Discussion Worksheets

To the student:
Classes are more interesting when discussions are lively and deal with topics that you
are prepared to discuss. The students in my classes appreciate knowing about class
discussion issues in advance so they can take notes related to the issues as they read
the chapter that has been assigned. When they bring their notes to class, they find it
less intimidating to join the discussion. They use their notes as a guide and they are
more likely to participate because they have thought about the discussion questions in
advance. I hope you have a similar experience if these worksheets are used in your
course.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 1, The Sociology of Sport: What Is It and Why Study It?
1. In Ch. 1 it was explained that sports are contested activities and that people sometimes
debate and struggle about Who will participate in sports and under what conditions will their
participation occur? Identify two issues over which people have debated and struggled when
it comes to who participates in sports.
Issue/example #1:

Issue/example #2:

2. Street roller hockey is growing in popularity among middle-class boys and girls in many
suburban communities around the country. Jump rope is growing in popularity among low
income, African American girls in many large cities. Which of these two activities has the best
chance of becoming a sport in the United States? Give two reasons for your choice.
CHOICE:
REASON 1:

REASON 2:

3. As you discuss your course schedule for this semester, one of your friends asks you, Why are
you taking a sociology of sport course? I dont see how sport is related to society. Whats that
class about? How would you respond to your friend?
Response:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet

Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 2, Producing Knowledge about Sports in Society
1. Identify one of your personal theories about social life, social relationships, or social actions.
Explain how you developed it, when you use it, and how it differs from the theories that
sociologists develop.

2. Youve been assigned the task of doing a research project on the educational relevance of high
school sports. Indicate which of the three types of theories described in the chapter you would
use to guide your project, and explain the methods you would use to collect and analyze data.
Finally, identify one critical question you want to answer with your research.
Type of theory: _________________________
Methods:

Critical question:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 3, Studying the Past: Does It Help Us Understand Sports Today?
1. Throughout history, sports have generally been constructed in connection with the values and
experiences of men with power in society. Using the historical materials presented in the
chapter, give at least two examples that illustrate this.
Example #1:

Example #2:

2. The author makes the case that organized, competitive sports today are different in important
respects from the sport forms that have existed in pre-modern cultures. What are the two most
significant differences between sports today and the sport forms in any one of the times and
places discussed in the chapter?
Time and place (pick one from the chapter): ____________________________________
Difference #1:
Difference #2:
3. The U.S. Post Office wants to print two stamps commemorating the two most socially
significant sport moments in U.S. history since 1920. Theyve hired you to identify the
two historical moments. What are they and why did you choose them?
Moment/event #1:

Moment/event #2:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 4, Sports and Socialization: Who Plays and What Happens to Them?
1. Through the main sections of the chapter there are 13 different studies summarized. Which of
these studies would you choose to read and summarize, what topic does it help us understand,
and why did you choose it?
Study:
Topic:
Reason:

2. Ask a person who regularly plays in a power and performance sport to describe his or her
experiences in the sport and what it is that he or she likes the most about playing. Then ask a
person who regularly plays a pleasure and participation sport to describe his or her
experiences and what it is that he or she likes the most about playing. Identify any similarities
or differences in the descriptions of their experiences or what they like the most.
Similarities:

Differences:

3. The author argues that Coca-Cola and General Motors sponsor sports for reasons that go
beyond the desire to boost short-term sales. He says they are interested in using sports to
deliver cultural messages. What are these messages, and why are they interested in delivering
them?

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 5, Sports and Children: Are Organized Programs Worth the Effort?
1. The author lists factors that have influenced the kinds of games and sports played by young
people over the last two generations. Identify the two factors you think have been most
influential in explaining differences between your youth sport experiences and those of your
parents or grandparents. Describe those differences.
Influential factor 1:
Influential factor 2:
Differences:

2. As an elementary school basketball coach working with 4th graders, your job is to create a
basketball program for your school and three other schools in your league. When you go to
your first meeting you make 2 suggestions for changes in the current traditionally organized
program. What are they and how do you explain and justify them to the coaches from the
other schools?
Suggestion #1:
Suggestion #2:

