This exciting, accessible introduction to the field of Sports Studies is the most comprehensive guide yet to the relationships between sport, culture and society. Taking an international perspective, Sport, Culture and Society provides students with the insight they need to think critically about the nature of sport, and includes: a clear and comprehensive structure unrivalled coverage of the history, culture, media, sociology, politics and anthropology of sport coverage of core topics and emerging areas extensive original research and new case study material. The book offers a full range of features to help guide students and lecturers, including essay topics, seminar questions, key definitions, extracts from primary sources, extensive case studies, and guides to further reading. Sport, Culture and Society represents both an important course resource for students of sport and also sets a new agenda for the social scientific study of sport.
Media, Sports and Society provides a foundation for research on the communication of sports. The volume is framed by a seminal article outlining the parameters of the communication of sports and pointing to major issues that need to be addressed in the relationship between sports and media. Contributors examine the theoretical, cultural and historical issues, the production of media sports programming, its content and its audience. Individual chapters include a discussion of the spectacle of media sports, a comparison of Super Bowl Football and World Cup Soccer, a consideration of the spectators' enjoyment of sports violence, the rhetoric of winning and the American dream, and a fascinating examination of gender harmony and sports in
Praise for the First Edition: "Barrie Houlihan's astonishingly ambitious and skilfully assembled collection examines the relations between sport, social policy and the social context that underlies the two. Organized around such themes as exclusion, commercialism and international comparisons, the book allows the reader to understand not only the centrality of sport to contemporary society, but the often perplexing policies that contrive to encourage or deny participation, promote or deter public sector involvement and support or undermine physical education. Importantly, Houlihan never prioritises the general over the particular, always striving to find detail amid the bigger picture." - Ellis Cashmore, Professor of Culture, Media and Sport, Staffordshire University "The most comprehensive study of contemporary issues in sport by leading international scholars. Houlihan's book is the answer to sports students' prayers, full of information, statistics, tables and figures, extensive guides to further reading and, most important of all, challenging ideas. A weighty vademecum for the early 21st century." - Jim Riordan Honorary Professor of Sports Studies, University of Stirling, Professor Emeritus at University of Surrey, and President of the European Sports History Association Fully updated and revised, the Second Edition of Barrie Houlihan's ground-breaking book provides students and lecturers with a one-stop text that is comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, accessible, international and engaging. Sport and Society allows students to: Approach the study of sport from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Understand the importance of social structure, power and inequality in analyzing the nature and significance of sport in society. Address the rapid commercialization and regulation of sport. Engage in comparative analysis to understand problems clearly and produce sound solutions. Expand their knowledge through chapter summaries, guides to further reading and extensive bibliographies. This Second Edition contains five brand new chapters, which reflect recent concerns with: young athletes and human rights, sport and the city, sport and violence, sport and health, and sport and Islam. A superb teaching text, it will be relished by lecturers seeking an authoritative introduction to sport and society and students who want a relevant, enriching text for their learning and research needs.
Sports, Society, and Technology: Bodies, Practices, and Knowledge Production addresses the complex entanglements of science, technology, and sporting cultures. The collection explores themes around human and non-human actants, knowledge formations and processes, and the materiality and multiplicity of bodies through an engagement with the interdisciplinary fields of Sport Studies and Science and Technology Studies. Representing a range of methodological, theoretical, and disciplinary approaches, contributors interrogate the social, cultural, political, and historical intersections of an ever-expanding techno-scientific sporting landscape – from true bounce and brain trauma to exercise physiology, metrics, and esports, and from feminist technoscience, whey protein, and epigenetics to sickle cell screening and testosterone regulation.
