© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Sports in Society: Issues & Controversies Chapter 3 Looking at the Past: Does It Help Us Understand Sports Today?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. This mural in a park located in a Latino neighborhood presents an image that links sports today with Latino history and heritage.

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 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 cultural diffusion and the power and influence of nation-states and sponsoring corporations

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Historical & Cultural Variations Variations exist because  Sports are cultural practices that can serve a variety of social purposes  People create sports within the constraints of the social worlds in which they live

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Characteristics of Dominant Sport Forms Today  Secularism  Equality  Specialization  Rationalization  Bureaucratization  Quantification  Records

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Organized competitive sports are a recent invention. Physical games in ancient history were usually tied to religious rituals and ceremonies. SIDELINES

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Modern sports have seven characteristics that have not appeared together in the past

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Ancient Greece Sports were  Grounded in mythology  Linked with religions beliefs  Characterized by Gender exclusion Frequent violence Absence of administrative structures Absence of measurements & record keeping

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Dominant sport forms in society tend to celebrate forms of masculinity that emphasize aggression, conquest, and dominance. SIDELINES

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 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

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Medieval Europe  Folk games played by peasants  Tournaments played by elite for purposes of military readiness  Gender restrictions grounded in religious dogma and beliefs  Games lacked specialization and formal organization

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Renaissance, Reformation, & Enlightenment  Increasing control over peasants  People’s lives often restricted by labor  Calvinist and Puritan beliefs did not promote or support leisure  Sports constituted diversions for people

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 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 exploitation of other workers limited widespread involvement in sports

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. 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?

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Capitalism and the industrial revolution were not organized to provide play spaces for anyone, including children. Play did not lead to profits. But there were children who found ways to play.

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Industrial Revolution: Later Years  Growing emphasis on rationality and organization in society & sports  Most sports were segregated by social class and race  Women’s participation in sports was very limited

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Organized, Competitive Sports in the US:  Sports often were used by wealthy people to reinforce status distinctions  The organization of sports favored the interests of people with power and wealth  Increased sport participation opportunities for workers, especially men (continued)

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Organized, Competitive Sports in the US: (cont)  Sport participation comes to be linked with character development  Organized sports were tied close to ideas about masculinity and femininity skin color and ethnicity age and disability

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Girls and women did engage in physical activities during the early 20 th century, but those activities usually emphasized grace and beauty as the basis for “ladylike character”

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved to Today: Struggles Continue Over  Meaning, purpose, and organization of sports in communities and society  Who will participate in sports and the conditions under which they will play  How and why sports are sponsored

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved to Today: Struggles often are 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

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Meaning & disability through history  Disability has been associated with revulsion, shame, dread, resentment, sinfulness, and limitations.  “Retard” and “gimp” = terms that carry negative connotations, just as racial and ethnic slurs do.  People with disabilities have been defined as “others,” segregated apart, and “treated” by therapists and “holy” men in the hope of “normalizing” them

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. The histories of sports are linked to struggles over political ideologies

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Jackie Robinson and others who have broken barriers in sports have been closely watched and judged by those who are privileged by prevailing definitions of skin color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability. Their lives have often been like being on trial until death.

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Sport history has involved struggles over:  Meaning (what do sports and participation symbolize)  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 when and where)  Sponsorship (public, private, corporate, individual, etc.)

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Sports History does not just happen  Sports history has always depended on the actions of people as they construct physical activities in their lives  Historical changes in sports have often occurred in connection with people’s visions of what sports could and should be like

© 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. History and the future Sports history will forever emerge in connection with struggles related to the ideals that people use to organize sports in the resent and envision them in the future. Turning our visions into realities is a key basis for how we participate in social worlds. Sitting on the bench takes you out of the game.