3. Parents today invest considerable resources into their childrens youth sport experiences,
especially when public programs are not available. Does your family fit the pattern that the
author describes in the chapter? If so, identify all the similarities; if not, explain why.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 6, Deviance in Sports: Is It Out of Control?
1. You have a 19-year old friend who is an excellent distance runner on her college track team.
Shes decided that she must lose weight if she wants to reach her potential. You know she is
using prescription weight-loss drugs that she obtained illegally. How would someone using an
absolutist approach explain her drug use? How would someone using a constructionist
approach explain it? Identify the explanation you think is most accurate and give two reasons
for your choice.
Most accurate approach: ______________________________
Reason 1 for choice:
Reason 2 for choice:
2. After reading the material on deviant overconformity, use your own experience (as an athlete
or spectator or friend of an athlete) to identify a form of deviant overconformity in sports.
Explain the origins of the deviance and a course of action a coach might take to control this
form of deviance among his/her athletes.
Example of deviant overconformity:
Origins of the deviance (i.e., how and why is the athlete overconforming to one or more of the
norms in The Sport Ethic?):
Strategy to control the behavior:

3. You are giving expert testimony to a Presidents Council on Drug Control in Sports. The
council members want to know why substance use among athletes is widespread and if more
sophisticated and freqent drug testing is the way to make sports safer for athletes. What is
your testimony?
Reasons why use is widespread:
Should they test better and more? (Explain):

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 7, Violence in Sports: How Does It Affect Our Lives?
1. On-the-field violence is related to a number of things including overconformity to the norms
of the sport ethic, commercialization, and masculinity. Which of these factors accounts most
for the level of brutal body contact that occurs in professional football in the United States?
Explain your choice.
Choice: ________________________________
Explanation:

2. After reading a report of a male athlete who has assaulted a woman, one of your friends says,
Playing sports causes men to be violent. She knows you are taking a course on the
sociology of sport, and she wants you to respond to her conclusion. What do you say?

3. You are the new principal of a school that is hosting a game between your #1 ranked football
team and the #2 ranked team in your division. There is a deep, longstanding rivalry between
the schools and a history of player and spectator violence during games. After reading Ch. 7,
what measures would you take to control player and spectator violence on and off the field?

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 8, Gender and Sport: Does Equity Require Ideological Changes?
1. The author suggests that there are at least 7 reasons to be cautious when predicting future
sport participation increases among women. Which of these reasons do you think will have the
most negative affect on participation among girls and women in the future? Give an
explanation for your choice.
Reason: ________________________
Explanation:

2. Do a quick assessment of gender equity in the sport programs at your school. Do you think
your school could meet the legal definition of equity as spelled out in connection with title IX?
How would the school meet the definition or fail to meet it?

3. One of the indicators of ideological changes related to sports is the extent to which teammates
and fans accept gay men and lesbians on athletic teams. Use a 1-to-10 scale (with 10 being
total acceptance) to indicate the degree of acceptance that might be experienced by a gay man
on your schools football team and by a lesbian on the volleyball team.
Gay man on football team:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Lesbian on volleyball team:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

If the ratings differ, explain why:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 9, Race and Ethnicity: Are They Important in Sports?
1. Your 14-year-old brother comes to you and asks why he sees so many black athletes in certain
sports, and so few or none in other sports. What are three of the main points you would talk
about in your discussion with him?
Point #1:
Point #2:
Point #3:

2. Your 16-year-old son attends a U.S. high school with the sport team nickname of Redskins.
The team mascot is a caricature of a Native American in war paint and feather headdress
carrying a tomahawk. Your son wants to apply to be the mascot for next year. He wants to
know if its okay with you (by the way, you live close to a reservation where 1 in 6 teens
attempt suicide, the unemployment rate is 30%, and 70% of the households are under the
poverty level). You want your son to make an informed decision about what to do. What
points do you emphasize in your discussion?

3. As the principal of a new racially and ethnically mixed high school, you want to use the varsity
sport program as site for highlighting positive intergroup relations in your school. What
challenges will you face as you try to do this? What challenges will be the most difficult to
deal with?
Challenges:
Most difficult challenge:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 10, Social Class: Do Money and Power Matter in Sports?
1. Think about sports in your community, including pleasure & participation sports and power &
performance sports at all levels from youth leagues to college or professional levels. List four
ways that sports in your community (including sports in the media) are connected with class
relations and class inequality.
Connection #1:
Connection #2:
Connection #3:
Connection #4:

2. You are with a group of friends who play sports at your college. They are discussing career
opportunities and arguing about whether playing varsity sports in college will promote or
interfere with their career success in the future. The group is split on this issue, and they ask
you to identify the three most important factors to consider when arguing one position or the
other. Which three would you say are most important (and why)?
Factor #1:
Factor #2:
Factor #3:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 11, Sports and the Economy: What Are the Characteristics of Commercial Sports?
1. The commercial growth and popularity of many sports seems to be fueled by a combination of
media coverage and corporate sponsorships. Why would corporations use their money and
resources to sponsor sports and to brand sports with their names and logos?

