Abstract:Using new data from the National Sports and Society Survey ( N = 3993), this study first examines the extent to which US adults recognize that sports teach love of country, competition as a way of life, respect for the military, and how to be American. We characterize this sport and society process as American Institutionalized Sports Nationalism. Then, multiple regression analyses are used to assess the extent to which dominant statuses, indicators of traditionalism, and sports fandom are associated with beli… Show more
“…First, support for football is thought to be linked to satisfaction with traditional American values and power structures and often emerges because of football’s associations with American traditions, the maintenance of the status quo of social relations, and expressions of hegemonic masculinity (Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Semuels 2019). Second, support for particularly youth tackle football appears to be connected to viewing football opportunities and training as an important source of social status, socioeconomic mobility, and as a relatively meritocratic means through which especially lower SES and racial/ethnic minority individuals can become successful within traditional American power structures (Allison, Davis, and Barranco 2018; Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Semuels 2019; Tompsett and Knoester 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021). Finally, especially intense and meaningful football-related interactions are expected to encourage more support for kids playing tackle football.…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations are often extensions of social structural locations and encourage support for the status quo and often a nostalgia for the past. Similarly, sport-related values and contexts are frequently related to social structural locations as well as traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations and may influence views about the appropriateness of kids playing tackle football (Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Messner, 2002; Knoester and Davis 2021; Semuels 2019). A basic depiction of our conceptualization is presented in Figure 1.Figure 1.Conceptualization of factors that lead to beliefs about the appropriateness of kids playing tackle football.…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Despite the fact that almost all children who play football will never play professionally, cultural beliefs in the meritocratic nature of sport result in football being viewed by many as a means for socioeconomic mobility (Allison et al 2018; Macaulay, Cooper, and Dougherty 2019; Tompsett and Knoester 2021). Who does and does not see football this way and whether or not these beliefs manifest in support of youth football seem to be linked to social structural locations involving race/ethnicity, class, and education (Allison et al 2018; Knoester and Davis 2021; Semuels 2019).…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Unlike rugby or hockey, which are most often associated with other countries, football is a sport created by—and overwhelmingly played by—Americans. Football as a socially constructed, routinized tradition in the lives of individuals and within U.S. culture results in many individuals suggesting that it has a special ability to develop values deemed central and necessary for being a good American (man), such as toughness, grit, courage, resilience, and love of country (Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Allison and Knoester 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Overall, we advance research by utilizing: (a) new, large-scale national data that offer unique information about public opinion regarding kids playing tackle football and the factors that shape these beliefs, (b) appropriate theorizing that speaks to the socially constructed nature of football by emphasizing the relevance of adults’ social contexts, life histories, and ideologies in shaping their beliefs, and (c) multiple regression analyses that allow for more rigorous examinations of how adults’ social structural locations, traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations, and sport-related values and contexts—with an emphasis on football experiences—matter, compared to previous research (The Aspen Institute 2018; Berger and Luckmann 1966; Dyck 2017; Knoester and Allison 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021). With this information, more informed decisions can be made about how to address extant preferences for youth football access and the ongoing football experiences that exist, how to anticipate changes in youth football preferences and what that means for the supply and demand of youth football, and how to better advocate for changes in the offerings of youth football (e.g., who and where to focus upon) if changes are thought to be needed.…”
Football plays a prominent role in American culture. Yet, youth tackle football has become particularly controversial because of the mixture of benefits and health risks that it offers. Using National Sports and Society Survey ( N = 3993) data, this study analyzes public opinion about the appropriateness of children playing tackle football. In the process, we examine how adults’ social structural locations, traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations, and sport-related values and contexts, including football-related interactions and experiences, are associated with beliefs about the appropriateness of youth tackle football. We find that the issue is quite contested. Several prominent social structural locations (e.g., identifying as male, heterosexual) and traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations encourage support for football. Support is also elevated among those (e.g., non-White, poorer, and less educated adults) who may be most apt to view football as a means for social mobility and as relatively meritocratic. Finally, beliefs in the value of sport and immersions within football cultures and interactions seem to enhance support for children playing tackle football. Overall, our results indicate that there is substantial disagreement about the appropriateness of youth tackle football and that social forces are important in justifying and problematizing the (re)construction of it.
