Sport and Leisure Identities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Sport and Leisure Identities - Essay Example Thus, the classes are not as distinct as they once were, their nature more developed along consumerism that provides an equalizing element to the nature of choice. While social class and related issues of gender and ethnicity still have powerful influential context for the individual, consumerism also plays a role in the way in which choices about leisure time and sports activities are concerned. Despite the highly influential consumer society that presents equalities of opportunities to the classes, in the end it is still the nature of what is presented as an opportunity, in combination to how a community has developed their identity around leisure and sports that will have the greatest influence on the choices that are made by the individual. Spectator sports, in particular, create large communities of followers that can be explored for the way in which their social class relates to their choices. Social Class The social class systems in Great Britain were originally based on finit e criteria that placed people into social groups according to birth, occupation, and accomplishments. These social groups were finite in that once inside a specific group, even though most often through birth, it was difficult, if not impossible, to find a way up to the next social class level. With growing globalization that begun with the industrialization of goods and services, creating a wealthy middle class who were not associated by birth to nobility, the social class structure has changed dramatically. Social classes are defined by a series of criteria that place a person into a certain strata of social grouping. In order to be a member of the upper class, one is born into the group of landowners who bare titles of the aristocracy. Even if one marries into this group, full integration will more than likely not occur. These families have long histories that are well documented, giving them position and prestige merely from being born into the right family. The upper middle cla ss is defined by the well-educated, although most people are born into this class as well. Through higher educations and academic pursuits, the incomes are high and the perpetuation of this level of achievement is the common way for the perpetuation of the families as they continue their traditions of attending the more prestigious educational institutions.1 The middle class is the group of people who work as doctors, lawyers, architects, teachers, and those who have attained a position of respect through the means of their education and accomplishments. The nouveau rich are the people who have attained new money, their lifestyles altered by the increases in wealth that comes, not from family, but from entrepreneurial or inventive efforts. The nouveau rich is a relatively new class that was not in existence pre-industrial communities.2 This type of self-made wealth was not possible during feudal configurations of society and has only emerged with the consumerist society that has acc ompanied industrialization. The lower middle class consists of white collar workers without extensive educations working in jobs that are still cerebral, but not high paying and without much in the way of earned respect due to their professional