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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) What do we know about sport? What are common assumptions we make about sport and society?
Sport builds character
Sport provides opportunities for social mobility
Sport encourages teamwork and unity
Sport reflects values and social norms
Sport transcends politics
Sport speaks a universal language
Sport is a measure of individual merit
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I am a huge believer that sports promote teamwork and unity. Growing up I played all different sports from football to hockey to baseball and everything in between. In terms of teamwork I believe football was the biggest example of promoting teamwork since there’s 12 players on the field at all times and if all 12 guys are not on the same page they won’t be able to achieve success. On top of that, with the aggressive nature of football if someone doesn’t do their job, for example missing a blocking assignment, then one of their teammates can get seriously hurt. So you need to be able to rely on your teammates in order to succeed and this is why it builds teamwork. Also, a few years ago when I moved to the States to play hockey, I had no family or friends down there other than my teammates. Pretty much the whole team was like that since we all came from different parts of the world. This built a unity between all of us because we were all we had. This is why I truly believe sport builds both teamwork and unity.
This might be untrue for some people though because growing up a lot of players have individual goals. For example, a player on your team might be trying to impress scouts from another team so they can go play there instead. So to impress the scouts they just try to do everything themselves and are not worried about the teams success as long as they look good. This is most common in youth sports because it is sometimes hard to get a 13 year old kid to be a team player when all they want to do is score goals. This is what leads to kids not learning the value of teamwork or going against it since they see others doing it. |
Exercise 3: Notebook prompt
What are some other metanarratives about sport that you are familiar with? Find an image or video clip or draw something yourself that captures this idea…
So what? Why does any of this matter? Does it matter? As something we grow up with – live with – play through – we don’t often interrogate the meanings of sport, and perhaps we don’t want to.
But being aware of these assumptions and metanarratives is especially important, I would argue, because of the centrality of sport to our everyday lives, the role that sport plays in shaping our childhood and worldviews and….. [finish that thought]
| how we value ourselves as people. Sports teach us that hard work pays off and puts a huge onus on winning and losing. So, we learn those habits from sports which lead us to devaluing ourselves if we don’t succeed in what we are doing. It can even frustrate people if they believe they are not seeing the results they expect based on the work they put in.
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B) What is social justice?
Exercise 4: Padlet Prompt
Think back to the last section and try to look at some of the ideas we discussed differently. How might sport and social justice actually co-exist?
Record any images, video clips, or gifs you added to the padlet and identify a point of intersection between sport and social justice (can be an issue or a barrier or a debate or something you would like to explore in more depth in this course) . Screenshot or paste in your response below.
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I believe sports and social justice intersect when it comes to the economic side of access and opportunity. Playing hockey growing up and now coaching it, I have seen both sides whether it’s being the player and hockey is extremely expensive or being the coach where you have to charge the players and your trying to make money. Even from a young age hockey truly is a business, AAA coaches in the GTHL are getting paid up to $40,000 a team plus other incentives like a bad players father taking the coach golfing or sponsoring the team money so that they can get their kid on the team. Not only does playing rep hockey cost anywhere from 10-20 grand these days, but the additional training that alot of high level players are doing can double that cost. Without playing rep hockey or doing that extra training, it would be practically impossible for any kid to compete at the highest level. So realistically there is not really a fair and equal chance for everyone playing hockey here in Toronto, because if you can’t afford to pay for high level coaching, high level extra training, and the expenses of playing on a competitive team, then you don’t have the access or opportunity to compete with the kids that are.
