As women's sport continues to grow and develop there is an increasing need to critically examine the conditions in which women as athletes operate. The Professionalisation of Women's Sport discusses the processes of professionalisation in women's sports as distinct from, and different to, that seen in men's sport, identifying different challenges that face the growth of women's elite sport. Within this collection, the complex and often fragmented nature of women's involvement across a range of sports are critically discussed. Contributions span the fields of sport sociology, sport history, sport economics and beyond, and across the varying geographical contexts of North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Examining American football, basketball, cricket, cycling, golf, ice hockey, tennis, rugby union and rugby league, scholars consider the emergence of professionalisation, the role of the media, and experiences in and of women's (semi-)professional sport. The Professionalisation of Women's Sport is an essential reference point for any student, researcher or professional interested in, or working in, elite women's sport settings.

Social media and digital technologies have become significant forces in the sport industry. From athletes and fans interacting via social media and video games, sport organizations integrating these technologies into marketing and public relations functions, to coaches and athletic trainers using digital technology to monitor athletes' biometric information, these technologies are pervasive in sport. However, the literature at the intersection of sport and social and digital media lies almost exclusively in the domain of marketing and management. While these technologies are often championed for the benefits they offer in these functional areas, the effects and outcomes of these technologies have impacts on athletes, fans, and other society that warrant further attention. This volume brings together a collection of essays from leading global scholars working in diverse areas as sport sociology, sport management, sport media, and sport communication to illustrate how sociological approaches are imperative to enhancing our understanding of sport and social media and digital technology. Within this volume, scholars address topics such as gender, sexuality, racism, identity, politics, mental health, and surveillance and outline how sociological approaches to these topics offer important analyses that further our understanding of the comprehensive effects of social media and digital technology on sport stakeholders.

Doping, as both practice and phenomenon, has largely been approached as a question of socio-cultural context and structures. Doping in Sport and Fitness argues that rigid differentiations between doping contexts - such as sport/fitness or elite/recreational - are less clear than it might seem. Breaking down these boundaries allows for a more complete understanding of substance use patterns, behaviours, and policy responses related to sport, fitness, and society. Contextual separations have greatly impacted how scholars have addressed the phenomena of doping in contemporary society, which in turn has impacted current anti-doping policies, preventative work, and harm reduction strategies globally. Bringing together research on doping and image and performance enhancement drug use (IPED) that highlights links between areas of doping research that have been previously separated, this collection includes contributions focusing on emerging and under-researched topics related to IPED use. Providing studies on new demographic groups of users, especially in terms of gender and age, Doping in Sport and Fitness suggests alternative ways of approaching the issue and supports providers such as coaches and drug service professionals.

Performance Anxiety analyses the efforts of German elites, from 1890 to 1945, to raise the productivity and psychological performance of workers through the promotion of mass sports. Michael Hau reveals how politicians, sports officials, medical professionals, and business leaders, articulated a vision of a human economy that was coopted in 1933 by Nazi officials in order to promote competition in the workplace. Hau's original and startling study is the first to establish how Nazi leaders' discourse about sports and performance was used to support their claims that Germany was on its way to becoming a true meritocracy. Performance Anxiety is essential reading for political, social, and sports historians alike.

Filling a long-standing gap both in women's history and in the material history of class culture, this book is a unique and necessary reassessment of the social and cultural scene during the inter-war period in England. By combing over the everyday practices of working-class girls in 1920s and 30s England, including a sharp focus on Bermondsey south-east London and oral testimony from women who grew up in the period, Milcoy demonstrates the persistence and ingenuity with which these teenagers gained access to the commercial leisure culture of the day, from hairstyles and fashionable dress to films, music, and dances. She shows how this access had a startling ripple effect, transforming the way young women rehearsed and contested their identities so that play, rather than work, became the primary mechanism for defining subjectivity and constructing femininity. When the Girls Come Out to Play is a refreshing and nuanced take on the social and cultural history of England between the World Wars.

