Week 10 Wall
Can we consider team sports part of governmentality? Why?
Photo Credit: University of Maryland Digital Collections, 2011
Can we consider team sports part of governmentality? Why?
Photo Credit: University of Maryland Digital Collections, 2011
FribaRezayee235, 
amandawoodland, and 10 others are discussing.
tazizi 10:25 am on November 7, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Team sports can definitely be considered as part of governmentality as there a lot of parallels between the underlying principles taught through team sports and government institutions.
For example, as learned in lecture, schools, as well as other government organizations such as the police force or prisons, were first made to support ideas like respect for authority, nationalism, assimilation, and conformity, among others. Similarly, team sports follow along these lines. Team sports often include having a coach and some sort of officials or referees; if you don’t respect and obey the head figures, the situation will most likely end with sort of punishment. Also, team sports often focus on building team pride and a sense of community within your team, which is similar to nationalism. As for assimilation and conformity, you frequently see those who play on sport teams start to act like each other or perhaps dress the same way.
But that isn’t where the similarities stop. A big part of the reform in school systems was because the old structure wasn’t building character as the middle class would like. Having participated in a team sport for over ten years, I would say that being part of a team definitely builds a person’s character. It develops who you are as a person, teaching you certain characteristics such as self-control and teamwork skills. In addition, there is certainly a sense of discipline found in both team sports and other institutions that are part of governmentality, such as prisons.
Lastly, today we think of schools as having the function of socializing children. Just like schools, team sports can also act as a socialization tool for children if they start participating at young age.
Tina Loo 3:03 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Terrific answer!
tyler5 12:55 pm on November 7, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Team sports and governmentality share some similar characteristics. Governmentalilty advocates strongly organized practices in which to govern subjects. Sports teams follow similar technical practices in order to maintain authority over players, as well as produce the best possible player for competition and team progression. Governmentality focuses heavily on adjusting behaviour in a way that best serves the state. Penitentiaries, the education system, and the health system are the best examples of this. All three are regulated in such a way to provide the greatest returns, subsequently allowing for effective rule and advancement of the state. Sports teams act in a similar way. Teams have set techniques in regards to discipline, training, and medical attention; all of which are intended to provide the best possible returns for the team, ultimately allowing them to win. Discipline, will in essence allow a team player to recognize his mistakes by serving time away from the team. The goal is that he will correct his behaviour to that of being beneficial to the team. Health care, as a principle of govrenmentality, suggests that regulated clinical processes across the state are changed and perfected in order to, again, provide the best returns for the state. The goal is to have healthy citizens that can contribute to state functioning. The same principle applies to sports teams. Teams will have injury rehabilitation guidelines and physiotherapy practices that will provide the quickest and most efficient way to get players healthy, and therefore give them the ability to contribute to the good of the team. Education in the state, and training on a sports team is where I believe the greatest similarities are shown. Governmentality suggests that education is the primal way to get people to follow the track that the government has decided will progress the state in the best way. The citizens will in essence be productive as a result of proper education. Training for a sports team is exactly the same. The team will have players train and practice in a set way, educating them on plays, tactics, formations, etc. in order to give them the best possible chance of winning.
Sports teams can definitely be considered part of governmentality, because both the state and a sports team have similar fundamental principles that guide progression, maximization of happiness and effectiveness within their respective institution.
Tina Loo 3:04 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Tyler, I think the similarities between team sports and govern mentality lie in the inculcation of discipline and deference to authority and the focus on character building.
