Sport in Society

"Society" is a broad term. Let's break it down a little using these levels of analysis from Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World

Social categories: A collection of individuals who have at least one attribute in common but otherwise do not necessarily interact.

• Examples: women, Asian Americans, Christians, etc.

Social Institutions:  A component of broader social structures, social institutions are patterns of beliefs and behavior that help a society meet its basic needs, often in a systematic way.

• Nuclear family, capitalism; democracy, Islam, public school, western medicine.

Sociological Perspective: The view that our social backgrounds influence our attitudes, behavior, and life chances.

Social Norms: Cultural standards and expectations for behaving

For this class, you may also want to be especially attentive to social phenomena (collective behavior, social movements), systematic stratification, social control, deviance, social class, race and ethnicity, sex and gender, power and authority, social change.