Reflections on Play, Sport, and Culture
Reflections on Play, Sport, and Culture

Author: Felix Lebed

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-02-06

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1003848338

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The psychological dependence of humanity on playing is huge. Its nature and functional utility are unclear. These linked yet contradictory issues have created the intrigue that has fed philosophical thought for more than two hundred years. During this period, philosophy transferred many of the subjects of its analysis to the aegis of the humanities that it spawned. Each of them pays close attention to human play and studies it with its own methods of theoretical and experimental research. Thus, what was once a general philosophical comprehension of human play has branched out into different directions, definitions, and theories. This new book represents a renewed general view of human play. The unique quality of the volume lies in its fairly rare interdisciplinary methodology, encompassing a broad spectrum of the humanities: philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and the history of play, and behavioral analysis of playing, which have been done by the author. As a result, the volume ends with the proposition of a new general approach to human play that is named by the author “play field theory”. Such an approach makes reflections on play, sport, and culture a source for all scholars studying play, by widening their knowledge through both a new general view and their familiarization with notions from neighboring fields and disciplines.

Sporting Reflections
Sporting Reflections

Author: Heather Sheridan

Publisher: Meyer & Meyer Verlag

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1841261823

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Part of the "Sport, Culture and Society" series, this book aims to illuminate the contribution of philosophy of sport to the understanding of contemporary sport. It addresses some of the different fields of philosophy and their application in philosophy of sport including: aesthetics, ethics, philosophy of education, and more.

Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection
Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection

Author: Randolph Feezell

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2010-10-01

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0252091167

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In paperback for the first time, Randolph Feezell’s Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection immediately tackles two big questions about sport: “What is it?” and “Why does it attract so many people?” Feezell argues that sports participation is best described as a form of human play, and the attraction for participants and viewers alike derives from both its aesthetic richness and narrative structure. He then claims that the way in which sports encourage serious competition in trivial pursuits is fundamentally absurd, and therefore participation requires a state of irony in the participants, where seriousness and playfulness are combined. Feezell builds on these conclusions, addressing important ethical issues, arguing that sportsmanship should be seen as a kind of Aristotelian mean between the extremes of over- and under-investment in sport. Chapters on cheating, running up the score, and character building stress sport as a rule-governed, tradition-bound practice with standards of excellence and goods internal to the practice. With clear writing and numerous illuminating examples, Feezell demonstrates deep insight into both of his subjects.

Rules of Play
Rules of Play

Author: Katie Salen Tekinbas

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2003-09-25

Total Pages: 680

ISBN-13: 9780262240451

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An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire
Critical Reflections on Physical Culture at the Edges of Empire

Author: Francois Johannes Cleophas

Publisher: African Sun Media

Published: 2021-04-08

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1928480683

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This groundbreaking anthology provides a transnational view of the use of physical culture practices - to strengthen, discipline, and reimagine the human body. Exploring theses of colonialism, gender disparities, and race relations, this international examination of bodily practices is a must read for all sport historians and those interested in physical training and its meanings. Erudite, solid, enlightening, this is a truly valuable book for our field.

Reflections on Process Sociology and Sport
Reflections on Process Sociology and Sport

Author: Joseph Maguire

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1135725047

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The book focuses on the distinctive contribution that Joseph Maguire has made to process sociology and the study of sport. Maguire’s work over the past three decades highlights how process sociology has a unique perspective on the relationship between sport, culture and society, and to the body, globalisation and civilisational analysis. Reflecting on this body of work and the use of process sociology, Maguire captures the research dynamic of ‘walking the line' between involvement and detachment, theory and observation, and engagement and critique. The book is structured around four broad sections: Theory, Sport and Society; The Meaning of Sport, Body and Society; Case Studies in Sport and Process Sociology; Globalisation, Sport and Civilisational Analysis. Providing an introduction to, and key examples of, a process sociology approach to the study of sport, the body, civilising processes and globalisation, this book will appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in sport studies / sports science degrees, sociology, cultural studies and to those studying migration, globalisation and cross cultural civilisation relations. This book was previously published as a Special Issue of Sport in Society.

