Sport and the Social Sciences

• Author: George H. Sage
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944500103
• Published date: 01 September 1979
• Date: 01 September 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

1

Sport

and

the

Social

Sciences

By

GEORGE

H. SAGE

George

H.

Sage

is

Professor

of

Physical

Education

at

the

University

of Northern

Colorado.

He

earned

B.A.

and

M.A.

degrees

from

the

University

of

Northern

Colorado

and

his

doctorate from

UCLA.

His

area

of research

interest

is

the

study

of

sport

occupations

and

socialization

into

and

via

sports.

He

is

editor

of

Sport

and

American

Society

and

coauthor

of

Sociology

of

American

Sport.

ABSTRACT:

Sport

is

one

of

the

most

ubiquitous

activities

of

modern

contemporary

society.

The

pervasiveness

of

sport

can

be

seen

by

the

enormous

amount

of

primary

and

second-

ary

involvement

in

it

by

people

of

all

ages

and

social

strata.

Sport

penetrates

into

and

plays

a

significant

role

in

all

of

the

social

institutions.

The

functions

of

play,

games,

and

sport

is

a

major

theme

running

through

much

of

the

work

of

social

scientists.

Although

there

is

no

definitive

list,

there

are

seven

major

categories

of

functions

of

play,

games,

and

sport:

in-

stinct,

developmental-cognitive,

mastery,

social

integration,

socialization,

social

control,

and

personal-expressive.

There

is

a

substantial

body

of

literature

in

the

social

sciences

dis-

cussing

the

importance

of

each

of

these

functions.