1.0 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to investigate the level of participation in aerobics by Stretton State College students and the wider community. Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic techniques, i.e. dance-oriented choreography with cardiovascular pressure, along with music with high tempos. The participation of aerobics has been varied through the wider community divergent to the area of Stretton State College. Along with a research survey that I have created, this report utilizes Figueroa’s Framework to investigate the overall statistics of participation in aerobics, using terms of culture, individual perceptions, and sociology. 1.1 WHAT IS FIGUEROA’S FRAMEWORK? The name of the theory derives from …show more content…
The creativity of Figueroa’s Framework investigates how Aerobics is perceived as a bizarre, high-energy sport with races from around the world participating. 1.2 HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SPORTING WORLD? With individual beliefs and cultural aspects to rely, there is supporting evidence that Figueroa’s Framework affects society, in terms of sporting culture. Peter Figueroa created the theory to dispose discrimination against human races and genders in sports, mainly focusing on the performance of darker-skinned athletes. I believe that society of all races have the courage and performance to participate in any sport (aerobics being in particular). 2.0 SURVEY …show more content…
This could be in terms of race and gender. The different aspects of Figueroa’s Framework relate to significant terms such as sociology, prejudice and stereotype. The sub-division of the term ‘sociology’ is called ‘sport sociology’, and it is defined as: how society affects sport and how sport affects society. Each sport contains its own unique culture; despite of it, numerous prejudicial suggestions were made towards them. Evidence shows that a number of male individuals who participate in aerobics are often perceived as flamboyant, in terms of stereotyping. This can be manifested by the dancer’s flexibility and stamina. Different types of societies share their own unique cultures in any sport. Members of all races participate in aerobics, making it a multi-cultural sporting venture. An example of an aerobics-based franchise that involves participants from all races is Zumba. Founded by Colombian dancer Alberto “Beto” Perez in the late 1990s, weekly Zumba classes are partaken by approximately 15 million people across the world in 200,000 different locations from over 100 countries, according to the franchise’s website. The statistics sums up the popularity of aerobics, as races and genders from across the world participate
INTRODUCTION Racial diversification has become one of the many objectives of several sport organizations throughout the world. In New Zealand for instance, we have many parks, sports clubs, and recreations that are accessible to everybody, regardless of their ethnicity. However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are a few sports organizations in New Zealand, which only allows certain ethnic groups to be a part of it. In other words, racial discrimination remains as a plague in the sporting institution (Armstrong, 2011).
The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.
Society has always had the idea that males should participate in masculine activities and females in feminine activities. These activities define the lifestyle that person would have. It was also believed that if a male was not involved in masculine activities, that male was not a man. Sports is a field that has been dominated by males in the past years, and more recently has had a lot of females take part in it. But does playing a sport define one’s masculinity? Michael Messner, the author of Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities, discusses the effect sports has on upcoming young men of different races. The effect of being introduced to a sport at a young age allowed males of different races to gain a sense of masculinity,
The following essay will discuss the argument that the current pre-dominance of black athletes in the world of sprinting is a social and not a racial phenomenon. Firstly the article will examine the physical differences between black and white athletes. Secondly, this article will discuss stereotypical beliefs in the world of sport. This essay will give an objective examination of the above issues and to challenge beliefs held and conveyed by individuals.
By universal definition, "sport" is listed as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively." Football, basketball, baseball, soccer and other primary activities have always been concretely defined as sports in society. However, one of the most physically demanding activities is constantly forgotten when it comes to the realm of sports- dance. Dance requires a tremendous amount of training and creates an aura of competition in which people compete to be the best, win, and take home the trophy- just like in traditionally accepted sports. These sports, however, do not possess an element of psychological health threats that some competitive dancers unfortunately must account for due to the emphasis placed on physical appearance.
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
An essay “Man and Superman: In athletic competitions, what qualifies as a sporting chance?” by Malcolm Gladwell is attempted to answer an issue “Do genetic advantages make sports unfair?” The essay contains two arguments: human biological diversity makes sports unfair, and, consequently, as human attempts to equalise all the players as considered a moral obligation, the sports industry has no problem with athletes’ self-transformation while doping athletes is prohibited which, in his opinion, they should be justified just like those self-transformations. Gladwell also criticises the sports industry who is actually a culprit of this fairness, they try to level the playing by measuring that no one has an advantage over others but the consequence is a catalyst of science intervention.
