1968 was a year of protest in civil society (Prague, Paris, Chicago) and a year of protest in sport. After a world-wide campaign, the anti-apartheid movement succeeded in barring South Africa from the Olympic Games, while US athletes from the Olympic Project for Human Rights used the medals podium to decry the racism of North America. Meanwhile, students in Mexico demonstrated against social priorities in Mexico, the host of the 1968 Games. These events contributed significantly to the rejection of the idea that sports are apolitical, and stimulated the scholarly study of sport across the social sciences.

Leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games, similar dynamics were played out across the globe, while a campaign was underway to boycott the ?Genocide Olympics?. The volume, To Remember is to Resist, came out of a three-day conference on sports, human rights and social change hosted by the University of Toronto forty years after Mexico and eighty days before the Beijing Opening Ceremony.

The contributions to this volume capture the memories of activists who were "on the ground" using sport as a site for the struggle for human rights and provide scholarly examinations of past and current human rights movements in sport.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

First Published in 1998. This is Volume VIII, of nine in the Sociology of Culture series and discusses how to approach the area of a sociology of music, looking at scope, definition, evaluation methods such as philosophical, idealist and aestheticism and then looking at socio-musical groups, their behaviours and functions.

In what sense can organized football fans be understood as political actors or participants in social movements? How do fan struggles link to wider social and political transformations? And what methodological dilemmas arise when researching fan activism? Fan Activism, Protest and Politics seeks ethnographic answers to these questions in a context - Zagreb, Croatia - shaped by the recent Yugoslav wars, nation-state building, post-socialist 'transition' and EU accession. Through in-depth ethnography following the everyday subcultural practices of a left-wing fan group, NK Zagreb's White Angels, alongside terrace observations and interviews conducted with members of GNK Dinamo's Bad Blue Boys, this book details fans' interactions with the police, club management, state authorities and other fan groups. Themes ranging from politics, socialization, masculinity, sexuality and violence to fan authenticity are examined. In moving between two groups, the book explores methodological issues of wider relevance to researchers using ethnographic methods. This is important reading for students and researchers alike in the fields of football studies, regional studies of the former Yugoslavia and post-socialism, political sociology and social movements, and studies of masculinity, gender and sexuality. A useful resource for scholars writing about social movements and protest, or post-socialist subcultural scenes in south-east Europe, the book is also a fascinating read for policymakers interested in better understanding the contemporary (geo)political situation in the region.

Gender equality is one of the founding democratic principles of the EU. However, recent studies of the Federation of Olympic Sports in Europe have shown that women occupy only fourteen percent of decision-making positions in sport organizations. This book presents a comprehensive and comparative study of how various regions and countries of Europe have addressed this lack of gender diversity, discussing which strategies have brought about change and to what extent these changes have been successful. With contributions from leading sport sociologists, covering countries such as Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the UK, it provides a foundation for future policymaking, methodological analyses and theoretical developments that can result in sustainable gender equality in European sport governance. Gender Diversity in European Sport Governance is important reading for scholars and students in the fields of sociology of sport, sport management, sociology, gender studies and studies of organization, management and leadership. It is also a valuable resource for policy makers in the EU, as well as national sport organizations and activists.

This edited book aims to capture the functioning of human rights and civil activism at the level of the relationships between the individual and the social, and in relation to abuses, contestations, and transformations. Chapters cover the ways human rights are denied, articulated, and not realised. Mega-events, either sporting or otherwise (e.g. Gay Pride), tend to be the focus of this inquiry, although there are important contributions on grassroots non-governmental organisations. Overall, a range of research methodologies are deployed; the chapters vary between using primary research, using commissioned research, and presenting theoretically grounded arguments. The tendency is towards approaches that capture the empirical, everyday experiences, e.g. ethnography, autoethnography, interviews, focus groups, and observation. This book was originally published as a special issue of Leisure Studies.

Pathways to Excessive Gambling draws upon extensive empirical research amongst young people and problem gamblers in Australia, comparing it with situations in other territories, to shed light on social, recreational gambling and the ways in which this can lead to excessive gambling. It highlights the relationship between the local community, sports clubs, governments, social recreation, economy and regulation of gambling venues, identifying the social indicators that typify situations which commonly lead to excessive gambling. By developing a 'society-based' perspective, this volume recognizes problem gambling as an issue for the whole society rather than just the individual, focusing on the availability of gambling and identifying its capacity, as a construct, to encourage or restrict the behaviour of the individual. As such, this book will be of significance to social scientists with interests in gambling, young people, social problems, and the sociology of leisure and culture.

