Power in Sport: Who’s the Boss?

Course goals

After completing this course, the student will:

• have knowledge about key conceptualisations on power;
• be able to find and fathom an additional conceptualisation on power and analyse its added value in relation to the key conceptualisations;
• be able to apply these conceptualisations to recognise and analyse formal and informal power processes at organisational, network and systemic levels in the sports context.

Content

The organisation of sport takes place not only in a physical stadium, but also in a metaphorical arena. In this arena, continuous battles take place between actors and coalitions of actors. With different positions, interests and power sources, these actors try to influence the way in which sport is organised, the values that sport should create, the contribution that their organisation or organisational network makes to this, and its significance for the distribution of scarce resources in sport and society.
Not only sports organisations operate in this arena. Organising sports has long ceased to be a matter for sports organisations alone. Governmental actors, civil society organisations, sponsors, media and sport fans are also important actors in the power struggle that is taking place in the sports arena. They all have their own visions and interests with regard to the sporting, public, business and/or cultural values they convey through sport. This makes the power struggle complex and opaque. It is by no means always clear who is responsible and accountable for the creation of those values. Who exerts the most influence and gets or keeps most control over how the sport is organised, governed, practiced, and exploited? In other words: Who is actually/basically/in fact the boss?
Although the arena is a sports metaphor, this problem transcends the sports world. Based on organisational processes, patterns emerge in and between organisations about who is the (formal and informal) boss; who has voice and who stands up; who has autonomy and status; who is dependent and/or earns less voice and status; who deserves what and why; who has the right to speak (or not) and in what ways?
These questions can’t be answered by studying formal, hierarchal structures only. It is especially important to look at different types of power relations and hegemonies, for example in relation to gender, ethnicity and culture. The outcomes of these organisational processes have consequences for organisations themselves, but also for all those who are involved in, or dependent on these organisations.
In this elective course, sport is therefore ‘only’ the research context for acquiring general theoretical insights into the functioning of power processes in governance and organisation, which you can benefit from during your studies or in later work practice. Sport is a highly fascinating research context, about which you might know a lot already from the media and your own sporting practice.

This course consists of three parts. In the first part, (guest) lecturers will present three key conceptualisations on power, based on Dahl, Foucault and Bourdieu. These will be applied to a sport case during interactive working groups, led by various researchers from the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG). In the second part, you will look for an additional conceptualisation on power in the scientific literature. You prepare interactive working groups about this additional conceptualisation, supervised by students. After this, you write an individual paper in which you present the additional conceptualisation in relation to the three key conceptualisations.
In the third part of the course, you apply the gained knowledge to a relevant case in the sports world. You write an individual paper about the results of this application in which the additional theoretical conceptualisation is further elaborated, with a reflection on its added value compared to the presented key power conceptualisations.

Please note that for non-USG bachelor’s students the course Introduction to Public Administration and Organisational Science (USG5520/USG5020) or a similar introductory course covering the subject of political science, public policy and/or organisational studies is recommended.