The Social Origin and Ambivalent Character of the Ideology of Amateur Sport

Abstract

This work deals with the social problems of the sources and historical condition ings of the ideology of amateur sport. In the first part an analysis was made of the discussion on the problems of amateur and professional sport in the International Olympic Committee. Set apart were the successive stages of attempts to give a more precise definition of the term amateur sport and the basic trends in the evolution of regulations. Part two presents the transformation of ancient sport under the influence of processes of democratization. throwing into relief its heterogeneous, also profes sional, nature. In part three an analysis was made of the sources and social conse quences of the ideology of amateur sport, pointing to its complex ambivalent nature.