Deck 2: Social Theories and Research Methods in Sport Sociology

Question 1

The concept of a social network:

A) applies to male athletes but not female athletes.
B) could describe the structure of relations among the major individuals and organizations in a Golden Triangle in a particular sport.
C) helps us understand why athletes are often so individualistic in their actions.
D) enables us to see that social connections among individuals and organizations can be found in society but cannot be found in sport.

Answer 1

could describe the structure of relations among the major individuals and organizations in a Golden Triangle in a particular sport.

Question 2

The theoretical perspective most likely to focus on how belief in the American Dream contributes to the acceptance and stability of the existing structures of inequality in sport and society is:

A) feminist theory.
B) postmodern theory.
C) symbolic interactionist theory.
D) structural functionalist theory.

Answer 2

structural functionalist theory.

Question 3

The theoretical perspective most likely to focus on how athletes construct the meaning of their pain and injuries in sport through their relationships with athletes, coaches and others in their social networks in sport is:

A) structural functionalist theory.
B) social conflict theory.
C) symbolic interactionist theory.
D) rational choice theory.

Answer 3

symbolic interactionist theory.

Question 4

Among the various theoretical perspectives we have considered in this course, rational choice theory is most likely to raise the question:

A) What are the "best deals" that athletes can negotiate with management and their coaches?
B) What is the relationship between reality and fantasy in the mediated world of postmodern sport?
C) How is sport integrated into society?
D) How and why have women faced so many obstacles in trying to play sports?

Question 5

The theoretical perspective that is most likely to focus on how the capitalist structure of sports leagues such as the National Hockey League (NHL) contributes to inequalities that lead to strikes and lockouts is:

A) structural functionalist theory.
B) symbolic interactionist theory.
C) feminist theory.
D) social conflict theory.

Question 6

Feminist theories of sport:

A) are likely to be critical of the role of traditional gender ideology in sport and society.
B) are more like structural functional than social conflict or critical theories.
C) tend to look at sport in terms of the value to society of maintaining male control over sports.
D) assume that established forms of sexism are inevitable in sport and society.

Question 7

The idea in sport sociology of sports as "contested terrain":

A) is more likely to be studied by structural functionalists than critical theorists.
B) would be illustrated by the easy and widespread acceptance of cheerleading and dance as official NCAA sports.
C) applies to the ongoing struggles of athletes with disabilities to be treated as serious athletes in American society.
D) refers to the fact that sport involves competition between athletes.

Question 8

The problems of untrue and inappropriate responses, low response rates, and nonrandom samples are most likely to be possible disadvantages of:

A) experimental research.
B) field studies.
C) social surveys.
D) content analysis.

Question 9

The metaphor presented to clarify the nature of the structural functional perspective is:

A) a stormy or turbulent body of water.
B) the athlete as robot.
C) the healthy human body.
D) the murky pond.

Question 10

Shulman and Bowen's study of athletes at various types of colleges and universities showed that:

A) athletes in all sports and at all types of colleges and universities generally segregated themselves socially into social networks of athletes.
B) athletes in all sports at small colleges tended to have very open and diverse social networks with a mix of some athletes with mostly nonathletes.
C) the friendship networks of athletes were unaffected by their participation in sports in most types of colleges and universities.
D) athletes did not have any friendship networks.

Question 11

An example of a social network in sport linking members of the network by their economic ties to each other is:

A) a group of players on a high school sports team who form a social clique in their school.
B) the retired members of an offensive line of an NFL team who regularly get together on Monday nights with each other and their starting quarterback, who is also retired, during the NFL season to watch "Monday Night Football."
C) the Golden Triangle.
D) cheerleaders at a Division I university.

Question 12

A postmodern approach to the study of sport emphasizes:

A) the importance of rational calculation in explaining the behavior of professional athletes in modern sport.
B) how science and technology have improved the quality of sport for athletes and fans.
C) how the ambiguity about the meaning of the body, sexuality, and identity and concerns about excessive consumerism define contemporary sports.
D) how McDonaldization has played a valuable role in making sports more popular and profitable.

Question 13

Social survey research methodology in sport sociology relies on:

A) random sampling.
B) the use of observational field studies to collect data.
C) experimental manipulation.
D) words (a qualitative approach) rather than numbers and statistics (a quantitative approach) to represent relationships or patterns in finding.

Question 14

A researcher in sport sociology interested in studying how pain and injury are covered and interpreted in the sports media uses stories in major sports magazines and newspapers and on the Internet over a 20-year period as the main source of data for the study. This type of research is called:

A) an experiment.
B) a field study.
C) a social survey.
D) content analysis.

Question 15

A researcher watches and talks to players and coaches on a college basketball team going through a season-long losing streak in an effort to describe how players and coaches construct the meaning of their experiences of failure in sport and how their identities are shaped by these kinds of experiences. The research method and theoretical perspective illustrated by this example are:

A) qualitative field study and symbolic interactionist perspective.
B) quantitative survey and Marxist social conflict perspective.
C) experiment and structural functionalist perspective.
D) interview study and rational choice perspective.

Question 16

What question could you ask from a neo-Marxist critical perspective about contemporary athletes, and why does your question reflect this perspective?

Question 17

What is one major theoretical perspective covered in the text or this course, what metaphor was used in the text to clarify it, what are two key ideas associated with this perspective, and what is an important sports-related question a researcher in sport sociology might study?

Question 18

What are two different ways of looking at a single sociologically relevant aspect or problem of contemporary sport from two different theoretical perspectives in sport sociology that we have studied in this course, and what are the two theoretical perspectives you have used in thinking about the social aspect or problem of sport?

Question 19

What is an example of a type of sociological research you could conduct to study a social aspect or problem of sport, and what is the research method you would be employing? Indicate the focus and purpose of your research as well as the method. Try not to be too general. For example, do not simply say "a survey."

Question 20

What is one major sociological research method covered in the text or this course, is it quantitative or qualitative, what is one major advantage and one major disadvantage of using this method to study sport, and what is an example of this type of research to study a social aspect or problem of sport?