RULES OF REWARDING IN SPORTS IN THE CONTEXT OF IDEAS OF THE JUSTICE AND GENDER EQUALITY

Punktem wyjścia prezentowanego artykułu są dwie debaty dotyczące wysokości nagród finansowych w sporcie. Pierwsza z nich dotyczy maratonu Solidarności z 2010 r., a druga decyzji o wyrównaniu nagród finansowych podczas turniejów tenisowych Roland Garros i Wimbledon w 2007 r. Wykorzystując argumenty pojawiające się w obydwu debatach, staram się odpowiedzieć na dwa pytania: 1) za co przyznawane są nagrody finansowe czy – mówiąc ogólniej – według jakich zasad wynagradzane są osiągnięcia sportowe oraz 2) czy obowiązujące w sporcie zasady wynagradzania są sprawiedliwe z punktu widzenia równości płci. Rozważam również, jak zasady te wpisują się w dyskurs różnicy płciowej legitymizowany, w przypadku sportu, poprzez różnice natury biologicznej. W artykule odwołuję się zarówno do takich zjawisk kształtujących współczesny sport, jak podporządkowanie zasadom rynkowym i medialnych, jak i do koncepcji teoretycznych (na przykład teorii sprawiedliwości Rawlsa) czy klasycznego już artykułu Jane English Sex Equity in Sports z 1978 r.Two debates concerning the amount of financial awards in sport are a starting point for the presented paper. One of them concerns the Solidarity marathon of 2010, and the other the decision of equalizing the prize money during Roland Garros and Wimbledon tennis competitions in 2007. Based on both debates, I amtrying to answer two questions: (i) what is the prize money a reward for or, more generally, what are the rules of rewarding in sports and (ii) whether the rules of rewarding are just and fair from the point of view of the equality of the genders. I am also considering how these rules fit to the discourse of the sexual difference sanctioned, in the case of sport, by the differences of biological nature. In the paper I refer to both, i.e., the phenomena shaping contemporary sport (commercialisation and medialisation), and the theoretical conceptions (such as Rawls’ theory of justice), or the already classical article by Jane English ‘Equity Sex in Sports’ published in 1978

The sociological analysis of sensory knowledge: its understanding, construction and acquisition

The aim of this article, based on the literature review, is to explore the senses within the context of knowledge. The article begins with a description of embodied (i.e., also sensory) knowledge's marginalisation within the social sciences and the reasons for this. After indicating the most popular fields of research, the article explores three main understandings of sensory knowledge: (1) senses as a source of knowledge, (2) senses as acquired skills and (3) sensory knowledge as a result of (collective) activity. In the next part, sensory knowledge is discussed as tacit knowledge, taking into account the problem of its verbalisation and the nature of its acquisition. The last part explores the social construction of sensory knowledge and its relation to subjective experiences, referring to the concepts of intersubjectivity, objectification and legitimisation

SPORT AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION. INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF SOCIETY REGISTER

This issue consists of nine articles, followed by two books reviews. The contributions reveal that the issues of inclusion and exclusion can be analysed in very different contexts of the sports field, with relation to different sports disciplines, and different groups and countries. The authors provide analysis of their own research, analysis of secondary data, as well as theoretical frameworks and a large number of references. The topics raised and case studies analysed are predominantly very recent

NO MORE GRID GIRLS AT FORMULA ONE: THE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON HOSTESSES’ SEXUALIZED BODIES, OBJECTIFICATION, AND FEMALE AGENCY

At the beginning of 2018, Liberty Media, the owner of Formula One (hereafter, F1), decided to drop so-called grid girls from the race weekends beginning with the 2018 season, which has created an opportunity to analyze the perception of hostesses’ status and their bodies in contemporary sport. The discourse on the decision and the partial concessions in its enforcement is analyzed within the theoretical framework related to second and third waves of the feminist movement and the concepts of sexual objectification and agency. The results reveal that the grid girls’ presence is perceived both as unsuitable for modern times, values and #metoo culture climate and as “normal” and a “good tradition.” Additionally, the grid girls themselves accuse feminists of having caused them to lose their jobs, arguing that, although their positions are based on physical attractiveness and a sexualized body, it has been done by them voluntarily and with pleasure. The discourse on gird girls in F1 fits into the critical discourses on female (sexualized) body images in sport, but, on the other hand, it includes persons who have usually not been taken into account because of their auxiliary role in sports events

References to sex and gender differences in the social sciences: analysis of journal publication records (1971–2021)

Based on the publication records of journal articles indexed in the Web of Science Social Sciences Citation Index, our analysis examines the underlying factors influencing the usage of ‘sex differences’ over ‘gender differences’ in Titles and Author Keywords. Our search query identified 16,362 articles published in 1971–2021 that use either of the phrases and have at least one of their Research Areas belonging to the Social Sciences. In concurrence with earlier research, we find a substantial shift towards using ‘gender’ in the 1980s. However, for records published after 1992, the Publication Year has a negligible aggregate impact on the likelihood of ‘gender’ over ‘sex’, although meaningful trend differences occur across subsets defined by article-level disciplinary associations. Using the available publication meta-data (Publication Year, Research Area, Publication Journal) as well as the results of topic modelling (LDA) on Titles and Abstracts, we implement multi-level regression modelling to demonstrate that the likelihood of referring to ‘gender’ rather than ‘sex’ is strongly influenced by article-level disciplinary associations and their topical classification. We find that Psychology articles, by far the most numerous, exhibit a lower propensity to use ‘gender’ than all the other Social Sciences, especially when collaborating with Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Girls in Football, Boys in Dance. Stereotypization Processes in Socialization of Young Sportsmen and Sportswomen

