What does the 'Asian' mean in Asian sport celebrity? With a collection of nine essays on Asian sport celebrities variously associated with Australia, Belgium, China, Japan, New Zealand, North Korea, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States, this book offers a comprehensive understanding of the multi-faceted construction of what it means to be Asian from the perspectives of race, ethnicity and regionality. Sport celebrity, as a modern invention, is disseminated from the West to the rest of the globe including Asia, and so are its functions of symbolizing particular values, desires and personalities idolized and idealized within their respective societies. While Asian athletes were historically depicted as weak, fragile and biologically 'unsuited' to modern sport, the emergence of more than a few world-class Asian athletes in the twenty-first century demands an in-depth inquiry into the relationship between sport celebrity and the representation of Asia. This book is therefore essential for those interested in a range of socio-cultural issues-including globalization, transnationalism, migration, modernity, (post-)coloniality, gender politics, spectacle, citizenship, Orientalism, and nationalism-within and beyond Asia. It was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

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.

The state of Israel is a home for a widely diverse population from many different ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds; a new society with ancient roots, which is still coalescing and developing today. Israeli sport, maybe more than any other cultural phenomenon, has changed radically since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Over the past six decades, Israeli sport has evolved from an amateur hobby of a few sports freaks, to a passion of the masses. The transformation to a major cultural phenomenon is the result of general developments in Israeli and international society. The aim of the book is to shed light on those processes that shaped the Israeli sport arena.

Following the steps of numerous research perspectives, that considers sports as "text" within a socio-historical context, this book deals with the development of Israeli sports in Palestine and, later, the State of Israel as a text (or a narrative) which was contingent on the socio-historical context.

In seeking to comprehend these processes, this book is divided into three parts. The Palestine period, the early stage of statehood, and the "matured" period which began in and around the early 1980s. Each period is narrated by the major participants and the major political-economical parameters which, as it is argued, shaped Israeli sport.

This book was published as a special issue of the Israeli Affairs.

Fathering is a highly contested concept in popular, media, academic and policy discourses, yet in the areas of family studies and men's studies the leisure component of family life is under-played. This book provides a long overdue and thorough investigation of the relationship between fatherhood, sport, and leisure. Fathering Through Sport and Leisure investigates what fathers actually do in the time they spend with their children. Leading researchers from the fields of sport, leisure and family studies examine the tensions men encounter as they endeavour to meet the new expectations of fatherhood, and the central role that sport and leisure play in overcoming this. Analyzed in relation to social trends and current policy debates, this unique collection examines fathering in a wide range of contexts including: parental expectation and youth sports fathers and daughters leisure time and couple time in dual earner families divorce, fatherhood and leisure. The book shows how contemporary fathers use sport and leisure to engage with their sons and daughters, achieve emotional closeness and fulfil their own expectations of what it means to be a 'good father'. Drawing on research carried out in the UK, Australia, Canada and the United States, this is a crucial text for anybody with an interest in leisure studies, family studies or fatherhood.

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.

Modern football is an industry and capitalism is its engine. However, this book argues for a more nuanced understanding of contemporary football culture and the (self-)identity of football fans. Drawing on original ethnographic research conducted with fans at all levels, from international to lower league, the book explores the tensions between fans as consumers and 'traditional' football cultures, arguing that modern football fans are able to negotiate the discourses of capitalism and tradition operating upon them to enact their own power and identity within football culture. Featuring case studies of Norwich City, MK Dons and Chelsea fans, this is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport and society or cultural studies.

Most sociological work on football fandom has focused on the experience of men, and it usually talks about alcohol, fighting and general hooliganism. This book shows that there are some unique facets of female experience and fascinating negotiations of identity within the male-dominated world of men's professional football.

Hoop Dreams on Wheels is a life-history study of wheelchair athletes associated with a premier collegiate wheelchair basketball program. The book, which grapples with the intersection of biography and history in society, situates the study in broader context with background on the history and sociology of disability and disability sports. It documents the development and evolution of the basketball program and tells the individual life stories of the athletes, highlighting the formative interpersonal and institutional experiences that influenced their agentive actions and that helped them achieve success in wheelchair sports. It also examines divisions within the disability community that reveal both empowering and disempowering aspects of competitive wheelchair athletics, and it explores some of the complexities and dilemmas of disability identity in contemporary society. The book is intended to be read by a general audience as well as by students in college courses on disability, sports, social problems, deviance, medical sociology and anthropology, and introductory sociology. It also will be of interest to scholars in the sociology of disability, sociology of sports, and medical humanities, as well as life-history researchers and professionals in the fields of physical education, therapeutic recreation, and rehabilitative counseling.

