| （Department of Physical Education，Tsinghual University，BeiJing 100084，China) Abstract: As a classical sociological work, Street Corner Society studied the social activities and structure of street corner youngsters who lived in an Italian slum in the United States by applying the method of participant observa-tion, expatiated on the important social significance of sports (mainly bowling) in the street corner society, in such aspects as adjusting the psychology and behaviors of social groups and individuals, promoting the internal coher-ence of groups, intensifying social status and stratification, strengthening communication and interaction between social groups, and exerting the functions of nonofficial sports organizations. The book titled Street Corner Society is significant for inspiring us to focus on sports in our daily life and sports for marginal groups, to appropriately enter and blend into farm fields, and to study sports by rationally applying the method of participant observation. The professional makings of Whyte, the author of the book, have set a standard for sports sociological researchers.
Key words: sports sociology；street corner society；sports；social significance |