Sounds of the Borderland is the first book-length study of how popular music became a medium for political communication and contested identification during and after Croatia's war of independence from Yugoslavia. It extends existing cultural studies literature on music, politics and the state, which has largely been grounded in Western European and North American political systems. It also responds to an emerging fascination with the culture and politics of contemporary south-east Europe, expanding scholarship on the post-Yugoslav conflicts by going on to encompass significant social and political changes into the present day. The outbreak of war in 1991 saw almost every professional musician in Croatia take part in a wave of patriotic music-making and the powerful state television system strive to bring popular music under its control. As the political imperative shifted from securing national survival to consolidating a homogenous nation-state, the music industry responded with several strategies for creating a national popular music, producing messages about the nation and, in the ongoing debates over the origins of the folk music that inspired many songs, a way to define the nation by expressing what Croatia was not. The war on ethnic ambiguity which cut through individuals' social and creative lives played out across the airwaves, sales racks and gossip columns of a small country that imagined itself a historical and cultural borderland. These explicit and implicit narratives of nationhood connect many political phases: the months of fiercest fighting, the stabilised front, the uneasy post-war years when the symbolic frontline region of eastern Slavonia had still not returned to Croatian sovereignty, the euphoria and instability after the end of the Tudjman regime in 2000, and Croatia's fraught journey towards the European Union. Baker's book provides valuable insight into the role of music in a wartime and post-conflict society and will be essential reading for researchers and students interested in south-east Europe or the transformation of entertainment during and after conflict.

Analyzing football as a cultural practice, this book investigates the connection between the sport and its built environment. Four thematic sections bring together an international multi-disciplinary range of perspectives with particular focus on the stadium.

Examples from architectural design, media studies and archaeology are used while studying advertising, economics, migration, fandom, local identities, emotions, gender, and the sociology of space. Texts and case-studies build up this useful book for lecturers and researchers in sociology, cultural studies, geography, architecture, sport and environment.

Examining the global experiences, challenges and achievements of Muslim women participating in physical activities and sport, this important new study makes a profound contribution to our understanding of both contemporary Islam and the complexity and diversity of women's lives in the modern world.

The book presents an overview of current research into constructs of gender, the role of religion and the importance of situation, and looks closely at what Islam has to say about women's participation in sport and what Muslim women themselves have to say about their participation in sport. It highlights the challenges and opportunities for women in sport in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, utilizing a series of extensive case-studies in various countries which invite the readers to conduct cross-cultural comparisons. Material on Iraq, Palestine and Bosnia and Herzegovina provides rare insights into the impact of war on sporting activities for women. The book also seeks to make important recommendations for improving access to sport for girls and women from Muslim communities.

Muslim Women and Sport confronts many deeply held stereotypes and crosses those commonly quoted boundaries between 'Islam and the West' and between 'East and West'. It makes fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the interrelationships between sport, religion, gender, culture and policy.

The Gay Games is an important piece of new social history, examining one of the largest sporting, cultural and human rights events in the world. Since their inception in 1980, the Gay Games have developed into a multi-million dollar mega-event, engaging people from all continents, while the international Gay Games movement has become one of the largest and most significant international institutions for gay and lesbian people. Drawing on detailed archival research, oral history and participant observation techniques, and informed by critical feminist theory and queer theory, this book offers the first comprehensive history of the Gay Games from 1980 through to the Chicago games of 2006. It explores the significance of the Games in the context of broader currents of gay and lesbian history, and addresses a wide range of key contemporary themes within sports studies, including the cultural politics of sport, the politics of difference and identity, and the rise of sporting mega-events. This book is important reading for any serious student of international sport or gender and sexuality studies.

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.

Identity is one of the most theorised and contested of all sociological concepts and sport is fertile ground for an examination of its complexities. This book offers a wide-ranging and up-to-date exploration of the sport-identity nexus, drawing examples from a variety of sporting contexts and geographical locations, and incorporating a diversity of perspectives including players, spectators, officials, the media and policy-makers. Covering key themes in the social scientific study of sport such as gender, ethnicity and national identity, it considers the impact of social, cultural and technological change on the formation of sporting identities. Including original real-life case studies, each chapter makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between sport and identity. As this relationship is embedded within the broader structures of power that frame social inequality, this book also poses important questions about the role of sport-related initiatives in our society today, as well as in years to come. Sport and Contested Identities: Contemporary Issues and Debates is fascinating reading for all students and scholars of the sociology of sport.