jpellegrino 5:20 pm on November 7, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes, I think we can consider sports as part of governmentality because it’s goals as well as what sport stand for are similar to that of the qualities that this organization tries to implement. Similarly to how the government directs its people to live a life of success and prosperity, a coach is in charge of guiding his players into the right areas of the field or rink in hopes that the players win. Like the government of British North America implemented banishing, whipping or transportation system for those who did not abide by the laws, the players on a team who crosscheck an opposing group are faced with time in a penalty box or bench time. For those who committed serious crimes, colonists would face the blood code. As for the players on a team who physically hurt someone on the opposition, players might face being suspended. In order to force the players to follow the rules, they are faced with fear of that penalty box or bench time. In doing so, the coach is acting in a similar manner to that of the monarchy. Another way we can look at sports as part of governmentality is because a goal of it is to build character and therefore, morals. Like the Educational Reform, coaches build character into the players. They do this buy reminding the players to have good work ethic, team effort, problem solving skills and a trusting environment. However, if players fail to work with these ethics, they may often have to have a talk with the coach to see where they went wrong. Like the prisoners of Kingston Penitentiary, upon arrival they are sent to speak with the Warden who then determined what moral weakness caused the prisoner to commit a crime. Sports can be seen as part of this organization because it imitates many of the objectives that the government implements.
Tina Loo 3:05 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes! I think the character-building aspects of team sports is the key similarity to governmentality.
liorbarel 9:29 pm on November 7, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Governmentality is defined by wikipedia as “the way governments try to produce the citizen best suited to fulfill those governments’ policies”, “the organized practices (mentalities, rationalities, and techniques) through which subjects are governed”, and “the techniques and strategies by which a society is rendered governable”.
I would say that sports teams apply most to the first definition – that many of the values in sports are emulations of what it means to be a “good” citizen. In sports, you must always be obedient – you must at the same time think for your self and do exactly what the coach says, when he says it, without thought. In the same way, you have to be an individual player and put yourself and your career first, while at the same time being a good team member. In sports, you learn how to relate to your peers, you learn how to be on time, how to act so that you’re in a good social spot, how to have good work ethic, and most importantly, how to respond to orders by taking them, with obedience.
I would also argue that the higher the level of sport you are in, the stronger that sport is related to governmentality. That is, the higher the level, the more “real” it is, the more winning is important, the more capitalism plays a role monetarily and ideologically.
Tina Loo 3:06 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good points: I’d also say that when athletes play for national teams, like in the Olympics, the parallels are greatest.
doraleung 12:45 am on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
In a way, yes, sports teams can be seen as a part of governmentality. In a sports team, members have to work together in a orderly and organized fashion in order to obtain their end, which is ultimately to win the goal. Not only are there members of the team, there is perhaps one of the most important people, the coach. The coach is the one who has the final say and directs where and how the players of the team should conduct themselves on the field. The coach needs to implement certain techniques and strategies to ensure that the team wins, and conversely, the team players must follow those guidelines to reach their ultimate goal.
This can be an analogy for government (in Canada) in the sense that the coach would represent the prime minister or governor general and the team players are those underneath him representing the house of commons and the senate. The government must all work together and listen to each other so that order can be implemented into the system, a fully functional government.
Tina Loo 3:08 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Team sports try to inculcate the same qualities in people that government institutions do; they build character specifically by encouraging deference to authority.
lindswong 1:10 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The characteristics that pertain to team sports are very similar to those of govermentality, even from the time of the 19thC. Responsible government, that the BNA colonies fought so hard to obtain, is the idea that the government is responsible to and represents the general population. Therefore, in a sense it was the people who were put in power. As a result, people were expected to be in a position where they themselves would also to responsible to handle a government that placed more power in the hands of the people. Institutionalizing education and setting up penitentiaries were some ways the state ensured that people would receive the education, training, or punishment needed in order to set them up to be those who could properly take care of colony in the future. In the government these aspects continue to play a role as the people, who influence the government, have been shaped by education or punishment. The people “created” can work well with others and are intelligent which adds good dynamic to governmentality.
Likewise team sports attract a lot of young people, some entering these sports at a very young age. Athletes go through a lot of training to learn how to work with and coordinate with team mates as well as learn how to play the sport and perfect their skills. Punishment can also come into play in team sports for example, if an athlete refuses to listen to the coach or isn’t playing to their best of their ability, they may be “benched” for some games. over the years these youn g athletes mature and become quite experience in their sport. Their ability to work with others is honed through frequent practices with team mates, and tus a great team dynamic is created in the end.
