International Journal of Business, Management and Commerce (IJBMC)

The concept of sport as a social institution as espoused by the father of the sociology of sport, Dr. Harry Edwards, implies that sport has the capacity to change society. As the sport environment changes, society must also change. The technological changes felt within our society has changed the way sport as an institution affects society. Of note and importance is the rapid ascent and domination of electronic gaming (esports) in our society. The question of whether esports can be simply defined into the category of sport has been debated across scholarly journals previously. Suffice to infer here that esports is a sport for purposes of this paper. Sport as a social institution was charged with making societal change to social classifications including race, gender, and economics. If we accept the premise that esports is a sport, then the likely presumption and expectation is that gaming will also have similar impacts on social classifications. Albeit, where gaming may approach classifications such as gender and race without impact as gaming has started on a level playing field there; other classifications such as economics, business relations, media and viewership, marketing to consumers, social events, and academia have seen significant change as a result of the escalation of esports into the mainstream of society. Dr. Edwards‘ comments from 1973 found within his seminal textbook, Sociology of Sport, ―What is happening in sports today results from the impact of the twentieth century, with its affluence, its speed, its mass communications — all of which have combined to create a much smaller world and new definitions of reality‖ could neatly fit within the current state of 21st century society. (Edwards) Greater affluence (and influence) from esport stars, faster speed, mass communications from various sources within our digital age characterizes the society in which we live. Thus, as this paper presents and argues, esports has met the burden of changing society in a similar fashion to the way traditional sport has done since its inception. The only difference is the magnitude and the speed in which the esport game changers have impacted our society. Understanding the essential premise that sport is a societal institution worthy of study, sport researchers can examine the impact sport has on society and at times, the impact society has on sport.