bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Who's Looking?
Authors: Rajadhyaksha Ashish
Published: March 2007

Drawing upon Indian cinema, one of the world's largest film industries whose storytelling structures seemingly refuse to adhere to what is known as the 'Hollywood mode of production', this essay expands on the political and cultural terrain that 'narrative' occupies in cultural theory. The term is seen as extending into a space of negotiation between spectators' demands for selfactualization and the 'how to read/see' instructions that can be seen as comprising the function of the narrator. As such it closely resembles, on a cultural terrain, the site of citizenship as one of negotiation, where constitutional rights are seen not so much as a given but rather as authenticator for their disbursal between the state, civil and political society, often to ends quite removed from their original meaning.
Erosion/Oxidation Resistant Coatings for High Temperature Polymer Composites
Authors: Ivosevic M. , Knight R. , Kalidindi S. R. , Palmese G. R. , Sutter J. K.
Published: March 2007

Thermally sprayed coatings are being studied and developed as methods of enabling lightweight composites to be used more extensively as structural components in propulsion applications in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency through weight reductions. The primary goal of this work is the development of functionally graded material (FGM) polymer/metal matrix composite coatings to provide improved erosion/oxidation resistance to polyimide-based polymer matrix composite (PMC) substrates. The goal is to grade the coating composition from pure polyimide, similar to the PMC substrate matrix on one side, to 100% WC-Co on the other. Both step-wise and continuous gradation of the WC-Co loading in these coatings are being investigated. Details of the processing parameter development are presented, specifically the high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) combustion spraying of pure PMR-II matrix material and layers of various composition PMR-II/WC-Co blends onto steel and PMR-15 composite substrates. Results of the HVOF process optimization, microstructural characterization, and analysis will be presented. The sprayed coatings were evaluated using standard metallographic techniques - optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An SEM + electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) technique has also been used to confirm retention of the PMR-II component.
Book Reviews : Is he a poet or a journalist?
Authors: Knightley Phillip
Published: March 2007

In the name of Justice: The Television Reporting of John Pilger, by Anthony Hayward (Bloomsbury, £I6.99)
A mission to understand
Authors: Routledge Paul
Published: March 2007

Journalists are not so lacking in sentiment - despite rumours to the contrary - that they are incapable of shedding the odd tear when something quite fundamental happens to one of the old Temples of our society: read on...
Wanted: one bold editor
Authors: Straw Jack
Published: March 2007

In 1993 Jack Straw MP, then Shadow Environment Secretary, wrote an article for British Journalism Review [issue 4/4; 1993] "Democracy on the Spike" which was based on original research he conducted and to which he refers in what follows below. These are his reflections five years on as he views the scene from his position as Britain's Home Secretary.
Notice Board
Authors: Looseley David
Published: March 2007

French Cultural Studies will be pleased to announce in the Notice Board forthcoming events, and a small number of recent books, involving all aspects of modern French culture. Please contact Dr D. L. Looseley, Department of French, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, West Yorkshire, UK. e-mail: flldl@leeds.ac.uk
Reform of Social Policy in Slovenia: a Soft Approach
Authors: Svetlik Ivan
Published: March 2007

Slovenia faces similar problems to other central European countries which have intro duced radical reforms of their economic and political systems. In addition, it has become an independent state. This demands efforts to establish new social, political and economic functions and causes problems such as the loss of markets in the former Yugoslavia and big resources needed to support refugees from the crisis areas. However, its export-oriented and relatively well developed economy seem to enable a soft approach to the reform of social policy. This means that there have not been drastic cuts in the welfare programmes or that the reduction of public services provision has been substituted by non-governmental, volun tary, commercial and other means.
Equal Pension Rights for Men and Women: a Realistic Perspective
Authors: Luckhaus Linda , Ward Sue
Published: March 2007

At least two notions of sexual equality are ap plicable to E U pension schemes. This article summarizes the pattern of E U pension pro vision, as it currently exists, highlighting recent and possible future developments and the reasons for these. It then describes and evaluates the two notions of pensions equality. One, the equal treatment approach, is derived from EC equality law; the other, compensa tory approach, originates from within E U pen sion schemes themselves. The equal treatment approach is shown to have serious limitations, not least its restriction to paid workers and its propensity to result in 'levelling-down'. However, it has clearly been influential in se curing abolition of pension rules discrimi nating against married women. The compensatory approach is reflected in three types of benefit rules which break the link be tween pension entitlement and full-time, con tinuous, higher-paid work shown to be a feature of many EU schemes. The advantage of this approach is its potential for maximizing the welfare of people, especially unpaid women carers, when they reach old age. Building on the strengths of both approaches, a third notion of equality is developed. The prospects for implementing such a notion are discussed in the light of current and possible future trends in E U pension reform.
Workforce Heterogeneity and Unemployment Benefits: the Need for Policy Reassessment in the European Union
Authors: Grimshaw Damian , Rubery Jill
Published: March 2007

