TY - JOUR
T1 - On the meaning of sports
T2 - Cross cultural observations of super stress
AU - Pierce, Chester M.
AU - Stillner, Verner
AU - Popkin, Michael
PY - 1982/3/1
Y1 - 1982/3/1
N2 - The definition of sports medicine indicates the possible therapeutic and research importance of games in the work of social scientists and clinicians. A cross-cultural comparison of super stressful competitions provides one insight into the importance of games in human societies. Fourteen such comparisons are made between Indians in Mexico who run 250-mile foot races and Americans in Alaska who conduct 1049-mile dog sled races. It is concluded that sports can help understand how a society defines itself and regulates violence. Games may be an essential 'human-specific' need which provide entertainment, retain survival skills, ameliorate existential anxiety and promote religious and/or secular socialization. In this study, humans seem willing, if not insistent, to deploy considerable resources of time and material to sustain competitions among their own species, as well as between and with other species. A 'sports history' is important for all individuals.
AB - The definition of sports medicine indicates the possible therapeutic and research importance of games in the work of social scientists and clinicians. A cross-cultural comparison of super stressful competitions provides one insight into the importance of games in human societies. Fourteen such comparisons are made between Indians in Mexico who run 250-mile foot races and Americans in Alaska who conduct 1049-mile dog sled races. It is concluded that sports can help understand how a society defines itself and regulates violence. Games may be an essential 'human-specific' need which provide entertainment, retain survival skills, ameliorate existential anxiety and promote religious and/or secular socialization. In this study, humans seem willing, if not insistent, to deploy considerable resources of time and material to sustain competitions among their own species, as well as between and with other species. A 'sports history' is important for all individuals.
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U2 - 10.1007/BF00049468
DO - 10.1007/BF00049468
M3 - Article
C2 - 7105786
AN - SCOPUS:0020111679
SN - 0165-005X
VL - 6
SP - 11
EP - 28
JO - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
JF - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
IS - 1
ER -