Modernization and Rationalization
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One thing related to kinesiology that modernization and rationalization have affected is sport. Modernization in sport is represented in the concept of rationalization (Kretchmar et al., 2017, p. 249). In the ancient days, for instance, charismatic authority, ritualized customs, religious concepts, personal connections, and kinship ties were the basis upon which behaviors were shaped in society (p. 249). In modern societies, however, different instruments provide the logic for behaviors in society. In modern societies, kinship has been replaced by bureaucracy; religious perspectives are replaced by secular insights, charismatic evocations are replaced by logical persuasions, and calculations have replaced ritualized customs (p. 249). Sports rationalization has replaced ancient religious justifications for sport with secular justifications, and it has also in two ways pushed sporting activities into equality. First, it made athletic skills the basic requirement to engage in sport, unlike in the past, when sports were used to demarcate parochial or kinship connections. Second, it pushed sports towards competition through contests that pit sides against one another (p. 249).
Reliance on facts and measurement, the rise of science, decline in religious influence, and reliance on reason also impacted ethical theory and practice. Utilitarianism, for instance, argues that ethics should be based on human needs and wants – the desire to avoid suffering and pain, and increase happiness (p. 252). Utilitarianism dispenses the claims that humans are God’s creatures endowed with special privileges and rights. The developer of the theory – Jeremy Bentham – described pain and pleasure as “our sovereign masters.” Bentham also argued that our lives are directed by poles of repulsion and attraction and that our moral obligations are directed towards minimizing pain and suffering and maximizing happiness (p. 252). He further stated that our experiences can be assigned scores relative to their utility and that actions with the highest utility scores are the ones that are moral to do.
References
Kretchmar, R.S., Dyreson, M., Llewellyn, M.P. & Gleaves, J. (2017). History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Activity. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.