Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Since the end of the nineteenth century the dynamics of the sport–state relationship are best understood by taking into account (1) the dramatic growth of sport relative to other forms of physical activity (gymnastics, traditional games, etc.) and (2) socially significant changes in the operation and status of the state. Sport is a competitive form of physical activity, codified to ensure equal opportunities of victory to competitors and guarantee physical security in contests. This mode of physical game, a unique feature of industrial and parliamentary societies, emerged first in England during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ( Elias & Dunning 1986 ). Between 1880 and 1900 it had become common in western industrial societies and territories controlled by the British Empire ( Mangan 1985 ) and it became worldwide after the era of decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s. The British state, under which modern sport was invented, was also the first to adopt a parliamentary form of government. As these developments occurred, British society also was characterized by relatively stable internal social relationships (i.e., during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries). However, as organized forms of competitive sports spread during the twentieth century, they were appropriated and incorporated into diverse social formations and different state structures, including those that ... log in or subscribe to read full text