Assessing the sociology of sport: On sport and the challenges of post-socialist countries

Abstract

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, one of the most important Eastern European scholars in the sociology of sport, Mojca Doupona Topič, reflects on the character of early engagement with the field by scholars in her region and the more recent challenges that scholars in post-socialist countries have in continued disciplinary dialogue. Doupona Topič notes the essential role that the IRSS played in publishing the work of Eastern bloc scholars in the formative years of the sociology of sport; here studies centred on the positive roles of sport in effective socialization and worker productivity with little focus on critical issues, such as violence, doping or other forms of deviance. More recent work has shifted from assessing the positive social roles of sport to understand sport's role in national identities, its connection with globalization processes and in facilitating social change. A key challenge for scholars in post-socialist countries will be to recover from the economic crises of recent years so that they may re-engage with broader scholarly communities around the world and advance focus on how sport plays key roles, both positively and negatively, in national identity and development in newly independent countries.

“Turned into the Women’s Journal”: Representation of sportswomen in Hungary’s sports magazine

“…Elite sport’s significance to the state was also apparent in the early discourses around the 2024 Budapest Olympic and Paralympic bid, which the prime minister called a “national matter” to symbolize that the “country rid itself of the fetters of oppression and won freedom” some 35 years ago (MTI, 2015: 3). The government withdrew the bid, but Hungary’s agenda is consistent with that of other larger Central and Eastern European countries that “attempt to use the sport achievements of their athletes and teams to display their power and promote their interests over less successful countries” (Doupona Topič, 2015: 427).…”

Sport, gender, and national interest during the Olympics: A comparative analysis of media representations in Central and Eastern Europe

“…In the German context, the focus on athletics, aquatics and gymnastics could be attributed to the “Olympic tradition and tournament mode,” as the narrow visualization of sports that fit into culturally appropriate forms of femininity reflects the role of gender ideology in the agenda setting process, while success had very little relevance (Braumüller et al, 2020: 332). A comparative study drawing on data from Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Kenya and the United States found that (with one exception) online websites dedicated between 32%–38.6% of Olympic coverage to women's sports and between 34% and 51.4% of coverage to the home nation, while statistical analyses revealed few biases based on gender and nationality (Eagleman et al, 2014).…”

The El Dorado of Handball? Foreign Female Players Stay, while Domestic Players Return from Abroad

“…To conclude, transfers in sport have become more dynamic, also in women’s top level handball (data from the European handball federation - base of the transfer) (Doupona Topič and Bon, 2008; Bon and Doupona Topič, 2013) and new trends are expected to appear in the future (Agergaard and Ronglan, 2015). At the time of our study (till 2011), it was obvious that Slovenia was a dream country for ex-top level handball players.…”

“…According to research of Doupona Topič and Bon (2008), the number of international transfers in men’s and women’s handball doubled in only three years (1999-2002) and in the next two years it further increased by more than 10%. The number of transfers thus increased from 3.579 in 1999 to 8.597 in 2004.…”