London 2012 Research Paper
Against a backdrop of the growing political, social and cultural significance of sport, critically examine the increasing role of government in the field of sport policy. You should pay particular reference as to the reasons why governments have got involved and the impact of their involvement, blending theory and utilising contemporary examples to support your arguments.
Sport in general has many functions, whilst focusing on the significance of sport within the context of politics, society and culture it is unquestionably clear that all three have some form of connection between them to create a structure for Sport. (Jones and Armour, 2000, p. 1) state that “Sport is, undeniably, a social structure which is intimately connected to other …show more content…
social structures such as the economy, political networks, education, class and global considerations.”
Society is the “network of relationships formed by human beings” (Malcolm, 2008:4). Whilst viewing the social significance of sport it is apparent that within society there will be a number of social unions where a group of people will share similar views on a particular sport and participate in the activity whilst enjoying it. (Boxill, 2003, pg. 1) states that “…because sport is a microcosm of society, it dramatizes the social order. As a microcosm, sport represents the social order in miniature, a “slice of life” and exhibits that slice in an exaggerated and dramatic form, much as a play dramatizes an episode of life.” This shows how sport in a social context is used by individuals within society to express themselves within a group to form some sort of social identity. The work of Maguire (see Harris and Parker 2009, p. 6) suggests that sport represents “a potential environment for the construction and display of identity” whilst the work of Maclancy (see Harris and Parker 2009, pg. 6) elaborates on that by suggesting that “sport may not just be a marker of one’s already established social identity but a means by which to create a new social identity for oneself’.
A component of society is the context of a culture. Culture- “is a complex system of meaning or way of behaviour that defines a way of life for a group of people or society… it involves studying the way people think, how they interact and the object they use”- what is good/bad right/wrong etc. (Andersen and Taylor, 2006, pg.54). Culture can be used to differentiate one type of society from another. “Culture is not something that is imposed by some people on others; rather, it is a creation of people interacting with one another” (Coakley 2003, pg.5). Culture is important when relating to the growing significance in sport as it helps in bringing a feeling of togetherness and unity within a community, it knits together different religious groups, ethnicities and classes by individuals sharing common experiences. Politics “… the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live” (Heywood, 2002, pg.4). In recent times politics and sport have become more interrelated, government are further involved and use useful political resources that sport provides to make changes that they want to see within society e.g. increasing sport participation. Because of how sport can be used in a highly effective way in reference to the construction of a nation governments are getting more and more involved as they can use sport to bring a nation together in some way as within a country the people of a nation are divided in many ways be it by class, ethnicity and gender, as there aren’t many opportunities for the people of a nation to grow a durable sense of collective awareness, sport then becomes a significant resource that can be used to help develop that perception.
The London 2012 Olympics is a perfect example in relation to how in some way it bought a feeling of togetherness within the United Kingdom. The in your face approach that was taken by the games was clear to see, The London 2012 games were expansively covered and broadcasted.
“Olympic viewing figures for the London 2012 Games” [BARB, September 2012]
From the diagram above it is clear to see how the London Olympics 2012 impacted on audiences in the U.K, Politically and socially this is very significant as the majority of the nation are viewing the games it provides an opportunity for the games to be used to bring a sense of togetherness within the people of the country whilst also raising awareness of sport in the best way possible.
There is no form of division it’s more of a case of unity. “The London 2012 Olympic Games delivered the biggest national television event since current measuring systems began, with 51.9m (90% of the UK population) watching at least 15 minutes of coverage. 24.2m (42% of the UK population) also watched at least 15 minutes of coverage on the BBC Red Button.” [London 2012 Olympics deliver record viewing figures for BBC].
The demonstration effect was utilised during the Olympics as the event promoted positive feelings about sport particularly focusing on those who attended, figures show that “70% of those aged 25 or younger who had attended major sporting events felt inspired to participate or to participate more frequently as a result of attending events” (Sport England,
2012).
