This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of football. Writing in an accessible yet critical style, Giulianotti analyses the social and historical dimensions of the world's most popular game. The author locates football culture within the broader context of contemporary societies and social trends. As the game enters the new millennium, football's global dimensions become increasingly apparent. Players, playing styles and supporter identities all travel beyond nations and continents more and more frequently. Yet major inequalities remain within football's brave new world: working-class fans are replaced by middle-class consumers; women and non-whites continue to play marginal roles in most football nations; small football clubs and nations lose out to those with larger football markets. Giulianotti examines systematically football's key social aspects: the supporter cultures, the development of stadia, the business and television revolution, professional football players and the diversity of playing styles.
The book draws upon the author's research into football cultures in the UK, Europe, and North and South America, and uses a wealth of secondary source material. This book represents a major contribution to sport and cultural studies, as well as to the social analysis of football.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the study of football. Writing in an accessible yet critical style, Giulianotti analyses the social and historical dimensions of the world's most popular game. The author locates football culture within the broader context of contemporary societies and social trends. As the game enters the new millennium, football's global dimensions become increasingly apparent. Players, playing styles and supporter identities all travel beyond nations and continents more and more frequently. Yet major inequalities remain within football's brave new world: working-class fans are replaced by middle-class consumers; women and non-whites continue to play marginal roles in most football nations; small football clubs and nations lose out to those with larger football markets. Giulianotti examines systematically football's key social aspects: the supporter cultures, the development of stadia, the business and television revolution, professional football players and the diversity of playing styles.
The book draws upon the author's research into football cultures in the UK, Europe, and North and South America, and uses a wealth of secondary source material. This book represents a major contribution to sport and cultural studies, as well as to the social analysis of football.
Acknowledgements.
Glossary.
Foreward.
1. The Essence of Football: the historical and social bases of the global game.
2. The Twentieth-century Sport: football, class and nation.
3. Spectator Cultures: passion at play in Europe and Latin America.
4. Football Grounds: emotional attachments and social control.
5. The Price of Victory: football finance and the television revolution.
6. Football's Players: from local heroes to international stars.
7. The Goal of Winning? football, science, tactics and aesthetics.
8. The Cultural Politics of Play: ethnicity, gender and the 'post-fan' mentality.
Afterword.
Notes.
References.
Index.
Richard Giulianotti is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Aberdeen.
"At last, a real sociology of football which, crucially, examines
central elements of the game as well as the cultures and behaviour
patterns of its fans. Worldwide in its scope, and both perceptive
and provocative in its conclusions, this book will become a key
text for academics, students and lay readers who profess a serious
interest in understanding why football, above all sports, exercises
such a long-standing and tenacious hold on the global sporting
imagination."
--John Williams, Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research,
University of Leicester
"This book is full of insight, well written and with praiseworthy
clarity of ideas. It is an important and synthetic work which
covers the social and cultural complexity of football dealing with
class, gender, ethnicity, business and nationalism. At the same
time the inner meanings, the profound emotional attachments of the
supporters, the role of football heroes and the aesthetics of the
game are discussed in a fascinating comparative perspective. The
comparison of the football world-views in the United Kingdom,
Europe, South America and Africa is presented in a masterly way.
Giulianotti has produced a pioneering book that surpasses by far
previous and partial attempts to discuss the complexity of
football."
--Eduardo P. Archetti, Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Oslo
"This study brings together more than 600 historical,
anthropological, geographic, as well as sociological and
theoretical sources, in an integrated analysis of world
(association) football, or soccer.With a welcome eclecticism,
Giulianotti draws upon Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Bakhtin, Giddens,
Foucault, Goffman and Appadurai, among others, to relate to wider
sociological debates."
--Alan Tomlinson, University of Brighton, British Journal of
Sociology
"Football is a masterly example of soccer as an academic subject.
Giulianotti's knowledge of the sport is without question, while his
grasp and application of theory is superb. In each subject area
Giulianotti applies different theories to provide a detailed
understanding of the game and its complexities ... Football is
readable, original and its primary focus is the game. Although it
has large theoretical content, it is never dry or obtrusive.
Giulianotti's pleasing style is crucial in making the book a
success, and it should be considered as a seminal text in the field
of football academia." (International Sports Studies)
"A comprehensive and studied project that ably expresses the
maturity and significance of Giulianotti's work ... One cannot help
but be impressed by Football'ssheer substantive range, within which
Giulianotti displays an enviable knowledge and command of a myriad
of national football cultures." (Soccer and Society)
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