THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PROFESSIONAL SPORT IN MODERN RUSSIAN SOCIETY
The article introduces the concept of “professional sport as a subinstitute”. Its justification is due to the need to overcome the contradictions that have arisen on the basis of the outdated sport classification within the framework of the activity approach. Such classification is based on the markers that don’t match new social reality (divide sport into professional and amateur, professional and Olympic, professional and sport of high achievements). Social evolution of sport has actually led to the formation of its two forms: professional and mass sport. The author proposes a new concept, which allows to solve the problems of sport classification in the framework of the institutional approach, facing the present stage of sociology.