Benjamin J. Downs, Chad Seifried

Abstract: Modernization theory has been used as an organizing construct to understand and explain social and structural changes over time in society and within sport specifically. In this paper, we use an integrative literature review to evaluate how modernization scholars and sport scholars employed modernization during the 20th and 21st centuries. First, the historical application and criticism of modernization is examined to provide a contextual foundation of the theory. Second, the ways sport scholars have employed modernization is discussed. Third, the use of modernization theory by sport facility scholars and the utility of the theory is highlighted. In addition to demonstrating the scholarly conceptualizations of modernization, this review ultimately utilizes the outcomes of modernization identified in existing sport scholarship to understand the concept and to create a quantifiable index capable of helping efforts to measure the construct for future sport managers and sport management scholars to consider.

Citation: Downs, B. J., & Seifried, C. (2019). Exploring the use of modernization in sport scholarship: Contributions, proponents, and critics for sport management to consider. International Journal of Sport Management, 20(4), 328-353.

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