Unemployment benefit systems fail to take into account the increasing heterogeneity of both employment and unemployment. For many of the member states of the European Union, recent policies to reduce public expen ditures have fallen back on conventional no tions of work and participation, regardless of the expansion in the proportion of non-con ventional employment, such as the greater shares of part-time and temporary work, and the increasing participation of women. This means that governments are providing weaker protection against the costs of unemployment for those groups, particularly women and young people, who do not fit the full-time continuous labour market participant model, despite the acceptance of the principle of equal opportunity and the active promotion of flexi ble labour markets with heterogeneous jobs and heterogeneous workers. In this article, we consider the uneven impact of systems of un employment insurance on men's and women's independent access to unemployment benefits across the EU. The example of gender is in sightful given the concentration of women among 'atypical' forms of employment and also highlights the influence of patterns of household organization. Eligibility conditions based on continuous employment history and minimum weekly hours or earnings thresholds exacerbate women's unequal access to ben efits, given their overrepresentation in low- paid, precarious or aytpical employment. We also assess the principles governing the calcu lation of the level and duration of income compensation for the unemployed, taking into account differences in men's and women's earnings as well as differences in access to benefits.
Changing the Politics of Social Programmes: Innovative Change in British and French Welfare Reforms
Authors: Bonoli Giuliano , Palier Bruno
Published: March 2007

The first wave of welfare state reform, which occurred during the 1980s in Britain and the US, and in the early 1990s in continental Europe, has left most social protection systems to a large extent intact. However, some of the changes adopted then have provided new op portunities for reform, that are currently being exploited by the reformers of the late 1990s. In this second wave of reform, the results achieved might be more substantial. The article illustrates this argument with examples taken from France and Britain. It shows how legislative change in pensions and health care have introduced structural - or innovative- changes which provide a new pattern of opportunities for future, and possibly more radical, reforms.
The Holy Spirit as Transforming Power Within a Society: Pneumatological Spirituality and Its Political/Social Relevance for Western Europe
Authors: Wenk Matthias
Published: March 2007

Both British and American Black Pentecostals as well as Latin American ones have begun to to develop a social ethic based on a pneumatological perspective. Their liberating and empowering experience of the Spirit has provided them with new categories and options to institute social change. By contrast, Western European Pentecostals have been predominantly silent in this regard. This article argues that a pneumatological spirituality has socio-political relevance also for Western European Pentecostals. Both the experience of the Spirit, as reflected in Luke—Acts and 1 Cor. 12-14, as well as the history of Pentecostalism, underline this thesis. However, in order to recover this social/political dimension of their Spirit-experience, Western European Pentecostals need to recover the community and social dimension of the kingdom of God over against a Western individualistic, internalized and spiritualized definition thereof.
The Spirit, the Scripture(S), and the Gospel of Mark: Pneumatology and Hermeneutics in Narrative Perspective
Authors: Powery Emerson
Published: March 2007

Scholarship has generally conceived that the Spirit's function within the second Gospel is to equip Jesus' followers in order to undertake spiritual assignments and to speak the (prophetic) words of the Spirit. But, the func tion of the Spirit in relationship to Scripture in the Gospel of Mark offers further insight. Markan narrative rhetoric suggests that only Spirit-em powered interpreters, like Jesus, are capable of adequately providing necessary selection, revision, and meaning to the Hebrew/Greek Scriptures. Both the Spirit's infusion of Jesus in the prologue and the role of the Spirit in David's scriptural speech are evidence for this conclusion.
Advice To Pentecostal Philosophers
Authors: Smith James
Published: March 2007

In this paper, James K.A. Smith offers a program for the development of a distinctly Pentecostal/Charismatic philosophy, following the lead of Alvin Plantinga's seminal manifesto, 'Advice for Christian Philosophers'. The paper explains why philosophy is a vital area of inquiry for Pentecostal scholars, defends a robust notion of a distinctly Pentecostal philosophy rooted in a Pentecostal/Charismatic worldview, and lays out a program for further research in the field.
Tradition and the Novum of the Spirit: A Review of Clark Pinnock's Flame of Love
Authors: Macchia Frank
Published: March 2007

I invite us to view Spirit as the bond of love in the triune relationality, as the ecstasy of sheer life overflowing into a significant creation and new creation, as the power of incarnation and atonement, as the power of new community and union with God, and as the power drawing the whole world into the truth of Jesus. 1
Developmental Normsfor the PASS (Planning-Attention- Simultaneous-Successive) Processes: Oriya Adaptation
Authors: Dash Udaya N. , Das J.P.
Published: March 2007

