Chapter 16

Pleasure and participation sports will become more popular in the future because

there are growing concerns about improving health and fitness.

Telecommunications and the electronic media will influence the future because

people use media content to form standards for assessing their experiences.

When considering the future, it is useful to remember that

sports are social constructions.

The author points out that celebrity athletes

have little real power as change agents in society.

Power and performance sports emphasize that people reach their potential when they

achieve machine-like efficiency.

The author uses adult kickball as an example of

a child’s game being turned into a power and performance sport.

Using cultural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on

changing symbols, vocabularies, and ideologies.

A radical goal for changing sports emphasizes

transforming current sports and creating new forms of sports.

The major demographic change that will influence sports in the future is

increased social and cultural diversity.

When people have conservative goals for changing sports, they emphasize

the growth and efficiency of existing sport programs.

When people play pleasure and participation sports, they are likely to

focus on their connections with other participants.

When commercialism and consumption pervade a society, people are viewed as

customers rather than citizens.

The media help to maintain the popularity of power and performance sports by associating them with

storylines that resonate with the experiences of consumers.

When people use an inside vantage point for changing sports the biggest problem is that by the time they have the power to exert influence they will

have a vested interest in maintaining sports as they are.

The most important issue related to the use of technology in sports is

regulating the ways that technologies are incorporated into sports.

Few people have radical goals for changing sports because people who support radical goals usually

focus on changing living conditions more than changing sports.

A reformist goal for changing sports emphasizes

improving sports by making them more fair and equitable.

In the introduction to the chapter, the author explains that the future of sports will

emerge in an uncontrollable and random manner.

Which of the following efforts to create the future would a pro basketball player be most likely to join?

A program to improve reading skills among low-income children.

At any point in time in a culture, dominant sport forms

represent the interests of people who have power in that culture.

Using interactionist theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on

developing alliances with people in sports.

The sponsorship of power and performance sports is generally motivated by the idea that it is important to be associated with

athletes and teams who are currently winners.

When highly visible and popular athletes become involved in efforts to change something related to sports, they usually have goals that are

conservative.

Athletes who endorse transformational changes that involve deep structural and ideological changes in society are

likely to lose popular support and media coverage.

Pleasure and participation sports generally emphasize

an ethic of good health.

Some participants in alternative sports resist attempts to make their sports more like mainstream power and performance sports because they don’t want to

see competition replace creativity and support for other participants.

Using structural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on

changing symbols, vocabularies, and ideologies.

The legendary snowboarder Terje Haakonsen felt that spending years perfecting a specialized skill to conform to a single definition of technical perfection in the Olympics

would destroy the basis for fun in his sport.

Older people tend to prefer sports that stress

the cultivation of the body rather than driving it.

Organization and rationalization have a tendency to undermine the

element of play in sports.

When commercial ideology pervades sports in a society, sport participation

revolves round consumption.

Using structural theories as a guide for changing sports would lead to an emphasis on

regulating economic processes related to funding priorities.

In the chapter it is noted that changing sports is often so difficult that some people who want different sport experiences have found it easier to

create new sports.

Being an effective change agents requires a vision of what sports and social life could and should be, a willingness to work hard, and

an ability to rally the resources needed to produce results.

When joining opposition groups to establish a vantage point for changing sports, a person is most likely to be successful when working to

create more diverse sport spaces at a local level.

The classic embodiment of power and performance sports is

American football.

Who would be most likely to use a critical approach as they worked to change sports? Someone with

radical goals.

The popularity of power and performance sports is connected with gender relations because these sports

celebrate physical superiority and dominating others.

The Gay Games are an example of

people seeking an alternative to dominant sport forms.