Playing with fire, competing with spirit: Cooperation in the sport of ultimate

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)270-290
Number of pages21
JournalSociological Spectrum
Volume32
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Sociology and Political Science

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