A new way of thinking about intelligence has emerged. It conceptualises intelligence as a composite of four cognitive processes: Planning, Arousal Attention, Simultaneous and Successive Processes (PASS). This study reports an Oriya adaptation of the meas ures that assess the 4 cognitive processes. Three hundred and fifty children in Grades 1 to 11 were administered the Oriya adaptation. Means, standard deviation and devel opmental growth curves for the 8 tests ofPASSprocesses were obtained. Factor analyses were also obtained in order to determine if the 4 PASS factors can be replicated. Atten tion, Simultaneous and Successive factors emerged clearly whereas the status of Planning as an independent factor was unclear. In conclusion, the PASS processes were suggested to be universal across cultures. The Oriya adaptation can be used for cognitive assess ment of not only children but also perhaps of adults by using norms for Grade 11.
Convergence and Divergence of Ethical Values across Nations: A Framework for Managerial Action
Authors: Chatterjee Samir Ranjan , Tata Ratan
Published: March 2007

The paper presents a comprehensive survey and critique of literature on human values and ethics in business across diverse cultures. According to the author, the key issue in this discourse is not about whose values and morality, but about what values and morality. The author argues for a holistic paradigm in this discourse, grounded in deep philosophy and drawing upon the spiritual values of humanism. The consumerist, market economy Western models of ethics cannot be the only answer to values issues surfacing in the wake of increasing economic globalization.

The most exciting thing about international business is that it offers the opportunity to discover the human values that resonate through all cultures.1

What is more ethical—considering all nations as if they were same or accepting different standards of behaviour in different contexts?
Can Dollarisation Cope with External and Fiscal Vulnerability?
Authors: Grandes Martin
Published: March 2007

In order to make emerging markets less vulnerable to external shocks, exchange-rate corner solutions such as dollarisation have been proposed. One of the main arguments put forth by the dollarisation supporters is the expected decrease in sovereign spreads, as currency risk will no longer hold. According to this optimistic view, which also relies on a credibility spillover effect, such a decrease could start to improve solvency weaknesses while boosting economic growth. Pessimists, on the other hand, have emphasised alternative policies focused on improving competitiveness and bolstering structural reforms. In this article, we aim to shed some light on these crucial issues through an examination of the Argentine case. First, we will show that the benefits of reducing dollar interest rates would be limited and un certain : only peso debt-a minor part of total liabilities-would yield safe lower spreads. Second, we will provide empirical evidence on how A rgen tina's external and fiscal vulnerability sharply worsened from 1994 to 1999, as reflected by sovereign ratings and bond spreads. Third, we will argue that dollarisation does not seem to be the best policy to improve fiscal dis cipline and push forward structural reforms. The results of this analysis suggest that, irrespective of dollarisation, there might be room for other policies to strengthen solvency, e.g., bolstering incomplete structural reform, export promotion, or better fiscal management.
The Significance of the Olympic Phenomenon. A Preliminary Attempt at Systematic and Semiotic Analysis
Authors: Bouet Michel A.
Published: March 2007

The Olympic phenomenon seems to be connected with a proliferation of symbols and signs, of which the circle and Torch are the best known aspects.

It would therefore be the proper thing to apply to the study of the sociological significance of the Olympic Games a method of analysis, inspired by the new semi otic sciences.

In the course of this analysis eight interdependent semiotic systems have been discovered. First we embark on their description, after which their properties are being studied and their mutual relations, and finally an attempt is made to interpret the ultimate object of their functioning regarding the significance to which they make their contribution.
Limitations of Amateurism As a Nleaningful Concept in Sport
Authors: Vanderzwaag Harold J.
Published: March 2007

Are there amateurs in sport? Yes there are, but the number is not nearly as great as many promoters of sport would lead us to believe. The primary reason for this is that most of organized sport leads the participant in the other directions. In addition, sport seems to be conducive to increased efforts toward organization. There are certain prime considerations which more or less characterize contemporary sport, with its organizational flavor. These are: competition, records, equipment and facilities, training, the coach, and spectators. The latter may provide the real key in understanding the limitations of amateurism because it appears that the first five are outgrowths of the spectator appeal in sport.

The importance of recognizing these limitations is to be found in the wave of publicity which is designed to dupe the public in believing that the realm of amateur sport is much larger than really is the case. Why are certain sport promoters interested in such deception? Amateurism has traditionally been associated with that which is good and pure.

