Discusses classical Greek wrestling, the English foxhunt, medieval ball games, and modern soccer, and examines the psychological, sociological, and biological aspects of sports
How do figurational sociologists approach the subjects of sport and leisure? How does their approach differ from other approaches in the field? This major collection, edited by leading writers on sport and leisure, offers a superb introduction to the figurational sociology of sport and leisure. The distinctive features of the approach are clearly explained and contributors show how figurational sociology is applied in the analysis of concrete problems. However, the collection also gives space to critics of the figurational approach. Included here are contributions which claim that the approach is inaccurate, blinkered and irrelevant.
Figurational sociology offers an important set of conceptual and methodological tools for helping us to understand sport, leisure and health and their relationship to wider society. This book brings together an international team of scholars working within the figurational tradition to explain the significance of figurational sociology in the development of the sociology of sport and to provide empirical case studies of figurational sociology in action. Covering core concepts such as the civilizing process, and key methods such as interviewing and ethnography, the book presents contemporary research in areas as diverse as sport-related health, mixed martial arts, sports policy, gender relations and cycling. Figurational Research in Sport, Leisure and Health is an important resource for students of sport and social sciences, sociology, figurational sociology and sociology of sport and exercise.
The book focuses on major aspects of Norbert Elias's social theory through research on supposed “minor” topics, such as manners, sports, leisure and cultural practices. While many of his publications became essential for scholars in the different disciplines concerned, the development of the figurational approach towards these fields was not always completed. The edited volume picks up some lose ends by including archive manuscripts by Elias on the genesis of sport, developments of cultural practices, and the sociology of the body, which are published here for the very first time. Based on critical reviews of these texts, international experts show how the new material adds up to Elias’s oeuvre and how it can be fruitfully applied to current research.
A new preface updates this richly detailed look at the major role sport played in shaping Pittsburgh's black community from the Roaring Twenties through the Korean War. Rob Ruck reveals how sandlot, amateur, and professional athletics helped black Pittsburgh realize its potential for self-organization, expression, and creativity.
Sport and Modern Social Theorists is an innovative and exciting new collection. The chapters are written by leading social analysts of sport from across the world, and examine the contributions of major social theorists towards our critical understanding of modern sport. Social theorists under critical examination include Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Adorno, Gramsci, Habermas, Merton, C.Wright Mills, Goffman, Giddens, Elias, Bourdieu and Foucault. This book will appeal to students and scholars of sport studies, cultural studies, modern social theory, and to social scientists generally.
Although there is significant research on large events that take place within athletics, small-scale events are largely ignored, in part due to the lack of press that they generate. However, these events require planning and preparation in the same way that larger sporting events do. This disparity between the effort that goes into the event and the attention the event draws allows for a gap in strategy or information available to those planning smaller scale athletic events. Principles and Practices of Small-Scale Sport Event Management is a cutting-edge reference publication that examines the successful organization and planning of small-scale sporting events. Featuring a wide range of topics such as community engagement, event planning, and sports management, this book is ideal for event planners, sports managers, marketers, academicians, practitioners, industry professionals, researchers, event organizers/coordinators, and students.
Sports Histories draws on figurational sociology to provide a fresh approach to analysing the development of modern sport. The book brings together ten case studies from a wide range of sports, including mainstream sports such as soccer, rugby, baseball, boxing and cricket, to other sports that until now have been largely neglected by sports historians, such as shooting, motor racing, tennis, gymnastics and martial arts. This groundbreaking work highlights key debates in the analysis of modern sport, such as: the relative influence of intra-national class conflict and international conflict the relative prominence of commercially led processes in different contexts the centrality of concerns over violence differences between elite and mass-led sports developments. Above all, Sport Histories proves the distinctiveness of the figurational sociological approach and its usefulness in the study of the development of modern sport.
1999 North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Annual Book Award Sport Matters offers a comprehensive introduction to the study of modern sport from a sociological perspective. It covers such topics as the history of sport, the development of ideas of 'fair play', sport and the emotions, the professionalization of sport, race-relations and sport and sport and gender. Unique in its cross-cultural analysis, it uses examples from around the globe, including sports spectator violence in North America, the growth of international soccer and the role of sport in the European identity.
This is the first handbook devoted entirely to leisure theory, charting the history and philosophy of leisure, theories in religion and culture, and rational theories of leisure in the Western philosophical tradition, as well as a range of socio-cultural theories from thinkers such as Adorno, Bauman, Weber and Marx. Drawing on contributions from experts in leisure studies from around the world, the four sections cover: traditional theories of leisure; rational theories of leisure; structural theories of leisure; and post-structural theories of leisure. The Palgrave Handbook of Leisure Theory is essential reading for students and scholars working in leisure studies, social theory as well as those working on the problem of leisure in the wider humanities and social sciences.