Serious Games provides a thorough exploration of the claim that playing games can provide learning that is deep, sustained and transferable to the real world. "Serious games" is defined herein as any form of interactive computer-based game software for one or multiple players to be used on any platform and that has been developed to provide more than entertainment to players. With this volume, the editors address the gap in exisiting scholarship on gaming, providing an academic overview on the mechanisms and effects of serious games. Contributors investigate the psychological mechanisms that take place not only during gaming, but also in game selection, persistent play, and gaming impact.

The work in this collection focuses on the desirable outcomes of digital game play. The editors distinguish between three possible effects -- learning, development, and change -- covering a broad range of serious games potential impact. Contributions from internationally recognized scholars focus on five objectives:

• Define the area of serious games
• Elaborate on the underlying theories that explain suggested psychological mechanisms elicited through serious game play, addressing cognitive, affective and social processes
• Summarize the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of serious games,
• Introduce innovative research methods as a response to methodological challenges imposed through interactive media
• Discuss the possibilities and limitations of selected applications for educational purposes.

Anchored primarily in social science research, the reader will be introduced to approaches that focus on the gaming process and the users experiences. Additional perspectives will be provided in the concluding chapters, written from non-social science approaches by experts in academic game design and representatives of the gaming industry. The editors acknowledge the necessity for a broader interdisciplinary study of the phenomena and work to overcome the methodological divide in games research to look ahead to a more integrated and interdisciplinary study of digital games.

This timely and singular volume will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students working in media entertainment and game studies in the areas of education, media, communication, and psychology.

Serious Games provides a thorough exploration of the claim that playing games can provide learning that is deep, sustained and transferable to the real world. "Serious games" is defined herein as any form of interactive computer-based game software for one or multiple players to be used on any platform and that has been developed to provide more than entertainment to players. With this volume, the editors address the gap in exisiting scholarship on gaming, providing an academic overview on the mechanisms and effects of serious games. Contributors investigate the psychological mechanisms that take place not only during gaming, but also in game selection, persistent play, and gaming impact.

The work in this collection focuses on the desirable outcomes of digital game play. The editors distinguish between three possible effects -- learning, development, and change -- covering a broad range of serious games potential impact. Contributions from internationally recognized scholars focus on five objectives:

• Define the area of serious games
• Elaborate on the underlying theories that explain suggested psychological mechanisms elicited through serious game play, addressing cognitive, affective and social processes
• Summarize the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of serious games,
• Introduce innovative research methods as a response to methodological challenges imposed through interactive media
• Discuss the possibilities and limitations of selected applications for educational purposes.

Anchored primarily in social science research, the reader will be introduced to approaches that focus on the gaming process and the users experiences. Additional perspectives will be provided in the concluding chapters, written from non-social science approaches by experts in academic game design and representatives of the gaming industry. The editors acknowledge the necessity for a broader interdisciplinary study of the phenomena and work to overcome the methodological divide in games research to look ahead to a more integrated and interdisciplinary study of digital games.

This timely and singular volume will appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students working in media entertainment and game studies in the areas of education, media, communication, and psychology.

This groundbreaking work explores masculinity and the body within sports. Sports continue to retain expectations for presentations of specific forms of masculinity. The body is central to these presentations. These everyday bodily performances are rehearsed and performed either successfully or unsuccessfully - and the consequences of these actions play a significant part in the ability of the individual to continue to take part. Through participant observations, sporting life-history interviews (with over forty men) and research with children, this book examines the ways in which 'appropriate' sporting masculinities are learned and enacted to varying degrees of success. Wellard highlights the social processes which impact upon individual constructions and formulations of masculine identity and reviews these in relation to broader debates on gender, embodiment and sporting participation. This book contributes not only to the academic fields of sport and gender, but also to the efforts to confront continued forms of 'accepted' gender discrimination.

Despite the fact that there are around 1.2 million powered two wheelers (PTWs) within the United Kingdom, riders are often misconceived as living at the edge of society; however, this is often far from the truth. Riding a PTW is a high-risk activity and those who ride are often perceived as being 'risk junkies', but through an in-depth exploration of this leisure activity, Motorcycling and Leisure explains that riders ride because they enjoy it and do not necessarily enjoy the risk involved. The book presents a range of contemporary research on riders and how they find enjoyment. The book further explores the rider goal of enjoyment and utilises Fuller's task homeostasis theory along with Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow to develop an understanding of the interaction between risk and goals. In conclusion it develops principles of interventions with the aim of guiding intervention design and reducing the number of motorcycle crashes.

