LESSON 11: Social Class, Status, and Leisure

INTRODUCTION:

Sports and physical activity involvement is higher for wealthy than for poor, professional than for blue-collar employees and college graduates than for high school graduates. The unequal

image of participation in physical activity and sports represents the essential fact of sport and society, the participation is stratified. Inequality occurs between demographic classes – age,

gender, racial ethnicity, and the social class. This is very evident in terms of access to athletic facilities, type of sport, equipment and participation rates. The relationship of socioeconomic

inequality and cultural disparities to engagement in recreational sports will be further discussed in this class.

Objectives:

At the end of this lesson the students should be able to:

1. Explain the influence of social strata in sports participation.

2. Understand meanings of key terms in relation to the study of sport and its effect on equal opportunities in sport society.

3. Assess the causes and consequences of inequality in sports participation.

Pre-test

What is social stratification?

How social status affects leisure sports participation?

Activity

How do you learn to participate in sports?

Identify your friend’s sport that you don’t want to play, and why?

Social Stratification, Sport and Leisure

Some of you will answer family, some will respond to friends or otherwise but there are also several factors that affect our sports participation and how these factors impact our

participation in sports leisure.

Social stratification is a systematic characteristic of all different societies based on uneven distribution of vital resources among members. Inequality is classified into the different categories

of social class, occupation, ethnicity, gender, religion and age, creating distinct patterns of ranking that exist over centuries. In general, higher-ranking people are much more likely than

people in lower classes to get more of the things that society values, such as material wealth, alluring and important jobs, wealthy and enjoyable lifestyles, exciting and enjoyable

recreational activities, and leadership or top positions.

Class, Status, and Leisure Sports

The effect of social stratification on lifestyle preferences represent trends of leisure and sports involvement. Generally, citizens in higher classes and strata had higher participation rates.

The types of recreational sports that people practice or enjoy most differ by social class and status. Sports preferred by the upper classes include polo, yachting and horseback riding, while

golf and tennis tend to be played primarily by upper and upper middle class members. Blue-collar staff are also interested in organized sports, such as basketball, volleyball, softball and

baseball (Curry and Jiobu, 1984; Nixon, 1984). The upper classes tend to be participants rather than spectators, while the middle and lower classes normally favor watching sports rather

than direct participation (Leonard 1993). Upper-class and upper-middle-class people appear in exclusive clubs or with costly facilities to play individual sports. In the lower middle classes, on

the contrary, sports teams in the lower middle classes tend to compete with local corporations, schools, employers and communities (Eitzen and Sage 1993).

Segregation or Democratization in Leisure Sports

Democratization is an opportunity to participate in sports to people from different social classes and positions in society, which indicates that more people in the middle and working class

can participate in elite sports. Like construction of public tennis courts, golf courses and swimming pools made these sports available to people in the middle and lower strata which were

available in country clubs and estates of the wealthy before. Exposure to sport and other establishments has been much less on ascription in the past. When social ascription occurs, access

to positions is focused on attributes such as race, ethnicity, background and gender, which are characterized by parental qualities possessed at birth or social class origin.

Two distinct democratic approaches to the aristocratic system of choice are focused on egalitarian and meritocratic ideologies, which suggest that access should not be limited on the basis

of social status (Gruneau 1975). However, these philosophies vary in the degree to which the opportunities for participation in sport are dependent on capability or performance.
Egalitarianism in leisure sports means that everyone is included, which is the driving principle of many public or community recreation programs. Egalitarian is the concept of mass sports in

which increasing the number of participants is much more necessary than creating champions. The concept of meritocracy typically refers to more serious competitive sports systems,

where the focus is on vying for places and prizes and progressing to an ever higher level of competition. Meritocratic system stresses accomplishment, success and competitive pursuit of

upward mobility. Anyone can get into the competition, but only a handful of them will be champions.