Volleyball is a game which consists of teams of six which rally a ball over a net. Although anyone can play volleyball, sociologists have used a tool which displays how an individual decides to participate by exploring socio-cultural factors that can influence equity and access within sport. This tool is known as Figueroa’s Framework which was constructed by Peter Figueroa. “Figueroa developed a tool to investigate the issues surrounding access, equity and equality in sport and physical activity.” (12peboard.weebly.com). This framework consists of five levels they are Cultural, Structural, Institutional, Interpersonal and Individual; each level contributes to one another. Equity derived from the word equality looks at the equal opportunity/chance for everyone within any sport, whereas access focuses on the accessibility to equipment, a court, coaches etc. Both these elements have major impacts on whether the individual can easily participate and feel welcome in the sport. Figueroa’s Framework will be used to observe the Individual and Interpersonal level to self-evaluate my own participation and success in the sport Volleyball. These two levels will be discussed to demonstrate how the sport volleyball can be selected and what impact and effects are taken into consideration of this process and how they respond and develop. Problems in the equity of the sport will be looked and ideas will be discussed which could increase equity in the sport.
As it becomes increasingly acceptable for women to be athletic in American culture, a new question arises: in which sports should women be allowed to participate? From a physiological standpoint, it has been scientifically proven that female bodies do not differ significantly enough from male bodies to prevent them from participation in any "male" sports. This division between "male" and "female" sports clearly stems from age-old, socially constructed norms of femininity and masculinity. When women attempt to challenge these societal molds by participating in sports that are traditionally male, the intricate web of norms is disrupted. Like many other instances where traditional social constructions are tinkered with, individuals and communities are forced to reevaluate how they think about and categorize their surroundings. I would argue that women's participation in athletics, especially in non-traditional sports, is instrumental in breaking down stereotypes and social confines that have plagued women for centuries
1. It has become much harder to identify the true and amateur-taught values around sport in our culture. The passion for competition, the aspect of a team, and the actions of sportsmanship are deep values that sports act to instill. It becomes one of the most important ways to teach those values to our young and unfortunately is becoming easy to forget. Throughout the semester we scrutinized sports, looking at their influence, role, and meaning in our American society today. Two foundations to view sport, critical and functionalist theory, were brought upon early in the semester, laying groundwork for looking at the rest of the topics. To better understand these two view points a working definition of each is needed. The three C’s of: capitalism, coercion and commercialism help describe the critical/conflict theory and view of sport in our United States. When looking with this viewpoint some of sport’s purposes in society include, promoting and expanding capitalistic drives as well as showing the power and privilege of elite groups within society. (Coakley, 2001) On the contrary the ...
Jarvie, G. (2012). Sport, Social Division and Social Inequality. Sport Science Review. 20 (1-2), 95–109.
When a woman or man joins a non-traditional sport for their gender or sex, it can have drastic social and cultural costs. These impact not just the individual but also the entire community. When a person challenges the gender roles of society, then they change the perceptions of what men or women are capable of doing, they further androgynize cultural norms, and they open up sports for others.
This study investigated the motivations for people to engage in exercise or sports and whether these factors differ between the two types of physical activity and by genders. The researchers hypothesized that people will be more likely enjoy and therefore to continue to engage in physical activity in the form of sports than in the form of exercise. Researching motivation for physical activity is essential for designing programs to encourage such habits in American college students, who are not often sufficiently active from a health perspective. The hypothesis was based on earlier studies comparing motivation for different forms of physical activity. Since these studies were few and not very comprehensive in accounting for sources of motivation, the authors wanted to explore the issue in more detail. The study was correlational and survey-based. College students enrolled in lower level health classes at a large, state school rated their physical activity habits including the frequency, duration, and level of perceived exertion with which they engaged in sports and exercise respectively. Sports was defined to include the elements of rules and competitiveness while exercise was defined in terms of the goal of achieving fitness. Participants also completed two versions of the Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 (EMI-2) questionnaire— one for sports and one for exercise—rating their level of motivation on multiple items in 14 subscales such as Challenge, Enjoyment, Health pressure, etc.
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Corbin, C. (2013), Concepts of Physical Fitness: Active Lifestyles for Wellness, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Publishing