Functies en betekenissen van sport

A variety of functions are attributed to sport. Often, these functions are strongly dependant on the theoretical framework that is used. Based on an extensive literature review of the major sociological theories, the present article describes twenty four functions and meanings of sport (i.e., democratic, distincti¬on, economic, health, hedonistic, recovery, identifi¬cation, identity, integration, interaction, military, release, recrea¬tion, education, preserve order, political, ideological, class reproduction, sexe role reproduction, social mobility, socialisation, prestige, language, alienati¬on). This review has revealed that as much as ten functions have only been described by a small number of theories, there¬by indicating that some functions might be over¬looked when the analysis is based on a limited theoretical perspective. Also, in order to evaluate the actual roles and influences of sport, an analysis was made of empirical studies that have tried to deter¬mine specific effects of sport and sport partici¬pation. Based on this analysis, it was concluded among other things, that to date, several of the attributed functions and meanings of sport lack empirical support.