Sociology of Physical activity

1. List and Discuss the goals of sociological study of physical activity?

- Enhancement: Everything is constantly changing and it's no surprise that
physical activity is always critiquing and changing as well. There are always ways
to improve certain workouts and ones that will target certain areas of the body
better than others.
- To analyze and identify patterns and changes in physical activity
2. Describe the expanding research directions in sociology of physical activity from 1970 to
the present?
- More research has been conducted on different ethnicities, sexual orientation,
different social classes, and ethnic backgrounds; As well as different body types
to get an understanding of how physical activity affects their body and what major
health changes occur. Sociologists have also looked into the many regional and
national differences of physical activity.
3. Describe the ties between leadership in physical activity programs and power
relationships based on gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
- Gender: We see very few female coaches in any male dominated sports. They
are usually coaches to women’s volleyball, soccer, and basketball. Other than
those 3 sports, we assume that the coaches are male such as football,
basketball, baseball, tennis, and soccer.
- Race and ethnicity: African-Americans have little to no positions as far as
leadership in physical activity. It is usually a white male who takes up this
position and even in a “Black dominated sport” we see a white male coach.
- Socioeconomic status: Based on the area someone lives in, there are going to be
many differences based on how accessible leadership and physical
activity/equipment is. More than likely if you live in a wealthy city, you are more
likely to have more resources available to you such as equipment, physical
equipment and leadership roles. The lower income cities may not have any
resources available to the community which in this case, there won’t be any
leadership roles.