The global professionalisation of women's football has gathered momentum in the twenty first century, and professional women footballers are now more prevalent and evident in cultures around the world. Despite increased professionalisation and record-breaking viewing and participation figures for women's football, there are persistent challenges for women in the game. Professional football is now a viable career opportunity for women globally; however, as Women's Football in a Global, Professional Era demonstrates, there are pressing issues and unanswered questions that remain in the game. In this collection, a range of scholars contribute research covering three key areas as women's football shifts into a global, professional era: issues surrounding the historical development of professional women's football, documentation of the lived experiences of women in an emerging professional space and, finally, discussions around commercialisation and media coverage of the sport. Women's Football in a Global, Professional Era is an important addition to discussions on sport as work for women, and an essential reference point for students, researchers and sports professionals interested in the debates around the professionalisation of women's football internationally.

Michael Staack's multi-year ethnography is the first and only comprehensive social-scientific analysis of the combat sport 'Mixed Martial Arts'. Based on systematic training observations, the author meticulously analyses how Mixed Martial Arts practitioners conjointly create and immerse themselves into their own world of ultimate bodily combat. With his examination of concentrative technique demonstrations, cooperative technique train-ings, and chaotic sparring practices, Staack not only provides a sociological illumination of Mixed Martial Arts culture's defining theme - the quest of 'Fighting As Real As It Gets'. Rather further-more, he provides a compelling cultural-sociological case study on practical social constructions of 'authenticity'.

With complex stories and stunning visuals eliciting intense emotional responses, coupled with opportunities for self-expression and problem solving, video games are a powerful medium to foster empathy, critical thinking, and creativity in players. As these games grow in popularity, ambition, and technological prowess, they become a legitimate art form, shedding old attitudes and misconceptions along the way. Examining the Evolution of Gaming and Its Impact on Social, Cultural, and Political Perspectives asks whether videogames have the power to transform a player and his or her beliefs from a sociopolitical perspective. Unlike traditional forms of storytelling, videogames allow users to immerse themselves in new worlds, situations, and politics. This publication surveys the landscape of videogames and analyzes the emergent gaming that shifts the definition and cultural effects of videogames. This book is a valuable resource to game designers and developers, sociologists, students of gaming, and researchers in relevant fields.

This book explores the understanding, description, and measurement of the physical, sensory, social, and emotional features of motorcycle and bicycle journey experiences in tourism. Novel insights are presented from an original case study of these forms of tourism in the Sella Pass, a panoramic road close to the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage Site. A comprehensive mixed-methods strategy was employed for this research, with concurrent use of quantitative and qualitative methods including documentation and secondary data analysis, mobile video ethnography, and emotion measurement. The aim was to create a holistic knowledge of the features of journey experiences and a new definition of the mobility space as a perceptual space. The book is significant in that it is among the first studies to explore the concept of journey experiences and to develop an interdisciplinary theoretical foundation of mobility spaces. It offers a comprehensive understanding and a benchmarking of the features of motorcycling and cycling journey experiences, a deeper market knowledge on motorcycling and cycling tourists, and a set of tools, techniques, and recommendations for future research on tourist experiences.

The "Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games" is an authoritative and comprehensive account of the world s greatest sporting and cultural event. It tells the complete story of the 2012 Games from inception, through the successful bidding process and the planning and preparation phase, to delivery, the post-Games period and legacy. Written by a world-class team of international Olympic scholars, the book offers analysis of the full social, cultural, political, historical, economic and sporting context of the Games. From the political, commercial and structural complexities of organising an event on such a scale, to the sporting action that holds the attention of the world, this book illuminates every aspect of the 2012 Games, helping us to better understand the vital role that sport and culture play in contemporary global society.

The book is divided into two volumes. "Volume One: Making the Games, " examines the build-up to London 2012, covering key topics such as:

Richly illustrated with the personal accounts of key stakeholders, from sports administrators and politicians to athletes and spectators, and including essential data and evocative visual material, this book is essential reading for anybody with a personal or professional interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, global culture or the development of sport.

Do you ever wonder why athletes always seem to thank God, first and foremost, in post-game interviews? Or why they point to the heavens following a home run or a touchdown?