Despite the popularity of sport in contemporary China, the practice of physical education is not indigenous to its culture. Strenuous physical activity was traditionally linked to low class and status in the pre-modern Chinese society. The concept of modern PE was introduced to China by Western Christian missionaries and directors of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). It then grew from a tool for Christian evangelism to a strategic instrument in Chinese nation-building. This book examines the transformation of Chinese attitudes toward PE and sport, drawing on the concepts of cultural imperialism and nationalism to understand how an imported Western activity became a key aspect of modernization for the Chinese state. More specifically, it looks at the relationship between Christianity and the rise of Chinese nationalism between 1840 and 1937. Combining historical insight with original research, this book sheds new light on the evolution of PE and sport in modern China. It is fascinating reading for all those with an interest in sports history, Chinese culture and society, Christianity, physical education or the sociology of sport.

It is increasingly acknowledged that an analysis of emotions is necessary to fully understand the social world, and recent research on transport, travel and mobilities has begun to consider the gendered nature of public and personal life in relation to this sphere. A The focus of this multidisciplinary and auto/biographical volume is the emotional relationship that individuals and groups have with different means of travel. Attention is given to a variety of travel experiences, including travelling in trains, planes, cars, buses and ships, as well as biking, cycling, running and walking, from the perspective of travellers and those who earn their living in assisting these experiences of others. Imaginary travel and the relationships between art and travel are also considered. A Adopting innovative approaches to experiential material ranging from personal memories to empirical research, Gendered Journeys, Mobile Emotions opens up and illuminates an interdisciplinary debate about the gendered, emotive and emotional nature of travelling.

Overuse of the internet is often characterized as problematic, disruptive, or addictive, with stories frequently claiming that online use interferes with relationships, or that 'excessive' time in front of computer screens is unhealthy. The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction contests the claim that computers - specifically Internet use - are addictive, arguing that use of the Internet is now a form of everyday leisure engaged in by many people in Western society. Offering an analysis of the nature of addiction alongside a detailed empirical study of home computer use, this book will be of interest not only to sociologists of culture and popular culture, but also to scholars of media, ICT and education.

First published in 1983. In the 1980s, as they are today, young people were remaining longer in education, and were leaving better qualified, if only to face unemployment rather than real jobs and progressive careers. Traditional gender divisions and roles are being challenged. In this study, Kenneth Roberts uses evidence from youth and leisure research to examine the ways that young people were responding to these trends. His book combines theories of adolescence, of the role and growth of leisure, and of the sources and consequences of post-war youth cultures. Roberts stresses and explains the persistence of class and gender divisions through trends in clothing, music and hair artistry, and predicts that these patterns will survive changes. He explains why, even during the era of affluent young workers, the freedom of adolescence remained superficial, for most young people at least. The majority had never been granted any real alternative to using their 'free' time and money to embrace traditional class and gender roles. Contrary to popular reputations, Youth and Leisure argues that, on balance, youth cultures exercised a conservative influence and that the more radical styles are nurtured by middle- and not working-class youths. The analysis has policy implications which are drawn together in the final chapter. Practitioners are advised to recognise that youth and leisure services cannot override divisions and tastes grounded in the wider social structure, but this does not mean that these interventions must be ineffective. Roberts explains how leisure education and provision can modify broader patterns and enable all young people to explore the leisure opportunities their circumstances allow.

First published in 1988. This book provides a lucid and exceptionally well-informed account at the controversial relationship between politics and leisure. The author combines historical and sociological material to show the ways in which 'leisure' has often been a fiercely disputed battleground. Free time and free space have always posed a threat to political authorities, while providing room for experimentation and expression for the citizenry. This has led to extensive attempts at leisure regulation; John Wilson examines the purposes and effectiveness of such regulation in the fields of games sexuality, the mass media, and gambling. He is able to draw on evidence of leisure planning and policy from a wide variety of political regimes, from communist and socialist through social democrat to liberal, conservative, and fascist. The importance of the relationship between political forces and leisure, in subjects as disparate as the future of the Olympic games and the future of full employment, has rarely been so evident. John Wilson has provided an excellent guide to its intricacies.

First published in 1989. In the climate of long-term unemployment, early retirement, and technology that is seen to threaten jobs, 'leisure' has been presented as the solution to a multitude of social problems. The essays in this collection represent the most important arguments on the problems, myths, and misunderstandings of leisure. Arguing from a range of positions, some sceptical, others more idealistic, they look at the complexities of this field and the social and political problems that surround it. No single argument dominates. What emerges is a live-wire debate on class and gender, employment and economic status, age and education, which brings the discussion of leisure controversially up to date. The book, based on papers presented to conferences of the Leisure Studies Association, divides into sections on leisure and social change, the relationship between leisure and social structures, and the tension between leisure and employment. It takes a critical look at leisure in Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the USA, and at the paradoxes that will determine its future. Whilst refusing to see leisure as a synonym for social progress and liberalization, it argues that the quality of leisure reflects the quality of society itself.

Over recent decades, bicycling has received renewed interest as a means of improving transportation through crowded cities, improving personal health, and reducing environmental impacts associated with travel. Much of the discussion surrounding cycling has focused on bicycle facility design-how to best repurpose road infrastructure to accommodate bicycling. While part of the discussion has touched on culture, such as how to make bicycling a larger part of daily life, city design and planning have been sorely missing from consideration. Whilst interdisciplinary in its scope, this book takes a primarily planning approach to examining active transportation, and especially bicycling, in urban areas. The volume examines the land use aspects of the city-not just the streetscape. Illustrated using a range of case studies from the USA, Canada, and Australia, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of key topics of concern around cycling in the city including: imagining the future of bicycle-friendly cities; integrating bicycling into urban planning and design; the effects of bike use on health and environment; policies for developing bicycle infrastructure and programs; best practices in bicycle facility design and implementation; advances in technology, and economic contributions.

How is it that Americans are more obsessed with exercise than ever, and yet also unhealthier? Fit Nation explains how we got here and imagines how we might create a more inclusive, stronger future. If a shared American creed still exists, it's a belief that exercise is integral to a life well lived. A century ago, working out was the activity of a strange subculture, but today, it's almost impossible to avoid exhortations to exercise: Walk 5K to cure cancer! Awaken your inner sex kitten at pole-dancing class! Sweat like (or even with) a celebrity in spin class! Exercise is everywhere. Yet the United States is hardly a "fit nation." Only 20 percent of Americans work out consistently, over half of gym members don't even use the facilities they pay for, and fewer than 30 percent of high school students get an hour of exercise a day. So how did fitness become both inescapable and inaccessible? Spanning more than a century of American history, Fit Nation answers these questions and more through original interviews, archival research, and a rich cultural narrative. As a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is uniquely qualified to confront the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape. She explores the work of working out not just as consumers have experienced it, but as it was created by performers, physical educators, trainers, instructors, and many others. For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core, making it truly inclusive for all bodies in a way it has never been. Examining venues from the stage of the World's Fair and Muscle Beach to fat farms, feminist health clinics, radical and evangelical college campuses, yoga retreats, gleaming health clubs, school gymnasiums, and many more, Fit Nation is a revealing history that shows fitness to be not just a matter of physical health but of what it means to be an American.

The cultural ubiquity, political prominence and economic significance of contemporary sport present fertile terrain for its critical socio-cultural analysis. From corporate and media dominated mega-events like the Olympic Games, to state programmes for nation-building and health promotion, to the cultural politics of "race", gender, sexuality, age and disability, sport is so profoundly marked by relations of power that it lends itself to critique and deconstruction. Marxism, Cultural Studies and Sport brings together leading experts on sport to address these issues and to reflect on the continued appeal of sport to people across the globe, as well as on the forms of inequality that sport both produces and highlights. Including a Foreword by Harry Cleaver and Afterword by Michael Berube, this book assesses the impact of this work on the fields of 'mainstream' Marxism and cultural studies. Marxism, Cultural Studies and Sport is centred on three vital questions: Is Marxism still relevant for understanding sport in the twenty-first century? Has Marxism been preserved or transcended by cultural studies? What is the relationship between theory and intervention in the politics of sport? The result is a unique and diverse examination of modern sports culture. The first book published on the relationship between sport and Marxism for over twenty years, Marxism, Cultural Studies and Sport is an invaluable resource for students of sport sociology, Marxism, and cultural studies at all levels.