Methodological Dysfunctionalism: A New Analytical Approach in the Sociology of Sport and Its Exemplary Implementation Based on the Example of Chess

Abstract

The article investigates the problem of the empirical use of some definitions of sport, formulated on the grounds of the so-called contextual approach and structured contextualism (typology of P. Nosal). A question about how to research the social recognition(crucial within these definitions) of a particular activity as a sports activity is problematic. The suggested authorial solution is called methodological dysfunctionalism and assumes that negative phenomena (dysfunctions) within sport may be treated as indexes of a particular state of social awareness. Five dysfunctions are covered in the analysis, following Merton’s understanding of this notion. These include: doping, corruption, politicization, commercialization, and mediatization. In the second part of the paper, the presented approach is tested based on the example of chess (the applied definition of sport is the one introduced by R. Giulianotti). The collected data shows that when investigating chess, one can observe many of the negative phenomena that are generally considered to be the ‘dark side’ of sport. Taking into account that all of the criteria of Giulianotti’s definition were fulfilled as well as the presence of typical sports dysfunctions was confirmed, it is reasonable – and congruent with methodological dysfunctionalism – to conclude that chess should be considered a sport.