Sport, Children, and Socialization

Abstract

This chapter explores what is meant by ‘socialization’ as well as some of the key aspects of sports socialization (such as the long-standing problematic of the process of socialization into sport, the impact of socio-economic divisions on socialization, and the relationship between socialization and lifelong participation). It also examines the main approaches to understanding socialization into sport and some of the main debates (such as the growing involvement of parents in the sporting socialization of children). All-in-all, there is now a substantial body of evidence that the foundations for lifelong participation in sport are usually laid in childhood and youth in family contexts. Participation is unlikely to endure into and through adulthood unless foundations have been laid in childhood in the family.