A major reason there is so much argument over the violence in sports and if it is caused by society is that there are so many arguments as to why there is an increase in violence. However, most of these arguments are arguing for the exact same thing as a lot of them think it results from some sort of social construction. For example, there are the people who claim of electronic media being to blame and there are the people who blame it on the parents and how the kids were raised. Either way, the increased violence is assembled by societal factors according to these arguments. Past solutions have included ideas to cleanse the content that children are exposed to and to encourage a more family-oriented atmosphere. Of course, this doesn't always work either. Many sporting events advertise athletic events as fun for the whole family. Yet, there can be a group of spectators that may be loud, offensive, or drunk that don't exactly recreate the family atmosphere the promoters advertise.
Studies attempt to find the causal link between a cause and the increase in violence. A study will come out and report that a certain societal event or tradition can lead to a certain percentage of increased chance of violence. This only leads to a negative peace. People might not accept the study as valid, they might disagree, and often other researchers will conduct their own study. When doing their own study, they might find a different factor or cause is to blame which creates another negative peace until the situation reverses again.
To look at why none of the other so-called solutions have worked, there is 0ften a great number of positions claiming the answer. This is a complex issue and there is no real clear answer to a single factor being the cause. This leads to a possibility that the solution and reasons could be due to a variety of the positions or solutions that have been offered. Possibly, a win-win situation could be arrived with many of the positions being right as they all have the possibility to contribute to increased violence although some would have more weight than others. It could lead to scenario where all sides could at least accept and respect the other positions and included them with their own solution.

Final Posit: What, if any, is the causal relationship between violence in sports and the multitude of societal factors that are named as causes of increased violence?

The Scene
In a world where incidents are bound to happen, there is someone or something responsible for that occurrence. Since there is a culprit that is bound to be at fault, society labels a wrongdoer as a scapegoat for whatever occurs. The fact that society appoints whatever is to blame doesn't necessitate that the classification is accurate.
In this world where violence is occurring and its presence is now demonstrated through sports, society through media figures and general opinion has tabbed many causes for the violence occurring within society and sports today.

The Players
There are many sides with different opinions on the roots of violence in society and do not not necessarily represent my views as I am merely presenting the sides and their arguments.
One side of the argument is quick to blame the parents for violence and claim that it was the parent's job and responsibility to keep their children from becoming violent by teaching them what is morally right and wrong. There are the media figures on TV that race to blame graphic TV, video games, and movies for making violent impressions upon young children even though scientific evidence has demonstrated that these forms of electronic media do not increase the tendencies of violent actions by children. Other arguments include the idea that children are simply learning from their role models such as the athletes they on TV who get into brawls during games or the parents who get into scuffles with other parents or the referee at their child's youth game. More scientific theories argue that since our country is engaged in a period of war, then the violence in society will increase as an effect. The subject of winners and losers get thrown into the mix as well since some argue that our society gives a reward to violence in terms of notoriety and attention. Then, there is the side that will argue that violence is simply in human nature and that the strongest will fight to survive.

All of these argues just go to demonstrate that society cannot even correctly agree upon the causes of violence and its reported increase in our lives today. Until society as a whole can agree upon a reason or reasons as it could be a combination of the above or even something else completely, the problem of violence will not be able to be completely solved.

What I Didn't Know That I Didn't Know...

By researching and reading some of the articles in scientific journals, I've found some theories behind increased violence in society today that I had never considered before.

http://www.ijcv.org/docs/2007/thome.pdf
Statistics show that the number of homicides and violent crimes have increased in advanced western countries with democracy over the last 50 years or so. An idea presented in this article is the increase in private security forces that are contracted out by the government and organizations. This leads to differences in economic inequality that translate into inequality in terms of available security. The articles goes on to argue that making security a commodity in effect normalizes security which in turn leads to violence sifting more society.

Another theory proposed that because peaceful requests are often ignored or punished and responses occur only after the reasonable pleas turn into violence. Thus, the article concludes that society and the laws of behavior make violence the reward in a sense.

These were just some new theories that I didn't even know that I didn't know about and I thought that they introduced some interesting new possibilities for the causes of violence. Most of the journals and articles seem recirculate the same main ideas of causes of violence, but an one theory that I hadn't considered before but was demonstrated by someone was the belief that people in need of attention realize that violence can be a means to draw attention to themselves. Hopefully, these new possible will open my eyes a little more and enable to me to look at the situation from all sides equally so I can make my conclusion with the least amount of bias possible.