When considering the role of government in sport it is essential to analyse what issues the governments are targeting, why they are getting involved and what impact they are having with their involvement. First of all it is clear to see a shift in how the government operates when relating to sport, there’s a move away from the traditional hierarchy there is now more networks and the shift from government to governance is relatively clear to see Skelcher (2000, pg.15) states “ the shift from strong, hierarchical government, to governance by and through networks and partnerships is indicative of a ‘conjested’ state in which a range of agencies, quangos, task forces and a host of para-statal bodies contribute to policy making and delivery”. Sport in general is of importance to people due to the fact that it provides an ideal platform for individuals to express themselves within society. The practice of sport could potentially benefit individuals as it enables them to express their physicality, improve their general health whilst also aiding towards a better community. “ In other words sport can be a vehicle for making better people and communities” (Stewart 2007, pg.6). The government have found that when people leave school they could rather easily stop playing sports, this in turn can lead to people living an unhealthy lifestyle. To tackle this issue the government want to get more people participating in sport from a young age before going on to encourage people to carry on playing sport throughout life. They implement strategies to ensure that as many people as possible are involved in sport. Government funded organisation’s such as Sport England work on providing opportunities for young persons to be involved in sport to help them towards a sporting routine for life. Strategies are put into place to increase sports participation throughout the nation. They particularly target the age group of 14 to 25 year olds. Sport England implement their strategy by constructing improvements between schools and sports clubs within the community by funding National Governing Bodies to aid them in creating opportunities in sport for young people.
The role of government in sport has significantly increased over time. In between the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a developing enthusiasm around government to view sport as a genuine area of public policy as it was during this period that sport was recognised as an increasing social significance. The work of Henry and Bramham, 1993; Green and Houlihan, 2005; and Houlihan, 1997 (see Bloyce and Smith 2010, p. 33) branded this period as a time where “ The main policy priorities that characterised sport policy during the 1960s related to maintaining and enhancing social order and increasing international sporting success, as well as meeting the demand for wider opportunities for people to participate in sport and physical activity”. When comparing this period of time to the post 1990s it is clear to see how the role of government in sport has vastly augmented. Goals were set for mass participation, governments started to commit to the campaigns like Sport For All targeting areas of the country which were highly deprived, access to quality sporting facilities were affordable, very quickly progress was taking place and government were becoming more and more involved and there was a transition in sports policies as (Bloyce and Smith, 2010, pg.33) state “ policy implementation clearly distinguished the sports development policies of the Labour government from those of its predecessors”.
Economically sport and politics are intertwining to become a very influential part of the country, sport benefits the individual and society as a whole. The impact that sport has economically is actually rather significant, sport in the economy is responsible for around 2.3% of all jobs in England . It can also have an impact on the socio-economic side of things as “The contribution sport can make to reducing youth crime. Participation in sport can contribute towards reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, particularly amongst young people.” (Sport England, 2013, pg.5).
When focusing on the role of government in sport you also need to consider whether they are interfering by mixing politics with sport or whether they are getting involved and forming a relationship between sport and politics that is potentially beneficial for all involved. On one hand it can be argued that they are interfering in relation to issues regarding sport and its purity because sport in its purest form is simply about exercise, recreation and enjoyment, by mixing the purity of sport with politics it brings it into a new environment which is potentially dangerous as it becomes a form of business, this in turn can create conflict as by merging the purity of sport with politics it can easily become money orientated and in a way promote greediness which takes the purity out of sport. On the other hand government are getting more involved in a positive way as by investing heavily in the public evidence shows participation levels have increased over recent years as can be seen from the diagram below. “SPORT ENGLAND Who plays sport – the latest data”[2013]
As you can see from the diagram the impact of government involvement is clear to see, its positive, physical activity levels have increased, participation in sport is rising year on year but the question remains what is their motives, why is it that the government are getting more and more involved well there is a clear and logical justification, government understand the value of sport, they also understand the significance in improving health and tackling major national issues such as obesity, they believe that the lessons that can be potentially learnt from sport are valuable hence the reason they are investing so heavily in sport. The intention is clear government are working to inspire a mass participation culture and I believe that its working, participation levels are rising, sport is becoming more and more politicised and although it can be argued that they are not focusing on the lesser profiled minority sports e.g. less coverage and less interest in sports such as hockey and badminton their overall motive is clearly justified as their objective is quite simple they are working towards major increases in participation in sport evidence shows that this objective is being met, also the reason why they focus on major sports a lot more than the low profile sports is because of public interest so personally I think it makes sense in why they do things the way they do.
