Sport is a physical activity where two or more individual or collective participants compete under specific rules and in a specific setting – specific equipment (gear, balls, rackets, vehicles, etc.) and specific physical infrastructure (pitch, court, track, pool, range, table, goal posts, etc.). Although millions of individuals all over the world engage in sport not to compete, but just for recreation, in this entry we will focus on competitive sports, especially well-organized and widespread sports. 

People in all cultures have always participated in physical activities as part of daily life, play, and religious rituals. The earliest organized games combined physical movement with religious practices and reflected the social structures, beliefs, and power relations of their societies. While these activities often reinforced existing social hierarchies, they could also provide opportunities for resistance and social change. Modern sports developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a result of rationalization, industrialization, democratization, and urbanization. Over time, physical activities became organized into competitive, rule-based sports that evolved into important social institutions closely connected to broader social processes.

                Sport and Socialization and Identity Formation

In many cultures, sport is believed to help develop character, leading people to view successful athletes as role models, especially for young people. Fans often identify strongly with their favorite teams and athletes, making sport an important part of their personal identity, sometimes even more significant than education, religion, work, or family. Douglas E. Foley's study of a Texas high school shows that football plays a major role in shaping students' values and social experiences. Being a sports fan is closely linked to personal memories, emotions, and social interactions. However, these experiences are frequently connected to consumer activities, such as attending games, watching broadcasts, purchasing sports merchandise, and discussing sporting events.

                               Sport and Illegal Activities

Illegal activities can damage the integrity and reputation of sport. Some of the most common problems are doping, hooliganism, gambling, match-fixing, and bribery. Doping is the use of banned substances or methods to improve athletic performance. It gives athletes an unfair advantage and can seriously harm their health. Strict anti-doping rules exist to protect fair competition.

Hooliganism is another serious issue, especially in football. Violent behavior by some fans can lead to injuries, property damage, and unsafe conditions at sporting events. Clubs and authorities work together to prevent this type of violence. Illegal gambling and match-fixing threaten the honesty of sports competitions. When players, coaches, or officials deliberately influence the outcome of a game for money, the trust of fans and the spirit of competition are destroyed.

Bribery is also a major concern. It can involve paying referees, officials, or players to make unfair decisions or influence results. Such actions undermine the credibility of sports organizations and competitions. Illegal activities in sport harm athletes, fans, and the reputation of sporting events. Strong rules, fair enforcement, and education are essential to protect the values of honesty, fairness, and respect in sport.

                                  Economics of Sports 

Sport has been part of human society for centuries, but professional team sports only became established in the early twentieth century. Since then, sports such as football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and American football have grown into major professional industries. A significant turning point occurred in the 1960s when television broadcasting contracts dramatically increased team revenues. As a result, clubs were no longer limited by stadium capacity, and players' salaries rose sharply. Today, major sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon, the Tour de France, the Super Bowl, and championship boxing generate billions of dollars and provide employment for thousands of people. Since the late 1980s, sport has become increasingly commercialized, a process described as "hypercommodification."

Economists became more interested in sports during the 1990s, mainly because governments in the United States began investing large amounts of public money in stadiums and sports arenas. Supporters of these investments argued that professional sports teams create jobs, increase local income, attract visitors, and stimulate economic growth. They also claimed that tax incentives and publicly funded facilities were worthwhile investments for cities. However, economic research has generally found little evidence to support these claims. Most studies conclude that professional sports have either no significant economic impact or even a slightly negative effect on local economies.

Several reasons explain these findings. Money spent by local residents on sporting events would often be spent on other entertainment or services if the team did not exist. In addition, many tourists visit cities for reasons unrelated to sport and simply attend games while they are there. Furthermore, a considerable portion of a team's revenue leaves the local economy because it is spent on travel or paid to players who live elsewhere during the off-season.

For many years, major American sports leagues held significant control over players through systems such as player drafts and reserve clauses. These rules prevented players from freely changing teams, allowing clubs to keep salaries relatively low. This situation changed during the 1960s and 1970s with the growth of players' unions, strikes, and legal reforms. Reserve clauses were gradually abolished, and players eventually gained free agency, giving them the right to negotiate contracts with different teams. This led to a substantial increase in player salaries.

In university and college sport, student-athletes are recruited by universities and offered a scholarship, and in turn, universities attract spectators and gain financial support and earnings.  In the US, college athletes are forbidden from receiving monetary or other forms of compensation besides a scholarship. While some athletes go on to play in major sport leagues and earn money, many of these athletes never become professionals. As a result, many leave college without completing their education or developing the skills needed for careers outside sport, raising concerns about their exploitation.

