ABSTRACT
The fascination of young people with the masters of the martial arts may certainly be seen in connection with the loss of apprenticeship and the overall undermining of craftsmanlike mastery. The youth rebellion was an extremely important part of the struggle to break down old, rigid authoritarian rituals. Unlike football, the martial arts are based on direct, man-to-man, physical combat. In a society characterized by paucity of sensuous experience and lack of social bearings the martial arts offer close bodily contact and rituals. The fascination of young people with the masters of the martial arts may certainly be seen in connection with the loss of apprenticeship and the overall undermining of craftsmanlike mastery. Anthropologist Shirley Fiske has analyzed rugby at American universities as a masculine initiation ceremony that takes the young men into the ranks of the grown-ups.