Democratic reforms focused on egalitarian and meritocratic criteria have increased opportunities for a wide variety of members of society to partake in sports that were previously limited

to athletes from the affluent groups in society.

Conspicuous consumption is a public display of material goods, lifestyles, and behavior in a manner that flamboyantly conveys fortunate status to others in order to get their support or

envy. Conspicuous leisure is public involvement in luxurious or lavish leisure experiences for the public to offer an impression of luxury to endorse or envy.

Leisure Sports Subcultures

When recreational sports players often communicate with each other, they form a social network and, as members of the sports network, they are likely to establish a distinctive

community. The category of group they create, known as the leisure sports subculture, is a network of people who are directly or implicitly connected to each other by the distinctive culture

of leisure sport in which they engage actively (Donnelly, 1981, 1985; Lehman & Young, 1988; McPherson, Curtis & Loy, 1989; Ferrante, 1992)

Subcultures are social networks in which users communicate and share information, messages and influences. Subcultural components include unique meanings, objects, clothes, attire,

ideals, ideologies, norms, behaviors, personalities, vocabulary, habits, and behavioral patterns that bind subculture participants and differentiate them from other people in society (Nixon,

1992).

When subcultures repel or defy traditional norms and values of the dominant culture of a society, they are referred to as countercultures, and when they are seen as menacing or violating

societal norms and values, they become deviant subcultures (Ferrante, 1992). Subcultures, once described as deviant, can become part of the larger or majority culture.

Since leisure sports activity also represents the stratification of society, often leisure sports subcultures can be seen as manifestations of the beliefs, habits, preferences, desires, appearance

or perceptions of the social class or status category (McPherson, Curtis & Loy, 1989: 250-251). Leisure sports subcultures evolve as members set up a networking network that centers on

their mutual sporting interest. Subculture is getting more common as spectators grow more passionate about their sport and communicate more often with other enthusiasts.

Identity, Masculinity, and “Prole” Sport Subculture

While displaying masculinity by sport is crucial to frustrate white-collar professionals and executives, it can be more important for male blue-collar employees. Their subordinate roles in the

workplace can contribute to a feeling of emasculation. Working class men may be attracted to “prole” proletarian or working class – sports subcultures because they symbolize strength,

astaticism and hard manual labor (Ben, 1976). Sports such as motocross racing and bodybuilding cater to the working class because these practices reflect power.

Identity and Risk in Sport Subcultures

Any sport faces potential threats. Many high- risk recreational sports do not seem to have typical characteristics of sport. Some researchers referred to them as frontier challenge activities,

since participants must rely on tremendous athletic strength and bravery to meet the difficulties of extreme environmental conditions.

Leisure sport is maintained by the engagement of the individuals who make up the subculture of the sport. Members of these subcultures share a deep affinity for their sport and rely on

each other for encouragement. Leisure sports subcultures also create conspicuous and invidious displays of rank and extreme rivalry among members. In recreational sports subcultures, as

in society in general, disparities in status often mean differences in control.

Older Athletes

In addition to debilitating injuries, the ageing phenomenon leads to the choice of athletes to refrain from high-level athletics and to refrain from recreational activities. However, aging is not

only a physiological process. It is also a collective phenomenon that may include bias and bigotry against ageism. Ageism has restricted the prospects of older people, both in high-level

athletics and in fitness or recreational activities, just as handicaps have reduced athletic options for those with disabilities.

Analysis

After our discussion, how far do you think this factor impacted the sports participation in our society?

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Abstraction
How do you think that your working status excludes you from competing in sports that are enjoyed by those who know at the pinnacle of society?

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REFLECTION

Sport is stratified in several different ways, and evidence of stratification can be found in a variety of sports settings and subcultures. These patterns of social class and status differences

have persisted despite processes of democratization that have opened up some formerly elite or aristocratic sports to participants from other classes and strata. In many cases, though, the

democratization of opportunities for participation has been limited to the middle class, as many sports continue to be out of the financial or practical reach of ordinary working-class and

poor people.