Page 193 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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164 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

A sustained involvement in sport led to a partners, on both sides of the net, is essential.
significant drop in encouragement and to an Both must produce a ‘good’ game if it is to
increase in denigration: beginners are more be an enjoyable one. Cooperation cannot be
cooperative than experienced players (Duret, limited to the activities of members of a team
1993: 111). Furthermore, and contrary to who are cooperating in the production of a
accepted stereotypes, in this study, girls were performance. There is also ‘antagonistic
no more generous and altruistic than boys. cooperation’ which Lüschen (1970) calls
Still, physical performance is also a social ‘association’. The very different approach
performance that is predicated on quite taken by Bourdieu (1980) offers a comple-
extensive cooperation. For a competition to mentary analysis of cooperation on the basis
take place, there has to be a minimal level of of the properties of fields and the logics that
agreement about the values of the game, the structure the field of sports. His notions of
intrinsic interest of taking part in the sport, ‘habitus’ and field have been used to observe
its rules, how a winner is decided, how the social rivalries outside sport, which are
plays are judged, etc. Relations between expressed through the culture of sport.
participants can never simply be reduced to Several works (Pociello, 1981) have shown
conflicts. Sports enthusiasts cooperate to that conflicts over the definition of sporting
produce emotion, to create interesting games, practices reflect the various social positions
to break a record, and so forth. Sport is even of protagonists or masculine domination
used as a model of cooperation. To be con- (Laberge, 1995). However, within each field,
vinced of this, one need only consider how including that of sport, protagonists cooper-
frequently advertisements deploy images of ate and share the fundamental values of the
sportsmen and women, or the use of sport in field. Within sport, there are shared beliefs
human resources management in business and agreements about the interest and value
and industry. The work of N. Elias and of sport, all of which both make possible and
E. Dunning (1986) has contributed to the analy- structure cooperation and competition on the
sis of cooperative acts by showing that one one hand, and reduce the potential impact of
could not set cooperation in opposition to conflict on the other (the game itself is very
tension between groups. These two notions rarely questioned in institutional contexts,
are very closely linked, and neither would be but the rules are often negotiated in self-
the same without the other. There is thus a organized praxes).
basic polarity in sports between cooperation Research has also shown that teams and
and tension between two teams; cooperation the media, as well as spectators, cooperate to
and competition also exist within each produce the sporting performance. If such
team, and it would be a mistake to oppose spectacles have achieved their present popu-
these processes (Coakley and Dunning, 2000: larity, it is because these actors, drawn from
16). Cooperation is present in most social different fields, all cooperate in their produc-
interactions, and sport is but one particular tion. This is particularly true of agents in the
form of interaction. International sporting fields of media, business and politics who
competitions are especially suited to a stag- cooperate to produce large-scale sporting
ing of cooperation through a kind of ‘dra- events and who, thus, make up the media
maturgical cooperation’ (Goffman, 1959) complex of sport (Rowe, 1999).
intended for an audience of fans or spectators Sport depends on economic, political and
who expect to receive from their team a pos- social configurations, but it is also the active
itive image and a celebration of the values of production of meaning by individuals and
being part of a shared community. groups (Hargreaves and McDonald, 2002:
Cooperation is also a requisite for playing 52). Individuals also cooperate within sport-
games, whether they are competitive or not. ing groups to challenge dominant sporting
In tennis, for example, cooperation between cultures, to create new sports or to renew the