Social agency is for an individual to act independently and make free choices by themselves, however social structure is influenced by factors such as religion, social class, gender, customs, ethnicity and ability. This controls and limits an agent and their decisions.
Sports can be viewed from different perspectives, for example structure refers to a point where society is separated into different levels based on the underlying structures of the social systems, like family, religion law, economy and class.
The higher a person’s social class the more likely to be involved in sport because it gives more opportunity, you have connections. Factors based on this are money, time, status, access, might be more present in certain sport, elitism. Although they are more likely to be involved in sports, they are less likely to be involved in certain sports. For example, horse racing was for elite people who had money; they would make bets and gamble because they were able to. When boxing first got introduced, it would be lower classes fighting against each other to earn money, although the higher class didn’t involve themselves physically, they watched and found it entertaining.
Sports should be based on talent, hard work in order to succeed. However structure shows our lives are shaped based on who our parents are, where were from and this takes the idea of making free choices away from us and minimises our opportunities. This can be fixed for young people who are positive about sport, by increasing youth participation.
Lance Armstrong a professional cyclist, was banned because of using drugs that enhanced his performance (erythropoietin and human growth hormone). The union cyclist allowed Lance Armstrong to keep his Olympic medal because majority of the cyclists were doping. If they took his medal and gave it to second place, it still wouldn’t have been righteous because the second place would have also been cheating. So the standard of the sport doesn’t go down, they would have to come up with new solutions for the athletes to carry on what they are doing but to hide it. The sport governing body would have to give them new ideas. If most athletes were doping in the race, lance Armstrong won a fair race and therefore the governing body should just allow the athletes to use these drugs because it helps with pain after the race.
In my perspective sports doesn’t do justice. I believe it has both social agency and structure nonetheless structure overcomes the agency. I play football and dislike the system. Being Asian, it multiplies the chances of becoming professional. I train everyday, set myself targets. Regardless of this I believe sports is biased and nothing I do will count as an equal compared to the rest of the people because of my race and background. In premiership level there isn’t any British Bangladeshi football player. I encounter a time to prove this, at FC united academy being the best on the pitch every week, being top scorer, impressing the coaches, I wasn’t still selected as one of the 5 players to make it to the first team. In 2014 I was released from Oldham Athletic, it was either Tyrese Sinclair, son of ex Chelsea player or myself, even though I got more goals and better stats I was let go and this is because his dad had connections and had more contribution to the club and not based on his performance.
These factors could shape ones future and one opportunity could be the break through for the individual. For me the break through could have been the first team. That could have been my way of climbing the ladder. It is a necessity to be legitimate in sports because it can help a person’s future, for example he could go on to make it professional and provide for his family.
| Positives | Preconceptions | |
| What? | Creates leadership Keeps you fit Helps gains skills Builds confidence | Athletes are taking drugs to enhance performance |
| How? | It helps manage weight Gives confidence to work with others Children make new friends They develop new skills | Doping- To feel less fatigue Last longer in races |
| Challenges? | Host events Set a goal | Disqualification, fine Take test every few months |
References
| Article title: | Social agency and social structure – Google Search |
| Website title: | Google.co.uk |
| URL: | https://www.google.co.uk/search? ei=CEPHXeaOG8qGgQan6JCYBA&q=social+agency+and+social+structure&oq=social+agency+and+strucutre+&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i22i30l2j0i8i13i30l2.9363.18746..20308…2.2..0.236.2556.22j4j2…0….1..Gws-wiz…0i71j33i22i29i30j33i10j0. -GIY6LZXz9s |
| Article title: | Social structure – Google Search |
| Website title: | Google.co.uk |
| URL: | https://www.google.co.uk/search?ei=50THXZDCI8qChbIPoYSsmAQ&q=social+structure&oq=social+s&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i67l4j0l6.17951.19788..21177…0.0.0.174.704.6j2…0…. 1..Gws-wiz…0i131.pbSvNepbEo0 |
| Article title: | Lance Armstrong doping case |
| Website title: | En.wikipedia.org |
| URL: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong_doping_case |
| Article title: | Why is sports important – Google Search |
| Website title: | Google.co.uk |
| URL: | https://www.google.co.uk/search? Source=hp&ei=IUbHXfXYM4LHwQKaiJKwCQ&q=why+is+sports+important&oq=why+is+sports+&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0l10.553.7210..8794…8.0..0.263.2579.13j6j4…0…. 1..Gws-wiz…0..0i131.xZPezLsPWnY |
| Author | C. Cardinal |
| Year published: | 2014 |
| Article title: | Plenary conference: The importance of physical literacy for children involved in sports and a critical reflexion on the competition structure and format |
| Journal title: | Science & Sports |
| Volume number: | 29 |
| Pages: | S36 |
| Website title: | Eu.usatoday.com |
| URL: | https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/cycling/2018/04/19/a-timeline-of-lance-armstrongs-cycling-career/33994779/ |
| Author | Tom Brock |
| Year published: | 2016 |
| Book title: | Structure, culture and agency |
| City: | [Place of publication not identified] |
| Publisher: | Rutledge page-64 |
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