NCJ Number
166007
Date Published
1996
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This study used participant observation and interview research in a study of youth violence in sports, primarily hockey.
Abstract
The study was conducted over 3 years and focused on subjects who ranged in age from 7 to 50, with the focus on preadolescents and adolescents. Some girls and women were also observed and were used in comparisons. The study concludes that the sport subcultures studied do not sanctify violence, but rather the exercise of force collectively understood as legitimate under specified conditions. The research shows how such organized activities teach boys how to consciously use the physical force of their bodies while avoiding pain and injury, as well as how not to use illegitimate force or violence so that others suffer pain or injury. Most do not usually use force illegitimately, nor do they require coercive responses. This study considers how physical force is tolerated and even encouraged in some aspects of sports and how sports activities are constructed to embody various masculinities, how rules and regulations are learned regarding force and violence, and how males progress through age- graded sport careers. Drawing on the interface of criminology and delinquency theory as well as research, gender studies, and sport sociology, the author develops a number of questions that challenge conceptualizations of subculture, masculinity, and violence. 51 references