STARTER POSITION CHANCE - FULFILLED DREAMS? SOCIAL INEQUALITIES AMONG THE SPORT-TALENTED YOUTH (Indulo eselyek - beteljesitett almok? Tarsadalmi eselyegyenloseg a tehetseges fiatal sportolok koreben)

• Authors: Velenczei Attila , Kovacs Arpad , Szabo Attila , Szabo Tamas
• Languages of publication: HU

Abstracts

EN

Although the wider public would think that sport is one of the most democratic subsystems in the society, in the last quarter of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st century substantive empirical research has shown that social inequalities are reflected in sporting practices and more generally in cultural consumption; furthermore, these tendencies may be even stronger. The aim of this study is to analyze social equality or inequality in a special field: in consideration of the new generation of competitive sports. The Hungarian state has started a Sport Talent Care Program (named Heracles Program) to nurture those 14-23 year-old talented young sportsmen, who are to be the future hopes of the country. The purpose of the research was, therefore, to analyze the social background of these young athletes and to discover the existing social inequalities in this population. In addition, the authors examined these sportsmen's affinity for their sport, and whether youngsters perceive sport as a professional activity or just as a beneficial recreational pastime. The results showed that the talented young athletes participating in the state-financed programs come from the middle or upper classes, as they did in 1976. Their parents' qualification level is high; they have good profession and excellent jobs. The number of the lower class-youngsters is almost negligible. From the results, it can also be concluded that sport as a profession is non-appealing for the young. They would like to follow the way of their parents: a good qualification and a decent job in everyday life. Nowadays competitive sports - already at a young age - demands hard work all day. These young people invest the bulk of their time and substantial energy into competitive success, thus there are permanent conflicts between them and their environment (parents, coaches, leaders of the club), and even within the athletes themselves.

Keywords

EN

COMPETITIVE SPORTS; INEQUALITY; PROFESSION; SPORT-TALENT

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Hungarian Sociological Association
• Journal: Szociologiai Szemle (Sociological Review)
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 109-129
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Velenczei Attila

author

Kovacs Arpad

author

Szabo Attila

author

Szabo Tamas

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11HUAAAA092142