Hegemonic Power, Gender, and Sport: Preparing for the Midterm
Lecture Objectives from Monday and Today
Relationship between Culture and Power: Understanding the intrinsic link between cultural norms and the exercise of power within society.
Mechanics of Power: Beginning to analyze the underlying mechanisms through which this relationship operates.
Operationalizing Hegemony: Focusing intently on how the concept of hegemony manifests within various domains, specifically sports, the moving body, and medicine.
Hegemonic Power vs. Disciplinary Power
Hegemonic Power Defined: Refers to the naturalizing dominance of one social group over another.
Key Mechanism: Operates primarily through consent, not overt force or negative reinforcement.
Process: The worldview of the dominant group is adopted and internalized by subordinate groups, making it seem a 'natural' way of thinking or being.
Distinction from Authoritative Power: Achieves dominance through persuasion rather than direct coercion, violence, or negative reinforcement.
Cultural Adoption: Involves the dominant group's culture being adopted across society, integrated into rules, regulations, and laws.
Example: In Canada, despite being a democratic society, national holidays often align with Christian or Catholic religious paths, demonstrating hegemonic cultural power. Days off are not typically granted for those practicing Judaism, Islam, or Buddhism, showing how social structures are built around specific cultural/religious dates.
Culture and Technology: Cultural practices can also evolve due to technological advancements with strong social impacts.
Industrial Revolution Example: The shift to a wage form of labor, mass production, and the prioritization of individual achievements and profit, with wealth as a marker of social status, fundamentally changed societal norms and lifestyles, moving away from previous agricultural structures.
Hegemony in Sport: The Norwegian Beach Handball Team Example
Case Study: The Norwegian Beach Handball team was fined by the international canonical governing body (an institution) for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms, despite their preference.
Upholding Hegemony: Rules and dress codes in sports cultures can serve as strategies for upholding hegemonic forms of power.
Gender Differences: Analyzing disparities in how men's and women's sports are governed and presented, especially at leadership levels.
Democratizing Kinesiology Spaces: Recall the first lecture on this concept, involving two main aspects:
Equal Access to Participation: Ensuring everyone can participate in sports, physical activity, and health. (Women can participate in handball).
Determining Conditions of Participation: Creating conditions where previously excluded groups can define the terms of their involvement.
Dress Code as a Condition: The dress code dictates how women must participate, with consequences for non-compliance.
Persistent Issues: Harassment, abuse, and pressure for women athletes to maintain a particular 'feminine aesthetic' in sport continue.
Institutional Influence: Institutions (sport federations), social structures (gender-based norms), and unequal power relations (between genders) combine to shape the conditions for women athletes.
Women's Agency: It's crucial to remember that women have agency, and the relationship between dominant and subordinate groups is not unidirectional; influence flows both ways.
Critical Question: Always ask: 'Whom or what do these rules or cultural practices benefit?'
Evolution of Hegemony
Original Concept: Initially, hegemony referred to the simple power of one group/nation over another through force.
Modern Incarnation: Today, it primarily refers to how the worldview of privileged groups becomes taken for granted and accepted not just by those in power, but also by those upon whom power is enacted.
Economic Lens: Adherence to a capitalist economic system brings values of individual achievement, the belief that hard work leads to a 'good life' and upward social mobility.
Powerful Aspiration: People learn from culture to aspire to certain ideals, which makes hegemonic power deeply embedded.
Everyday Example: Passing by homeless individuals without deep thought can be allowed by hegemonic power, highlighting a dehumanizing decision often internalized by society.
Entertainment & Capitalism: Popular culture (TV, movies) also reflects and reinforces hegemonic logic.
Celebrating Resiliency: Narratives often portray struggling individuals or those facing social challenges as 'resilient heroes' who overcome adversity through hard work, rather than addressing systemic issues.
Underdog Protagonists: Audiences, especially those in lower socioeconomic brackets, often identify with underdog protagonists, reinforcing the idea that individual effort can overcome any obstacle, aligning with capitalist ideology ('if he can do it, I can do it').
New Terms and Concepts
Gender Contract: This concept describes the often unspoken assumption that there are specific roles for men and women, particularly concerning 'reproductive labor' (parenting, childcare, household management).
The Problem: While the agreement itself may not be inherently wrong, issues arise when considering power dynamics and the differential valuation of labor types within society.
Valuation Disparity: Tasks traditionally associated with femininity tend to be less valued or compensated than those associated with masculinity.
Hegemonic Masculinity (p. 24 of the reading):
Definition: The integration of a gender practice that embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of legitimacy of patriarchy, primarily favoring heterosexual men.
Functions:
Helps legitimize or entrench power relations between social groups (e.g., men and women).
Expressed through specific characteristics (not listed in detail, but implied from previous discussions).
Triathlete Couple Example: In ethnographic studies of triathlete couples, as training demands intensified, men often forgave domestic responsibilities to prioritize training, while women reduced training to take on more childcare and household activities. This reflects unspoken, internalized (disciplinary power) expectations of hegemonic masculinity.
Media Representation: While women gain media presence in sports, traditional values persist. Consequences exist for individual sexist behavior (e.g., a reporter), but simply punishing 'bad apples' individualizes the problem, failing to acknowledge it as part of a larger cultural system of dominance.
Women Athletes and Hegemonic Masculinity: Women athletes can also participate in forms of hegemonic masculinity, but this concept can be limited.
Hegemonic Femininity vs. Emphasized Femininity (Lecturer's Proposed Model):
Social Structure: Hegemonic masculinity (top-level social structure).
Sub-Concept: Hegemonic Femininity is a preferred or idealized form of femininity that re-emphasizes hegemonic masculinity.
Expression: Expressed through characteristics like softness, slimness, perceived weakness/meekness, and appearing sexually desirable as an object for men.
Libby Dunn Example: As a top NCAA athlete monetizing her brand, Libby Dunn often posts on social media in athletic but also aesthetically pleasing poses that cater to the 'male gaze,' demonstrating participation in hegemonic femininity.
Aesthetic Rewards: Women who fit idealized thin, aesthetic bodies tend to receive greater rewards.
Consequences for Subordinates: Even when social groups subordinate to hegemonic masculinity (like women embodying hegemonic femininity) align with the dominant group's ideals, there are still consequences or limitations imposed upon them.
Emphasized Femininity: The lecturer suggests this is a sub-concept of hegemonic femininity, distinct from the reading which may imply it as a separate or equivalent concept. The lecturer emphasizes that while hegemonic masculinity harms men/boys, hegemonic femininity in a social structure still results in consequences for subordinate groups, even if they appear to embody or emphasize the dominant group's ideals.
Class Engagement: Defining Control
Initial Word: Control.
Expansion: Other suggestions included 'provocative' and 'sexual expression,' highlighting various facets of how gender and power manifest in public perception and expectations. The quiz is highly important and every class is different in terms of attendance/missed quizzes. The lecturer is going to prepare a tutorial for 'bio' soon. No specific numerical data or equations were discussed in this section of the transcript.