This book takes a look at the relationship between top athletes and religiosity (or spirituality) in a number of different ways. It aims to address the issues of when sport and religion began to merge, whether professional athletes are, in fact, more religious than the rest of the population, how a spiritual mindset might (or might not) benefit athletes, and why wearing the same underwear during a winning streak has anything to do with religious faith. These questions are confronted by looking at psychological and sociological studies, conducting original research, and examining exclusive interviews with professional athletes.

So what does a player like Jerry Stackhouse think of the culture of faith in the NBA? How does an agnostic athlete view the religiously themed celebrations in the NFL? Are top performers in other walks of life just as religious as top athletes? The results might surprise you.

Over the last forty years, running has grown from a niche sport for a handful of committed club athletes into one of the Western world's most popular pastimes. In Running, Identity and Meaning, Neil Baxter asks: What kinds of people have been drawn to running in such numbers? What do they seek from the sport? And what does running's popularity tell us about ourselves and the society we live in today? Delving into the great paradox of running: that despite its low cost of entry and inclusive ethos, the sport remains riven by inequalities, Baxter showcases how gender, class, age and ethnicity influence whether and how different groups participate in the sport, and explores its role in the reproduction of social structure and the search for distinction. By considering running simultaneously as a technique of self-cultivation, a social field in which forms of capital and status are at stake, and an important source of meaning and identity for millions of people across the world, this book equips readers to understand the many diverse links between the sport, society, and individual identities.

While the topic of relationships in professional sports teams is gaining greater attention from researchers and practitioners, the role that coach and athlete language plays in shaping these relationships remains largely unexplored. This book addresses this gap by examining how every day, authentic language patterns used by coaches, captains and players shape relationships in a professional New Zealand rugby team. More specifically, through a discourse analysis of taken-for-granted ritual language practices in training sessions, team meetings and match-day interactions, the chapters of this book illustrate how coaches, captains and players shape particular interpersonal dynamics of power and solidarity between themselves in and through language and, in the process, reflect and reconstruct shared and underlying ideologies about how relationships of power and solidarity work in their team. Offering an evidence-based discussion of the silent and pervasive ideologies that underpin how relationships work in professional sports teams, this book extends research on this important topic by providing largely missing illustrations of consequential interpersonal dynamics that actively shape professional relationships in sports teams. Written in an approachable style, this book offers linguists, social scientists and sports practitioners a frame of reference for greater understanding of how language directly shapes relationships of power and solidarity.

The racial makeup of sports in the United States serves as a classic example of racism in the 21st century. This book examines the racial disparities in sports and the continuing significance of race in 21st-century America, debunking the myth of a "postracial society." Sports can serve as an inspirational example of what can be achieved through hard work and perseverance, regardless of one's race. However, there is plenty of evidence that race still plays a major role in sports, and that sports are key agents of racial socialization. White Sports/Black Sports: Racial Disparities in Athletic Programs challenges the idea that America has moved beyond racial discrimination and identifies the obvious and subtle ways in which racial identities and athletic determinism affect non-white individuals in the world of sports. Author Lori Latrice Martin gives readers a keen awareness of the issues, allowing them to see the links between sports and society as a whole and to perceive that the issues surrounding racism in sports impact people in every realm of life and are not limited to the playing field. She discusses how the media acts as an agent of racial socialization in sports, documents how historical stereotypes of minorities still exist, and looks closely at racial socialization in sports, including basketball, baseball, and football, exposing how blacks remained under-represented in most sports, especially among front office administrators, owners, coaches, and managers. This work serves undergraduate and graduate students in the social sciences to enhance their understanding of minority and majority group relationships and appeals to general readers interested in the history of race and sports in America. Examines how race and sports are powerful social constructions Presents examples of how sports can serve as both a liberating and an oppressive force Explains how sports influence and are influenced by society and the ways in which institutional barriers and personal practices perpetuate racism in sports and in the society at large Documents how historic racial stereotypes, such as the "brute" and "sapphire" caricatures, are alive and well in the world of sports

