This article examines the origins of the sociology of sport and explores its interdisciplinarity particularly in terms of its dual “location” in the disciplines of sociology and physical education. The development of sociology of sport is examined over three phases, together with a consideration of recent developments; and this is followed by an examination of
Given the centrality of the body in sport performance, it might be assumed that the corporeality of athletes has been an essential facet of sport sociological analysis. Despite its vital role, however, the body has occupied ‘‘an absent presence’’ in this research and only since the late 1980s have sport sociologists expressed a growing interest
As even a casual observer may recognize, the phenomenon of contemporary sports bears little resemblance to that of the fairly recent past. At the turn of the twentieth century, sports were occasional and unregulated events played by members of local sports clubs. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, an individual’s association with sport might
Everything outside the boundaries of the subsystem sport is considered to be its environment, and this can be influenced and altered by sport or, conversely, can itself influence sport. Examples of the latter are to be observed, for instance, in the effects on athletic performance of certain climatic qualities of the environment of Mexico City
Research and theoretical approaches to sport culture and subcultures in the sociology of sport fall into three overlapping periods: (1) early interest in sport subcultures from an interactionist perspective; (2) a transition period during which more critical theoretical approaches to culture and subcultures and more rigorous methodological approaches emerged; and (3) a wholehearted embrace of
Since the end of the nineteenth century the dynamics of the relationship between sport and the state are best understood by taking into account (1) the dramatic growth of sport relative to other forms of physical activity (gymnastics, traditional games, etc.) and (2) socially significant changes in the operation and status of the state. Sport
For sociologists subscribing to a hierarchical model of culture, sports may be regarded as its antithesis: a bodily practice, of little cultural consequence, gazed on by passive spectators for the enrichment of the leisure and media industries. The neglect of sports as a sociological subject until relatively recently may be attributed to a common resistance
Identity is a rather loose concept which has various degrees of currency in a number of different disciplines. For example, Bosma et al. (1994) have argued that there is little consensus in the field of psychology about the phenomena to which the term identity might refer. They go on to suggest that, as a result
The literature on sport and social capital is scarce and discussions are fragmented because there are disagreements about the definition of social capital, the role of sport in contributing to social capital, and the forms of social capital that may be generated in the sphere of sport. Three major approaches to social capital exist in
In most advanced capitalist societies, sport is hard to avoid. Sport related media shows and channels, magazines, newspapers, Internet sites, films, fictional and non fictional books, advertising campaigns, video games, and even soap operas saturate our everyday lives. Sport is also a regular conversation topic for many families, friends, and work colleagues, and sport related
Sports may be defined as physical contests that are competitive, fair, and guided by rules, organization, and/or tradition. The roots of sport are ancient, and probably stem from hunting. Although modern sports have more symbolic quests than the choice cuts of meat available to the successful prehistoric hunter, the thrill of the chase is much
Disability sport refers to any form of organized physical competition intended specifically for people with disabilities and contrasts with able-bodied or mainstream sport, which is organized for people without disabilities. The historical lack of mainstream sports opportunities for people with disabilities is one of the important rationales for the development of disability sport. People are
Ethnicity in sport has proven fundamental. It has long determined who has played, what participation and performance has meant, treatment by fans, media representations, and presentation of self. Outline Sport and Ethnic Identity Sport and Ethnic Relations References Ethnicity is closely related to race. In fact, the two concepts are often confused with one another
Riding the bicycle to work, walking up the stairs to the apartment, taking a book from the shelf, and playing the violin are all examples of motor activities, which are signified by the planning of future goal states, the coordination of different limbs and various whole-body postures, and the regulation of muscle forces during the
Optimism is an expectation for positive or desirable outcomes to occur. Viewed by some as an inherent and evolutionarily adaptive aspect of human biology, it has been examined by psychologists both as a relatively stable dispositional trait (“big optimism”) and as a less stable, situation-specific state of mind (“little optimism”). In its dispositional form, optimism
The developmental psychologist Jacquelynne Eccles suggested that parents influence their children’s involvement in sport in three ways: as providers, role models, and interpreters. Parents provide children with opportunities to participate in sport by signing them up for programs, transporting them to practices and matches, paying registration fees, and so on. Parents can act as role