“…First, support for football is thought to be linked to satisfaction with traditional American values and power structures and often emerges because of football’s associations with American traditions, the maintenance of the status quo of social relations, and expressions of hegemonic masculinity (Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Semuels 2019). Second, support for particularly youth tackle football appears to be connected to viewing football opportunities and training as an important source of social status, socioeconomic mobility, and as a relatively meritocratic means through which especially lower SES and racial/ethnic minority individuals can become successful within traditional American power structures (Allison, Davis, and Barranco 2018; Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Semuels 2019; Tompsett and Knoester 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021). Finally, especially intense and meaningful football-related interactions are expected to encourage more support for kids playing tackle football.…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations are often extensions of social structural locations and encourage support for the status quo and often a nostalgia for the past. Similarly, sport-related values and contexts are frequently related to social structural locations as well as traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations and may influence views about the appropriateness of kids playing tackle football (Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Messner, 2002; Knoester and Davis 2021; Semuels 2019). A basic depiction of our conceptualization is presented in Figure 1.Figure 1.Conceptualization of factors that lead to beliefs about the appropriateness of kids playing tackle football.…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Despite the fact that almost all children who play football will never play professionally, cultural beliefs in the meritocratic nature of sport result in football being viewed by many as a means for socioeconomic mobility (Allison et al 2018; Macaulay, Cooper, and Dougherty 2019; Tompsett and Knoester 2021). Who does and does not see football this way and whether or not these beliefs manifest in support of youth football seem to be linked to social structural locations involving race/ethnicity, class, and education (Allison et al 2018; Knoester and Davis 2021; Semuels 2019).…”
Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Unlike rugby or hockey, which are most often associated with other countries, football is a sport created by—and overwhelmingly played by—Americans. Football as a socially constructed, routinized tradition in the lives of individuals and within U.S. culture results in many individuals suggesting that it has a special ability to develop values deemed central and necessary for being a good American (man), such as toughness, grit, courage, resilience, and love of country (Bachynski 2019; Foley 1990; Hruby 2016; Allison and Knoester 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Overall, we advance research by utilizing: (a) new, large-scale national data that offer unique information about public opinion regarding kids playing tackle football and the factors that shape these beliefs, (b) appropriate theorizing that speaks to the socially constructed nature of football by emphasizing the relevance of adults’ social contexts, life histories, and ideologies in shaping their beliefs, and (c) multiple regression analyses that allow for more rigorous examinations of how adults’ social structural locations, traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations, and sport-related values and contexts—with an emphasis on football experiences—matter, compared to previous research (The Aspen Institute 2018; Berger and Luckmann 1966; Dyck 2017; Knoester and Allison 2021; Knoester and Davis 2021). With this information, more informed decisions can be made about how to address extant preferences for youth football access and the ongoing football experiences that exist, how to anticipate changes in youth football preferences and what that means for the supply and demand of youth football, and how to better advocate for changes in the offerings of youth football (e.g., who and where to focus upon) if changes are thought to be needed.…”
Football plays a prominent role in American culture. Yet, youth tackle football has become particularly controversial because of the mixture of benefits and health risks that it offers. Using National Sports and Society Survey ( N = 3993) data, this study analyzes public opinion about the appropriateness of children playing tackle football. In the process, we examine how adults’ social structural locations, traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations, and sport-related values and contexts, including football-related interactions and experiences, are associated with beliefs about the appropriateness of youth tackle football. We find that the issue is quite contested. Several prominent social structural locations (e.g., identifying as male, heterosexual) and traditionalist ideologies and group affiliations encourage support for football. Support is also elevated among those (e.g., non-White, poorer, and less educated adults) who may be most apt to view football as a means for social mobility and as relatively meritocratic. Finally, beliefs in the value of sport and immersions within football cultures and interactions seem to enhance support for children playing tackle football. Overall, our results indicate that there is substantial disagreement about the appropriateness of youth tackle football and that social forces are important in justifying and problematizing the (re)construction of it.
The Invictus Games is an international sporting competition involving military veterans who have become either wounded, injured or sick during their service. Having become a prominent event in the public sphere of participating nations that are drawn from Western security alliances, this article outlines results from a thematic analysis of Australian media surrounding the 2018 Sydney Games. While reporting of the Games included the use of cultural frames that reflect traditional symbolic relationships between sport and war, the data reveal new military–civilian discourses drawn from identity politics and focused on cultural recognition. These discourses emerge through the Invictus Games by (1) disability providing a cultural basis to demand greater respect for contemporary veterans and military service; and (2) empowerment narratives of rehabilitation being symbolically connected to participants’ reengagement with their former military identity. Institutional problems central to rising political activism amongst contemporary veterans did not feature in the media coverage. It is argued that the Invictus Games illustrates the need for sociology to conceive of militarization in more multidimensional ways, appreciating both the prominence of a civilian–military gap in contemporary culture and how various social actors in Defense utilize post-heroic narratives in seeking to redress this cultural divide.
The emergence of an unprecedented wave of race-based athletic activism in the last decade presents the opportunity to formulate a more critical, cultural theory of the significance and socio-political function of sport in contemporary life. We begin by centering athlete agency and highlighting the distinctive performative, communicative, and symbolic opportunities that sport affords. However, athletic activism and social messaging are also structured—and their impacts shaped—by a range of contextual factors and institutional forces as well as sport’s own unique cultural status and ideological claims. We catalog these constraints to capture the larger cultural field of sport as a site of racial commentary and contestation. Situating this multifaceted field of protest and response in its larger social, cultural, and media contexts leads us to argue that sport presents a vehicle not only for the performance of protest (as existing theory might have it), but for the representation and dramatization of social contestation, struggle, and change more generally. The lessons and broader implications of this synthesis are discussed in the conclusion.
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