Despite some enormous differences in pay among professional athletes, most aspects of their daily lives remain surprisingly constant across sports and income levels. Living out of Bounds provides answers to persistent questions about what it's really like to be an athlete and discusses the filtered image of the athlete that emerges through books and other media. Overman mines a wide array of sports biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, and diaries to construct a representative picture of the athlete's life from the rise of American sport in the late 19th century to the present day. In so doing, he reveals the person behind the sports celebrity, as he or she exists on a daily basis. Individual chapters cover such topics as college athletics, the pressure of celebrity, the difficulty of balancing sports and everyday life, sex and sexuality, race in sports, the obsession with the body, and the difficulties associated with retiring. In the course of the work, a portrait emerges that transcends the individual lives lived. The shared experiences of devoted training, of travel and hotels, and of tension within and beyond the clubhouse or gym, force us to appreciate the often oppressive reality of the sporting life, at the same time that the individual lives lived also provide us with a glimpse of the rewards that make sports so compelling to audiences and athletes across America.

This examiniation of America's national pastime explores the dichotomous relationship between race and merit in professional baseball. It critically evaluates the role that race and performance play in determining the extent to which the sport is representative of a culture that continues to harbor racist attitudes. The authors look specifically at several interrelated variables as they pertain to baseball and players salaries: (1) merit-performance statistics, (2) experience/qualifications-number of years of experience in the major leagues, (3) environment-metropolitan size/economic support, (4) race-various categories of race, and (5) salary requirements-salaries during earlier years of players' careers. Significantly, the authors find that, based upon the statistical evidence from the late 1980s and early 1990s, merit plays a greater role in salary determination in professional baseball than does the issue of race, despite the continuing charges in the press of racism underlying professional sports.

Remaking the Male Body looks at interwar physical culture as a set of popular practices and as a field of ideas. It takes as its central subject the imagined failure of French manhood that was mapped out in this realm by physical culturist 'experts', often physicians. Their diagnosis of intertwined crises in masculine virility and national vitality was surprisingly widely shared across popular and political culture. Theirs was a hygienist and sometimes overtly eugenicist conception of physical exercise and national strength that suggests the persistence of fin-de-siecle pre-occupations with biological degeneration and regeneration well beyond the First World War. Joan Tumblety traces these patterns of thinking about the male body across a seemingly disparate set of voices, all of whom argued that the physical training of men offered a salve to France's real and imagined woes. In interrogating a range of sources, from get-fit manuals and the popular press, to the mobilising campaigns of popular politics on left and right and official debates about physical education, Tumblety illustrates how the realm of male physical culture was presented as an instrument of social hygiene as well as an instrument of political struggle. In highlighting the purchase of these concerns in the interwar years, the book ultimately sheds light on the roots of Vichy's project for masculine renewal after the military defeat of 1940.

Is sport good for kids? When answering this question, both critics and advocates of youth sports tend to fixate on matters of health, whether condemning contact sports for their concussion risk or prescribing athletics as a cure for the childhood obesity epidemic. Child's Play presents a more nuanced examination of the issue, considering not only the physical impacts of youth athletics, but its psychological and social ramifications as well. The eleven original scholarly essays in this collection provide a probing look into how sports - in community athletic leagues, in schools, and even on television - play a major role in how young people view themselves, shape their identities, and imagine their place in society. Rather than focusing exclusively on self-proclaimed jocks, the book considers how the culture of sports affects a wide variety of children and young people, including those who opt out of athletics. Not only does Child's Play examine disparities across lines of race, class, and gender, it also offers detailed examinations of how various minority populations, from transgender youth to Muslim immigrant girls, have participated in youth sports. Taken together, these essays offer a wide range of approaches to understanding the sociology of youth sports, including data-driven analyses that examine national trends, as well as ethnographic research that gives a voice to individual kids. Child's Play thus presents a comprehensive and compelling analysis of how, for better and for worse, the culture of sports is integral to the development of young people - and with them, the future of our society.

