Adam Love

The intersection of sport management and sociology of sport research: A social network perspective

Abstract:
Numerous scholars have highlighted important connections between the sport management and sociology of sport disciplines. Heeding calls from scholars in both fields to utilize social network analysis as a lens of inquiry, the purpose of the current study was to empirically explore the relationship between sport management and sociology of sport via coauthorship patterns. Specifically, we analyzed coauthorship patterns in three of the oldest and most highly regarded journals in each field from 1987 to 2009. Through the use of social network analysis, the descriptive results present a view of coauthorship patterns in both fields and highlight influential actors in the network who appear to transcend and connect both disciplines. The information yielded by this research provides insight useful for exploring the historical development of the fields, assessing the current state of the fields, and imagining how the fields might grow and prosper in the future.

Citation:
Love, A., & Andrew, D. P. S. (2012). The intersection of sport management and sociology of sport research: A social network perspective. Sport Management Review, 15(2), 244-256.

Sport labor migration and collegiate sport in the United States: A typology of migrant athletes

Abstract:
The global migration of athletes has been increasing in a variety of sporting contexts around the globe. Notably, the past decade has seen a nearly threefold increase in the number of international athletes coming to the United States for the purposes of participating in collegiate sport. In accordance with such growing internationalization, a body of research in the area of sport labor migration has developed. The purposes of the current study were to improve our understating of the forces that lead athletes to the U.S. in order to participate in collegiate sport and to explicitly connect research on international collegiate athletes to the broader context of sport labor migration research. In doing so, we utilized the typologies of migrant athletes developed by Maguire (1999) and Magee and Sugden (2002) as a conceptual framework for analysis. Based on findings from qualitative interviews with international collegiate athletes, we present a revised typology including the categories of mercenary, nomadic cosmopolitan, settler, returnee, exile, and ambitionist to help understand the diversity of factors and experiences associated with the migration of athletes in the context of U.S. collegiate sport.

Citation:
Love, A., & Kim, S. (2011). Sport labor migration and collegiate sport in the United States: A typology of migrant athletes. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 4, 90-104.

Equity or essentialism? U.S. courts and the legitimation of girls’ teams in high school sport

Abstract:
Feminist scholars have critically analyzed the effects of sex segregation in numerous social institutions, yet sex-segregated sport often remains unchallenged. Even critics of sex-segregated sport have tended to accept the merits of women-only teams at face value. In this paper, we revisit this issue by examining the underlying assumptions supporting women’s and girls’ teams and explore how they perpetuate gender inequality. Specifically, we analyze the fourteen U.S. court cases wherein adolescent boys have sought to play on girls’ teams in their respective high schools. The courts’ decisions reveal taken-for-granted, essentialist assumptions about girls’ innate fragility and athletic inferiority. While the courts, policymakers, and many feminist scholars see maintaining teams for girls and women as a solution to the problem of boys’ and men’s dominance in sport, the logic supporting this form of segregation further entrenches notions of women’s inferiority.

Citation:
Love, A., & Kelly, K. (2011). Equity or essentialism? U.S. courts and the legitimation of girls’ teams in high school sport. Gender & Society, 25(2), 227-249.

Cross-cultural adjustment and international collegiate athletes

Abstract:
Ridinger and Pastore (2000a) proposed a theoretical model to measure international student-athlete adjustment to college consisting of: (a) adjustment factors, (b) antecedent dimensions to those factors, and (c) outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the antecedent factors listed by Ridinger and Pastore were indeed the best indicators of successful adjustment to college for international migrant athletes and to determine if other antecedent factors were also relevant to adjustment. Multiple qualitative interviews with 13 international athletes from four NCAA Division I institutions were conducted. Data collected through those interviews supported all of the antecedent dimensions of the Ridinger and Pastore (2000a) model with the exception of the perception dimension subheading of faculty/staff. New dimension subheadings (a) sense of adventure, (b) previous international travel experience, and (c) family influence emerged from the data and were added to a revised model of international athlete adjustment.

Citation:
Popp, N., Love, A., Kim, S., & Hums, M. A. (2010). Cross-cultural adjustment and international collegiate athletes. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 3(1), 163-181.