Perfectionism is a personality disposition characterized by striving for flawlessness and setting exceedingly high standards for performance, accompanied by tendencies for overly critical evaluations. It is a disposition that may pervade all areas of life, particularly areas in which performance plays as major role (e.g., work, school). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that perfectionism
Race can be understood as a concept that signifies meanings and struggles over power in reference to skin color. Within the social sciences, most consider race to be not a biologically valid concept but rather a social construction. The issue of race in sport and exercise psychology is important because while the majority of professionals
Heterosexism, homonegativism, and transprejudice are prejudices aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) people. These beliefs and actions are common in sport and negatively impact all participants, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This entry discusses common types of prejudices faced by LGBT sport participants, defines related terminology, and notes the effects
Imagery involves internally experiencing a situation that mimics a real experience without experiencing the real thing. As a conscious process that is deliberately employed by an athlete or exerciser to serve a specific function, it is distinctly different from daydreaming or just thinking about something. The terms mental rehearsal and visualization are sometimes used to
The ability to learn defines much that is unique about human behavior and underlies many aspects of sport and exercise psychology (SEP). Attempts to develop sweeping laws of learning have generally been unsuccessful, and it is unlikely that a universal theory of learning can be developed. Learning is often described as a process during which
Memory is a cognitive module in action organization in which information about objects, movements, events, environmental elements, and the action-related constellations between these entities are stored. Memory could be described as well as a process by which such information about the aforementioned elements are encoded, consolidated, stored, and recalled for use in attaining action goals.
Mentoring is a process in which a mentor, who is typically more experienced or older, helps a mentee or protégé grow and develop in some way. As such, a mentor may be thought of as a guide, tutor, counselor, or adviser. In sport and exercise psychology (SEP), mentoring is commonly thought of in terms of
Along with the operationally defined concepts of dynamical systems theory comes a rich arsenal of mathematical methods and modeling tools that may be usefully employed in the study of complex sports behaviors. This entry highlights just a handful of those, which are all centered on the “problem” of dimensionality reduction. Before going into modeling, the
Sport enjoyment, or fun in children’s terms, is the most important and most studied positive emotion in youth, adolescent, and elite sport. Early youth sport research found that fun was one of the most important reasons given by athletes for choosing to participate in sports, and lack of fun was a prime explanation for dropping
Ethnicity refers to shared cultural traditions and history of a group or population. The collection of people who share an ethnicity is often called an ethnic group. An ethnic group shares a common culture that is reflected in language or dialect, religion, customs, clothing, food, and music, literature, or art. Ethnic groups are often associated
Expertise refers to the underlying qualities and skills that distinguish highly accomplished people, referred to as experts, from lesser skilled people. Experts are people who are exceptionally skilled in a particular task or domain and their expertise is typically evident across numerous aspects of human performance, including perception, cognition, and motor execution. Interestingly, despite the
Gender has a clear and powerful influence in society, and a particularly powerful and persistent influence in sport and exercise. Indeed, the sport world seems to exaggerate and highlight gender. Sport and physical activities remain largely sex segregated and male dominated. Gender is so embedded that trying to be nonsexist and treating everyone the same
Automaticity is the ability to execute a skill using no (or very few) information processing resources: attention and working memory. When a skill can be executed in this fashion, the performer has resources available to process other sources of information not directly required for the task. Automaticity is thought to be a hallmark of expert
Assimilation refers to the integration of one culture into another. This integration may include changes in cultural characteristics such as language, appearance, food, music, and religion among other customs. Cultural values and beliefs also influence this integration of cultures. Assimilation is relevant to sport performance in that sports occur in the context of culture, society,
In sport and exercise psychology, anticipation usually refers to the ability to quickly and accurately predict the outcome of an opponent’s action before that action is completed. Skilled athletes can use bodily cues to anticipate outcomes at earlier moments in an action sequence than can unskilled athletes, allowing them more time to perform an appropriate