Football and Violent Extremism
Football and Violent Extremism

Author: Alberto Testa

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-11-18

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1040224865

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This book examines the ways that nationalist leaders and extremist groups have used football to advance their often-violent ideological narratives and to recruit and radicalise young people. Drawing on applied ethnographic research with the Ultra fan groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the book explores the behavioural dynamics of the BiH Ultras both on, and outside of, the football terraces. The book shines important new light on the Ultras' ideology, organisation and youth recruiting strategies, and their connections with other extremist groups. In a country and region divided on ethnic and religious lines, in which far-right and ethno-nationalist groups are a visible presence in politics and society, this book helps us to better understand why, when, and how BiH youth choose to join these groups, and why, when, and how these groups participate in violent acts, hate speech, crime, and racist actions. The book has important implications for efforts to counter violent extremism across the Western Balkans and beyond. This is valuable reading for any researcher, advanced student, policy maker, or practitioner working in sport studies, political science, criminology, development studies, security studies, or post-conflict studies.

Bodies as Sites of Cultural Reflection in Early Childhood Education
Bodies as Sites of Cultural Reflection in Early Childhood Education

Author: Rachael S. Burke

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-10-30

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1317636996

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Taking the body as a locus for discussion, Rachael S. Burke and Judith Duncan argue not only that implicit cultural practices shape most of the interactions taking place in early childhood curricula and pedagogy but that many of these practices often go unnoticed or unrecognized as being pedagogy. Current scholars, inspired by Foucault, acknowledge that the body is socially and culturally produced and historically situated—it is simultaneously a part of nature and society as well as a representation of the way that nature and society can be conceived. Every natural symbol originating from the body contains and conveys a social meaning, and every culture selects its own meaning from the myriad of potential body symbolisms. Bodies as Sites of Cultural Reflection in Early Childhood Education uses empirical examples from qualitative fieldwork conducted in New Zealand and Japan to explore these theories and discuss the ways in which children’s bodies represent a central focus in teachers’ pedagogical discussions and create contexts for the embodiment of children’s experiences in the early years.

Sport Sociology
Sport Sociology

Author: Paul Beedie

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2010-05-24

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1844457265

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"A welcome addition for those who teach sports studies... Used as a primer, this book provides readers with excellent introduction to the key sociological concepts, methods, and theories, and, also offers useful examples and contextualised discussions that beginners to the realm of sociology will no doubt appreciate. Beedie has compiled for students a good companion text that could certainly be used in conjunction with more detailed books, and, to guide students through more complex academic texts. Students have certainly appreciated Beedie's efforts to help them apply sociological rigour to analysing their sporting worlds, identities and experiences." - Geoffery Kohe, Worcester University "This should be highly useful for any sports studies students who are encountering the sociology of sport for the first time, even those who have previously studied sociology." - Alison Cain, Hertfordshire University Sociology is central to the study of sport in higher education. This reader-friendly textbook introduces all of the subject’s core themes, such as power, diversity and mediation, and relates them to major contemporary social issues such as commercialisation and globalisation. Special emphasis is given throughout to examples drawn from the UK and to the significance of the 2012 Olympics. Theoretical explanation is fully supported by case studies, practical and reflective exercises and guidance on further study.

Sport Management Education
Sport Management Education

Author: Mike Rayner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-01-27

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1000537439

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This book examines a range of contemporary issues related to the global delivery of sport management education. At a time of unprecedented change in Higher Education, the book looks closely at how sport management education can and should deliver positive outcomes in sport business and management outside of the university. The book brings together sport management academics from around the globe and examines how their practice in education has been shaped by the cultural, religious, and political context of the national regions in which they work. It aims to identify core principles in sport management education and implementation, and discusses the key aspects of sport management programmes, from curriculum design and pedagogy to issues around unified accreditation and the needs of employers. It also focuses in on what sport management education might look like in an increasingly digital post-COVID world. This is essential reading for all sport management educators and anybody working in sport-related professions looking to understand global educational platforms and their implications for policy at local, regional, national, and international level.