My Bias...Revisited

When there is any kind of violence or altercation, someone is always looking for a scapegoat to place the blame with. You hear also sorts of reasons explaining why there is violence ranging from their upbringing to the music they hear and the movies they watch. For example, media figures have been quick to blame violent video games for school shootings.
I've always thought that it was ridiculous to blame TV, video games, movies, etc. for the violence that happens. I've known plenty of people that have watched hundreds of violent movies or played video games that are nice people who would never consider hurting anyone. As long kids have good parental supervision and they're taught right from wrong as they grow up, then there shouldn't be a problem. However, I'm not saying that all of these media are appropriate for young children as some of it is clearly not, but ultimately, it should be the parent's responsibility to know what their kids are exposed and make sure that they know it is fantasy.
When I see physical aggression or even verbal aggression, most of the time I think it is simply male pride and the emotions that intense competition can create. Yet, in some instances, it clearly goes too far. The benching clearing brawls in baseball, the soccer riots in Europe, and most notably, the brawl that spilled into the stands during the Pistons-Pacers game. It's instances like these that show a much bigger problem is occurring. My bias leads me to think that these people were not taught the right things growing up. This could have been because there parents were not around or because there parents were the ones always yelling at their youth games and getting into altercations with other parents. Even sports can lead to gangs as in Europe many of the clubs have their own unofficial "firm" or gang that gets into altercation with opposing sides on match days. To me, this demonstrates a bigger problem in society with seemingly increased violence. There is an idea that violence increases at times when a country is involved with war and other possibilities include the TV like I mentioned before. I don't know why violence is becoming so prominent in our society today, but I hope to be able to explore these ideas more fully.

Link Between Society and Behavior in Sports

Based on looking at my previous posits and comments that I received, I've learned that I didn't define violence in my posits and so it could be construed in different ways by various people. My new posit

New posit: What, if any, is the causal relationship between the behavior that is a construction of social learning and the acts of physical aggression that occurs within and around sports?



In society, individuals are ranked in a hierarchy of winners and losers based on the criteria of societal status. Consequently, indviduals from highly regarded sectors of societies will be winners and individuals from low groups of society will be losers. In this world, sections of society are defined based upon the level of class that they present to others. Therefore, to be assigned a high level of class is to demonstrate that the individual can conduct one's self in a manner that is respectful of others. In effect, individuals who don't exhibit class display behavior that is unrespectful to others and is thus agrressive in either a verbal or physical form.

In a world where the class demonstrated is constructed by the society within which an individual grows up, individuals from these defined lower classes of society tend to exemplify this aggression more in the world. In sports, there are acts of aggression between athletes, between fans, and between fans and athletes themselves. Therefore, fans or athletes who demonstrate acts of aggression are more prone to being from lower levels of society as defined by their level of class.

With my first post, I focused upon the idea of violence in sports. My main posits were looking for a link between the violence in sports and the society around the individuals involved. I didn't make it clear that I am also including violence surrounding the sport such as fans and parents that get involved violently. However, I overlooked some other possibilities that should be taken into account. For one, human instinct and aggression should be considered. Natural competitiveness and a short temper can lead to incidents that evolve into violence. Outside factors such as alcohol can lead to altercations that can easily escalate with the lack of judgment that can accompany intoxication. I realize too my statements and ideas are biased, but I hope to delve deeper into the subject and come to a clear conclusion without bias.
New posits:
What, if any, is the causal relationship between individuals involved in violent incidents surrounding sports and the environment that shapes and defines an individual?

What, if any, is the causal relationship between violence inside and outside of sports and the social construction surrounding the game and those involved?

2nd Half of Links on Articles Concerning Sports Violence

http://gse.berkeley.edu/program/LLCMA/Athletes/articles/irss_2003.pdf

This site provides a look at the relationship between race and its impact in sports. The site’s main idea is that some behaviors are penalized in sports because of the race associated with the offender. It also looks at the stereotype of races and their roles in violence.

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/tips/page/normal/1736.html

From the University of Indiana, this site looks at how fan violence and player violence interacts. It mainly states that fans are far more influenced by the players than the fans are by the players, but gives nothing to back this up.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_2_34/ai_63365174

This site has a very thorough article studying violence in sports by focusing on college students and intramurals. The site does a good job of explaining its argument which focuses mainly on the idea of the social learning theory.

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/449.html

This was another article provided by the University of Indiana. Lynn Jamieson lays the blame with general violence in society today and claims that sports will mirror that society. There is no real evidence provided to back up her ideas even though she is an associate professor.

http://sociomedia.ibelgique.com/tvstats.htm

With this website, statistics on television viewing by children is provided. It discusses in a biased manner the dominant messages imposed by sports on television including aggressive athletes are rewarded, war metaphors are constantly used by commentators, and that games promote conflict.

