Page 185 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

9781412934633-Chap-11 1/10/09 8:47 AM Page 156

156 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

sports organizations (CIO, FIFA, NBA, etc.) keyword, while conflict and cooperation
are all closely linked to competition. each receive six mentions (Ohl, 2000b). If
A number of studies (Elias and Dunning, the numbers seem small, the fact is that other
1986; Veyne, 1987) have shown that modern themes (women, 66 mentions, socio-cultural
sports competitions are characterized by the factors, 52, etc.) also contain analyses in
quest for records and for ever-higher levels of which conflict, cooperation and, especially,
performance. This veritable ‘cult of perform- competition are treated without being refer-
ance’ (Ehrenberg, 1991) owes its success to enced as keywords.
the fact that sporting competition embodies a A more qualitative examination of schol-
democratic ideal. Everyone, whatever their arly work shows that references to conflict in
origin or status, is encouraged to surpass sport follow two main patterns. On the one
themselves, to flirt with limits and to reinvent hand, the notion of conflict is associated with
themselves with a new social identity. Given those of confrontation and violence in sport.
competition’s central role, it is hardly sur- Hooliganism, violence on the field and
prising that, among the keywords in the pub- inflicted injuries and pain are the subject of
lications studied (395 articles drawn from the numerous studies. On the other hand, and
3
Sociological Abstracts database), it is cited more obviously, conflict is considered in terms
far more often than ‘conflict’ or ‘cooperation’ of class conflict. In this perspective, sport is
(see Figure 11.1). This is not to say that seen as a locus for the expression and reaffir-
what is at stake in these publications is a sys- mation of social class. In both cases, two dom-
tematic analysis of competition and its inant attitudes influence the analyses. The first
significance. Competition is, as it were, a is characterized by a positive, even laudatory,
contingency, whose role is as the benchmark perception of sport. This position leads to the
of sporting activity. As such, it receives proposition that sport constitutes a special
extensive treatment in the media. Whether space, which is relatively free from class
one is comparing the media treatment of conflict and societal violence. In this concep-
men’s and women’s sports, or engaging with tion, sport is a neutral, even apolitical, field;
the question of doping, or the iconic figures and it is necessary to struggle against those
of sports heroism, competition invariably evils, supposedly ‘external’, that threaten it.
constitutes the backdrop. Studies of the phe- The second position is articulated around two
nomenon of competition itself and of the types of criticism of sport: on the one hand,
consequences of its use as a social model are that it constitutes a praxis in which symbolic
rarer. The analysis of a sample of articles violence is expressed and which naturalizes
(483) taken from the three main journals class differences (Bourdieu, 1980), and, on
4
of sports sociology both confirms these the other hand, that sport constitutes an instru-
tendencies and makes them more complex. ment of state ideology serving capitalism and
Competition is mentioned nine times as a totalitarian ideologies (Brohm, 1976).

48; 12%

211; 54%
136; 34%

Competition Conflict Cooperation

Figure 11.1 Distribution of articles concerning conflict, cooperation and competition.