Visions in Leisure and Business Volume 14 Number 1 Article 2 1995 A Study of the Holistic and Affective Elements that Influence the Cultural Expression of Sport David L. Groves Bowling Green State University Beverly R. K. Zanger Bowling Green State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions Recommended Citation Groves, David L. and Zanger, Beverly R. K. (1995) "A Study of the Holistic and Affective Elements that Influence the Cultural Expression of Sport," Visions in Leisure and Business: Vol. 14 : No. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions/vol14/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visions in Leisure and Business by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@BGSU. A STUDY OF THE HOLISTIC AND AFFECTIVE ELEMENTS THAT INFLUENCE THE CULTURAL EXPRESSION OF SPORT BY DR. DAVIDL. GROVES, PROFESSOR AND MS. BEVERLY R. K. ZANGER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR DIVISION OF RECREATION AND TOURISM DIVISION OF SPORT MANAGEMENT EPPLER COMPLEX BOWLINGGREEN STATE UNIVERSITY BOWLING GREEN, OH 43403 ABSTRACT influences the culture and how culture · influences sport. This type of information Popular culture is the second largest explore provides a systems perspective of sport . business. Sports industries are one of the enterprises. Economic growth and business foundations of popular culture. There is a performance are prompted by trends in need to -develop a molecular approach to popularity (32). An organization needs to understand the dynamics 9f enterprise understand the elements of popularity in interactions because the nature of the sports order to develop a process for product industry is changing on a daily basis. acceptance. Sport is an important element Traditional methodologies are global and of the popular culture. Some of the· cultural · reactive and not proactive in there ability to issues are the importance of the popularity achieve change. A contemporary approach of sport, primary influences of sport, and is needed in a fast paced industry such as developmental paths of sport popularity sport. ( 11 ). This type of information can be directly translated and applied to management because understanding the INTRODUCTION contextual systems and associated elements helps develop perspective for the structure The primary approaches for studying sport and function of the organization (2, 17). management are business processes. Behav­ ioral approaches have also been used to help understand sport enterprises. A different MANIFEST A TIO NS method that has been successful in understanding other disciplines is a popular The cultural influences of sport are quite culture approach (4, 11, 32). In the popular pervasive (7, 12). The demand for sport culture approach the primary focus is not logos from the professional to the management or behavior but how sport community lev.els is astounding, especially 4 in terms of hats, T-shirts, posters,· clothing, medium for the expression of one's cards, and other types . of souvenirs. individuality and importance (38). For Individuals wish to be identified with sport example, baseball in contemporary cultures teams (3, 40). They support these teams has the aesthetic characteristics to express directly with game attendance or indirectly the sport and culture phenomenon. One of with the expenditure of dollars for the most important elements is symbolism souvenirs. The impact of sports upon because it institutualizes emotion (5). society can be found in general Baseball is an appropriate vehicle to study merchandise, especially in the clothing symbolism in sport and culture relation­ industry (8, 18). Sports trends have in­ ships. fluenced the American public and their fashions. An interesting indicator of sports Baseball has its roots in the Civil War influence upon the American public is the pericxl. The game has been recognized as a nostalgia with sports memorabilia, for unique American institution with export­ example, tradingcards. There has been, and ation to other countries (24, 31). It was will continue to be, a tremendous market for primarily popularized through U.S. presence autographs, baseballs, bats, and other items and the evolution of military involvement as associatedwith sport. observed in the Pacific Rim. Changes in baseball have paralleled the changes in the Other reflections of the culture and the subcultures within· the U.S. society. impact of sports are the "hero" syndrome of Baseball has been labeled America's pastime a particular athlete and loyalty to a sport (24). Examples of the involvement of (24, 26, 35). Many of the more successful subcultures are the Negro leagues, Women's ad campaigns have some type of association leagues during World War II, Little League, with a sport hero or a sport. This and Major League Baseball (MLB). The association has helped increase the sales of structure of baseball in the culture of the many prcxlucts. These are only a few of the 1990's is rooted in history. Baseball has manifestations of the U.S. culture's love undergone changes without changing (8). It affair with sport (13, 23, 41). remains a traditional basis upon which to measure American (U.S.) culture and is an important element in the 1990's that impacts CULTURE the culture. The roles of sport within a culture are The tradition of baseball in U.S. culture has symbolism,. escape, family and peer been primarily one of symbolism (2, 36). bonding, vicariously victory through sport, Throughout history sport-related symbolism fantasy, etc. Sport is an arena of has been an important element in cultural interactions, especially for the expression of development. Paramount in the develop­ a spectrum of emotions (2). Formal and ment of cultural and patriotic movements informal competition has been a part of has been the role of symbolism in sport most cultures. This competition has been within society as expressed by tradition and ritualized to emphasize the basic nature of a rules (21, 34). This type of symbolism is culture (28, 31). Competition has been used usually set in the context of a social/bonding as an outlet for the expression of atmosphere and the expressionof emotion in interactions particularly emotions to form a ritualized and familiarscene. and shape a culture (22, 27). Sport is a 5 Baseball as a symbol represents the shared could be developed through the examination values of the culture. This Sport, as a of the affective domain. symbol, gives meaning to an individual's life and allows an interpretation of experiences The affective domain is composed of through emotional participation (1, 10). It emotions that develop a condition or acts as a neutralizing agent for bad times atmosphere for the expression of cognitive and a motivational element for the good and action tendency elements. These are times. Baseball provides a symbolic either holistic or component emotions. It is solution because it allows the individual to important to understand the holistic and live vicariously or play another role or act in component factors that directly affect the another scene (2, 20). Baseball provides a emotional contingency. The purpose of this way of exercising control over one's life study was to understand the holistic and through an interac�ve medium to achieve component elements of cultural expression meaning or add meaning to one's life. of sport, and to develop models based upon the affective domain. The prominence of symbolic inferences in sport guides American leisure (7, 9). The prominence of sportis directly relatedto the CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS emotional appeal, the team concept, and the leisure afternoon experience for family and A contemporary culture analysis is one in friends in a bonding atmosphere. The ebb which the methods are global, deductive, and flow of emotion represent an and qualitative. The researchers were used expenditure of energy and with the peaks as the basic instrumentof interpretation after and valleys represent the endothermic studying the cultural indicators to determine releaseof energy (37). influence and causality. The holistic interpretive levels that were used to determine the extent of involvement were: STRUCTURE value complex, valuing, responding, selected attention, and receiving (Model 1) An appropriate . framework to analyze the ( 16). Instead of using a global approach as cultural styles of sport includes the concepts popular culture a molecular and component employed when studying the values within method was used to determine the specific the cognitive, affective, and action tendency condition that influence decisions in a (a predefined behavior) domains (11). It is regional subculture (33). No component the . expression of these domains in the scales could be identified in the literature. A culture that will give greater understanding conceptual framework was developed in to the sport and its impact upon culture. which major short term elements of ego, Most developed frameworks focus upon the control, love of sport, money, competition, rational or cognitive aspect of sport, and on desire for popularity, nostalgia, and morale the application of these models to business were the primary affective elements processes. Two of the least studied identified as the most important in the dimensions are the affective and the action United States sport culture (Table 1) (14, domains. The juxtaposition of these 15). Within this particular framework, there domains will provide models to explain the were