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C) Social Justice Reading
Across
One of three principles of social justice: Welfare
A central principle of social justice that means “giving people what is due to them” a fair share: Distributive
Sport may contribute to social justice through promoting _________, education, employment…”: Health
A major philosopher of social justice.: Rawls
Down
An often unintended consequence of speaking of or about individuals and groups “experiencing inequality, marginalisation, and/or oppression”: Othering
Rawls felt that each person should have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic ___________: Liberties
Social justice involves both the burdens and benefits of membership in society: Benefits
D) KINESIOLOGY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Exercise 5:
Social justice is a difficult concept to identify because of its:
- potential for dilution because of multitude of definitions
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it is a process as well as a goal
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conflation with other concerns like multicultural education, critical pedagogy, postmodernism, post colonialism, and queer theory
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dynamic nature and meaning
How does mainstream discourse construct marginalized populations as “being-at-risk” for health and fitness issues?
- It suggests they lack the capacity for self-compliance in health and physical education.
- It suggests they lack the capacity for self-discipline.
- It suggests they lack the capacity for self-management skills.
According to the authors of this article, by making health and fitness a matter of personal
Exercise 6:
What are the implications of bodies-at-risk discourse and the refusal to understand the health gap from a social justice perspective, according to the authors of this article?
| The bodies at risk in this health gap are marginalized groups. For example there is a huge disparity between the White middle and upper class compared to ethnic minority groups and people in poverty. The reason for this is because with the neoliberal logic health is a commodity that is dependent on personalized choices making each individual responsible for their own health. This leaves people who can’t afford good living conditions, healthy food, or other luxuries like gym memberships and work equipment at a disadvantage. These are the bodies-at-risk that are often considered the “problem” population. The inability for people to afford the things or help they need to be healthy is very severe and causes implications such as young individuals who were not able to receive early help being diagnosed and developing more chronic conditions. This happens to both minority ethnic groups and disabled people’s who’s healthcare often becomes very expensive.
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Section Two: Sport Feminism
Exercise 7: Notebook Prompt
What is feminism? What does it mean to you? Choose one of the images below and explain how it captures your understanding of feminism (or find one that does speak to you and paste this into your pressbook with an explanation of why it matters to you.
| Feminism to me is standing up for females and allowing them to be the strong independent women that they are. This means they are able to do all the things men can do and are given the same rights and treatment as men. For example a long time ago females were not allowed to vote and the movement to allow them to do that was feminism, which is good. To me it’s pretty much just standing up for rights women deserve.
The image that stands out to me is the woman flexing her bicep and the text says “WE CAN DO IT”. This image captures my understanding of feminism because it shows a strong woman, on her own. There’s not a man there standing up for her or backing her up. It’s just her being strong saying that she can do anything. She’s willing to fight for what’s hers and that is what feminism is to me.
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Exercise 8: Notes Prompt (optional)
NB: Cornell notes is a great resource that teaches effective notetaking. Unfortunately, our system can’t save notes taken in the H5P app, so this is fully optional.
Exercise 9: Crossword Activity
ACROSS
One of the central theories of gender developed by poststructuralist feminist philosopher, Judith Butler: Performativity
One of the aspects of radical feminist thought that is regularly criticized: Essentialism
What word do the authors use to describe dominant sociological approaches to sport (from a gendered perspective): Malestream
First name of major Black woman tennis star: Serena
Identified by the authors as a central concern of postcolonial theorizing about identity: Fluidity
Radical feminists argue that “women’s involvement in sport is controlled and restricted through their clothing” and the expectation they will present this kind of image: Heterosexy
This is seen as the result of taking whiteness as a taken-for-granted central position that relegates blackness to “otherness”: Invisibility
The last name of a prominent radical feminist named in the article: Rich
DOWN
Differences in female sports participation is a product of this practice: Socialization
Also a concern of liberal feminist sport research in respect to decision-making and leadership positions: Underrepresentation
This is seen as the main focus of liberal feminism: Reform
A central concern of both Marxist and socialist feminism: Capitalism
One of the criticisms leveled against poststructural and queer theory for tendencies to emphasize “difference and thus los[e] the notion of women’s shared experiences in relation to gender”: Relativism
Exercise 10: Padlet Prompt
| Feminism
Intersectionality Stereotypes Systemic Representation Equality Equity Gender Sports Diversity Justice Opportunity Patriarchy Radical
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