To conclude the essay I believe that the increasing role of government in the field of sport policy is beneficial be it politically, socially, culturally as well as economically. The only limitations that I see from government involvement is the degree in which they get involved e.g. if they started to get involved in the organisation of sport then problems could occur as it could possibly be perceived as interference. Personally I believe that in the future there will be more political involvement but it’s acceptable as long as the NGBs of the country have total independence of sport from government.
REFERENCES
Andersen, M.L., and Taylor, H.F. 2006. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. USA: Thomson Higher Education
BLOYCE, D and SMITH,A.2010.Sport Policy and Development: an introduction. Oxon:Routledge.
Boxill, J., 2003. Sports Ethics: An Anthology [online]. Oxford: Blackwell. Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncssm.edu%2Felc%2Fcontent%2Fattachments%2FMoralSignificanceExcerpt-Boxill.doc&ei=GL2XUqvZFMSthQfhzIGwCQ&usg=AFQjCNHCPzrbyMJ3ECVl_RaW4GnA4_XY0A&bvm=bv.57155469,d.d2k Date Accessed: 28/11/13.
Creating a sporting habit for life. [Online]. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78318/creating_a_sporting_habit_for_life.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
COAKLEY,J. 2003. Sports in society: Issues and controversies. Eight edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Economic value of sport in England. [Online]. 2013. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/177230/economic-value-of-sport.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
Harris, J., and Parker, A., 2009. Sport and Social Identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Heywood, A. [2002] Politics. [2nd Edition], Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Insight Summary. [Online]. 2012. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/177363/the-demonstration-effect-1-.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
Jones, R.L., and Armour, K.M., 2000. Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
London 2012 Olympics deliver record viewing figures for BBC. [Online]. 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/olympic-viewing-figs.html [Date Accessed: 28/11/13]
Skelcher, C. 2000, Changing images of the state: Overloaded, hollowed-out, congested. Public Policy and Administration 15(3): 3-19.
STEWART, B. 2007, Sport Funding and Finance. Oxford: Elsevier
MALCOLM, D. 2008. The Sage Dictionary of Sports Studies. London: Sage
Who plays sport- the latest data. [Online]. 2013. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/national-picture/ [Date Accesed:28/11/13]
Sport in general has many functions, whilst focusing on the significance of sport within the context of politics, society and culture it is unquestionably clear that all three have some form of connection between them to create a structure for Sport. (Jones and Armour, 2000, p. 1) state that “Sport is, undeniably, a social structure which is intimately connected to other …show more content…
social structures such as the economy, political networks, education, class and global considerations.”
Society is the “network of relationships formed by human beings” (Malcolm, 2008:4). Whilst viewing the social significance of sport it is apparent that within society there will be a number of social unions where a group of people will share similar views on a particular sport and participate in the activity whilst enjoying it. (Boxill, 2003, pg. 1) states that “…because sport is a microcosm of society, it dramatizes the social order. As a microcosm, sport represents the social order in miniature, a “slice of life” and exhibits that slice in an exaggerated and dramatic form, much as a play dramatizes an episode of life.” This shows how sport in a social context is used by individuals within society to express themselves within a group to form some sort of social identity. The work of Maguire (see Harris and Parker 2009, p. 6) suggests that sport represents “a potential environment for the construction and display of identity” whilst the work of Maclancy (see Harris and Parker 2009, pg. 6) elaborates on that by suggesting that “sport may not just be a marker of one’s already established social identity but a means by which to create a new social identity for oneself’.
A component of society is the context of a culture. Culture- “is a complex system of meaning or way of behaviour that defines a way of life for a group of people or society… it involves studying the way people think, how they interact and the object they use”- what is good/bad right/wrong etc. (Andersen and Taylor, 2006, pg.54). Culture can be used to differentiate one type of society from another. “Culture is not something that is imposed by some people on others; rather, it is a creation of people interacting with one another” (Coakley 2003, pg.5). Culture is important when relating to the growing significance in sport as it helps in bringing a feeling of togetherness and unity within a community, it knits together different religious groups, ethnicities and classes by individuals sharing common experiences. Politics “… the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live” (Heywood, 2002, pg.4). In recent times politics and sport have become more interrelated, government are further involved and use useful political resources that sport provides to make changes that they want to see within society e.g. increasing sport participation. Because of how sport can be used in a highly effective way in reference to the construction of a nation governments are getting more and more involved as they can use sport to bring a nation together in some way as within a country the people of a nation are divided in many ways be it by class, ethnicity and gender, as there aren’t many opportunities for the people of a nation to grow a durable sense of collective awareness, sport then becomes a significant resource that can be used to help develop that perception.
