Sports are said to be strongly associated with the values of masculine domination. In Japan, rigorous disciplines and entrenched customs—such as corporal punishment, violence, hazing, punitive running, and the enforced shaving of heads—continue to prevail within sports club activities and educational settings. These irrational practices, along with the perpetuation of masculine domination, remain persistent features of the sports world. This paper advances two sociological approaches aimed at transforming the relationship between sports and masculine domination.
　The first approach employs the concept of articulation, proposing a reinterpretation of traditional customs and power relations, which have traditionally been perceived as educational issues, as ‘misrecognitions.’ It suggests rearticulating these within the different contexts of human rights violation and health. Through these discursive practices, the unjust traditional customs lose their legitimacy.
　Second, this paper utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “symbolic violence” to elucidate how masculine domination is an integral component of the broader symbolic domination embedded within the structural framework of society at large. Through this analysis, the paper seeks to uncover the structural issues underpinning masculine domination within the sports world and to explore the necessity of a consciousness-raising effort aimed at transforming the symbolic dimensions of masculine domination, which often remain unnoticed by the public.
　Furthermore, this paper presents a case study examining a young male student who, lacking proficiency in sports, endeavors to assert his identity and seek retribution against sports-oriented males by aspiring to become an intellectual. In addition, using data from a nationwide university student survey, this study undertakes a comparative analysis of the cultural and social capital, as well as the habitus, of sportsoriented male students who embody masculine-dominant values, against those of “otaku” and subcultural types. The findings indicate that core athletic students exhibit the lowest reading rates and the lowest position in cultural capital. They also have exclusive and conservative values and a strong sense of gender role division of labor, as well as self-confidence. The analysis reveals how young sports-oriented men are more likely to cultivate masculine values through sports and why it is so difficult to break away from these values.

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　Testosterone is considered one of the most important substances in sports science. Testosterone produces dominance in the human body and influences athletic performance. It is also used to determine sex confirmation. Therefore, testosterone is regarded as a truly “masculine” substance”. On the other hand, there is no sufficient scientific evidence that testosterone is truly a “masculine substance”. Some studies suggest that testosterone is already divorced from the gender of masculinity. However, there are still many scientific discourses that position testosterone as a “masculine substance”.
　Therefore, in this study, we drew on the concepts of “entanglement” and “multiple” in science and technology studies (STS) to analyze how sport science knowledge on testosterone is organized, and how sport science produces knowledge that keeps testosterone within the frame of masculinity.
　The study examined the followings. The first was to examine how knowledge of testosterone and training is produced. The second was to clarify the meaning of the new “entanglement” between testosterone and other actors. The third was the relationship between female athletes and testosterone. The study found that this is connected to keeping testosterone within the frame of masculinity by creating new training protocols by continuing to accumulate a few facts, connecting them to various actors to find out how testosterone works, and not accumulating knowledge about the relationship between female athletes and testosterone.
　In sum, it is clear that the advancement of testosterone research has become a device to continue to expand the power of the idealization of the modern human [Man].

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　The purpose of this paper was to examine the practice of volleyball organized by gay men (gay volleyball) as an example of grassroots sports activities managed by sexual minorities in Japan, taking into account recent trends in masculinity studies, particularly the inclusive masculinity theory.
　The research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with participants in gay volleyball, and transcripts from these interviews were used as data.
　Two primary meanings emerged from the interviews about gay volleyball. First, gay volleyball was experienced as a safe space where participants could escape everyday heterosexual norms. However, they did not ghettoize themselves, as evidenced by some gay volleyball tournament including straight or female participants. Second, gay volleyball enabled unique connections among participants, where the selective gaze involved in finding a partner was relatively diminished, yet the sense of connection among gay men as a whole was secured.
　Finally, analyzing gay volleyball through the lens of inclusive masculinity theory, it is thought that the league can both preserve the heteronormative space through segregation and challenge traditional masculinity by including heterosexual participants. Additionally, it indicates a reduction in cultural homophobia in Japan, as younger players today expect gay volleyball to be more socially visible. Furthermore, gay volleyball aligns with mainstream modern sports through its competitive nature while also being open to diverse forms of involvement, such as playing with heterosexual players in one team or playing for ad hoc teams in tournaments held outside Tokyo.