2. Heroic values are often emphasized in commercial spectator sports. Choose a sport and show
how commercialization has accentuated heroic values and orientations emphasized by athletes,
coaches, sports commentators and journalists, and spectators.
Sport: ___________________________
Examples of Heroic Values:

3. Some of the business leaders in your city are proposing that public money be used to build a
$1.3-billion, state-of-the-art domed sport stadium for the local NFL team. There will be a vote
on this issue in the next election. Will you vote for or against the proposal? Explain why you
will vote one way or the other.
Vote Yes_____ or Vote No______
Explanation:

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 12, Sports and the Media: Could They Survive Without Each Other?
1. When it comes to sports in your life, which media do you use for entertainment and information?
Which medium do you use the most? Do you use the Internet in connection with sports and, if
so, how do you use it?
Media I use:
Medium I use the most:
How I use the Internet:

2. Talk with 3 people who play video sport games. Which game is their favorite and why? Ask
them if they would rather play a video game, watch an elite sport event in person, or watch
the same event on television. How do they explain their choice?
Favorite games:
Why is it their favorite:
Choiceplay video game or watch in person or watch on TV:
Explanation of their choice:

3. Research has identified a number of ideological themes that underlie the media construction of
a sport event. Watch a major television sport event, identify any of the themes listed in the
chapter, and explain how they are included.
Theme(s):

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 13, Sports and Politics: How Do Governments and Global Processes Influence
Sports?
1. Identify three ways that government is involved with the organized sports played in your town
or metro area (give specific examples).
Example #1:
Example #2:
Example #3:

2. The author suggests that the Olympic Games must be reformed because they no longer
represent the spirit of Olympism. You have been asked to identify the aspects of todays
Olympics that are not consistent with Olympism and make two recommendations for changing
the Games to fit more closely with the spirit of Olympism. How do you respond?
Aspects of current Games inconsistent with Olympism:

Two strategies for reform:

3. What are three ways that politics have been a part of the sports that you or your friends have
played? Use the list in the chapter as a starting point and give examples from your experience.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 14, Sports in High School and College: Do Competitive Sports Contribute to
Education?
1. Using material from the chapter and your own experience, identify the biggest problem in high
school sports and in intercollegiate sports. What would you do to correct the problems?
Biggest problem in high school sports:
Remedy:

Biggest problem in intercollegiate sports:

Remedy:

2. Did varsity athletes in your high school receive special privileges or breaks from teachers,
administrators, or other students? If so, what were they and how did this affect the
relationships between varsity athletes and other students in the school? If not, explain why this
did not occur?
Special privileges: yes _____or no _____
Explain:

3. Imagine your school (old high school or current college) without varsity sports. What would
be different, and how would students respond to the absence of varsity sports? Would the
responses be positive or negative? Would the educational mission of the school be helped or
harmed? Explain.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 15, Sports and Religions: Is It a Promising Combination?
1. People in sports have used religion a number of ways, such as athletes using religion to help
them cope with uncertainty associated with participation in sports, or coaches using religion
as a basis for cohesion or social control on teams. What are two examples of how religion and
sport have been combined in your experience or the experiences of your friends?
Example #1:

Example #2:

2. Many athletes (in the U.S.) today combine Christian religious beliefs with their sport
participation. The author suggests that this may create tensions or dilemmas for those athletes
who play sports that require brutal body contact or strategies that may harm other players.
Talk to a Christian athletes and ask him or her if this is a problem. If not, why not. If so, in
what ways and how do they deal with the problem?

3. Some people believe that religion in sports is good because it can lead to the elimination of
major problems in sports. Is this belief supported by your experience? Explain why or why
not.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Student Discussion Worksheet
Name: ____________________________________________Due date: ______________
Reading: Ch. 16, Sports in the Future: Are We Agents of Change?
1. The author makes predictions about the growth and popularity of both pleasure and participation
sports and power and performance sports. In terms of your experiences in the future, which of
these two sport forms will be most important in your life as a participant and as a consumer of
media sports? Explain why.
Pleasure and participation sports ______ or power and performance sports ______
Explanation:

2. Your job at a U.S. think tank has led you to become a consultant on a project that is trying
to predict what sports might look like from a global perspective in the year 2030. Using
material from this chapter and the rest of the book, identify two things that will be different
about sports in 2030 and explain why these differences would come about.
Difference #1:
Difference #2:
Explanation:

3. If you could bring about one change in the meaning, purpose, or organization of sports, what
would it be? What theory would guide your selection of the change, and what vantage point
(see the chapter) would be best for making the change?
The change:
The theory:
The vantage point: