2021 Volume 29 Issue 1 Pages 5-23
While Western sports have developed in a way that eliminates violence, why do athletes in the sports activities in Japanese schools accept corporal punishment from their seniors and leaders? This paper aims to clarify the characteristics of sports-oriented students' habitus in Japan, by using the theory and method of Pierre Bourdieu. The findings are as follows.
Nearly 42% of college students in Japan identify themselves as sports-oriented; this is a large proportion of the total, as well as the “otaku” (similar to “nerd”) type. The habitus of sports-oriented students is characterized by the division of gender roles, the supremacy of victory, the authoritarian personality and the strong aspiration to higher status.
In their first year of sports activities, participants are forced to undertake all the chores, no matter how unreasonable. But in their second year and afterwards, they can then force the younger participants, in turn, to do all the chores. In this way, they learn about habitus that is subordinate to authority. At the same time, the older members' desire to dominate is satisfied, while the younger members are controlled and dominated. Thus, Japanese sports clubs reproduce cultures of dominance and obedience accompanied by unreasonableness and violence. This is the Japanese type of sports-oriented habitus, which has its origins in the traditional Japanese military culture.
School sports activities are creating a masculine identity that strives for victory in a contradictory way: by embedding subordinate habitus and at the same time preserving their desire for control. There are three types of rewards that explain why athletes are so submissive in their sports activities.
The mentality of Japanese athletes was developed under the fear of control and sanctions, and it is different from self-directionality in the Western sense. Therefore, in places other than sports, they often break the rules. With little experience outside of sports, they interact with homogeneous members, tend to have synchronous values with external authority and have limited or no knowledge of other values.
