Discuss soccer within the US society and compare to foreign countries (Europe, Latin America, etc.). (Essay Sample)

Soccer within the US Society Author Institution Introduction United States Soccer Federation is a body that governs soccer in the US. This organization governs different levels associated with soccer in the country, this include; professional leagues, national teams and amateur game. In soccer the largest group in terms of participation in the United States is that of the youth. The youth comprises of boys and girls, this is because children are the ones who mostly play sports. Soccer has rapidly become the most popular sport in the United State. It is a promising growth area for soccer as most of the youth players becoming adult funs. There is a relationship between the society and sports which in great extent has an effect in the development of the sports sector. Culture influences people’s view on sports, it posses both threats and benefits to the individuals. Sports sociology in the US highly influences the performance of sporting activities in the country. One of the elements of sports sociology is politics which affects sports from the point of recruitment of players to its activities. For this reason, sport sociology affects soccer in the United States and as a result broadens the gap between sports in the US and that of foreign countries. In the United States, most individuals play and watch soccer. In the early days, soccer was less popular in the country. This is due to less involvement in sporting activities and there was less concern from the government in sensitizing people on the importance of sports. United States was reluctant to adopt sport in their sports culture. Sports fans concentration was on other sports leaving out soccer this diminishes their interest in soccer hence making it less popular (Markovits & Hellerman 2001). This is part of the sport sociology in the sector of sports which is culture. Americans adopt the culture of interest in other sports that is passes on form one generation to another. The roots of this culture go deeper and deeper making it affect sporting activities making it less popular. Impact on the United States soccer market There are several characteristics that have a negative impact on the soccer market in the US. They include; less investment in soccer, entry barrier and the media. Socio-economic status is a determinant to entry barrier that people in all levels in the US soccer recognize. Soccer in the United States has a major problem of the unwillingness in opening the game of soccer to the different economic strata. Certain individuals in the society of United States involve themselves with football, this leaves put a bigger chunk of those who do not get the opportunity to play the game. For this reason, football is open to a specific sector of the society becoming a barrier for other people to freely join the soccer team. The other barrier to the game is the cost of getting into the game. For an individual to get a position in a youth team there are various costs that come with it. In getting a chance to play one has to pay uniform costs, club dues and tournament fees. These charges can increase further depending on the location, by having to pay district fees for the park for field use. Young people lack the means to afford the charges because most of them are not in employment (Witmer 2012). This forces them to prefer not joining football teams. As a result, individuals with talent are not able to put it into use. The country in general is not able to have skilled footballers in the team reducing their chances of winning in the various tournaments. Altering the structure of football so as to minimize the costs will ensure that the entry barrier does not hold back sources of talent. People from the poor sector of the economy will get the opportunity to join the teams making use of their talents. The country has been developing clubs that eliminate the charges associated with joining a team. Alliances by different clubs have come up so as to support this course. This is through providing financial support and volunteering to coach the team. This is important in ensuring that there is tapping of raw materials from the economically disadvantage areas. There has been formation of youth leagues as a result of the support from the big clubs. Financial support of the players contributes to the success of most teams. American media is another barrier to the soccer market. The media does not broadcast soccer on television channels making it less popular. The people who control the media contribute to underdevelopment of the football sector. Corporations focus their resources in leagues that bring in a lot of revenue, living out the small teams. The media does not publicize soccer which results in a culture of less interest in sporting activities. Less popularity of the game causes investors to be reluctant in investing in soccer. This is because the popularity level has a direct impact on profitability, the more popular the game the larger the revenue due high ratings. In relation to other professional leagues soccer has the least revenue making the investors shun away from it even more. This cycle goes on which downturn the popularity of soccer in the communities and the US in general. Media controllers that have investments in soccer especially on professional leagues tend to exhibit bias interest on the few categories of sports. The controllers being the bosses influence the content of sporting activities that the media covers. This happens because of the personal interests that they have on the sports team since their focus is on maximizing on the returns. For this reason, the desire to make profits makes them concentrate on making the teams popular hence having less interests on the other teams. This is a barrier to soccer that brings about discrimination in the football sector, which contributes to its downfall. Media exposure highly contributes to popularity of a professional team due the people’s interest in the media as it is in the US. Investment in soccer highly contributes to its success. Majority of the investors do not see the benefits that they can derive from such an investment, as result, there are minimal investment in the sector which is a barrier to its development. Ignorance contributes to lack of investments in football, individuals lack the knowledge that they require in making wise decisions when it comes to sports. They give less attention to the game and do not take the effort of getting to know more about making them miss the great investment opportunities. Financial support is important to the sports sector in getting their activities running. Lack of finances will make it impossible for them to be able to manage their activities and manage the tournaments. The players have to be given salaries so that they get the motivation to perform well. This will give them the morale to kip them going and also help them sustain a living and have access to the basic needs. Sport sociology in the United States Sport sociology defines the relationship between society and sports. It analyzes the influence of values and culture on sports, the influence of sports on values and culture, and the connection between media and sports, economics, politics, race, religion, youth, gender, etc. it further looks at the connection among sports and social mobility and social inequality. Sports and gender This area deals with gender inequality and the part that gender plays in sports activities throughout history. For instance, in 1800’s there was discouragement or banning of women’s participation in sport this was so until 1850 when there was introduction of women’s physical education. Soccer is seen by many as too masculine for women, which is changing with time. Discriminating the women from soccer is equal to denying them the chance to put their talents into use and thus locking out chances of success. In recent times, women can join the game and participate fully but there are differences which are still in existence. Sports and media Media is an area that is also under sports sociology. Television channels rarely cover women’s soccer. This is because it is not popular in the United States, most people in the society lack interests in women’s football. This is mainly due to the fact that they consider football as a man’s world and thus consider it less entertaining. The media mostly covers men’s soccer both on television and in print. Sports viewership changes with gender, in that men’s soccer is more popular than that of women. The men will rarely watch women’s soccer and the women have less interest in watching soccer. For this reason, women’s soccer is less popular, and for the media to have higher ratings it has to cover the soccer that is popular. This will give men’s soccer an upper hand over women’s soccer as a result of the doings of the media. Sports and gender identity This is also a topic under sports sociology. Soccer emphasizes on roles that are specific to certain gender at an early age. In such a case, coaches and the boys ridicule and treat the girls harshly. This brings about discrimination to the girls making them have a low self esteem due to their gender identity. In relation to the gender identity, most of the coaches were male whereas the female dwell on organizational duties. The women are given different roles other than coaching. This is because most people believe that they cannot handle the position of coaching well as compared to the male. The male are seen to be more capable of becoming coaches and making it a success. In cases where women participate in soccer, which is seen as a masculine sport it creates conflict in the gender identity for the women. Meanwhile when the men involve themselves in sports that are of feminine nature, it results in conflict of the gender identity for the male figure (Iber 2011). Sports and cultural values Understanding the values of the American cultur...