The Quest for Subcommunities and the Rise of American Sport

One of the most intriguing problems for the sport historian is to account for the relationship between the American social structure and the “take-off” stage of organized sport in the United States. ¹ We still know little about why sport arose in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Equally obscure are the relationships of sport to groups and individuals within American society. What social functions, either latent or manifest, did sport perform during the take-off stage? This essay contends that a quest for subcommunities in the nineteenth century furnishes an important key to understanding the rise of American sport. As earlier communities based on small geographic areas—typically agricultural villages—declined or were undermined, Americans turned to new forms of community. Sport clubs, as one type of voluntary association, became one of the basic means by which certain groups sought to establish subcommunities within the larger society.