It appears that only two courses of action await those who would still en cleavor to change the current situation. The first is to remove those conditions which characterize modern sport. That option is far from being a realistic one because there has been so much momentum in the other direction; at this point, it is virtually like trying to ''roll back Niagara Falls." The second is to work toward the elimination of the extensive hypocrisy which seems to be part of everyday existence in much of organized sport.
The Acceptance of Nigerian Women in Sport
Authors: Adedeji John A.
Published: March 2007

The four periods: idealization, emancipation, socialization and participation seem to be applicable to the emancipation of women in the field of sports in various socie ties in the world. Although it could be said that through empirical and scientific research more and more women are now participating in sports, there are many women in developing countries who are yet to get their liberation to mix with their colleagues. The author was able to discover through his investigation that about 80% of Nigerian women are still at the idealization period of their development in sports. They are confined by culture to be gentle, shy, fragile and subordinate to the male sex. Sport is still considered the prerogative of the male.

Besides, women's teams were coached by men who used the same training and the same programme as they did for men. The concept of unisex which has led men and women to wear long and short pants has sparked off ill feelings among the traditionalists and the élite. The attitude to dampen women's effort to participate in sports has been generated out of fear or the economic loss which men may likely suffer once women are accepted into sports.

The schools that exposed women to sports were mostly government owned in stitutions for women and some few mission owned colleges and high schools. It was not until 1950 that Mrs. Irene Fatayi-Williams, a British woman married to a Nigerian, organized sports for women.

The investigation carried out in the community of the University of Ife, Ile-Ife Nigeria revealed that while more women were in support of women's liberation they were not of the opinion that equality between men and women could be measured and demonstrated through sports.
Individual Pupils' Views on School and Sport. Constructed Case Studies
Authors: Hendry L.B.
Published: March 2007

A method of constructed case studies' was presented as a possible research tech nique, which is compatible to some extent with general statistical analysis and for more open ended enquiry of pupils' interactions with teachers. Some examples of case studies were given, and the technique was discussed and compared with parti cipant observation.
Role Behavior and the Coach-Athlete Interaction
Authors: Carron Albert V.
Published: March 2007

The characteristic role behaviors for both coaches and athletes in the athletic situation in the need areas of inclusion, control and affection were defined by coaches (N=40). Two modified versions of Schutz's FIRO-B were utilized. The results indicated that coaches and athletes were in complete agreement concerning the perceived role behaviors for both coaches and athletes. Coaches were perceived as the initiators of control; athletes, the recipients. Both coaches and athletes were perceived as being relatively passive in regards to initiating interactions (inclusion behavior) and de veloping warm personal relations (affection behavior). These latter two characteristics could contribute naturally to an incompatibility in the coach-athlete interaction.
Changes in Sport Habits and their Significance for the Forecasting of Future Forms of Physical Culture
Authors: Schulke Hans Jürgen
Published: March 2007

The prinoipal aim of the modern sport movement is the implementation of the motto "sport for all". But it is true that in most of the countries one is still far from the implementation of this goal. The report published here wants to contribute to the discussion on the solution of the discrepancy between aspi rations and the reality of "sport for all". One may assume that more people would practice sport more regularly, provided the supply of sport possibilities would be more in accordance with general cultural development. Therefore out about the specific course of sport activity. A cross-section and analysis of the practicing of sport reveal quite distinctly tendencies for team sport involving games of two opposing teams as well as various kinds of open air sport involving equipment.

Research on changes in sport habits takes place within the various types of sport. In this manner it is possible on the one hand to take into account the social and historical nature of sport activity, and on the other hand to find out about the specific course of sport activity. A cross-section and analysis of the practicing of sport reveal quite distinctly tendencies for team sport involving games of two opposing teams as well as various kinds of open air sport involving equipment.

In general changes in sport habits point to a tendency of replacing physical energy absorbing moments when practicing sport by greater requirements as regards the mental regulation of sport activity. Individual sport practiced above all in the past, such as swimming, track-and-field events and gymnastics laid special stress on strength, prowess and endurance. However, open air sport and complex team games retain canrstantly changing situations, due to which the need arises for differentiated noticeable achievements and complex intellectual planning processes. Approached from a cultural and theoretical perspective this development makes one assume, that due to the increasingly more complicated kinds of sport the mobility potential of one's own body can be experienced in an enlarged manner and exclusively in sport, during the performance of many-sided sport activities which enable the individual to "enjoy" his own body. Practicing sport people experience and perceive which kind of development of their bodily skills, and actually of their personality is possible already today or in the forseeable future.
Responses of Male and Female Metropolitans to the Commercialization of Professional Sport 1960 to 1975
Authors: Anderson D. , Stone Gregory P.
Published: March 2007

