プロフェッショナル競技者の概念的考察

経済・技術・倫理の三見地から

抄録

To clarify the conceptual attitude of professional athletes, this paper presents 3 views on occupation using the main analytical framework proposed by Kunio Odaka. The first is the economic perspective. Referring to the content of the Japanese Standard Classification of Occupations, by clearly distinguishing this from other occupations in sports, professional athletes are defined as a profession “participating in competition or games and performing athletic competition.” From the viewpoint of income type and qualifications, we assume that numerous types of professional athletes exist. The second is the perspective of technical skill. Based on the discussions of Mitsuo Taketani and Tomihiko Sato, technical characteristics of athletes are defined as demonstration of their skills in accordance with sports structure as an objective law. Moreover, referring to the organization theory of Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, we point out that professional athletes are able to transform sports structure in terms of organizational creation. The third perspective of ethics considers the duties that are required of professional athletes. We conclude that their duties in relation to teammates are concerned with the “pursuit of victory through cooperative relationships.” In relation to opponents, such duties are “playing the game through a mutual relationship” and “pursuit of victory in an exclusive relationship.” With regard to spectators, such duties are concerned with “entertainment” and, in terms of the broad relationship to society, “the embodiment of social values”. These 3 aspects are diverse, and dependent on the extent of an athlete’s expertise.