social aspects of sport
...an acceptable means of venting energies and frustrations which build up. Stephenson and Nixon see sports institutions performing five functions They provide an acceptable means of releasing pent up emotions and feelings. They provide a means of socialising new members into a society and showing what behaviour is acceptable. They are means of integrating people into groups in society. They are a political function to reinforce the society’s success and to sanction and reward other societies. They provide a means of mobility between classes for performers. Marxism Marxism is based on the belief that in industrialised societies the minority elite of the population takes advantage of the majority of the population and exploits them. In return, they offer rewards, which make the majority consumers. The majority work hard in their meaningless jobs to buy clothes, cars and toys to make them happy, and attend sports events to seek distractions. The Marxist alternative to this exploitative society is that all members are treated equally and that society takes responsibility for its citizens and acts according to that responsibility. This society works to discourage greed, ignorance and baser natures of its citizens, rather than promoting them. The basis of Marxism is that each person takes from the society according to their needs, and contributes according to their abilities. Marxist theory is named after its founder, the German philosopher, economist and sociologist, Karl Marx. It became popular in the 1970’s when the influence of functionalism started to wane – Marxism offered the answers that functionalism failed to provide. Marxist theory is based on the belief that the key to understanding the social relations of any society is to be found in the economic structure of that society. When examine capitalist societies we see a ‘bourgeoisie’ that owns the means of production such as the factories and the machines, and a ‘proletariat’ or working class, which sells its labour as a means of production in return wage. This relationship between the owner and the worker is an exploitative relationship between groups of people of different classes. The exploiting party is the bourgeoisie, who are trying to gain as much output as they can from their workers. The worker’s who are the exploited are fighting to improve their working conditions and there pay to limit their exploitation. Cashmore (1996) talks about sport under capitalism suggesting that the relationship of exploitation is reproduced in sport, as capitalists use sport as a means of social control to appease the working class. Sporting activities give them diversion for their otherwise dull routine lives. The bourgeoisie also ise sport to prepare workers for the workplace by producing a fitter, more disciplined and more productive workforce. Marxism is criticised because the development of society is said to be reliant on only one factor, the economy and this singular emphasis tends to be limiting. Social influences on sports participation Sports council research shows that the highest participation levels are in younger people. However people are still physically fit for sport into there sixties. The way in which sports are played change...