In this fully updated and revised new edition of his landmark study of violence in and around contemporary sport, Kevin Young offers a comprehensive sociological analysis of an issue of central importance within sport studies. The book explores organised and spontaneous violence, both on the field and off, and calls for a much broader definition of ‘sports-related violence’, to include issues as diverse as criminal behaviour by players, abuse within sport and exploitative labour practices. Offering a sophisticated theoretical framework for understanding violence in a sporting context and including new case studies and updated empirical data – from professional soccer in Europe to ice hockey in North America – the book establishes a benchmark for the study of violence within sport and wider society. Through close examination of often contradictory trends, from anti-violence initiatives in professional sports leagues to the role of the media in encouraging hyper-aggression, the book throws new light on our understanding of the socially-embedded character of sport and its fundamental ties to history, culture, politics, social class, gender and the law. This new edition also recognises burgeoning new literatures, such as research examining concussion and the link between sport and mental illness and includes student-friendly pedagogical aids, such as critical thinking questions at the end of each chapter. Sport, Violence and Society is a vital read for anyone studying or working in the areas of the Sociology of Sport, Sport Psychology, Ethics and Philosophy of Sport, Sport and Politics, Sports History, and Sport and the Media.
Although everyone loves to watch a fair, evenly matched sports contest, there is no such thing as "pure sport". The Sport and Society Reader is a collection of key scholarly and journalistic articles that demonstrate the ways that the sports we love to watch and the teams we love to root for are embedded in important social structures and processes that undermine sports' "purity". The volume presents articles on: sports with - more or less - class race matters in sports gender myths and privileges in sports sports and deviance sexuality and sport globalizing sport. The articles selected are both entertaining and highly illustrative of the links between sport and other areas of social study, resulting in a book that is as compelling as it is useful. In addition, the introductory approach used throughout orients the reader to specific key issues, making The Sport and Society Reader an ideal standalone text for students of all levels. Davide Karen and Robert E. Washington's fascinating collection of scholarly and journalistic articles challenges the prevailing perception of sports, and will stimulate discussion in the classroom and beyond. This is essential reading for all students of sports studies, the sociology of sport, and the sociology of culture.
"In the edited collection, Time Out: National Perspectives on Sport and the Covid-19 Lockdown, practitioners and international scholars explore the impact of the global Covid-19 health pandemic on sport from various local and national perspectives. It is part of a two-volume Covid-19 and Sport series that tackles the effects of the global lockdown on sport during March and April 2020, when restrictions were at their most severe and the human toll at its peak in many countries. The twenty-two chapters provide a comprehensive overview on the immediate consequences of the Covid-19 lockdown on local and national sport from a variety of perspectives"--
Using a topics-based approach organized around provocative questions about the interaction of sports, culture and society, Sports in Society presents an accessible introduction to research and theory in the sociology of sport. This new edition continues the legacy of the previous editions while introducing new material and examples that bring theory to life. Current debates in sports, such as how youth participation can be increased or sport funding allocated, have been integrated throughout the text to provide a holistic view of society. An Online Learning Centre accompanies this book offering a range of lecturer support materials as well as resources and tests for students.
It is impossible to fully understand contemporary society and culture without acknowledging the place of sport. Sport is part of our social and cultural fabric, possessing a social and commercial power that makes it a potent force in the world, for good and for bad. Sport has helped to start wars and promote international reconciliation, while every government around the world commits public resources to sport because of its perceived benefits. From the bleachers to the boardroom, sport matters. Now available in a fully revised and updated new edition, this exciting, comprehensive and accessible textbook introduces the study of sport, culture and society. International in scope, the book explores the key social theories that shape our understanding of sport as a social phenomenon and critically examines many of the assumptions that underpin that understanding. Placing sport at the very heart of the analysis, and including vibrant sporting examples throughout, the book introduces the student to every core topic and emerging area in the study of sport and society, including: the history and politics of sport sport and globalization sport and the media sport, violence and crime sport, the body and health sport and the environment alternative sports and lifestyles sporting mega-events sport and development. Each chapter includes a wealth of useful features to assist the student, including chapter summaries, highlighted definitions of key terms, practical projects, revision questions, boxed case-studies and biographies, and guides to further reading, with additional teaching and learning resources available on a companion website. Sport, Culture and Society is the most broad-ranging and thoughtful introduction to the socio-cultural analysis of sport currently available and sets a new agenda for the discipline. It is essential reading for all students with an interest in sport. Visit the companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/jarvie.
Introduction to the Sociology of Sport offers a comprehensive overview of topics, theories, definitions and results of sport sociological research and discussions. A unique approach to the social specificity of sport is outlined.
