"Sport Histories" draws on figurational sociology to provide a fresh approach to analyzing the development of modern sports. The book brings together ten case studies, examining both mainstream, well-researched sports - such as soccer, rugby, baseball, boxing and cricket - and sports relatively neglected by historians and sociologists - such as shooting, motor racing, tennis, gymnastics and martial arts.
The book explores key issues in the study of sport, including:
- The relative influence of intra-national and international conflicts
- The importance of commercial processes
- Violence and control of violence
- Differences between elite and mass sport movements
- The part played by sport in the development of cultures and societies
This groundbreaking work illustrates the distinctiveness of the figurational sociological approach and its usefulness in examining the development of modern sport. It represents an important crossing of the boundary between the disciplines of history and sociology in the study of sport, and will be of great interest to students and researchers working in both disciplines.
"Sport Histories" draws on figurational sociology to provide a fresh approach to analyzing the development of modern sports. The book brings together ten case studies, examining both mainstream, well-researched sports - such as soccer, rugby, baseball, boxing and cricket - and sports relatively neglected by historians and sociologists - such as shooting, motor racing, tennis, gymnastics and martial arts.
The book explores key issues in the study of sport, including:
- The relative influence of intra-national and international conflicts
- The importance of commercial processes
- Violence and control of violence
- Differences between elite and mass sport movements
- The part played by sport in the development of cultures and societies
This groundbreaking work illustrates the distinctiveness of the figurational sociological approach and its usefulness in examining the development of modern sport. It represents an important crossing of the boundary between the disciplines of history and sociology in the study of sport, and will be of great interest to students and researchers working in both disciplines.
1. Introduction: History, Sociology and the Sociology of Sport: the Work of Norbert Elias 2. Boxing in the western Civilizing Process 3. Public Schools, Status Rivalry and the Development of Football 4. Rugby Union Football in England: Civilizing Processes and the De-institutionalization of Amateurism 5. Cricket: Civilizing and De-civilizing Processes in the Imperial Game 6. Baseball: Myths and Modernization 7. Game, Set and Match. Lawn Tennis: from Early Origins to Modern Sport 8. The Influence of State Formation Processes on the Early Development of Motor Racing 9. Clay Shooting: Civilization in the line of fire 10. The Development of Sport in Japan: Martial Arts and Baseball 11. After Olga: Developments in Women's Artistic Gymnastics Following the 1972 'Olga Korbut Phenomenon' 12. Conclusion: Figurational Sociology and the Development of Modern Sport
Eric Dunning is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leicester and Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University College Dublin and the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. Dominic Malcolm is a Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester. Ivan Waddington is Visiting Professor at the University College Dublin, Norweigen University of Sport and Physical Education, Oslo, and University College Chester.
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