TY - JOUR
T1 - Playing with fire, competing with spirit
T2 - Cooperation in the sport of ultimate
AU - Robbins, Blaine G.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/5
Y1 - 2012/5
N2 - Prior research shows that third-party agents are necessary to promote cooperation when groups are large and spatially diffuse. I explore whether this proposition holds in the self-governing sport of Ultimate. While the size of the community and spatial diffusion of the sport theoretically suggests limited decentralized control, the widespread implementation of a refereed system has not yet emerged. Instead, I find with qualitative methods that cooperation in Ultimate is the result of the sport being federally controlled and embedded within tiers of organizational constraint that promote informal regulation of competitions through norms, reputations, and self-discipline.
AB - Prior research shows that third-party agents are necessary to promote cooperation when groups are large and spatially diffuse. I explore whether this proposition holds in the self-governing sport of Ultimate. While the size of the community and spatial diffusion of the sport theoretically suggests limited decentralized control, the widespread implementation of a refereed system has not yet emerged. Instead, I find with qualitative methods that cooperation in Ultimate is the result of the sport being federally controlled and embedded within tiers of organizational constraint that promote informal regulation of competitions through norms, reputations, and self-discipline.
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U2 - 10.1080/02732173.2012.663713
DO - 10.1080/02732173.2012.663713
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84859842141
SN - 0273-2173
VL - 32
SP - 270
EP - 290
JO - Sociological Spectrum
JF - Sociological Spectrum
IS - 3
ER -