Likewise, today, our government needs to consist of people who are educated and mature. They also need to be able to work well with people in their cabinet or party as well as other party members. Thus, the idea of team sport correlates quite well with governmentality and even, in a sense, plays a role in it.
aviaah 2:11 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sport teams can be considered apart of governmentality for they share similar aims, as well as have overlapping functional principles that they utilize and apply to their members. Firstly, sports teams and governmentality share the characteristic of authoritative imposition. Sports teams are controlled by the centralized figure that is the coach. The coach hold ultimate authority over the team, and commands the group as he sees fit. The same can be said for governmentality in terms of the body having authority over their constituent institutions, such as school and correctional penitentiaries. As discussed earlier this week in lectures, governments held the authority to establish institutions based on their own principles and aims, ensuring that the institutions follow the expectations of the governmentality that initiated them. This leads to the second similarity between both sports teams and governmentality: that both bodies have the aim, whether direct or indirect, to mild their members to the norms and conventions by which the system was established upon. Within context of a sports team, the general aim of the team is to have the players conform and moulded to the guidelines of the sport itself. An example of this can be made by looking at the concept of a lacrosse team. The team itself aims to have the players perform their best, all the while employing skills of agility, precision, and endurance. That being said, the players must be trained and shaped to represent and embody these qualities in order to be considered and exemplary players of the game. The same can be said for governmentality, which uses its institutions to mild and shape their members. Regarding education, the government of Upper and Lower Canada used the system to educate students based on curriculums that were state-devised. Such was imposed in schools to ensure that younger generations would be educated sufficiently to the standards of the government and come to understand politics and issues in order to be well-rounded and intelligible citizens when they reach the appropriate age to engage with such matters. As well, the government at the time also implemented the same reasoning and method with correction facilities and penitentiaries, keeping the prisoners from interacting with others, yet encouraging them to work side by side with other prisoners to promote teamwork while instating discipline at the same side. Therefore, it can be conclusively established that sports teams go hand in hand with governmentality because they hold similar principles and have the corresponding methods.
madden34 2:41 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yes. Team Sports can be considered part of governmentality. Anyone that has been part of a team sport would agree with this , as there are many similarities between team sports and governmentality.
A team sport includes players working together against a set of another players for the same objective. Whether it be football, hockey, soccer or many other team sports this is the common goal which is present. I play on the UBC football team, and we are taught that communication is key in achieving this common goal. Without communication, success will not be achieved as there will be no way of channeling ideas through to one another.
A responsible government, is the idea that the government has a set of responsibilities to look out for the people. A governementality is that which consists of a prime minister (Like a Coach in a team sport) that over looks the team and makes decisions for the team. For example, a coach would make a line change between player A and player B to accomodate for player C, because player C works well with player B. The same sense is in government, how the prime minister works together with the senate to make decisions.
Tina Loo 3:10 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great answer.
chliane 4:49 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sports teams are definitely a part of governmentality, and arguably a very important aspect of it as well. Education is no doubt the most important aspect of governmentality, and sports teach people the same values as the ones taught in the education system. The goal of governmentality is to create a society full of well-behaved citizens who can govern themselves, and this is illustrated very well in sports teams, where you have specific positions to play, and everyone depends on each other to keep up their end. I would argue that sports teams can implement governmentality better than education in some areas. For example, while it is difficult to remain seated for hours on end doing difficult equations, people can often find enjoyment in doing physical activities.
These sports can teach members important values for assimilating into societies, such as discipline, respect and working together to achieve a common goal. Perhaps the most important aspect of governmentality that sport teaches us is the idea of reward and punishment. We learn to do what is right and achieve our goals, because when we do there is a shiny golden trophy waiting for us. It creates a feeling of pride in ourselves, and we feel even better knowing there are people who are giving us their approval. But when we break the rules, there are consequences and we must accept those punishments, be it a red card or a time out. These punishments are small, but it is the meaning behind them that affect us significantly, and make us want to do our best to prevent the disappointment and humiliation that comes with punishment.
National sports teams are also a part of governmentality, because they create a sense of pride in the citizens, and are an important way in which the people can be united. When our sports team wins a competition, we feel pride and accomplishment at having done better than someone else at something, which contributes to the aspect of govenmentality that makes us not want to let our peers down, by being the best we can be.
