Sport and Identity Formation

gasconade and personal indistinguishability FormationSport and Identity Essay ProposalHow Does rugger nub Shape And Reflect Identity In Northern Ireland? Despite the change magnitude interest and deriveing of identicalness, the concept itself remains something of an enigma (Fearon, 1991, cited in Hooti Mahmoudi, 2013). The convey of identity as we now use it, is not well captured by dictionary definitions. Our present idea of identity is a recent affable construct, and a rather complicated one. Even though alwaysyone knows how to use the watchword properly in everyday discourse, it proves quite difficult to give a short and adequate summary statement that captures the range of its present meanings (Gleason, 1983, pp. 910-930). A short definition by Hogg and Abrams (1988) state that identity is concourses concepts of who they are, of what enlighten of people they are, and how they relate to others (p.2), and when a set of people who hold a common social identification are categorised together they piss a social group. These groups of collective identities bottom of the inning be constructed around to a greater extent forms and circumstances, for example, matterity, race, gender, sexuality, religion and many more. Woodward (1997) adds to this by suggesting that Identity marks the ways in which we are the same as others and the way in which we are different. oft identity is most litely defined by difference (Woodward, 1997, pp. 1-2). When analysing the definition, its clear that Hogg and Abrams as well as Woodward are only talk of the town about people. otherwise authors (Elliott, 2007 Mead and Morris, 1934) suggest that objects and symbols can also be use to express and forge a sense of self. This further demonstrates the complexity of delimitate identity.Identity in the context of sport can unify and/or divide. It can manifest common ground or expose differences. Sport can be utilise as a tool to show how people see themselves and how ot hers see them. It is a potential platform for the body structure and showing of identity (Maguire, Jarvie, Mansfield, Bradley, 2002). One example for the display of an identity with sport is national identity. If the concept of nations being an imagined community (Anderson, 2006) is accepted, then Bairner states that sporty competition arguably provides the primary expression of imagined communities with the nation appearing more real in the domain of sport (Bairner, 2005, p. 105). It is around the theatre of operations of national identity that I will form my topic of interrogation for the essay. I want to explore the ways in which Rugby Union helps to assureation and reflect national identity in Northern Ireland, a county divide for many decades by two main ideologies. The first is the, mainly protestant, unionist ideology. People who follow this ideology believe that Northern Ireland, part of great(p) Britain, should continue some form of political union with Great Br itain and thus, status themselves as British. The second, mainly catholic, nationalist ideology is opposed to such a union and favours a unified Ireland, and thus, view themselves as Irish(Cronin,1999, p. 143-146). Then at that place are people who consider themselves as Northern Irish. They are all politically neutral or take on a medley of beliefs from both sides of the community so I will harbour to consider this during the essay. I want to explore this looking solely at Rugby Union as it is unique and significant that the Irish national team up compete as a tie ind nation against Scotland, Wales and England and, as such, have a large nationalist following in Northern Ireland. In contrast, the Ulster Rugby Union side that also incorporates counties from both sides of the border has a large unionist following in Northern Ireland.The academic rule for my choice of topic is that it is only in the last decade that a more heterogeneous approach to identity construction in this subject area generally has been acknowledged and followed (Hassan, 2002). There isnt a lot of research on how Rugby Union shapes and reflects identity in Northern Ireland save there are sections of research by other academics and authors which will be useful. The concepts of identity will set aside me to explore this sectarian divide and understand how both sides of the community can use Rugby Union to display which side of the ideological line they stand on and/or if it can also be used as a tool to unite the conflicting sides of the community. The topic, with its deep historical and political complexity, will also allow me to further condone identity as a socio-logical concept that is ever changing, fluid and complicated.To do this I will use the Identity and contrast theory by Woodward (1997). The reason for this is that my topic will mainly concentrate on on two main nationalities and ideologies. People with the same nationality and ideology carry on a sense of geographic space, beliefs, and history with other members of that community, whilst excluding those who do not belong. Difference is central to the shaping of many collective identities and is often used as an active form of social exclusion, particularly when political problems amidst groups occurs (Woodward, 1997). One could argue that for some people in Northern Ireland being Protestant, unionist or British can be defined as much by not being Catholic, nationalist, or Irish.Other forms of identity could also be explored in the final piece to further explain the topic. Looking at another form of identity could allow a better understanding or explanation of a range of things associate to the topic, for example, social class to expand on the historical context. In call of social interaction, the middle classes were more integrated than the working classes and the rise of the Irish middle class, in part a response to political developments in Northern Ireland, inevitably led to Catholics be ing socialised into rugby (Hassan, 2002). Other forms of identity include race, religion, sexuality, profession, age, gender and many more. With every form of identity that is explored, better understanding and a more in-depth knowledge can be attained. I will also have to read up on some relavant secondary research, particularly the books and studies of Cronin (1999), Woodward (1997) and Bairner (2005) in preparation for the final piece.ReferencesAnderson, B. O. R. (2006). Imagined communities Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. advanced York Verso Books.Bairner, A. (2005). Sport and the Irish Histories, identities, issues. capital of Ireland University College Dublin Press.Cronin, M. G. (1999). Sport and nationalism in Ireland Gaelic games, soccer and Irish identity since 1884. Dublin Four Courts Press.Elliott, A. (2007). Concepts of the self. Cambridge Polity Press.Gleason, P. (1983). Identifying identity A semantic history. The Journal of American History, 69(4 ), 910. inside10.2307/1901196Harris, J., Parker, A. (Eds.). (2009). Sport and social identities. Basingstoke, UK Palgrave Macmillan.Hassan, D. (2002). A people apart Soccer, identity and Irish Nationalists in Northern Ireland. Soccer Society, 3(3), 65-83. doi10.1080/714004886Hogg, M. A., Abrams, D. (1988). Social identifications A social psychology of intergroup relations and group processes. New York Routledge.Hooti, N., Mahmoudi, Y. (2013). Identity Discordianism under the trepidation and duplicity of human essence A trenchant investigation on Luigi Pirandellos war. Theory and Practice in wording Studies, 3(7), . doi10.4304/tpls.3.7.1209-1213Maguire, J. A., Jarvie, G., Mansfield, L., Bradley, J. (2002). Sport worlds A sociological perspective. Champaign, IL Human dynamics Publishers.Mead, G. H. H., Morris, C. W. (1934). Mind, self, and society from the standpoint of a social behaviorist (17th ed.). loot, IL The University of Chicago press.Woodward, K. (1997). Identity and difference. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage in association with the coarse University.