• focus on the topic of the global spread of sports (and sports professionals)
• individual participation is another totally different topic
• as is now, it’s uncertain what’s the connection with the Flint case
• next steps: build a bibliography list AND decide if you want to include Flint, and if you do, how to do it…

The Proposal

There are numerous sociological approaches that can be used when examining issues of global sports.  The analysis can be based on a certain sport, a nation and its involvement on the global scale, or how individuals (or groups of individuals) move globally with sports as a driving force.  Additionally, sports can take place at a recreational, professional, or amateur level.  With all these potential lenses to view sports globally, it is imperative to review the literature for connections and gaps to assist in determining potential areas for future research.

In this article, I will provide an overview of specific approaches used within the sociological study of global sports issues.  First, I will review the work of Kaufman & Patterson (2005) who examine the global spread of cricket.  The authors begin with the premise that cricket, an English sport with cultural tradition, has spread to several but not all countries with close cultural ties to England.  The authors base their explanation on two key factors of varying degree: “(i) elites chose either to appropriate the game and deter others from participating or actively to promote it throughout the population for hegemonic purposes; (ii) the game was ‘popularized’ by cultural entrepreneurs looking to get and keep spectators and athletes interested in the sport.”  Second, I will review the cultural insignificance of American football in Europe even though so many other elements of American culture have become popular there.  Van Bottenburg (2003) argues that “that this anomaly can be explained by a sociohistorical perspective on the differential popularization of sports and the changing social structure in which sports are being diffused.”  Both articles look closely at the cultural spread of specific sports across the globe.  In what follows, I will analyze both successful and unsuccessful introductions of certain sports to areas of the globe that had not yet become acquainted with them.

The Beginning of Constructing Research (The Set Up)

Perspectives of Sports on a Global Scale

Sports provide a valid set of instances that can be examined sociologically and appropriately on both the local and global scale.  Miller et. al. (1999) argue that “the sport experience, which links nationalism, public policy, the media, and contemporary cultural industrialization, must be considered in wider deliberations on globalization.”  The authors base their work of the principles of Latour (1993) that “the words ‘local’ and ‘global’ offer points of view on networks that are by nature neither local nor global, but are more or less long and more or less connected” (Latour 1993).  As nation-states and blocs can be discussed as levels of scale, it is amazing to consider a small soccer field as representative of a conglomerate of sociological issues ranging from local to global.  Or, the points of connection can be analyzed as more or less connected.  The points of connection under analysis are left up to the researcher (fans, athletes, leagues, owners, etc.).

Reasons Why Individuals Choose to Participate in Sports

Much research has been done to cover many aspects of the driving forces behind sports participation.  Sofranko & Nolan (2009) examined how early life experiences with hunting and fishing affected participation during adulthood.  The authors’ work begins with the premise that “much of what occurs in adult life stems from participation in social forms and institutions during childhood and from the transmission of values and attitudes of parents and other groups in which individuals are members” (Broom and Selznick, 1970).  The authors’ research is limited to hunting and fishing and the area of Pennsylvania.  Hunting and fishing can be studied in Pennsylvania with reasons of participation as small in scope as the connection between generations (father and son).  Fishing is not a complicated act and has roots back to an antique era when humans were primitive (Bettinger, 1991).  The choice to participate in a sport as complex as cricket is much deeper.  Although soccer may date back to 1500 BC (Giulianotti, 1999), kicking a ball does not put nutrients in a person’s stomach.  Therefore, it is necessary to study games like soccer and cricket differently from hunting and fishing.

Reasons for participation in sports have been shown to vary throughout the life cycle.  Rudman (1989) divided these reasons into three periods of the life cycle by connecting psychological benefits with early age participation, philosophical/ideological reasons during middle age, and philosophical/socioeconomic factors in later stages of life.  Miller & Hoffman (2009) based research off past studies that linked physical activity and sports participation with improved mental and social well-being.  The authors focused on reduced risk of depression and suicidality and concluded that participating in team sports and athletic identity were connected to lower depression scores in a sample of college students.

Additional research follows the trend above of categorizing the forces that drive participation in sports. Curry & Weiss (1989) examine three factors: competition, fitness, and social motivation.  Their research compares American college athletes and Austrian student sport club members.  The authors argue that “motivation for sport participation is likely to be influenced by the values of the sport organization as well as the sport and gender identities of the participant.”

The Origin of Cricket in Europe

“Cricket has been historically significant in defining notions of English national identity and continues to feature in debates over the inclusion/exclusion of immigrants in British society.” (Malcolm, 2001)

The Diffusion of Cricket to America

“This paper examines the historical development of cricket in America and seeks to explain why, despite having a significant initial impact, the game ultimately became culturally marginal.” (Malcolm, 2006)

The Global Spread of Cricket

Kaufman & Patterson (2005)

Baseball, America’s Pastime, Fails in Europe

“The concern within this paper is to examine how, notwithstanding the growing global power of the USA and the declining power of Britain over a period of fifty years from 1874 to 1924, a series of attempts made by American entrepreneurs to establish the game of baseball in England were, to all intents and purposes, rebuffed.” (Bloyce & Murphy, 2008)

The Cultural Insignificance of American Football in Europe

Van Bottenburg (2003)

–

–

Continuing… (The Pay Off)

De-industrialization in North American Cities

Blij et. al. (2010)

Consequences on Employment Opportunities

Wilson (1996)

Case Study of Flint

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bettinger, R. L. (1991). Hunter-gatherers: archaeological and evolutionary theory. Springer.