This research examines the changes in the meaning of sport among male and female residents of a metropolitan area over a fifteen year period, 1960 to 1975. Results display an overall decrease in sex differentiation for behavior mo bilized by sport. However, further examination of the sex associations indicates that the homogenization effect associated with sex role socialization and the commercialization of professional sport is greater for vicarious or indirect sport involvement than direct sport involvement. Specifically the conceptualization of ones self as fan, the frequency of sport conversation; the specific sport residents participation in, the rationale for sport participation, and sport organization mem bership display significant sex associations in 1975.
Emotions in Sport Sociology
Authors: Ferguson John D.
Published: March 2007

It is suggested that a sociology of and through sport approach to research might be applied to the study of emotion in a manner beneficial to both sport sociology and to the emerging sociology of emotions. As an exploratory step in this direction, two sport-relevant emotion-oriented theories — Scheff's (1979) distancing theory of catharsis, and Elias and Dunning's (1970) approach to the understanding of emotion in leisure spectacles — are synopsized and compared. A very tentative approach to their synthesis in a broader theory of emotions in sport is attempted, and some possible implications for our understanding of emotions in sport, and of sport in society, are discussed.
The Social System of the Sumo Training School
Authors: Oinuma Yoshihiro , Shimpo Mitsuru
Published: March 2007

Western sports began to be introduced into Japan in 1868. Rather than being wholly western, even today sports organizations in Japan retain certain charac teristics of traditional Japanese institutions. The description of a traditional sports organization, therefore, may provide clues in understanding the cultural context of Japanese sports organizations. For this reason, this monograph about pro fessional Japanese wrestling (Sumo) articulates the characteristics of social re lations in a traditional organization. Professional wrestlers' organizations were first established in the mid-18th century. Elders established a number of training schools which socialized and trained novices to become professional wrestlers. In such a school, the social system resembled the Japanese household (Ie) and the clan (Dozoku) in which seniority and brotherhood are the axes of social relations. In contemporary sports organizations in Japan, social relations of the same or of a similar quality can be observed.
Research On Problems of the Functioning of the Polish. Fencing Association as a Sport Organization
Authors: Pawlak G. , Przybysz T.
Published: March 2007

The growing role of sport, its ever better organization have intensified the interest of sociologists in problems related to organizational aspects. That is why sociologists of the Institute of Sport in Warsaw have embarked on research on the organizational conditioning of sport activity in certain selected sport unions.

The subject and area of the research conducted in 1980 was the Polish Fencing Association. In accordance with the accepted conception our reflections deal with problems connected with participation in information and decision-making processes, which we consider as one of the elements influencing the degree of iden tification of the members of the organization with its goals and tasks.

The subject and area of the research conducted in 1980 was the Polish Fencing of the Polish Fencing Association. Such information was obtained through ana lysis of the content of the documents. In addition, with the help of 89 interviews empirical data were collected regarding its functioning.

The organization was characterized in connection with the cooperating en vironment, including formal ties as the influence it exerts on the various levels of the organizational hierarchy as perceived by the respondents.

The results of the research made it possible to formulate conclusions of a cognitive and applied nature. Interaction was found among such variables as the position occupied in the formal structure of the organization, participation in the information and decision-making process, evaluation of perceived organiza tional levels and the degree of identification.
On the Structural Change in Voluntary Organisations: The Case of the "German Sports Association" ("DSB")
Authors: Winkler Joachim
Published: March 2007

Following the empiric example of sports associations in the Federal Republic of Germany, those structural changes are analyzed which a voluntary (associative) organization undergoes when its function changes. When an organization having a "democratic- cooperative" basis, such as the Deutsche Sportbund (DSB), assumes quasi-public functions, its internal structure is changed. This, in addition to the existing honorary and "democratic" elements, leads to a new hierarchical order of professional functionaries with completely new recruiting procedures and an extension of their decision-making and management functions.
Sport as Ethnic Boundary Maintenance: A Case of the American Indian
Authors: Cheska Alyce Taylor
Published: March 2007

An ethnic group's members select and translate into social boundaries cultural behaviors that support the group's values. By using sport contact situations between Navajo Indians and Euro-Americans in a 1903 Fourth of July festival and present basketball participation, it is shown that the content and form signaling ethnic boundaries changed over time from traditional Indian sports to Euro-American sport participation. An analysis of these inter- ethnic sports encounters showed that the ethnic group members' perception, selection, and expression of changing behavioral content continually reinforced ethnic diversity. It is suggested that, because inter-ethnic sports' participation reaffirms one's own cultural values, these encounters define ethnic differences, not similarities.
A Japanese-American Basketball League and the Assimilation of its Members into the Mainstream of United States Society
Authors: Nogawa Haruo , Suttie Sandraj.
Published: March 2007

