Aggression In The Sports World

They are familiar scenes: sports fans turning on each other in acts of violence, and mobs of sports fans flooding onto the field or out into the streets. Is there something inherent in the competitive sport setting that produces this frequently dangerous behavior? Written in an engaging style, this volume addresses the question by exploring the wide range of influences at work, from a social psychological perspective. Topics range from a focus on the personality traits that predispose individuals to act aggressively, to a wider concern with who riots, why they riot, and situations that favor the occurrence of sports riots. Research on the equally disturbing phenomenon of crowd panics explores the underlying causes and peculiar behavior of people caught in the panics. Aggression is influenced and exacerbated by multiple factors: troublemakers who incite others to aggress, influence by the media, differing cultural backgrounds, blind obedience, and attempts by individuals to emulate unworthy personal heroes. Less obvious factors such as temperature, noise, and color also exert important effects on interpersonal aggression, and drugs such as alcohol and steroids further inflame the possibilities for violence. Russell examines all these factors in his international and interdisciplinary presentation of the best and most recent findings in the study of sports aggression, and provides a series of proposals intended to prevent or minimize the severity of riots and panics. Additionally, he explores the relationship between aggression and what is probably the most revered concept in sports: competition. Scholars, students, and sports savvy fans will find this book of interest.

They are familiar scenes - sports fans turning on each other in acts of violence, and mobs of sports fans flooding onto the field or out into the streets. This book aims to discover if there is something inherent in the competitive sport setting that produces this frequently dangerous behaviour.

Books about sports, even those written by scholars, are frequently little more than hagiography. They extol the virtue of athletics for participant and spectator alike. Of greater rarity are those that look critically at the political, social, economic, and psychological underpinnings of contemporary sports. Violence in sports is among the relatively neglected issues of serious study. Sports Violence is perhaps the first collection of scholarly theory and research to examine in detail aggression within and surrounding sports. As such, it seeks to present the broadest possible range of interpretations and perspectives. The book is, therefore, both interdisciplinary and international in scope. Two chapters, by Guttmann and Vamplew, are concerned with historical analyses of sports violence. Definitions and perspectives on aggression in general, and sports-related aggression in particular, are the topics of Chapters 4 through 7 by Smith, Bredemeier, Mark, Bryant, and Lehman, and Mummendey and Mummendey. Here, a wide variety of social and psychological theories are brought to bear on the conceptualization of aggression on the playing field and in the stands. Dunning and Liischen, both sociologists of sport, examine the origins, structure, and functions of violence, of sports, and of their interconnections. Psychological interpreta tions and research are presented in chapters by Russell and Keefer, Goldstein, and Kasiarz, while Bryant and Zillmann examine the portrayal and effects of aggression in televised sports.

Sporting contests have provided mass entertainment throughout history, and today generate revenues of approximately $200 billion annually in the US alone. Like in the entertainment industry, the modern sports industry’s revenues are based on the entertainment value of output and more entertaining sporting contests imply greater game-day attendance, television revenues and sales of merchandise. Research by economists has attempted to understand and explain behavior as it relates to sporting contests, showing that standard microeconomic theory used to explain consumer and producer behavior can also be applied to the behavior of fans, team owners, league executives and players. One commonality among many ancient and modern sports is the existence of violence and aggression in contests. Compare, for example, a modern NASCAR race with a Roman chariot race: Only the technology has changed. From the perspective of an economist, violence in sporting contests is an outcome of the forces of supply and demand, and the phenomenon exists because fans respond to it. Spectator preferences for violence bid up the monetary return to this behavior, and the rational response is a more violent or aggressive output. The optimum level of violent or aggressive play in sporting contests is an empirical issue and this book contains chapters on violence and aggression in sports, concentrating on the reasons for the existence and persistence of such behavior. Following a chapter devoted to the history of violence and aggression in sports, subsequent chapters are designed to cover the breadth of international professional sports including American football, soccer, ice hockey, basketball, baseball, auto racing, and fighting sports. Each chapter will contain econometric analysis of violence and aggressive play in a given sport. The individual chapters will examine whether or not a given sports league or governing body should intervene to reduce violence, and where intervention is warranted, extent of appropriate interventions is evaluated. In addition to academics and students concerned with the economics and history of sport, the book’s emphasis on policies at the league and governing-body levels means this book will also be of interest representatives of those institutions. .

Sport and Violence takes a critical look at the culture of ‘sports rage’ and aggression in the sporting industry, covering ethical, historical and sociological causes and impacts. It examines international examples of sport violence, including: the father of a tennis competitor placing a drug in the drinks of her competitors; a player’s neck broken after being attacked from behind by an opponent in an NHL game; hooliganism in international soccer and more. The book not only attempts to explain how and why such violence originates, it examines its impact on society outside sport and suggests potential remedies for the problem. This book: Examines the culture of violence that permeates and surrounds sport, including the sociological causes of that violence, and what can be done to mitigate them Features an international perspective with examples of sport violence from throughout the world Offers a historical view on the evolution of violence in sport Its up-to-date and in-depth coverage of a controversial issue makes this book a valuable asset to both sports students and professionals working in sports management.

Sports and Violence is an edited collection arising out of the 2016 Sports and Violence Conference, hosted at the Ashland Center for Nonviolence at Ashland University, Ohio, USA. This volume contains 11 essays authored by a range of scholars reflecting on the confluence of violence within organized sports. The three sections of the book (history, theory, and practice) create a full-scale exploration of this topic. The authors not only detail past phenomena of sports violence, but also offer ethnographic and sociological explorations alongside philosophical treatments of sports violence. Crucial to the volume’s treatment of a wide range of phenomena associated with sports violence is not only how it addresses violence within sport, but also how it considers the ways that sport fosters and mitigates violence outside of sports, and how audiences and spectators contribute to, and are shaped by, the practice of sports.

Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport explores the psychological aspects of these two intrinsic elements of competitive sport. This book critically examines the important issues associated with aggression and violence in sport, including: * a review of current theory in the psychology of aggression * exploration of how players become acclimatised to physical violence * discussion of the psychological benefits of sanctioned and unsanctioned sport violence * examination of the moral and ethical dimensions of the debate * the psychological basis of spectator aggression * case studies from a wide variety of sports. This text is a must read for researchers and students within sport studies, psychology and sociology with an interest in human violence and aggressive behaviour.