TY - JOUR
T1 - Collective sports success through effective social performances
T2 - The case of Olympic wrestling in Iran
AU - Shamshirian, Saeed
AU - Halldorsson, Vidar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - This study argues that the athletic success of Iranian wrestlers is fused with success in social performances. Using Alexander's cultural sociology, we propose that individuals’ behavioral, emotional, and mental dispositions toward sports are shaped by tacit and invisible social forces encompassing them at a given time and place. Furthermore, we make use of Alexander's notion that the power of culture is manifested when it is actively enacted. To ground our theoretical frameworks with empirical evidence, we conducted a case study of successful Iranian male wrestlers. The study reveals that the success of Iranian wrestling is constructed upon cultural foundations, social organizations, cooperative networks, and a set of social relations that performatively contribute to producing world-class wrestlers. It is within a given social, cultural, and organizational context that culture is performed through a series of collective actions and agencies. Such successful cultural performances reinforce the meaning of certain practices by connecting the past to the present and ensuring their continuity, thereby establishing a strong tradition of collective sporting achievements.
AB - This study argues that the athletic success of Iranian wrestlers is fused with success in social performances. Using Alexander's cultural sociology, we propose that individuals’ behavioral, emotional, and mental dispositions toward sports are shaped by tacit and invisible social forces encompassing them at a given time and place. Furthermore, we make use of Alexander's notion that the power of culture is manifested when it is actively enacted. To ground our theoretical frameworks with empirical evidence, we conducted a case study of successful Iranian male wrestlers. The study reveals that the success of Iranian wrestling is constructed upon cultural foundations, social organizations, cooperative networks, and a set of social relations that performatively contribute to producing world-class wrestlers. It is within a given social, cultural, and organizational context that culture is performed through a series of collective actions and agencies. Such successful cultural performances reinforce the meaning of certain practices by connecting the past to the present and ensuring their continuity, thereby establishing a strong tradition of collective sporting achievements.
KW - Collective achievements
KW - culture
KW - Iranian wrestling
KW - social performance
KW - sporting success
KW - sporting tradition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85204531108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/10126902241268363
DO - 10.1177/10126902241268363
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85204531108
SN - 1012-6902
JO - International Review for the Sociology of Sport
JF - International Review for the Sociology of Sport
ER -