Sport

A Critical Sociology

Richard Giulianotti

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781509501977
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

In this new edition of his acclaimed book, Richard Giulianotti provides a critical sociological interpretation of modern sport. As global festivals such as the Olympic Games and football's World Cup demonstrate, sport's social, political, economic and cultural significance is becoming ever more apparent across the world. Ten years after its original publication, the text has been completely revised and updated to cover the most recent literature and to tackle the key contemporary issues of sport and society. Chapter by chapter, Giulianotti offers a cogent examination of widely taught sociological theories and topics that relate to sport, skilfully weaving together theory and examples. These include functionalism, Weberian sociology, Marxism and postmodern sociology, along with ethnicity, gender and globalization. Using an international range of case studies and research regarding a wide variety of sports, the new edition has furthered its commitment to making this important material especially accessible to undergraduate readers. Sport: A Critical Sociology remains the best sociological introduction to sport for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses such as sport and leisure studies, cultural studies, and modern social theory.

1
Functionalist Theories of Sport: Social Orders, Solidarities and Systems

Functionalist social theories, and their variants of structural functionalism and neo-functionalism, highlight the maintenance of social consensus and social order and downplay the role of conflict in social life. Although they were highly influential in sociology and social science in the early and mid-twentieth century, functionalist approaches lost most of their impact from the 1960s onwards to more attractive conflict-based theories, notably Marxist perspectives. Today, functionalist sociologies of sport tend to appear as historical artefacts that provide little of contemporary explanatory value.

While not ignoring their weaknesses, I seek to indicate here that the functionalist sociologies of Durkheim, Merton and Parsons help us to understand key issues in sport, notably with regard to social integration, solidarity, order, rituals and anomie. Aspects of functionalist sociology have been evidenced particularly by Central and North European scholars in applying the systems theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann to sport. Goffman’s more microsociological work also provides intriguing insights into the fragile social order that underpins everyday social interaction.

Durkheimian sociology: social order, solidarity and religion

Emile Durkheim (1858–1917), who advanced the first comprehensive functionalist standpoint in sociology, lived through periods of great social change in his native France – notably growing industrialization, urbanization and secularization, as well as the first global war. In partial consequence, his sociological focus was relatively conservative and concerned the nature and problem of how social order was to be maintained when faced with these kinds of major transformation.

In terms of his scientific method, Durkheim advocated the study of ‘social facts’ – that is, those social forces which shape our destinies and are independent of individual control (Durkheim [1895] 1938: 13). For example, in studying suicide, Durkheim ([1897] 1970) revealed the social fact that people who are more integrated within communities, families and religious orders (such as Catholics rather than Protestants) are more likely to be constrained from committing suicide than those in more individualistic social circumstances.

In theory, social facts might be harnessed to examine sport participation – for example, to study which social groups are most likely to join sport clubs or to play particular sports. However, if we look more deeply at social facts, the different social forces may be cross-cutting and thus difficult to disentangle. In exploring the social facts behind sport participation, Lüschen (1967) found that Protestants are more likely than other religious groups to participate in organized sport, especially individual-based ones. This ‘social fact’ might fit the argument that modern sports emphasize such Protestant values as asceticism and individualism. But non-religious factors may also account for higher levels of sport participation; for instance, lower levels of class inequality may explain why more (Lutheran Protestant) Scandinavians than (Catholic) Spaniards join sport clubs. Further complications are added by the point that joining a sports club is in itself surely a collectivist act, irrespective of whether that club favours individual sports (Bottenburg 2001: 33–4).

The conservative aspects within Durkheim’s approach are best reflected in his functionalist perspective. Functionalist theories in social science assume that any social system is made up of different social parts that are functionally interconnected and work together to maintain that system. These functioning parts might include institutions that deal with family life, religion, politics and work. The social system is thus comparable to the human body, with organs that are required to function effectively in themselves and in accordance with other organs in order for that body to survive. The functionalist perspective therefore may be viewed as emphasizing social agreement, consensus, order and harmony, features of society which all help to maintain social ‘equilibrium’ – in other words, the smooth running of the social system. As a result, this approach is sometimes considered to be overly conservative, in terms of implicitly favouring the smooth running and status quo within any existing society, no matter how unjust, immoral or regressive that social system may appear to be for many of its members. A further criticism is that the functionalist approach pays too much attention to social order and too little attention to the social conflicts and divisions within a society. These weaknesses have serious implications for any functionalist analysis of sport.