This study investigated the effects of participation in a Japanese-American youth basketball league on the assimilation of its members into the dominant American culture. Two groups of Japanese-Americans were compared: participants (players) and non-participants (non- members). The data were collected by a written questionnaire, formal and informal interviews, and direct observation. Significant differences at the .05 level were found between the groups in the dimensions of structural, marital and identificational assimilation. Participation in the ethnic basketball league did not appear to promote overall assimilation into the mainstream of American life. Instead, it seemed to reflect an index of ethnic solidarity for Japanese-Americans.
Problems in the Development of Sports in Nigerian Universities
Authors: Ojeme E.O.
Published: March 2007

At the tenth Nigerian University Games in 1984, 257 athletes from 17 of the 24 Nigerian universities were interviewed to determine their perception and rating of the problems influencing the development of sport at Nigerian universities. Thus, many problems of university athletes, especially concerning the administration, academic education, training programs and the lack of material and human resources, were reported. As a result of this study 14 recommendations are listed to improve university athletics and, by doing so, sport in general in Nigeria. Thus, they demand an improvement of physical education in secondary schools, the establishment of departments of physical education at all universities and better facilities and more frequent competitions for university athletes.
A Content Analysis of the Coverage of Physical Activity in Two Canadian Newspapers
Authors: Gelinas Marc , Theberge Nancy
Published: March 2007

This article examines the contents of Canadian print media coverage of recreational physical activity. An analysis of two newspapers, one each from English and French Canada, was conducted in order to identify themes and messages concerning physical activity. Results are analyzed in light of recommendations arising from the Canada Fitness Survey, a national study of patterns of physical activity and fitness levels. These recommendations emphasize the need to provide information about programs and facilities that are widely available and the need for outreach to groups with low rates of participation. Results of the analysis indicate that in contrast to the extensive coverage of elite sport in the North American media, there is limited coverage of recreational activity. Within this limited coverage, there is some attention given to providing information and instruction on physical activity. The newspapers provide very little information about physical activity among groups with low rates of participation. Finally, there are few differences between the English and French papers. The main exception is that the French paper provides more informational and instructional material.
Sport at Belgian Radio and Television (BRT)
Authors: Clays Els
Published: March 2007

In Flanders over 88% of all owners of TV sets are linked to the cable. On average, these households receive more than 14 stations. It is a well-known fact that the battle for audience ratings is fought partly by means of sports programmes. BRT began transmission on a second channel in 1977; since then the output of sport more than tripled, but the amount of viewing time for these programmes grows quicker than the output. About 80% of the Flemings are interested in sports on television, i.e. 90% of all men, 70% of all women. Live coverage in full is most appreciated. More than 80% of Flemings with an interest in sport tune in to another channel for more sports programmes.
The Meaning of "Sport" in the Federal Republic of Germany and the USA
Authors: Mrazek Joachim , Schäfer Gyda
Published: March 2007

The meaning of "sport" according to adolescents in the USA and the FRG is examined by an association analysis and a semantic differential and analysed in connection with the actual sports activity. As can be seen, the US adolescents spend more time on sports than the Germans yet they have a much more concrete and indiscriminately positive meaning of sport at their disposal. Similarly, it is to be found that, regardless of their nationality, the male adolescents spend more time on sports than the female samples and that their meaning of sport is more concrete and less differentiated.
The Role of the Family in the Physical Education of Preschool Children
Authors: Sergeev M.I. , Stolyarov V.I. , Gendin A.M.
Published: March 2007

The paper outlines the findings of an empirical investigation on the role of physical culture and sport among preschool children that was conducted in the USSR in the years 1984-1985. Approx. 2,600 fathers and 2,700 mothers were presented with questionnaires containing questions on their own involvement in sports and physical culture activities as well as on the importance they place on the physical development of their children. Subsequently the influence of these factors on the physical education of the children was evaluated, taking the actual extent of physical activities ascertainable among the children, their state of health and the respective type of family into account.
The Prospects of Modern Competitive Sport
Authors: Digel Helmut
Published: March 2007

Starting from the question: "How long it will be possible to practice competitive sport in the current form?", the following essay elucidates the positive and negative facts for finding an answer to this question.

After analyzing the current situation of top-level competitive sport, arguments are presented why top-level sport, in the opinion of the author, is capable of playing a meaningful role as a provider of exemplary societal values, although top-level sport includes many threats.

Many factors are of fundamental importance for the future development of top-level competitive sport and for providing this future a change of thought in many spheres (e.g. professionalization), becomes necessary.