The London 2012 Olympics is a perfect example in relation to how in some way it bought a feeling of togetherness within the United Kingdom. The in your face approach that was taken by the games was clear to see, The London 2012 games were expansively covered and broadcasted.
“Olympic viewing figures for the London 2012 Games” [BARB, September 2012]
From the diagram above it is clear to see how the London Olympics 2012 impacted on audiences in the U.K, Politically and socially this is very significant as the majority of the nation are viewing the games it provides an opportunity for the games to be used to bring a sense of togetherness within the people of the country whilst also raising awareness of sport in the best way possible.
There is no form of division it’s more of a case of unity. “The London 2012 Olympic Games delivered the biggest national television event since current measuring systems began, with 51.9m (90% of the UK population) watching at least 15 minutes of coverage. 24.2m (42% of the UK population) also watched at least 15 minutes of coverage on the BBC Red Button.” [London 2012 Olympics deliver record viewing figures for BBC].
The demonstration effect was utilised during the Olympics as the event promoted positive feelings about sport particularly focusing on those who attended, figures show that “70% of those aged 25 or younger who had attended major sporting events felt inspired to participate or to participate more frequently as a result of attending events” (Sport England,
2012).
When considering the role of government in sport it is essential to analyse what issues the governments are targeting, why they are getting involved and what impact they are having with their involvement. First of all it is clear to see a shift in how the government operates when relating to sport, there’s a move away from the traditional hierarchy there is now more networks and the shift from government to governance is relatively clear to see Skelcher (2000, pg.15) states “ the shift from strong, hierarchical government, to governance by and through networks and partnerships is indicative of a ‘conjested’ state in which a range of agencies, quangos, task forces and a host of para-statal bodies contribute to policy making and delivery”. Sport in general is of importance to people due to the fact that it provides an ideal platform for individuals to express themselves within society. The practice of sport could potentially benefit individuals as it enables them to express their physicality, improve their general health whilst also aiding towards a better community. “ In other words sport can be a vehicle for making better people and communities” (Stewart 2007, pg.6). The government have found that when people leave school they could rather easily stop playing sports, this in turn can lead to people living an unhealthy lifestyle. To tackle this issue the government want to get more people participating in sport from a young age before going on to encourage people to carry on playing sport throughout life. They implement strategies to ensure that as many people as possible are involved in sport. Government funded organisation’s such as Sport England work on providing opportunities for young persons to be involved in sport to help them towards a sporting routine for life. Strategies are put into place to increase sports participation throughout the nation. They particularly target the age group of 14 to 25 year olds. Sport England implement their strategy by constructing improvements between schools and sports clubs within the community by funding National Governing Bodies to aid them in creating opportunities in sport for young people.
The role of government in sport has significantly increased over time. In between the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a developing enthusiasm around government to view sport as a genuine area of public policy as it was during this period that sport was recognised as an increasing social significance. The work of Henry and Bramham, 1993; Green and Houlihan, 2005; and Houlihan, 1997 (see Bloyce and Smith 2010, p. 33) branded this period as a time where “ The main policy priorities that characterised sport policy during the 1960s related to maintaining and enhancing social order and increasing international sporting success, as well as meeting the demand for wider opportunities for people to participate in sport and physical activity”. When comparing this period of time to the post 1990s it is clear to see how the role of government in sport has vastly augmented. Goals were set for mass participation, governments started to commit to the campaigns like Sport For All targeting areas of the country which were highly deprived, access to quality sporting facilities were affordable, very quickly progress was taking place and government were becoming more and more involved and there was a transition in sports policies as (Bloyce and Smith, 2010, pg.33) state “ policy implementation clearly distinguished the sports development policies of the Labour government from those of its predecessors”.
