Topic > How sociologists try to understand the world of sport

Sociologists focus on systematic studies of society and social interaction. It tends to explain how the community affects the people who live in it. It also critically examines how these same people influence society. Being social defined as the continuous concertation and coordination of the activities of individuals, sociology therefore qualifies as the study of everything that is characterized by the social. A subdiscipline of sociology that focuses primarily on the study of sports as a social phenomenon is called sports sociology. The main goal here is to critically review how sociologists try to understand the world of sport as a whole. In addition to this, we will review the different sociological theories of sport and explain how gender differences affect sports participation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Several theories have helped explain and understand the sociology of sports. These theories include; conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, critical theory and structural functionalism. In critical theory, the primary emphasis is based on the materialist interpretation of historical work, rational analysis, a critical position on the social order and a political program of reform and revolution (Smith and Hattery, 2017, p113). It mainly draws attention to power differences such as conflict between different classes. It is therefore seen as a macro level of analysis of society. Structural functionalism theory views society as a complex model, the different parts of which work cooperatively to promote stability and solidarity. Symbolic interactionism, on the other hand, develops from various practical considerations. These considerations allude to people's use of dialect to derive normal implications for various inferences that aid in correspondence with others. According to critical theory, the emphasis is on the reflective evaluation and criticism of society and occurs through the application of knowledge from the social sciences and various subjects of humanity. He strives to free human beings from the circumstances that enslave them. In most pre-modern societies, the role of gender, particularly for women and men in sport, was most strongly reinforced at a young age. The sociology that was keenly observed regarding sports was founded on the idea that sports are mostly male (Chalip, 2015, p398). Men are more masculine than females. In this regard, women were therefore marginalized and discriminately exempted from participation in various sporting activities. This was motivated by the fact that they are delicate and therefore prone to injury, given their less muscular nature. They were then encouraged to participate more in non-competitive games while competitive games were left behind to males. The impact of various sporting activities was to serve as a preparatory model for children into adulthood. During the games there was a clear separation of roles between men and women (Delaney and Madigan, 2015). Separation was expressed primarily through media and gender identity. In fact, it has been commonly observed that sports played by men are more prominent in the media than those played by women. The broadcasting of sports between these two sexes also varies. There is a clear and distinct contrast in the type of sport played by each gender. While men take part in more combative and confrontational coordination games, women take part in games.