After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Define socialization and explain why it is important to study socialization as an interactive learning process
Provide research examples to explain how people become involved and stay involved in sports.
Provide research examples to explain how people change or drop out of sport participation.
Explain the ways that a person’s identity is connected with a person’s decisions about sport participation.
Identify problems associated with ending a competitive sport career, and the conditions under which such problems are most likely to occur.
Explain why sport participation does not have the same socialization effects for everyone who plays sports.
Identify the conditions under which sport participation is most likely or least likely to have positive socialization effects on those who play sports.
Identify the major differences between pleasure and participation sports and power and performance sports, and explain why it is important to know about these differences when studying sports and socialization.
Use research examples to explain why we must understand the social context in which sport participation occurs if we wish to explain how participation affects people’s lives.
Define the concept social world, and use research examples to explain how athletes define and make decisions about sports in their lives.
Explain why sport participation does not automatically lead to physical fitness and well-being and why it may not reduce obesity rates in a society.
Identify the connections between sports, socialization, and ideology.
Explain what sociologists mean when they say that socialization is a community and cultural process.
Explain what it means to live in “the Empire of the Normal” for those who have a disability and want to play sports.