For Durkheim, pre-modern and modern societies function in different ways as they have different social bonds or types of social solidarity. Pre-modern societies have a ‘mechanical’ social solidarity, featuring a simple division of labour, strong socialization forces, powerful forms of collective authority, low levels of individualism, and a strong basis for the reproduction of social roles and the common moral order (or ‘conscience collective’). Conversely, modern societies have ‘organic’ forms of solidarity that feature a more complex division of labour, with stronger interdependency and specialization of work roles and greater space for individual decision-making.

For Durkheim ([1915] 1961), religion plays a strong functional role in reproducing mechanical solidarity and the conscience collective within pre-industrial societies. Religious ceremonies assist communal self-worship and thus function to bond the ‘clan’ socially and morally. The scope of the clan’s religiosity is total: all aspects of the natural and social world acquire religious meaning. Clan members value and protect objects that are classified as ‘sacred’ against those that are classified as ‘profane’; religious ‘rituals’ feature ‘rules of conduct’ that instruct and guide people in how to act in relation to sacred objects (Birrell 1981: 357). Positive rites set out the procedures of religious ceremonies, thereby maintaining the commitment of clan members to important social norms (Giddens 1971: 108–11). Negative rites serve to prohibit particular behaviours such as ‘profane’ language or touching sacred objects. At the individual level in religious life, the body is classified as profane and the soul as sacred. ‘Totems’ are objects, usually in the natural world (notably animals), that become sacred when they are represented in emblematic form. For Durkheim, the totem symbolizes the clan; thus, in worshipping the totem during religious ceremonies, the clan members are also in effect worshipping themselves.

Durkheim introduced the concept of ‘collective effervescence’ to explain the intense states of excitement and feelings of common solidarity that clan members experience when they come together to practise religious rituals. The anthropologist Victor Turner (1974) later developed the comparable concept of communitas to explain the intense forms of solidarity, unity and equality that members of a social group may feel, particularly when sharing a common experience or a socially significant ‘rite of passage’.

For Durkheim, the functional influence of religion falls significantly within industrial societies, hence the old forms of solidarity and conscience collective also decline in influence. The question thus arises as to whether new belief systems or institutions are able to emerge in order for the social system to function smoothly. For Durkheim, social solidarity might be re-established through the ‘cult of the individual’, which he referred to as a ‘religion in which man [sic] is at once the worshipper and the god’ (Durkheim [1898] 1973: 46). However, an individualistic moral framework is problematic for maintaining social bonds and cohesion (Durkheim [1893] 1964: 170–2). Thus, for Durkheim, industrial societies are challenged socially by the rise of anomie – that is, the sense of normlessness and reduced levels of moral regulation that are to be found among individuals in these circumstances. Significant levels of class conflict and crime within industrial societies also point to weakening in the conscience collective.

Sport, social solidarity and religion

Durkheim’s functionalist analysis of religious life and his model of mechanical and organic solidarity may be used to understand sport in a variety of ways.¹

First, we may note that, in line with Durkheim’s broad observation, many physical games had close ties to, or emerged out of, religious ceremonies (Giddens 1971: 111n). For example, across the Americas as far back as 3000 BC, the indigenous peoples played ball games that symbolized the fateful battle of life and death, often quite literally when the team leaders on losing sides were sacrificed. Many ball games originated from pre-Christian, pagan rituals that sought to harness natural forces in order to secure good harvests or communal well-being (Henderson 2001: 32–3). In medieval times, games were played during holidays such as Shrove Tuesday; like religious ceremonies, these activities functioned to forge social bonds and were also intended to ward off material, military and spiritual dangers (Muchembled 1985).

A Durkheimian standpoint may be adopted to examine the strong parallels between modern sports events and quasi-religious ceremonies. The French anthropologist Christian Bromberger (1995: 306–9) made this association in regard to seven aspects of modern football matches. First, football games occur in ‘particular spatial configurations’ (the stadium) which generate intense emotional states among fans; playing fields possess sacred qualities and are ‘polluted’ if they are invaded by ordinary members of the public. Second, as in religious ceremonies, spectators are spatially organized according to the social distribution of power; thus political leaders and other VIPs are given the best viewing positions. Third, football has distinctive temporal and rhythmic structures, as matches, cup finals and championship seasons follow established procedures and a regular calendar. Fourth, the roles of different groups on match day are highly ceremonial; for example, football supporters, while specially ‘robed’ in team colours, engage in intense ritual acts. Fifth, like the church, football has its own organizational framework, from local to global levels. Sixth, the football match ritual possesses a sequential order that guides the actions of participants, including pre-match preparations, the warm-up period, player entry onto the field, playing the game according to set procedures, and the game’s conclusion, followed by supporter exit. Seventh, the football ritual generates communitas, a ‘communion of minds’, as strong forms of social solidarity are established between strangers through the sharing of common causes and identifications. While Bromberger’s Durkheimian observations hold for football, they may also be applied to explain many other sports rituals in different nations.

