Exam 3: Sport and North American Culture and Values Main Themes

There are three related, highly valued ways to succeed in North American society, and one of these is immediate gratification.

The relationship between American values and sport is essentially one way; values affect sport rather than sport affecting the values.

The authors of the textbook emphasize that the work ethic has no relation to the sports ethic.

The most commonly used criterion to measure success in North American society is

According to the textbook, "conformity is highly valued in North American sport." Describe and discuss the ways and means by which conformity is valued in sport.

According to the textbook, "coaches do all they can to socialize their athletes with the value orientation that winning is the most admired achievement in sport." Describe and discuss several of the ways discussed in your text that coaches do that.

When winning is the primary standard for evaluation in sport, one of the negative consequences is a tendency to evaluate people by their accomplishments rather than their human qualities.

According to the textbook, "conformity is highly valued in North American sport." Describe and discuss the ways and means by which conformity is valued in sport.

According to a recent Gallup values and beliefs survey, Americans are more than twice as likely to rate the state of moral values in the United States as "poor" rather than as "excellent" or "good."

A recent national survey found that over 50 percent of US adults believe that hyper-emphasis on winning is a serious issue in American sport.

Functionalism views sport as almost a sacred activity that socializes participants about competition values.

In an essay on values and sport, demonstrate how sport is a window on society.

Locker-room slogans used by coaches tend to reinforce and reproduce American values.

The aggressiveness of humans appears to be universal as seen by the stress on competition found in all societies.

Two values that are especially inconsistent with each other are

Summarize the major points of the report in Box 3.2 titled "Two Athletes at the Rio Olympic Games" and then discuss the values exhibited. Finally, summarize your reaction to the report.

Identify three of the six most dominant American values that were described in your textbook and explain how each is manifested in society and in sport.

"By playing, watching, and reading about sports, children and adults are socialized into America's dominant values." Assuming that this statement is true, explain how this is accomplished.

Both feminist and racial theorists share hegemony theorists' interpretation of the social production of cultural values.

The tremendous popularity of sport in North America is most likely a consequence of