AAA videogames often offer expansive experiences to the millions who engage with the medium, but they are vulnerable to disruption from neoliberal structures. The Corruption of Play explores how neoliberal ideology corrupts play in AAA videogames by creating conditions in which play becomes unbound from leisure, allowing play to be understood, undertaken, and assessed in economic terms, and fundamentally undermining the nature of play. Providing a cutting-edge and innovative approach to this problem, McMahon uses cognitive mapping to make neoliberalism visible in play-space, showcasing a new way of seeing and understanding how play is enabled and how the player forms an understanding of themselves by it. How does the player form their sense of self in the videogame? What level of agency does the player have? How are AAA videogames consumed and what is the extent of the corruption of play? Offering a timely level-up to the existing critical work on videogames, McMahon's revelations that play in AAA videogames does not often occur under ideal conditions due to the influence of neoliberal ideology are a captivating read for communication and media scholars interested in videogames. Understanding that play should be a core activity, and a natural barrier to market and economic logics, McMahon sets the scene for equipping us to understand how the process of neo liberalisation can be resisted.

Football has emerged as an important symbolic field through which various social, cultural, political, economic, and historical dimensions and antagonisms are negotiated. This volume covers a variety of themes illuminating the multiple ways that football impacts on people's everyday lives. Using anthropological research methods and data collected from ethnographic fieldwork, the contributors scrutinize not only the social fields of football fans and the specific socio-cultural contexts in which they are embedded, but also other actors beyond the pitch, and the possibilities for both agency and subversion. Taking into account processes of Europeanization, globalization, commercialization and migration, the collection offers fresh insights into fan identity formations and practices and highlights the importance of anthropology's self-reflexive and actor-centred perspective.

A chronological history of children's playtime over the last 200 years If you believe the experts, "child's play"; is serious business. From sociologists to psychologists and from anthropologists to social critics, writers have produced mountains of books about the meaning and importance of play. But what do we know about how children actually play, especially American children of the last two centuries? In this fascinating and enlightening book, Howard Chudacoff presents a history of children's play in the United States and ponders what it tells us about ourselves. Through expert investigation in primary sources-including dozens of children's diaries, hundreds of autobiographical recollections of adults, and a wealth of child-rearing manuals-along with wide-ranging reading of the work of educators, journalists, market researchers, and scholars-Chudacoff digs into the "underground" of play. He contrasts the activities that genuinely occupied children's time with what adults thought children should be doing. Filled with intriguing stories and revelatory insights, Children at Play provides a chronological history of play in the U.S. from the point of view of children themselves. Focusing on youngsters between the ages of about six and twelve, this is history "from the bottom up." It highlights the transformations of play that have occurred over the last 200 years, paying attention not only to the activities of the cultural elite but to those of working-class men and women, to slaves, and to Native Americans. In addition, the author considers the findings, observations, and theories of numerous social scientists along with those of fellow historians. Chudacoff concludes that children's ability to play independently has attenuated over time and that in our modern era this diminution has frequently had unfortunate consequences. By examining the activities of young people whom marketers today call "tweens," he provides fresh historical depth to current discussions about topics like childhood obesity, delinquency, learning disability, and the many ways that children spend their time when adults aren't looking.

This innovative new text examines sport's relationship with politics and argues that sport has always been political, even as far back as antiquity. However, in the last 30 years there has been an unprecedented politicization of sport through increasing government intervention. Jonathan Grix takes a comprehensive and engaging look at sport politics by examining state involvement in initiatives from sports mega-events through to grass-roots and community sport activities. Providing an accessible introduction to this growing area of study, the text examines a number of approaches to the topic - including theories from Political Science, Sociology and International Relations - and adopts a critical framework throughout. In doing so the text discusses the relationship between social capital and sport, how governments use sport for non-sporting objectives and the role of governance in sport policy. Real-world examples demonstrate just how entwined sport and politics are: from ardent soccer fans effectively 'locked-in' by ever-increasing ticket prices, to taxpayer's money funding ever more extravagant international sports mega-events, to the moral and political implications of doping.