The Scientization of Physical Education: Discourses of Performance

1 April 1990

journal article
the twenty-third-amy-morris-homans-lecture
Published by Taylor & Francis in Quest

Vol. 42 (1) , 40-51
https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.1990.10483978

Abstract

This paper examines the content and context of changes in the dominant discourses of physical education. It begins with an analysis of the role of language in publicly defining a role for new professions and defining the nature of that profession's expertise. It then briefly traces the reconstruction of university physical education as sports studies, sport sciences, and sport management and situates these discourses in a political and historical context. The final sections proceed to deconstruct the languages of sport science and sport management, to connect these with struggles to redefine the profession, and to point to some issues for professional education if physical education is to retain any of its traditional humanistic meanings. The argument is grounded in an interview study of technical and administrative professionals in Canadian high performance sport.

Keywords

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:

Education Under Siege
Published by Taylor & Francis ,2003
The Discourse of Gender and Sport: From Femininity to Feminism
Sociology of Sport Journal, 1988
Beginning the Journey: Agenda for 2001
Quest, 1988
Accounting knowledge and professional privilege
Accounting, Organizations and Society, 1988
Graduate Curriculums in Sport Management: The Need for a Business Orientation
Quest, 1987
Professional Language: Words That Succeed
Radical History Review, 1986
Knowledge for Work in the Physical Education Profession
Sociology of Sport Journal, 1985
From Public Issue to Personal Trouble: Well-Being and the Fiscal Crisis of the State
Sociology of Sport Journal, 1985
Knowledge Structures in Sport and Physical Education
Sociology of Sport Journal, 1985
The Development of Specialties in Industrialised Science
Sociological Review, 1977