スポーツ科学からスポーツ学へ : 社会学から見たパラダイムシフトの必要性

Abstract

The sociology of sport used to be treated as a sub-discipline of physical education. This discipline experienced an inter-discipline expansion and more researchers from different backgrounds are now involved in this field. The discussion about the methodology of sociology of sport was occupied with the dichotomy, 'Agency or Structure'. However some newly emerged methodologies are expected to engulf this gap. Among those are Cultural Studies and Figuration Sociology. Figuration Sociology is versatile in depicting the process of social change. Figurational structure of human relations is a key to analyzing society, and unexpected and unplanned social changes happened through the web of interdependent humans, which are the main theme in this methodology. Review of the development of modern sports and sport science with the viewpoints of figuration sociology gave the clear idea of a structured process of interplay between these two actors. The development of modern sports was characterized with the ideological ethos of modernization, which is rationalization in pursuit of maximum efficiency. The homologized approach to quest for peak performance was enhanced with the accumulated wisdom acquired by the achievement of sport science. Although the world sport scene is creating a borderless world, the competition between nations in world sporting events becomes more severe and each nation takes a more serious attitude in creating better conditions for elite athletes in order to gain a better position among the world sporting nations. Sport science is well-respected as a tool to meet this need. Initially the research methodology in sport science had been more closely related to natural science and this tendency was strengthened as the practical virtue of this discipline is increasingly acknowledged. However, some crucial characteristics of sport are underestimated as a research topic in sport science, such as humanistic aspects of sport. Over-involvement of researchers in the topic of efficient mechanism of the human body can lead to the loss of a wholistic view of the human body and sports. The segmented image of the human body, as a machine, could deteriorate the image of sport and the sport itself. An alternative concept for sport science is needed for restructuring the framework of studying. The paradigm shift, introducing the new framework as‘Sport Study’, is able to bring a rebalanced weighting of research topics in the academic studies of sport. Sociology of sport is believed to make a contribution to redirect the distorted progress of the study on sport.