Recommendations which should be respected by officials, athletes and coaches exhibit which changes are the most important.
The Sociology of Women's Leisure and Physical Recreation: Constraints and Opportunities
Authors: Woodward Diana , Green Eileen , Hebron Sandra
Published: March 2007

This study of women's leisure experiences is based on a random survey of 700 Sheffield women, supplemented by interviews with groups of women and their men partners. Both women's and men's access to free time and leisure opportunities are structured by similar factors, such as their work and domestic situation, social class and income level, age and ethnic group. However in societies where child care and domestic work are primarily done by women, gender has a major influence on leisure behaviour. Women typically earn lower incomes than men or may be financially dependent, but access to personal spending money is a less significant constraint than prevailing norms about appropriate behaviour for women. These influence perceptions of women's entitlement to time and resources for leisure, and how it may be spent. One third of Sheffield women regularly engage in physical recreation, the same figure as the national average. These women differ from others in predictable respects (for example in terms of age group, marital status and stage in the life course, and household income), and the profile of typical participants varies between sports. Participation in leisure away from home was influenced by dominant ideologies about 'a woman's place', forming the context for negotiations with partners and decisions about appropriate activities, venues and companions, their cost and timing, as well as issues such as transportation and personal safety.
On Theory of Science for the Sociology of Sport: New Structuralism, Action, Intention and Practical Meaning
Authors: Lüschen Günther
Published: March 2007

In the tradition of an empirically oriented action theory and von Brentano the sociology of sport as playful competition should contribute to a unified sport science, to sociology proper and it should reflect on its methodology and theory of science. New structuralism (Stegmßüßller, Sneed) is being advocated for theory-building. The basic intentionality in sport is being pursued with von Wright for individual motivation, institutionalized norms, ability and situation. This 'logic of events' suggests only limited uses for causal and teleological argumentation and the figure of practical syllogism as well as intentionality imply a definite linkage to notions of application and practicality in sociology of sport. A number of empirical studies of sport are cited to corroborate the methodological argument for action theory, new structuralism and practical meaning.
Sociological Reflections on Sport, Violence and Civilization
Authors: Dunning Eric
Published: March 2007

At present, there is a widespread belief in many societies that violence is currently increasing in many spheres of social life, including sport. After a brief review of Elias's theory of civilizing processes, it is shown via analyses of sports in the Ancient world, sports in medieval and early modern Europe, and via an analysis of the initial development of specifically modern forms of sport, that the dominant long-term trend in this field basically confirms Elias's theory. The paper concludes with an analysis of soccer hooliganism and with a discussion of recent social policy in that regard.
A Summary of Sport Sociology Research in the People's Republic China
Authors: Xiang'an Kong , Xinghua Niu , Bo Qiu
Published: March 2007

Several leaders in Chinese (P.R.C.) sport sociology describe the development of the discipline since 1980, when access to Western scholarship stimulated its emergence. They summarize topics which have been explored in papers and research studies: sport and politics, determining China's "sport population," small group structure in physical education classes, and attitudes toward physical activity among young people. They discuss the importance of the State in setting directives for the development of physical culture, and examine the current recruiting problems among sports schools as youngsters have become reluctant to pursue sports careers. Finally, important organizations and symposiums are listed. The authors conclude with suggestions for the future development of Chinese sport sociology.
The characteristics of sociological research on sport organization in Japan
Authors: Saeki Toshio
Published: March 2007

Sociological research on sport organizations in Japan was essentially focussed on physical education classes, play groups and Undobu, mainly employing methods and techniques of social psychology. This situation, however, changed after 1975, when research on various sports organizations started to increase considerably. Due to the fact that the organizational structure of sports in Japan is confronted with a radical change, many organizational problems occur as a result of the popularization of sport. It is therefore necessary to develop research on large sport organizations and to analyze the power structure and the cultural hegemony.
Professionalism, Structures and Systems: The Impact of Professional Staff on Voluntary Sport Organizations
Authors: Thibault Lucie , Slack Trevor , Hinings Bob
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that the hiring of a professional staff person had on the structural and systemic arrangements of a voluntary sport organization. Six organizations were examined at critical decisions points following the hiring of a professional staff member. The introduction of these people was shown to result in an increase in both the levels of specialization and standardization within these organizations. The increases occurred differentially across organizational systems, with technical systems showing the greatest increases. Decision making was found to become more centralized immediately after the hiring of a professional, however it decentralized over time.
Sports, New Way of Thinking and Human Values
Authors: Bykhovskaya Irina
Published: March 2007

Today Soviet sports sociologists focus on the humanisation of sport as part of the general humanisation of social relations. The problem includes such aspects as the shaping of humanistic thinking in contrast to the administrative-technocratic thinking predominant today, ways of achieving harmony between physical and spiritual development, enrichment of sports with moral and cultural values, new principles of training specialists capable of coping with the above tasks. Among the practical steps which have been taken to introduce these humanistic ideas into practice is the formation of an Humanistic Sports Movement in the USSR.
Game-Rules and Social Theory
Authors: Kew F.C.
Published: March 2007