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:GOvKF994EbUJ:aic.gov.au/conferences/ncv2/tulloch.pdf+statistics+sports+violence&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us

This is a study by an Australian research group. It does a good job of providing facts and brings up the idea of domestic violence at home and the link with sports. It proposes the idea stating that ethnic groups where violence such as domestic violence is considered acceptable and allowed to continue links to violence in sports.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/notag/sports-columnist-says-video-games-desensitize-us-to-sports-violence-298982.php

This site discusses the issue of sports violence and looks at how a columnist for the Virginian-Pilot claims in a very biased and opinionated manner that videogames such as Madden Football desensitize the players from real sports violence.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E1DA1338F932A25754C0A9669C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/J/Junta,%20Thomas

This is from an article taken from the New York Times. It raises the idea of increased injuries due to increased aggression. It presents ideas of parents pushing kids hoping they can become millionaires through sports or that they can live through their child.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/532474/

This is one of the few websites dismissing the notion that the next youth sport event you attend will break out in a brawl. Based on research and statements from professors, the article presents the idea that violence at youth sports is more uncommon than believed mostly because the media reports all of the incidents making it seem like there are more than there really is.

http://www.sirc.org/publik/fvexec.html#_VPID_7

This site looks at the various causes of football violence. It doesn’t do a very good job of backing up the information without bias, but does throw out some interesting ideas with the media and discusses how the violence has evolved over the years while also discussing race’s role in the violence.

1st Half of Links on Articles Concerning Sports Violence

http://www.peace.ca/sports.htm

This site takes a stand against violence in sports and essentially blames it almost completely on kids being raised and pressured to win. Also, it lays some blame on the athletes who are role models for the children. The site even gives a list of ways to help children and prevent them from thinking that sports are solely about winning.

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~soules/media112/zine2000/moose/index.htm

I found this article by Jeremy Currie to present a different side. While he mentions the traditional scapegoats, his article focuses on the role of media and their effect on violence. The article is biased as it essentially blames the media, but he does manage to raise some interesting points.

http://shatteredpeace.com/violence_in_youth_sports.htm

This site consists of a study polling participants about the amount of violence they’ve seen in youth sports. It then lists dozens of incidents of violence that have occurred in youth violence. The sole purpose of the site seems to be to demonstrate the high level of violence now occurring in youth sports.

http://www.recmanagement.com/200301gc02.php

On this site, the article is by a recreational park manager. His viewpoint is biased and he links the violence in sports, especially youth sports on the idea that winning is everything. He follows by giving his own idea of how the problem can be curtailed and the steps that his league took.

http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2004/09/28/Sports/Brian.Schick.Violence.Becoming.Epidemic.In.Sports-1425316.shtml

This article is by a University of Michigan professor who discusses the idea of violence in sports becoming an epidemic. He clearly thinks that professional sports are becoming overrun by violence and cites several examples while at one point even suggesting American teams build fences around the field of play to protect players from belligerent fans like in parts of Europe.

http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/health_safety/violence_kids_sports.shtml

This article was on the Child Development Institute’s website and was funded and some research was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers for this article blame the problem with the athlete’s coaches and families, rules and officials of the game, or attitudes of the media and society. It then goes on to offer its own solutions as well.

http://www.upenn.edu/pnc/ptlapchick.html

This article was by a Penn University professor. While his article is mainly opinion, it is does demonstrate some points with statistics. Some parts of the article can be skipped as well since he delves into personal narrative. However, his biggest point is the role of lack of education and the problems that it causes including violence in sports.

http://www.psychologyofsports.com/couch/couch010105.htm

This site provides a short insight into player violence by a psychologist. It takes a psychologist’s look at how player-fan violence occurs and suggests that psychology can be used to identify athletes at-risk for this behavior.

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1988/06/06-09-88tdc/06-09-88dsports-column-01.asp

This article appeared in Penn State’s student newspaper almost 20 years ago and was already blaming the violence on youth parents who took the game too seriously.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2001/10/18/sports-violence011018.html

I found this article to be very interesting. Based on the research of York University, a theory was proposed that violence in sports escalated during a period when the country was involved in war. The main idea is that a violent war leads to increased level of violence within society.

Violence in Sports

For my blog, the main topic to be focused on is the violence in sports and whether or not it is a result of societal problems or climate.

3 Posits
What, if any, is the causal relationship between violence in sports and the culture that a person grows up in?

What, if any, is the causal relationship between poor sportsmanship in sports and lack of a good role model growing up?

What, if any, is the causal relationship between violence in sports and the violence in society?

Bias and Opinions
I think that a major cause of the violence and and poor sportsmanship is a result of the way people grew up. It all depends a lot if there are any good role models to look up to. In some cases, kids are growing up playing sports for fun and their parents are taking it more seriously than they are. There are the parents who forced their kids to play in competitive sports year round with the idea that it will be good for them in the end. Ocassionally, you hear the stories of parents getting into fights and large scale arguments over a game involving kids. This just goes to show that these kids are learning the sport and growing up without the right role models. Another situation is kids who grow up playing on the streets. Out there, the sports are often less structured which can be good at times, but it can also mean no rules as well. Some athletes often resort back to that street mentality when playing which can lead to problematic results when the athlete is participating in a more structured rule-based sport. The values of society can have an effect as well. In Europe for instance, soccer or football as it is known there is immensely popular. Many of the clubs in Europe from the huge teams to even small town third division clubs have their own firm which is essentially a gang. The idea of supporting a team is turned into a reason to get into fights and incite violence. Society values winning, and many times promotes the idea of winning at any cost which leads individuals to behave in a manner that leads to violence and poor sportmanship.