The article at hand presents and discusses the issue of gender stereotypization strategies during the socialization process of children practicing atypical gender sports, which is perceived as inappropriate to their gender. The outcomes of two qualitative studies among girls playing football and boys practicing ballroom dancing focus on various types of social influence of their families, coaches, and peers. The importance of parents’ role in reproducing or challenging stereotypical gender roles is outlined in the text. The strategies to which the children participating in atypical gender sports are subjected to include: stereotypization, destereotypization, apparent destereotyping, and hidden stereotyping. The benefits of participating in atypical gender sports are also discussed, particularly in terms of social and psychological profits

Gender, media, and mixed martial arts in Poland: the case of Joanna Jędrzejczyk

Recent growth in the media visibility of female combat sport athletes has offered a compelling site for research on gender and sport media, as women in deeply masculinized sports have been increasingly placed in the public spotlight. While scholars in the Anglophone West have offered analyses of the media framing of this phenomenon, little work has been done outside these cultural contexts. Thus, in this paper we offer a qualitative exploration of how Joanna Jędrzejczyk, a Polish champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has been represented in Polish media. Our findings reveal a relatively de-gendered, widely celebratory account, primarily framed by nationalistic discourse–findings we ascribe to both the particularities of the sport of mixed martial arts as well as the historic nature of Jędrzejczyk’s success

RULES OF REWARDING IN SPORTS IN THE CONTEXT OF IDEAS OF THE JUSTICE AND GENDER EQUALITY

Two debates concerning the amount of financial awards in sport are a starting point for the presented paper. One of them concerns the Solidarity marathon of 2010, and the other the decision of equalizing the prize money during Roland Garros and Wimbledon tennis competitions in 2007. Based on both debates, I amtrying to answer two questions: (i) what is the prize money a reward for or, more generally, what are the rules of rewarding in sports and (ii) whether the rules of rewarding are just and fair from the point of view of the equality of the genders. I am also considering how these rules fit to the discourse of the sexual difference sanctioned, in the case of sport, by the differences of biological nature. In the paper I refer to both, i.e., the phenomena shaping contemporary sport (commercialisation and medialisation), and the theoretical conceptions (such as Rawls’ theory of justice), or the already classical article by Jane English ‘Equity Sex in Sports’ published in 1978.Punktem wyjścia prezentowanego artykułu są dwie debaty dotyczące wysokości nagród finansowych w sporcie. Pierwsza z nich dotyczy maratonu Solidarności z 2010 r., a druga decyzji o wyrównaniu nagród finansowych podczas turniejów tenisowych Roland Garros i Wimbledon w 2007 r. Wykorzystując argumenty pojawiające się w obydwu debatach, staram się odpowiedzieć na dwa pytania: 1) za co przyznawane są nagrody finansowe czy – mówiąc ogólniej – według jakich zasad wynagradzane są osiągnięcia sportowe oraz 2) czy obowiązujące w sporcie zasady wynagradzania są sprawiedliwe z punktu widzenia równości płci. Rozważam również, jak zasady te wpisują się w dyskurs różnicy płciowej legitymizowany, w przypadku sportu, poprzez różnice natury biologicznej. W artykule odwołuję się zarówno do takich zjawisk kształtujących współczesny sport, jak podporządkowanie zasadom rynkowym i medialnych, jak i do koncepcji teoretycznych (na przykład teorii sprawiedliwości Rawlsa) czy klasycznego już artykułu Jane English Sex Equity in Sports z 1978 r

Body in sociological research – questions, omissions, prospects

Celem prezentowanego artykułu jest przyjrzenie się, dokonywanym przez rodzimych socjologów, rozważaniom o ciele/cielesności, a także realizowanym w tym obszarze badaniom. W tekście wskazuję dylematy, z którymi boryka się badacz ciała/cielesności, wynikające głównie z natury badanego przedmiotu i związanych z nim trudności metodologicznych. Po drugie, wymieniam pewne empiryczne pominięcia – obszary czy sposoby badań, które nie zyskały do tej pory wystarczającej uwagi badaczy. Po trzecie wreszcie, przedstawiam listę rekomendacji, czyli możliwych, potencjalnie atrakcyjnych pól eksploracji dla socjologii ciała.The aim of this article is to look at the analyses of the body/corporeality carried out by Polish sociologists and at the currently pursued studies in the area. The article presents the dilemmas that the researcher of the body/corporeality faces, mainly due to the nature of the research object, but also resulting from associated methodological difficulties. Secondly, the paper also points at some important empirical omissions – that is, areas or methods of research that have not, so far, gained enough attention of the researchers. Thirdly, a list of recommendations for possible, potentially attractive new fields of exploration for the sociology of the body is presented