After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Identify the conditions under which commercial sports emerge and grow in a society.
Explain how class relations are related to the growth of commercial sports in societies and around the world today.
Identify economic and ideological reasons why sports have become so popular in society today.
Explain how the corporate branding of sports is related to the establishment of ideological outposts around the world today.
Identify the impact of branding on the Paralympic movement over the past two decades.
Explain how commercialization affects the rules, culture, and organization of sports.
Distinguish differences between aesthetic orientations and heroic orientations, and explain how these orientations are influenced by the commercialization of sports.
Discuss the promotional culture of professional wrestling, identify how this culture is related to commercialization processes that occur in other sports, and explain when it might fail to be a commercial success.
Explain how the owners and sponsors of commercial sports have benefited from their ability to establish cartels, monopolies, and monopsonies within the business of sports.
Identify the major forms of public assistance received by professional sport franchises and leagues in the United States.
Identify the major sources of income for the owners of professional sport teams.
Identify differences in the legal status of professional and amateur athletes in both individual and team sports.
Identify patterns in the income received by professional and amateur sports, and explain why the range of incomes received by athletes is so great today.
Chapter 12:
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Identify the major forms of the media, what they provide to people, and the influence of commercial forces on media content.
Discuss how the new media, including the Internet, change spectator experiences, and what many people find attractive about playing sport video games and virtual sports.
Identify factors that influence the images and narratives represented in the media.
Discuss how sports and the media depend on each other for commercial success.
Critically assess the notion that the media have corrupted sports.
Identify major trends in televised sports and media rights fees.
Identify the ways that economics and ideology influence the relationship between sports and the media around the world.
Explain why corporations that sell alcohol, tobacco, soft drinks, confectionary products (candy), and fast food are likely to sponsor sports in the media.
Identify ideological themes around which the media coverage of sports is constructed.
Describe the ways that media images and narratives have been used to represent disability sports and athletes with disabilities.
Describe the major differences in the ways that men and women and blacks and whites are represented in media images and narratives.
Explain what is meant when sociologists say that media organizations are gendered.
Provide examples of how the media overlook whiteness in the coverage of sports today.
Discuss research findings on audience experiences and the media impact on sport-related behaviors, such as active participation, game attendance, and gambling.
Identify the factors that influence relationships between sports journalists and athletes today.
Distinguish between the characteristics of the role of sports announcer in television and radio and sportswriters in newspapers, magazines, and the Internet.
Chapter 13:
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Explain the differences between politics and government and between power and authority.
Identify reasons why governments become involved in sports.
Provide examples of government intervention that has influenced who participates in sports under what conditions.
Provide examples of how government intervention in sports protects the rights and safety of athletes and nonathletes alike.
Provide examples of how government intervention in sports may benefit some people more than others.
Identify the traditional ideals associated with international sports, and discuss those ideals in terms of the realities of international sports.
Critically discuss why the Olympic Games are important international events, and whether the changes suggested by the author are needed to control nationalism and commercialism in the Olympic Games.
Explain the connections between cultural ideology and the sponsorship of sports by nation-states and transnational corporations.
Identify the issues associated with athletes as global migrant workers.
Identify the issues associated with the production of sport equipment and apparel around the world.
Give examples of politics in sports, and explain why politics will always be a part of sports.
Chapter 14:
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Identify and critically discuss the arguments for and against interscholastic sports.
Discuss what research tells us about the experiences of student-athletes in high schools, and explain why it is difficult to do research on the consequences of playing varsity sports.
Discuss the ways that varsity sports and sport participation influence student culture and the overall social organization of high schools in the United States.
Explain the conditions under which interscholastic sports may be valuable in high schools and in the lives of students who play sports.
Identify differences between playing in big-time intercollegiate sports and playing in intercollegiate sports that are less visible and lower profile.
Discuss what research tells us about the experiences of intercollegiate athletes and how participation in intercollegiate sports is related to grades and graduation rates.
Identify the major reforms that have been made in intercollegiate sports, and explain the purpose and effectiveness of those reforms.
Use research to critically assess popular ideas about the benefits of varsity sports in high schools and colleges.
Identify major problems associated with high school sports, and critically discuss the author's recommendations for dealing with them.
Describe the status of disability sports in high schools and colleges today, and identify creative ways to develop and maintain "paravarsity" teams in high schools and colleges.
Identify major problems associated with intercollegiate sports, and critically discuss the author's recommendations for dealing them.
Discuss why some black athletes have become socially isolated on major campuses where most of the student body comes from white, upper middle class households.