IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v445y1979i1p15-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Varsity Syndrome: The Unkindest Cut

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Lipsyte

    (Columbia College and The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism)

Abstract

The Varsity Syndrome refers to a selection process operating within sports which systematically denies opportunities for participation to the larger portion of the population. Only those with exceptional talent, who also tend to be male, can reap the rewards of sport participation that should belong to all. This process of selection begins in youth sports and culminates in professional sport events, or high level amateur competition, which are limited to a very few individuals. Those who do make it in sports are given deference that far exceeds their worth or importance to society. This further isolates them from the mainstream of the population and, in fact, creates an elite group. Once in this group, athletes are often exploited by the sports organizations and media who view athletes as entertainment and com mercial resources to be packaged and sold for economic or political purposes.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Lipsyte, 1979. "Varsity Syndrome: The Unkindest Cut," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 445(1), pages 15-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:445:y:1979:i:1:p:15-23
    DOI: 10.1177/000271627944500104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000271627944500104
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/000271627944500104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:445:y:1979:i:1:p:15-23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.