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　This paper is a study of bodybuilders’ body culture in gym space, starting from the question, “What kind of world are bodybuilders confronting in gym space?” In particular, this paper examines three phases that make up gym space: physical phase (physical practices of bodybuilders), relational phase (interactions among bodybuilders), and collective phase(collectivity that the interactions induce as a whole).
　This research has found that while bodybuilders in gym space sincerely face their own bodies through weight training (physical phase), they adhere to a norm that forbids them to face anything other than their own bodies and to keep social interaction with others to the minimum necessary (relational phase). Also, the research shows that such a system of physical practices and interactions brings about an implicit unity among bodybuilders, which at the same time, constructs the body as the sacred of supreme value for bodybuilders and invites a unique world in the gym space that could be called a sacred church for facing the body (collective phase).
　This paper then discusses bodybuilders’ body culture in gym space by contrasting the above analysis with Wacquant’s study of boxing gyms. As a result, it indicates that bodybuilders’ body culture in the gym space is both individualistic and communal at the same time. Also, this paper argues that in bodybuilding gyms, bodies become the central singularity of the space, and from its physical phase, the relational and collective phases emerge as empathic and bodily linkage.

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　This study aimed to examine the relationship between the motivation to exercise or participate in sports and socioeconomic status. While previous studies have demonstrated a link between socioeconomic status and exercise habits, there has been insufficient discussion about how motivations for exercise and sports vary with socioeconomic status.
　This study conducted a secondary analysis of quantitative survey data. Respondents were first categorized into three groups: those with an exercise habit, engaging in vigorous exercise at least for 30 minutes a day two or more days a week; those who are physically active but do not meet the criteria for an exercise habit, yet exercise to some extent; and those who are physically inactive. The socioeconomic status of these three groups was then compared. Subsequently, the latent structure of motivation for exercise was analyzed for those with exercise habits and physical activity, and the relationship between motivation for exercise and socioeconomic status was examined. The following conclusions were drawn: First, individuals with exercise habits and those who are physically active have higher household income and educational attainment than physically inactive individuals. Individuals with exercise habits have higher incomes than physically active individuals. However, the pseudo R-squared is considerably small. Among physically active individuals, those who engage in physical activity for enjoyment and social interaction tend to have lower educational attainment, whereas those who pursue diverse goals and aim to improve their abilities tend to have higher annual household incomes. However, there was no statistically significant relationship between motivation and socioeconomic status within the “exercise habit” group.

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　This study aims to elucidate how high school baseball coaches are discussed on Twitter. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and other multivariate analytical methods on 4,466 tweets mentioning high school baseball coaches.　
　The results revealed that while high school baseball coaches are expected and praised for their success in achieving victories at the Koshien tournament, they are criticized for unethical practices, including corporal punishment, and their management of pitchers during games. Discussions about these coaches revolved around six main topics: “Qualities,” “Game Management,” “Pro–Amateur, ” “Great Commander,” “Harassment,” and “Improvement.” Furthermore, posts on “Game Management” and “Harassment ” were particularly negative. Additionally, posts on “Qualities” and “Game Management” were concentrated during the championship events.　
　The findings of this study suggest that while outsiders act as surveillance monitors of the “education” provided by high school baseball coaches, they have strong expectations for certain coaches to focus on the “competitive” aspects of the game, influenced by a “Koshien–centric” mindset. For those who adopt the “logic of the observer,” enjoying the “narrative ” of high school baseball is essential, and as a crucial element of this narrative, coaches must exert effort and fulfill their responsibilities toward achieving “competitive” success (victory) at the Koshien tournament. This external “surveillance” and “expectant” gaze is more complex and multi–layered than ever before, potentially exacerbating the coaches’ stress levels.

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