Economically sport and politics are intertwining to become a very influential part of the country, sport benefits the individual and society as a whole. The impact that sport has economically is actually rather significant, sport in the economy is responsible for around 2.3% of all jobs in England . It can also have an impact on the socio-economic side of things as “The contribution sport can make to reducing youth crime. Participation in sport can contribute towards reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, particularly amongst young people.” (Sport England, 2013, pg.5).
When focusing on the role of government in sport you also need to consider whether they are interfering by mixing politics with sport or whether they are getting involved and forming a relationship between sport and politics that is potentially beneficial for all involved. On one hand it can be argued that they are interfering in relation to issues regarding sport and its purity because sport in its purest form is simply about exercise, recreation and enjoyment, by mixing the purity of sport with politics it brings it into a new environment which is potentially dangerous as it becomes a form of business, this in turn can create conflict as by merging the purity of sport with politics it can easily become money orientated and in a way promote greediness which takes the purity out of sport. On the other hand government are getting more involved in a positive way as by investing heavily in the public evidence shows participation levels have increased over recent years as can be seen from the diagram below. “SPORT ENGLAND Who plays sport – the latest data”[2013]
As you can see from the diagram the impact of government involvement is clear to see, its positive, physical activity levels have increased, participation in sport is rising year on year but the question remains what is their motives, why is it that the government are getting more and more involved well there is a clear and logical justification, government understand the value of sport, they also understand the significance in improving health and tackling major national issues such as obesity, they believe that the lessons that can be potentially learnt from sport are valuable hence the reason they are investing so heavily in sport. The intention is clear government are working to inspire a mass participation culture and I believe that its working, participation levels are rising, sport is becoming more and more politicised and although it can be argued that they are not focusing on the lesser profiled minority sports e.g. less coverage and less interest in sports such as hockey and badminton their overall motive is clearly justified as their objective is quite simple they are working towards major increases in participation in sport evidence shows that this objective is being met, also the reason why they focus on major sports a lot more than the low profile sports is because of public interest so personally I think it makes sense in why they do things the way they do.
To conclude the essay I believe that the increasing role of government in the field of sport policy is beneficial be it politically, socially, culturally as well as economically. The only limitations that I see from government involvement is the degree in which they get involved e.g. if they started to get involved in the organisation of sport then problems could occur as it could possibly be perceived as interference. Personally I believe that in the future there will be more political involvement but it’s acceptable as long as the NGBs of the country have total independence of sport from government.
REFERENCES
Andersen, M.L., and Taylor, H.F. 2006. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. USA: Thomson Higher Education
BLOYCE, D and SMITH,A.2010.Sport Policy and Development: an introduction. Oxon:Routledge.
Boxill, J., 2003. Sports Ethics: An Anthology [online]. Oxford: Blackwell. Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncssm.edu%2Felc%2Fcontent%2Fattachments%2FMoralSignificanceExcerpt-Boxill.doc&ei=GL2XUqvZFMSthQfhzIGwCQ&usg=AFQjCNHCPzrbyMJ3ECVl_RaW4GnA4_XY0A&bvm=bv.57155469,d.d2k Date Accessed: 28/11/13.
Creating a sporting habit for life. [Online]. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78318/creating_a_sporting_habit_for_life.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
COAKLEY,J. 2003. Sports in society: Issues and controversies. Eight edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Economic value of sport in England. [Online]. 2013. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/177230/economic-value-of-sport.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
Harris, J., and Parker, A., 2009. Sport and Social Identities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Heywood, A. [2002] Politics. [2nd Edition], Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Insight Summary. [Online]. 2012. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/177363/the-demonstration-effect-1-.pdf [Date Accessed:28/11/13]
Jones, R.L., and Armour, K.M., 2000. Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
London 2012 Olympics deliver record viewing figures for BBC. [Online]. 2012. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/olympic-viewing-figs.html [Date Accessed: 28/11/13]
Skelcher, C. 2000, Changing images of the state: Overloaded, hollowed-out, congested. Public Policy and Administration 15(3): 3-19.
STEWART, B. 2007, Sport Funding and Finance. Oxford: Elsevier
MALCOLM, D. 2008. The Sage Dictionary of Sports Studies. London: Sage
Who plays sport- the latest data. [Online]. 2013. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/national-picture/ [Date Accesed:28/11/13]