Game Theory, Experimental Games and many other social theorists use games as an analytic device to understand non-game social processes, yet operate with a narrow conception of games restricted to the formal or codified rules. This formalist imagery of games provides an inadequate account of agency in games and fails to access the interpretive work by players in negotiating with game-structures. In contrast Garfinkel's ethnomethodological perspective on social processes provides the basis for identifying five interdependent dimensions of rule-following in games. This suggests that game processes are necessarily under-determined by formal rules, and that players can explore the essential insufficiency of the rules in pursuit of their interests in winning. This provides the basis for understanding changes to game-structures over time and has broader application to other social processes.
Bodies, Sportscultures and Societies: A Critical Review of Some Theories in the Sociology of the Body
Authors: Maguire Joseph
Published: March 2007

Several issues raised by literature in the sociology of the body are discussed. The need for and the significance of a sociological study of the body for the sociology of sport is stated. A critical review of competing theories in the sociology of the body is undertaken. Especial attention is given to the work of Frank. His typology draws on the work of Giddens and both are viewed as deficient in certain respects. In contrast, the work of Elias is seen as an example of good practice for the emerging sociology of sport and the body. Several 'sporting bodies' (biomedical, disciplined, commodified and symbolic) are identified and reference is made to existing literature within the sociology of sport.
East-West: The Practise of Sports as Revealing Aspects of French and Hungarian Societies
Authors: Földesi Gyongyi S. , Irlinger Paul , Louveau Catherine , Metoudi Michèle
Published: March 2007

The same sociological study was carried out in Hungary and in France (C. Louveau and M. Metoudi 1987).
'Incredulity Toward Metanarratives' and Normative Suicide: A Critique of Postmodernist Drift in Critical Sport Theory
Authors: Morgan William J.
Published: March 2007

I argue here against the increasing preoccupation with postmodern motifs evident in contemporary critical treatments of sport. My main gripe with the incorporation of these postmodern themes into critical analyses of sport has to do with their signature attempt to displace normative evaluation and argumentation in favor of the partisan championing of the beliefs of select "marginalized" social groups. I argue that it is this hostility to reason- giving and rational accountability that gets postmodern theorists of sport into trouble, and that jeopardizes the social criticism of sport.
Production, Consumption, and Sport: Use of the Body in Women's Elite Sport
Authors: Zakus Dwight H.
Published: March 2007

Marx wrote, in the introduction to the Grundrisse, that there is a dialectical relationship (a unity) between the productive and consumptive moments of human labour. That is, human labour involves both production and consumption at the same time. Each type of activity reproduces the other. If one holds this premise as correct, then it would prove interesting and informative to determine whether athletes are aware or consider that they consume their bodies through sport participation (both in the preparation and the actual production of that participation). There is a considerable literature on the healthy benefits of physical activity (exercise). It is also generally well known that athletes, that is, those who train and produce sport performances, tend to go beyond the quantities of exercise assumed to be healthy and life enhancing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether elite female athletes consider their training and performance regimes to actually consume the body rather than enhance the body. Female athletes from two Canadian universities and two national volleyball teams completed questionnaires to determine whether they perceived their patterns of performance to be consummatory. The questions pertained to the quantitative and qualitative aspects of their bodily performances.
An Urban Sports Movement as a Social Actor and a Political Arena: Remarks on Post War Associations Research in Rome
Authors: Porro Nicola
Published: March 2007

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for research on three meaningful sports experiences (track and field, volleyball and military sport) in post war Rome. The main key concepts, such as the one of political arena, considered as a historically defined place of conflict among the elites, are borrowed from political sociology.

This approach, inspired by the neo-institutionalistic viewpoint, is considered to be the opposite to both an improperly extended use of the historians' categories, and the suggestions of micro-organizational theories. A sports association is described rather as the product of manifold organizational logics, which concur in defining its structural, organizational and cognitive outline.

In the final section, a hypothesis is provided, which describes a division of the organizational history of the Roman sports movement in different periods, in connection with the national and local political cycle.
Criticism of Doping: The Nihilistic Side of Technological Sport and the Antiquated View of Sport Ethics
Authors: König Eugen
Published: March 2007

Doping is interpreted by sport ethical critics as an infringement of and treason to the idea of "pure" sport. By dramatizing doping as an event of contingency, as an accident and misdevelopment of past and present sport and by presenting it as harmless, any chance of bringing light on sport's and sport sciences' essential characteristics by analyzing the example of doping will consequently be missed. Doping is a constituant part of modern sport and of sport science.