted?
THE BODY AS A PROJECT
Societal perfection
Body is able to be manipulated,
moulded and sculpted
Bodies become a ‘project’
- A view of the body where it is seen as an object to be manipulated, modelled
and sculpted into a mostly unobtainable societal perfection.
- Individuals identities shaped by the way they look
- Body is turned into a project which must be worked at….its shape, size,
appearance and contents are able to be physically shaped to unattainable
perfection.
- Bodies become societal symbols
ACTIVITY
Watch the following video:
As a class discuss the impacts involved with sculpting your body to perfection.
Discuss other impacts that can happen as a result of neglecting your body.
Using science to acquire
knowledge
SCIENTISM
Science = Only way of establishing
meaning/understanding
- A philosophy which believes that the only authentic and valuable knowledge
useful to the world is knowledge that comes from affirmation of theories
through strict scientific method.
- People who believe this about knowledge chose to ignore knowledge which is
derived from other sources such as intuition, religion, attitudes and beliefs, the
nature of relationships etc.
- Those who “buy into” scientism ignore the social, political, environmental ethical,
economic, cultural and historical (SPEEECH) influences on individual‘s hauora
and lives.
Task
Go back through your
session plans and
evaluations and make
notes on when and
how you were
affected by any of the
socio-cultural factors
discussed.