Taking this approach further, we may explore how modern sport functions to promote social solidarity. Such an argument is particularly significant when we recall Durkheim’s observation that, in contexts of organic solidarity, the social influence of religion falls into decline, hence alternative social institutions are needed to build a common moral order and conscience collective.

Sporting events may be seen as advancing social integration through much of the twentieth century and beyond, and in diverse political and cultural contexts. Riordan (1987: 391) examined modern sport in the old Soviet Union and concluded that ‘sport has come closest to religious ritual in serving to provide what Durkheim saw as cohesion, solidarity, integration, discipline, and emotional euphoria’. In the United States, Serazio (2013) systematically applied Durkheim’s theory of religion to study the fans of the victorious Philadelphia Phillies baseball team at the 2008 World Series. He argued that the baseball team represented a ‘civic totem’ of the city of Philadelphia and held a ‘sacred capacity’ to promote intense social solidarity among strangers, notably at a time when other integrative institutions were in decline. The Phillies’ World Series victory engendered a powerful sense of communitas and enabled the club, media and supporters to celebrate idealized images of Philadelphian history and identity.

Similar arguments may be made on the social functions of many other sport teams and events. To take these analogies further, we may note how, within sport, the totemic symbols of the club and its ‘clan’ of fans may be derived from the natural world: think, for example, of the Toronto Maple Leafs in ice-hockey, the Indianapolis Colts in gridiron, or the ‘vultures’ of Flamengo in Brazilian football. Durkheimian moral codes are also evidenced in sport’s popular culture among players and fans. Particular status tends to be accorded to teams that have a special ‘spirit’, ‘heart’ or ‘soul’, where players ‘play for the jersey’ – all of which points to a powerful collective solidarity. Conversely, ‘passionless’ clubs or ‘mercenary’ players are the subject of criticism, contempt or abuse from sports followers and communities. Supporters publicly express love for the club through positive rites of worship, such as stadium songs, wearing team colours or seeking player autographs. Match days are sacred occasions which are celebrated through feasting, heavy drinking and other forms of carnival behaviour that promote forms of collective effervescence. Negative rites serve to prohibit spectators from encroaching on the pitch or the verbal abuse of totemic players. Negative rites also include superstitious practices, for example as players avoid injured athletes or women for fear of being polluted and losing energy, or as athletes and spectators often carry charms and amulets into games. Such rituals have strong continuities with immanentist religious beliefs which highlight the transfer of spiritual powers between objects or persons. The songs, chants and choreographic displays among some spectator groups may be interpreted as immanentist ceremonies whereby the fan clan works to transfer its strong spiritual powers and energies into the team (R...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Prologue
• 1 Functionalist Theories of Sport: Social Orders, Solidarities and Systems
• 2 Weberian and Microsociological Approaches to Sport: Meanings, Identities and Rationalization
• 3 Marxist and Neo-Marxist Theories of Sport: Capitalism, Alienation and Class Conflict
• 4 Cultural Studies Approaches to Sport: Domination, Resistance and Transgression
• 5 ‘Race’ and Ethnicity in Sport: Competing against Racism and Intolerance
• 6 Gender and Sexuality in Sport: Playing against Patriarchy
• 7 The Body in Sport: Discipline, Experience and Risk
• 8 Sporting Places and Spaces: Fields of Affection, Commerce and Fantasy
• 9 Elias on Sport: Figurations, Civilization and Interdependence
• 10 Bourdieu on Sport: Domination, Distinction and the Public Intellectual
• 11 Postmodern Sport: Fragmentation, Consumption and Hyperreality
• 12 Globalization and Sport: Political Economy, Cultural Creativity and Social Development
• Epilogue: Towards a Critical Sociology of Sport
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement