A Social Identity Approach to Sport Psychology: Principles, Practice, and Prospects.

Drawing on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, we outline an approach to sport psychology that understands groups not simply as features of sporting contexts but rather as elements that can be, and often are, incorporated into a person's sense of self and, through this, become powerful determinants of their sport-related behavior. The underpinnings of this social identity approach are outlined, and four key lessons for sport that are indicative of the analytical and practical power of the approach are presented. These suggest that social identity is the basis for sports group (1) behavior, (2) formation and development, (3) support and stress appraisal, and (4) leadership. Building on recent developments within sport science, we outline an agenda for future research by identifying a range of topics to which the social identity approach could fruitfully contribute

Who wins and who loses: The rethorical Manipulation of Social Identities in a Soccer Team

This study describes the rhetorical manipulation of social identities arising in the discourses of a professional soccer team. The author audio recorded and completely transcribed according to G. Jefferson’s (1989) method 3 discursive interactions be- tween team members (after a victory, after a defeat, and in a pregame situation). Methodology comprises both a conversational analysis and a quantitative one. Results show that (a) team members use rhetorically a complex repertoire of their own and others’ social identities; (b) intragroup differentiation is more marked than intergroup differentiation; and (c) two main variables influence the use of markings of social identities: the role of the speakers (in particular the power role of the coach) and the result of the match around which the interactive discourse revolves

Etnografia al Lavoro: uno studio empirico sulle pratiche lavorative in un contesto tecnologico

Activity theory, recently enriched by situated action paradigm, considers work practices as social activities which make use of technological and material artefacts. Both these views enables us to “go beyond” abstract, formal and static descriptions of organizational contexts giving us the chance to find out how work activities are built through social and discursive interactions among individuals. The study analyze - mainly through ethnographic and conversational analysis - work practices which characterize a technologically advanced organizational context. Conversational results describe the everyday accomplishment of work practices, in particular: social processes of problem solving, processes of development and distribution of professional knowledge between members, social processes of negotation of meanings and the conversational role of technology.Basically, the study shows that formal descriptions of work practices are untenable, since they are mainly concerned with single individuals cognitively dealing with their tasks whereas it emerges from our observations that actual organizations need more social criteria and standards of evaluation and description

LEARNING TO WORK OR WORKING TO LEARN? A UNIVERSITY-WORK TRANSITION CASE STUDY

The paper analyses the case of an innovative project on the transition between university and work. The project examined sustains two social dimensions of learning: education as a shared social institution in which university studies and work can be productively interconnected and alternated in order to enhance learning, and learning as identity projects and significant participation in situated activities. Working actively at the boundaries of communities provides relevant learning ‘loci’ for both students participating in the project and the communities involved (university and firms). Implications for the design of complex activity systems which take account of the learning value of work are discussed

La restituzione come pratica formativa situata?

E’ la ricerca stessa che appare, in questi termini come una continua negoziazione tra ricercatore e partecipanti sul senso di "essere presente", di posizionarsi e di descrivere il contesto sociale osservato. Ed e' proprio in questa attivita' negoziale e riflessiva che si puo' ritrovare l'aspetto profondamente trasformativo e formativo del fare ricerca situata. E in questo senso anche la fase della restituzione, lungi dall'essere una presentazione di dati di ricerca "oggettivi" , diventa un momento di costruzione e condivisione dei risultati attraverso una discussione e negoziazione. Una fase nella quale l'agency conoscitiva dei partecipanti e' chiamata ad essere protagonista e che proprio per questo si puo' caratterizzare come eminentemente formativa ( anche per il ricercatore)