Introduction to Sports Sociology

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts in sports sociology, including power structures, play versus spectacle, social constructionism, and sports economics based on the lecture.

Context (in Sports Sociology)

The specific environment, institution, or situation that changes and defines the social meaning of sports, team apparel, and fan identity.

Asymmetric Power Structure

Hierarchies based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class that influence engagement with sports and differentiate between who is included as us and who is defined as the other.

Differentiation

The identity-making process of defining a group's membership and culture by first defining and separating it from another group.

Sociology of Sport

The study of the social world that people create, maintain, and change through their relationships with each other within physical and athletic contexts.

Memory (as a Sports Product)

The intangible cultural experience, family tradition, and shared personal history that sports organizations sell to spectators beyond the game outcome itself.

Invented Tradition

A human-created practice or routine, such as family outings to a ballpark, designed to pattern social interactions and pass identities across generations.

Intersectionality

The framework showing how an individual's identity and social experiences are simultaneously constructed through intersecting dimensions such as race, ethnicity, language, class, and local community.

Relationality

The interconnected nature of individual athletic experiences and identities across differing background contexts.

Three Key Concepts in Sports Sociology

Culture, social interaction, and social structure, which together generate social patterns and shape human engagement in sports.

Play

A spontaneous, expressive activity done strictly for its own sake and the intrinsic joy of participation without external financial rewards.

Spectacle

A designed performance intended primarily to entertain an audience for the purpose of acquiring external rewards like ticket sales, contract deals, and commercial revenue.

Sports as a Social Phenomenon

The perspective of viewing sports as a holistic window into broader society that reveals cultural narratives, social issues, and political contexts.

Sports as a Social Construction

An aspect of society created, reinforced, and continuously transformed by people interacting under specific social, political, and economic conditions.

Purity Myth in Sports

The belief that sport is inherently good and pure, leading to claims that sport does not need to be critically evaluated or transformed.

Coca-Cola (IOC Sponsorship)

The historically oldest TOP sponsor of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), maintaining its sponsorship since $1928$.

TOP Sponsors

The elite group of $14$ major commercial sponsors partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).