EP 17 - Ch 16 -- Sports in the Future: What Do We Want Them to Be?

This episode focuses on how all of us can collectively work together to great a sports future that we want to see. In sociology, we do not try to predict the future, but based on studies of trends in social worlds, we try to understand emergent trends and possibilities so that we can create a world that is more democratic, inclusive, and humane. We do that in this episode by looking at two sports models: power and performance sports and pleasure and participation sports. We discuss the meanings of these models and their implications. We show how commercialization privileges power and performance sports, but we also look at how people can work to transform their sports worlds and what pleasure and participation sports offer. We conclude by focusing on ways that people can engage in creating the world that they want to see.