                          Sociological Research on Sport

Although play and games attracted the interest of social scientists from the late nineteenth century, sport itself received little academic attention until after World War II. Early scholars such as Thorstein Veblen, Max Weber, William Graham Sumner, and Willard Waller examined sport in relation to society, while Theodor Adorno and Heinz Risse were the first to use the term "sociology of sport" in 1921. During the 1950s and 1960s, research in this field gradually expanded in Europe and North America. The sociology of sport developed through both sociology and physical education and became more established with the creation of the International Committee for Sport Sociology, the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and later the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. Despite its growth, the sociology of sport has remained a relatively marginal academic field, with few graduate programs and limited recognition within sociology departments.

Sociological research on sport is mainly divided into two major perspectives: the functionalist (or systems) perspective and the conflict perspective. Functionalist sociologists view sport as a social institution that benefits society by promoting important cultural values such as achievement, success, competition, cooperation, discipline, and teamwork. They argue that sport strengthens social unity in schools and communities while contributing to individuals' personal and social development.

Research has shown that participation in youth and high school sports is associated with several positive long-term outcomes. Individuals who participate in athletics generally earn higher incomes as adults than those who do not, even after accounting for factors such as race, family income, and parents' education. Studies have also found that female athletes are less likely to engage in early sexual activity, tend to delay sexual intercourse, use contraception more consistently, are less likely to become pregnant outside marriage, and typically have fewer lifetime sexual partners.

Researchers have suggested several reasons for these positive effects. Sports participation improves physical health and appearance, creating what Christopher Shilling describes as "physical capital," which can be transformed into advantages in other areas of life. In addition, athletics help individuals develop self-confidence, discipline, communication skills, teamwork, leadership abilities, and valuable social networks. These qualities often contribute to greater success in education, employment, and personal relationships.

In contrast, conflict theorists argue that sport often reinforces existing social inequalities rather than reducing them. They claim that sport creates the illusion that anyone can succeed through talent and hard work, encouraging people to overlook persistent problems such as racism, discrimination, and unequal opportunities. The success of a small number of wealthy minority athletes may lead society to believe that racial inequality has largely disappeared, even though discrimination continues in many areas of life.

Conflict theorists also argue that sport can reinforce racial stereotypes. Black athletes are frequently portrayed as naturally gifted physically, while white athletes are more often described as intelligent, hardworking, and strong leaders. Research examining scouting reports for college football players entering the National Football League found that African American athletes were more likely to be evaluated based on physical abilities, whereas white athletes were praised for mental skills and leadership. These descriptions help maintain racial stereotypes about intelligence and athletic ability.

Another example of inequality is the phenomenon known as "racial stacking," where athletes of different racial backgrounds are concentrated in particular playing positions. Leadership positions, such as quarterback in American football or pitcher and catcher in baseball, have traditionally been dominated by white athletes, while minority athletes are more commonly assigned to positions emphasizing speed and physical strength. This pattern reinforces assumptions about race and ability.

Conflict theorists also argue that sport can be used to maintain existing systems of power. Murray Sperber suggested that college sports serve as an "opiate of the masses" by distracting students from rising tuition fees and declining educational quality. Universities increasingly emphasize athletics to keep students engaged despite larger classes and reduced academic resources.

Finally, professional sport reflects broader patterns of capitalism and labor relations. Professional athletes, like other workers, organize unions, negotiate contracts, go on strike, and pursue legal action to secure better wages and working conditions. At the same time, team owners seek to maximize profits by limiting labor costs, creating ongoing conflicts between management and employees that resemble those found throughout the wider economy.

In European sociology in the last few decades, two newer approaches were used to study sport. The figurational approach to the sociology of sport, developed by Norbert Elias, emphasizes the importance of social relationships, interdependence, and historical processes in understanding sport. Unlike many other sociological theories, it considers sport a central area of study because it demonstrates that traditional oppositions, such as work versus leisure, seriousness versus pleasure, and mind versus body, are often artificial. Early figurational research focused on the historical development of modern sport and its connection to broader social changes, including state formation, democratization, and increasing international interdependence. Elias and Eric Dunning, in their book Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process (1986) argued that the rise of modern sports was closely linked to the "civilizing process," particularly the growing control of violence in society. They connect the development of parliamentarism in Great Britain with the development of sports and other forms of leisure. The process of civilization leads to the routinization of life and boredom, so there is an impetus for the development of activities aimed at de-routinizing life and creating a sense of belonging and identity, as well as excitement and entertainment. The upper classes developed their own leisure activities such as arts and fox hunting, while the lower classes began to engage in and follow sports activities.

Another approach uses reflexive sociology developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Sociologists who do research in this tradition argue that sport is a relatively independent social field where class struggles are reflected. Bourdieu, in the article “Sport and Social Class” (1991) emphasized that sport has evolved from an elite amateur activity into a professional industry for mass audiences and that participation depends on people's economic and cultural resources, with different social classes attaching different meanings and values to sporting activities.

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