Sports Sociology Questions, Key Terms, Short Responses

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Potential Essay Questions for the Midterm - Soc 208/pE208 winter 2013

1. How do sports activities, athletes, and athletic competitions mirror the values of American society?

2. Do you think athletes should be "heroes" in modern-day societies? What do think are the characteristics of a hero?

3. How does the socialization process help a person learn about spofts and sports participation? Give some examples, based upon the role which the following agents play: parents, peers, the school, the community, and the media.

4. What are some of the reasons parents encourage their children to participate in spofts? What do you think are positive reasons and what are negative reasons?

5. Do you think that sports "builds character"? What does this phrase mean to you, and how can it be applied to youth sports in particular?

6. In what ways are spotts a part of the entertainment business? Why does ESPN place the word "enteltainment" before the word "spolts" in its title? Do you think this is significant? Why or why not.

7. Why is the connection between sports and the mass media so important? What are some of the positive and some of the negative aspects of this connection, in your view?

February 5,2Ot3