In recent years, there has been an increase in research and practical applications concerning the use of biofeedback training for athletic performance enhancement. It is important to be aware that the terms biofeedback and biofeedback training are not identical, and therefore need to be defined separately. Biofeedback (BFB) is the output from an electronic device
Neural plasticity is the mechanism by which the brain encodes experience and learns new skills, behaviors, and habits in daily life and on the athletic field. Brain cells called neurons form a communication network that serves as the foundation of information processing in the brain. The neural network of the brain holds the capacity to
Modern sport culture is replete with qualities thought to make burnout prevalent, including high training volumes and competitive demands, near year-round training, and in some sports, specialization at young ages. Given this sport landscape and the concerns raised by sport scientists and others involved in the sport community (coaches and administrators), the importance of athlete
Athletes are often faced with a variety of factors that can throw off their focus on the athletic task, such as worry, unexpected events, and physical exhaustion. Therefore, it is important for athletes to be able to focus or refocus their attention on the athletic task, despite frequently changing circumstances. In this regard, centering is
In sport psychology, concentration refers to focusing on sensory or mental events coupled with mental effort. It therefore relates primarily to the selective attention dimension in which individuals are able to selectively process some sources of information while ignoring others. It has its roots in the oft-cited quote from William James’s 1890 book The Principles
The term adaptation has been integrated within the sport psychology literature, from as early as 1986. Initially mentioned in relation to elite athlete retirement, adaptation is a broad term associated with monumental change in the athlete’s life. People experience stress in their lives, and at certain times stress reaches a threshold, after which one must
Affirmation is the act of reflecting on core aspects of the self, such as important values, relationships, and personal characteristics like religion, music, or sports. Previous research shows that self-affirmation interventions can reduce psychological and physiological stress and defensiveness, while boosting personal responsibility and performance. Self-affirmation interventions and theory have promising applications in sports and
Aggression has a long history in both sport and nonsport contexts. There is some variation in the definitions of aggression employed by different people. However, it is commonly agreed that aggression is a verbal or physical behavior that is directed intentionally toward another individual and has the potential to cause psychological or physical harm. In
The impact of exercise and sport on our society is pervasive. They are relevant topics for study both because of their societal importance and because they exert a significant influence on physical and psychosocial development across the life span. This entry provides a brief history of exercise and sport psychology, examines the relationship between counseling
Self-efficacy is a construct introduced by Albert Bandura, arguably among the most eminent cognitive psychologists of the 20th century. Based on his clinical work (mostly dealing with helping people overcome their anxiety and phobias to such things as snakes), Bandura proposed a social cognitive theory (SCT) to explain and predict psychological changes achieved by different
Self-monitoring reflects the regulation of individuals’ expressive behavior, self-presentation, and nonverbal displays of affect in social situations. With a grounding in theories of self, Mark Snyder advanced the study of self-monitoring to heighten understanding of dispositional (i.e., stable) versus situational influences on behavior. Self-Monitoring Orientations At its core, the construct of self-monitoring is embedded in
In their seminal article, Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts posited that gender socialization and contextual experiences predispose individuals to internalize cultural standards shaping how meaning is ascribed to one’s body. Rooted in sociocultural approaches to the psychology of women, self-objectification is the tendency to introject an external observer’s perspective on one’s body, evaluating it in
Self-presentation, also referred to as impression motivation, is the process whereby individuals attempt to monitor and control how other people perceive them—that is, they attempt to portray a specific image (or impression) to others. In general, people try to present truthful images of themselves to others. However, in any specific situation, they may choose to
Participation in sport and exercise requires self-regulation. Examples of self-regulation include an individual fighting the urge to stop during an intense exercise class, a golfer trying to ignore feelings of excitement and focus on a simple putt to win a tournament, and a soccer player resisting the desire to strike an opponent who has repeatedly
