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158 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

Their objective is to discover the optimal organizations, sports competitions provide
levels of cooperation and competition in an opportunity to go beyond nationalisms
order to maximize a group’s performance. to promote international cooperation and
Yet sociologists of sport have shown little conflict regulation. Indeed, some examples
interest in this type of approach, preferring to of sport affecting armed conflict exist. For
focus on various forms of cooperation, both example, for a few days at the beginning of
those among members of a team and those September 2005, the Ivory Coast seemed to
with opponents (which G. Lüschen, 1970, forget the war – the separation of the north of
has designated by the term ‘association’). the country, in the hands of rebel forces, and
This brief discussion of the meanings of the south, held by the government, and the
these concepts within the sociology of rumours of military coups-d’état – because
sport shows that they are not necessarily con- of the last phase of the qualifying process for
tradictory and that they cannot be defined the 2006 World Cup in football. Of course,
unequivocally (with, for instance, internal the effects of this truce were very short-lived;
conflict and competition defined as nega- the fighting was subsequently taken up
tives, and internal cooperation and external again.
competition as positives). We can also see Despite the existence of these beliefs in an
from this that competition is a fundamental (Olympic) sporting truce and the existence
element of sports culture. Consequently, of a functionalist approach, however, sport
we shall structure our discussion around and competition have most often reinforced
competition, while examining how conflict established divisions. The role of sport in the
and cooperation have also been taken into construction of nationalisms, the develop-
consideration. ment of conflicts and violence, as well as in
sexism, has, of course, inspired distrust and
has been subjected to criticism by sociolo-
gists of sport. The contradictions between
COMPETITION AND CONFLICT IN THE official discourses on sports, which like
SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT to insist on the educational outcomes of
competitive sport (good health, lessons in
Although earlier research into these ques- fair play, equality, etc.), and the darker reali-
tions exists, such as the work of J. Strutt ties (inequality of access to sports, health
(1801) in the area of sports history, or that of problems among athletes, widespread
T. Veblen (1970 [1899]) on the intersection doping, organized cheating in competitions,
of economics and the sociology of sport and ties to the mafia, the role of sport in reinforc-
leisure; the sociology of sport only came into ing nationalism, etc.) were quickly picked up
its own as a speciality in the 1960s. Initially on, particularly in Marxist-inspired analyses.
it was not a uniform field; instead it was char- Such analyses of sport were more prevalent
acterized by a great variety of approaches. during the 1970s and early 1980s than they
Analyses at the time were often informed by are at present. Sociologists and other sports
functionalism, treating competition in sport analysts felt they should concern themselves
as making a positive contribution to social- with the power wielded by sports organiza-
ization. The idea was to show that sport, tions, the media and big business. Their argu-
particularly through competition, offered a ment was intended to demonstrate that sports
way to prepare for social life. culture, and the spectacle offered by compet-
In fact, international sports activities have itive sport in particular, constituted, as part of
generally been viewed as a means of integra- mass culture, an instrument of indoctrina-
tion, of rapprochement between communities tion. In the transformations which the culture
and of the prevention of conflict (Maguire, of sport has undergone, these researchers
1999). For the majority of media and sports perceived a dependence on and a submission