Re:Why Some Researchers Think I’m Wrong About Social Media a...
by taeric on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @03:53PM
(#35632532)
I'm still mostly inline that anything that gets people engaging together will increase their willingness to do so. If that is playing a sport, that works.
I'm less enthusiastic about a lot of the big corporate push into many sports. Not just at large, but in the reach out to youth. Happy for my kids to get involved with sports at the local level. Annoyed at how much effort seems to go into funneling local assets into marketing that larger organizations clearly could be getting elsewise.
That said, I'm almost socialist enough to have a crap ton of completely incoherent ideas about how those that are succeeding should be doing their best to make sure those that aren't could. With no obligations attached.
Side-tracking people into unimportant (sports) in-group versus out-group is really good at improving cohesion between important group differences e.g. the Mexican and American rooting for the same team that have their sport in common, helps them be closer to each other.
It can be divisive between countries. Then again it is interesting to watch New Zealand support Australians against the English (background - there is usually strong sports rivalry between NZ and Oz since we are neighbours). A bit of win and lose on that one.
The most popular sports tend to be cross-class too - which is good. Of course there are sports that tend to be class oriented in some countries e.g. polo, soccer, athletics. FYI golf and skiing are not particularly class oriented within New Zealand (we are weird down here).
Just a theory of mine.