Tina Loo 3:10 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Terrific!
Vinciane Boisson 5:19 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Team sports are part of governmentality for multiple reasons.
First, as a team, the idea is to be united in order to achieve a common goal. This unity or cohesiveness causes the people making up the team to influence one another, in a way that they share common personality features. The process is that of a standardization of the minds, so to speak. This could be compared to the standardization of the textbooks, if it take the case of schools, as we have seen in class.
The second element is the presence of a “higher power”, a ruler, which would be the coach. His role is to control where this standardization leads, and what common features are to be adopted. He is also here to make sure everyone works and trains to achieve the common goal (no idleness). His role is similar to that of a responsible government.
The last element is aim of success, and the absence of “outcasts”. The principle of “team work” is that no one is to be cast aside, and everyone should be part of this unity, and as a result, this standardization. In addition, the goal the team work towards is that of success. To put it simply, there is no room for losers. If we take the case of schools studied in class, this could be compared to their being compulsory and the progression through a curriculum with a system of grades.
amandawoodland 5:38 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I believe that certain aspects of team sports are somewhat parallel to those of governmentality, and also that team sports can be considered part of the process of governmentality. Similar goals are achieved through both governmentality and team sports. For example, while governmentality seeks to shape a population into a model society, a significant goal of team sports is character building. When everyone on the team abides by the ruled of their specific team as well the rules of broader leagues, play is fair, which benefits more people. Achievements and commendable behaviour are rewarded, and bad behaviour is punished, though not in too harsh a way. What I mean by this is that when a player breaks a rule, he/she is not immediately kicked off the team (well, not usually). Similarly, when someone in a given population breaks a law, he/she is not immediately exiled from the country! In both cases, steps are taken in order to reform that wrong-doer into someone who learns the consequences of their actions and refrains from acting negatively in the future. Furthermore, when the teammates are considered good people, and even friends in many cases, often the play is more interesting and entertaining. Team members look forward to games and put in more effort. In a population, when people are courteous and make an attempt to get along with one another, life runs smoothly and is probably better for most people. Stressing these points is an important role of a coach, and of a government (both are in charge of ensuring the continued well-being of the team/population).
FribaRezayee235 8:16 pm on November 8, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Sports team can be considered as part of the governmentality, because there are many of parallels between the principles that are taught through teams sports and government institutions. Because the sports team has rule, authorities like a government in a state who enforces the rules and the regulations. Furthermore, it represents a nation in the world stage. For example, summer Olympic, it is an event which is held in every four years in different parts of the world. Different counties compete to host this historical event. By hosting it shows countries wealth, care, and hospitality and moreover it shows the organization of a country. For instance, Brazil won the bid of Olympic 2016 in the city of Rio the Jenrio. This is the first time that latin America will be hosting this event. Brazil wants to compete in world class, and this is a huge opportunity for it. Brazil is working very hard in the frenzy to prepare this city for its big moment as host of next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, the authorities are razing slums, upgrading stadiums and shuttering some of the city’s red-light emporiums, hoping to present a cleaned-up image of Brazil’s sexiest metropolis.
An online article from News states the hard of of Brazil Olympic Committee “Race against time” and delegates heard a less than flattering assessment of Rio’s current construction progress against agreed benchmarks and schedules. Furthermore, host counties want a legacy of sports because the Olympics create something of an conundrum for successful bidding cities. According to his article “The $4.3 billion redevelopment of Rio’s Port precinct is also completely being paid for by private investment.” As much as a government in a given city, the government tries to improve the economy in the country, so does the sports team.
Tina Loo 3:15 pm on November 22, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
GENERAL COMMENTS: Great job everyone. Most of you made very insightful links between team sports and governmentality. The public education system, police, and penitentiaries all were concerned to enforce certain values and morals and in the case of schools and prisons, to build character. Some of the most important values were deference to authority and industriousness (instead of idleness). These are what team sports do: they discipline their participants and create responsible people in the same way that education, policing, and the penitentiary did.