Social Factors and Personal Growth: Rock Climbing as a Constructive Hobby

Student Illustrator: Noah Bratschi

Student Author: Anna Dzekunov

“Social Factors and Personal Growth: Rock Climbing as a Constructive Hobby” is research undertaken in the interest of anthropology, in which a rock climbing gym was visited to study the appeal of extreme sport activities, how exercise can catalyze personal growth, and how group exercise affects social dynamics. This was done through observation of and interviews with rock climbers as well as participation in rock climbing at the gym. What was found was that exercise, especially in a group, can serve as a matrix upon which one can conceptualize and then confront personal struggles. The draw of extreme sport, as it were, is that it may help one overcome fears and hesitations in other parts of their life by using the fear they feel during the sport as a “practice run” in a safe environment to act out their confrontation of themselves. Exercising socially, similarly, apparently gave climbers a microcosm of real-world social dynamics to experiment with within the safety of the gym. Both of these factors combined lead to an increase in confidence and self-esteem among gym regulars, as rock climbing may be not just a sport but an exercise in self-improvement.

This is part of the Annual Poster Session, a collaboration between the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Department and the Media Arts and Technologies Department, featuring work by social science and illustration students.