People participate in sports and other athletic endeavors for a variety of reasons. Whether you join a soccer league for the exercise, competition, to relieve stress or simply to meet new people, participating in sports serves numerous possible social functions. As human movement may do the same, these social functions are not necessarily limited to competitive, collaborative or otherwise interactive athletic pursuits.
Training
Since the time of the ancient Greek and ancient Chinese civilizations, sport has been used as a means of training. Competitive and team sports serve to unite people against a common enemy, whether this is another team or another nation. As such, the ancient Greeks used sport to train soldiers for warfare, as did the lacrosse-playing Native Americans of the North American plains. While these civilizations employed sport for warfare, the ancient Chinese, Northern Europeans and early North American settlers trained in distance running, skiing and snowshoeing to better serve as mail carriers, couriers, trappers and explorers.
Stress Relief
The Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries greatly affected the development of sport. Although stress relief was not new to this period, the increasing stresses of city life, urbanization, shift work and work in dark, uninviting and heavily polluted environments led to a boom in sports following the Civil War, researcher Michael Alosi writes. Because playing and watching sports provides an outlet for stress relief, keeps you mentally stimulated and allows you to escape temporarily the frustrations of the city, workers from the post-Civil War era to the modern day have used sport to cope with stress. These benefits are noted by employers, with the practice of reimbursing gym and league fees dating back to the Industrial Revolution.
Social Control
Similar to the military and training functions of sport, employers in the Industrial Revolution-era saw sport as a way of maintaining control over their workers. Due to the level of activity and finesse involved, sports participation was promoted to ensure that workers were physically able to perform their jobs. Watching sports events helps to distract workers, simultaneously providing an escape from the city and keeping workers distracted from sociopolitical problems. In addition, the need to accept the rules of the game has helped to instill in people respect for laws, the ability to follow orders and submission to authority, whether these authorities are referees, employers, police or political leaders.
Bonding
While all of the aforementioned factors hold true to the modern day, the use of sport for social cohesion is one of its most ancient and powerful functions. Watching competitions between teams, individuals or nations unites spectators in their support for a common goal. Participating in sport, whether individual or team-based, competitive or non-competitive, has provided workers since the Industrial Revolution with a way to meet new people with common interests. Whether bonding with the members of your league basketball team, cheering for a boxer in a stadium of thousands or watching a game with a few friends, sport's ability to bring people together is one of its most important social functions.
References
- Point B; The Evolution of the Social Functions of Sports & the Advent of Extreme Sports; Michael Alosi; Dec. 6, 2007
- "The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth"; The Social Significance of Street Soccer in Greater Cairo: Game Structure and Social Functions; Nashaat Hussein; Spring 2011
- CBC: Lacrosse: A History of Canada's Game
- "A Wider Social Role for Sport: Who's Keeping the Score?"; Fred Coalter; 2008
- "Research Methods for Sports Studies"; Chris Gratton, Ian Jones; 2010
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