Sociology of Sports Organizations in France

Abstract

In France a few sociologists are working on the topic of Sociology of Sports Organizations. There are different reasons for this. Sports organizations are very much codified as are all organizations in France and as a matter of fact they have always been considered as any other institutional organization.

On the other hand researchers do not consider sports organizations as an independent structure. We have tried to find out whether a sports association can be defined as an organization and how sociological theories of sports organizations can be worked out.

We did try to point out the main orientations concerning the conceptualization of Sports organizations both at the local (Sport association) and at the federal (Sports Federation) level. The most interesting direction for research seems to be a further investigation along the line of three parameters: strategy, structures and process of decision in sports organizations.

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