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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) Keywords
Exercise 1:
Provide a brief definition of one of the padlet keywords for this week.
| Third age: Third age is when people stop working, and any children that they did have are not living at home anymore. At this point in peoples lives they get a lot of free time to do what they want, as they probably just recently retired. |
B) The Social Significance of Aging in Sport
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
How is old age popularly represented today? Find an image online that you think exemplifies one defining attitude towards old age and paste in your notebook below with a brief explanation of what this image means to you.
| I think today, old age is represented by doing nothing. I think it is represented as retiring, and not doing much. I think over the years, people have begun to stop exercising and taking care of themselves like people, especially old age people used to. Here is an image online that I think exemplifies this
. This image to me, is what I feel old age is represented as in today’s world. Although this is good in moderation, I don’t think sitting on the couch all the time is overly good for people that are ageing. |
Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
What does the article (referencing another study by Dionigi) mean by its statement that sport can help aging people to simultaneously “accept and resist the ageing process” (572)? Respond by audio or text and find paste two images sourced online into your notebook showing how sport might help aging people to both accept and resist the aging process.
| I think in this statement, the article is meaning that people growing into old age can accept the ageing process by knowing they are being healthy and also resisting the ageing process at the same time. By participating In sport, people can resist the ageing process as long as they can, while also accepting that they are growing older, and may not be as athletic as they used to be. Here are two pictures that show how sport may help to resist and accept the process of ageing.
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Exercise 4: Notebook Prompt
Who are the groups less likely to have extensive opportunities to take part in sports, according to Pike? How does privilege factor into aging and sport? (200 words max)
| The groups that are less likely to have extensive opportunities to take part in sports, according to Pike is those with disabilities, frail people, ethnic minority groups, and also people living in rural areas or in care homes. Privilege plays a factor into aging and sport because some people may not have the same opportunities as others, as mentioned above. The article says that mostly all of the sociological research done on this has been done on middle class, white people. Therefore, we do not know how other races, and classes are affected by ageing and sport, or if they even have the privilege to play sport if they wanted to.
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Exercise 5: Padlet Discussion
Why do you think age discrimination is “reported more than any form of prejudice” with older people presented as a threat to social values and interests? Feel welcome to use video in your responses. Paste your comments (or transcript of your video) below!
| I think age discrimination is reported more than any form of prejudice because of how our world works these days. Beauty standards are becoming more intense, and I think that people align growing old with becoming less beautiful. I also think that people see older people and think that they lack knowledge on how to do new things, such as use technology, or learn something that has just recently become popular. I think it is showing to be a threat to social values and interests because many people see older generations as people that are just in the way, and too far in the past.
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B) Older Women and Sport
Exercise 6: Notebook Prompt
What differences do you see in these ads? Which one is more inclusive? How is age represented or not represented in each? Answer these questions in your notebook.
| In the first ad (You Can’t Stop us), both men and women were involved, but in the second ad (This Girl Can), just women were involved. In the “You Can’t Stop Us” ad, it was much more intense than the other, showing very highly trained and professional athletes, whereas the other one seemed much more real. I think the second ad was much more inclusive to women, as it included women with disabilities, women with children, and women having period symptoms. The first advertisement only represents young generations of people, whereas the second one shows many different ages of women. In conclusion, I think the “This Girl Can” advertisement is more inclusive in each area of this question.
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Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
In her article, “Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability,” Elizabeth Pike references a “trend towards a ‘feminisation of ageing’, with many women living longer than men” (573). Do you agree that aging has been “feminized” in this way? How? Answer these questions in your notebook.
| Yes, I agree that aging has been feminized in a way. I think this because of factors including standards to stay looking youthful, and continue taking care of the people that they need to. I think that women are often given a hard time if they age too fast, or look too old. So, in attempt to continue staying youthful, I believe that it leads women to make an effort to live a healthier and longer life than men do. |
Section Three: Module Mini Assignment
| 1)
In the last few years, pickleball has become increasingly more popular, especially for the older generations. Along with the upbringing up the sport trend, there has been a lot of depictions, critiques and discussions surrounding the topic. There is a proposal for more than a dozen pickleball courts to be paved in Peterborough, and there has been a lot of backlash on the idea. A main topic of debate is taking away all of the grass in the park that is used daily by many people, and pave over it all. This takes away from many peoples daily enjoyment, and also the environmental benefits of a large area of grass (Anselmi, 2024). In addition, many sources say that the sound of pickleball can become very annoying, possibly disturbing people who live near these courts (Welcome to the Pickleball Backlash, n.d.). Another large issue that people are having with pickleball, is that tennis courts are being destroyed, in order to accommodate pickleball players. Whether that is different nets being put up, or new lines being drawn, tennis players are being affected by all of the new changes (Dulik, 2022). . 2) In many different articles, it is mentioned that your grandma, or a grandma you know probably plays and talks about pickleball very often. In my opinion, I do not think that the older generations are represented fairly in social media discussions on the issue. In Elizabeth Pike’s article, she mentions that older generations are oftentimes stereotyped for being uncompetitive and unskilled when it comes to playing sports (Pike, 2015). I think that because of this stereotype, society thinks that older generations do not deserve the amount of press/popularity that pickleball is receiving. Like mentioned above, people talk about how annoying and obnoxious the sound of pickleball can be, but you rarely see people talk about how annoying the sound of people playing basketball is. Coincidence or not… the majority generation that plays basketball would probably be young people. So, is ageism a factor in these representations of pickleball? I think that ageism is definitely a factor in these representations. I think that older generations are often not taken seriously when they are interested in participating in sports, and that they are seen as a nuisance to society for playing a sport that has become popular enough that there is a need for more courts. This brings us to the neoliberal agenda around aging at work. Pike mentions that sociologists need to critique the aging body on what is appropriate and inappropriate activity, while not giving into the neoliberal agenda (Pike, 2015). I can see a neoliberal agenda in many articles about pickleball, as they all speak about how the sport affects old age bodies, but most importantly, the economy. Whether it is about paving over grass, creating pavement for hotter temperatures, or even how loud the ball is, most of society does not agree with the progression of the sport.
Anselmi, E. (2024, April 8). Is a Park Still a Park if it’s Paved? The Narwhal. https://thenarwhal.ca/opinion-peterborough-pickleball-paves-park/ Dulik, C. (2022, July 27). Pickleball Is Booming. Not Everyone Is Happy About That. GQ. https://www.gq.com/story/why-everyone-hates-pickleball Pike, E. C. (2015). Assessing the sociology of sport: On age and ability. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 50(4-5), 570-574. https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.trentu.ca/10.1177/1012690214550009 (Original work published 2015) Welcome to the Pickleball Backlash. (n.d.). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/04/welcome-to-the-pickleball-backlash-noise-pollution-broken-bones-and-a-tennis-turf-war |