Sport and exercise psychology (SEP) services (e.g., team interventions, one-on-one interventions, and consultation with organizations) aim at performance enhancement with athletic populations and exercise adherence with physically active individuals. In addition, SEP practitioners design their interventions to promote healthy lifestyles and to contribute to their clients’ personal growth, psychological well-being (PWB), and quality of life
Sex differences are often referred to interchangeably as gender differences, often to offset taboos associated with the word sex. Use of the word gender originated as a social construct to include biological sex, social roles, and gender identity and is conventionally used in biological delineations. The significance of physical differences between and within sexes lies
Like sport psychology (SP), the field of sport psychiatry may involve utilization of psychological approaches to enhance athletic performance. However, a primary focus of sport psychiatry is diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in athletes. Sport psychiatry is a relatively new field, and as such, the research base is still developing. This entry reviews the
Status represents an individual’s social standing in relation to others. Attributes of status can be based upon physical characteristics (e.g., age) or intangible attributes (e.g., prestige, prominence). Individuals with higher status are often afforded more social benefits including respect, more unsolicited help from others, greater praise for performance, disproportionate credit for successful collaborative efforts, and
Supervision is a central component of professional training and development, providing opportunities for sport psychology (SP) practitioners at all levels to use the experiences and knowledge of others to examine themselves. Supervision is also required for certification or licensure (e.g., registration, chartering) in most of the psychology and helping professions (e.g., psychology, counseling, social work)
Relaxation has been defined as a psychological strategy used by sports performers to help manage or reduce stress-related emotions (e.g., anxiety and anger) and physical symptoms (e.g., physical tension and increased heart rate [HR]) during high pressurized situations. Several different types of physical and mental relaxation strategies will be discussed in this entry, all of
Most athletes will encounter one or more major setbacks or adversities during their sporting career. An elite athlete may, for example, experience a career-threatening injury, garner demotion from a top-tier team because of poor performance, or need to relocate to another country to continue competing in their sport. Despite the potential for setbacks and adversities
All animals must act in their environment in order to survive. They must also react to changes in the environment, for example, when threats or beneficial opportunities arise. Responses are defined as any reaction of the organism to external or internal events. Responses can pertain to one or more levels of body function ranging from
Rest is the cessation of activity. Rest is of interest within sport and exercise psychology because performance and learning in sport and exercise domains are affected positively by appropriate use of rest and negatively by inappropriate use of rest. The specific effects of rest depend on the length of the rest period and the length and
Classical definitions of retention emphasize the degree to which people are able to remember (or perform) some previously practiced material (or skill) after an elapsed period of time. Thus, retention likely depends on an individual’s memory of the material or skill in question. Not surprisingly, most definitions of memory sound similar to those of retention.
Roles are important structural components of all groups and represent the expectations for behaviors of individuals within a particular social situation. This entry briefly highlights the history, types, and emergence of roles and presents a number of cognitive (e.g., role clarity), affective (e.g., role satisfaction), and behavioral (e.g., role performance) elements to role involvement. History
Satisfaction is recognized as an important determinant of motivation and commitment in sport and exercise. Although researchers and practitioners have acknowledged that satisfaction influences motivated behavior and also represents a desirable cognitive emotional end state in itself, satisfaction is not recognized as a distinct emotion or mood state. Satisfaction has been used interchangeably in the
It is widely accepted that the way people view and evaluate themselves has important implications for how they feel, think, and behave. For this reason, researchers have come to see self-evaluations as a central and important topic of study. However, despite there being a great deal of literature on self-appraisal, self-assessment, and self-perception, a noteworthy
Self-awareness involves expert knowledge of oneself, independent of others. As such, self-awareness is central to one’s personal and social perception and meaning of self. Development Perspectives It has been argued that there are at least two interrelated levels of the self that psychologist William James (1842–1910) labeled the “I” self and the “me” self. The
Construals are the way in which individuals perceive, understand, and interpret their worlds. When these construals are focused on the perceptions of the self rather than the social environment, they are defined as self-construals. Distinct Self-Construals Self-construals have been distinguished as independent (also referred to as personal) and interdependent (also referred to as social). Independent self-construal