In the last decade lifestyle television has become one of the most dominant television genres, with certain shows now global brands with formats exploited by producers all over the world. What unites these programmes is their belief that the human subject has a flexible, malleable identity that can be changed within television-friendly frameworks. In contrast to the talk shows of the eighties and nineties where modest transformation was discussed as an ideal, advances in technology, combined with changing tastes and demands of viewers, have created an appetite for dramatic transformations. This volume presents case studies from across the lifestyle genre, considering a variety of themes but with a shared understanding of the self as an evolving project, driven by enterprise. Written by an international team of scholars, the collection will appeal to sociologists of culture and consumption, as well as to scholars of media studies and media production throughout the world.

Critical Race Theory provides a framework for exploring racism in society, taking into account the role of institutions and drawing on the experiences of those affected. Applied to the world of sport, this framework can reveal the underlying social mores and institutionalised prejudices that have helped perpetuate those racial stereotypes particular to sport, and those that permeate broader society. In this groundbreaking sociological investigation, Kevin Hylton takes on the controversial subject of racial attitudes in sport and beyond. With sport as his primary focus, Hylton unpacks the central concepts of 'race', ethnicity, social constructionism and racialisation, and helps the reader navigate the complicated issues and debates that surround the study of 'race' in sport. Containing rigorous and insightful analysis throughout, the book explores key topics such as: the origins, applications and terminology of Critical Race Theory the meaning of 'whiteness' the media, sport and racism anti-racism and sport genetics and scientific racism. The contested concepts that define the subject of 'race' in sport present a constant challenge for academics, policy makers and practitioners in the development of their ideas, policies and interventions. This innovative and challenging book is essential reading for anybody looking to fully understand this important subject.

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.

Playing with Videogames documents the richly productive, playful and social cultures of videogaming that support, surround and sustain this most important of digital media forms and yet which remain largely invisible within existing studies.

James Newman details the rich array of activities that surround game-playing, charting the vibrant and productive practices of the vast number of videogame players and the extensive 'shadow' economy of walkthroughs, FAQs, art, narratives, online discussion boards and fan games, as well as the cultures of cheating, copying and piracy that have emerged.

Playing with Videogames offers the reader a comprehensive understanding of the meanings of videogames and videogaming within the contemporary media environment.

Disability sport is a relatively recent phenomenon, yet it is also one that, particularly in the context of social inclusion, is attracting increasing political and academic interest. The purpose of this important new text - the first of its kind - is to introduce the reader to key concepts in disability and disability sport and to examine the complex relationships between modern sport, disability and other aspects of wider society. Drawing upon original data from interviews, surveys and policy documents, the book examines how disability sport has developed and is currently organised, and explores key themes, issues and concepts including: disability theory and policy the emergence and development of disability sport disability sport development in local authorities mainstreaming disability sport disability, physical education and school sport elite disability sport and the Paralympic Games disability sport and the media. Including chapter summaries, seminar questions and lists of key websites and further reading throughout, Sport, Disability and Society provides both an easy to follow introduction and a critical exploration of the key issues surrounding disability sport in the twenty-first century. This book is an invaluable resource for all students, researchers and professionals working in sport studies, disability studies, physical education, sociology and social policy. Nigel Thomas is Head of Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University, UK, where his research focuses on the history, mainstreaming, and media coverage of disability sport. He previously worked for ten years with young disabled people as a sports development officer in local authorities and national governing bodies. Andy Smith is Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport and Exercise at the University of Chester, UK. He is a co-editor of the International Journal of Sport Policy, and a co-author of Sport Policy and Development: A Sociological Introduction, and An Introduction to Drugs in Sport: Addicted to Winning? Both books are published by Routledge (2009).

Critical Race Theory provides a framework for exploring racism in society, taking into account the role of institutions and drawing on the experiences of those affected. Applied to the world of sport, this framework can reveal the underlying social mores and institutionalised prejudices that have helped perpetuate those racial stereotypes particular to sport, and those that permeate broader society. In this groundbreaking sociological investigation, Kevin Hylton takes on the controversial subject of racial attitudes in sport and beyond. With sport as his primary focus, Hylton unpacks the central concepts of 'race', ethnicity, social constructionism and racialisation, and helps the reader navigate the complicated issues and debates that surround the study of 'race' in sport. Containing rigorous and insightful analysis throughout, the book explores key topics such as: the origins, applications and terminology of Critical Race Theory the meaning of 'whiteness' the media, sport and racism anti-racism and sport genetics and scientific racism. The contested concepts that define the subject of 'race' in sport present a constant challenge for academics, policy makers and practitioners in the development of their ideas, policies and interventions. This innovative and challenging book is essential reading for anybody looking to fully understand this important subject.

Is the garden a consumption site where identities are constructed? Do gardeners make aesthetic choices according to how they are positioned by class and gender? This book presents the first scholarly analysis of the relationship between media interest in gardening and cultural identities. With an examination of aesthetic dispositions as a symbolic mode of communication closely aligned to peoples' identities and drawing on ethnographic data gathered from encounters with gardeners, this book maps a typology of gardening taste, revealing that gardening - how plants are chosen, planted and cared for - is a classed and gendered practice manifested in specific types of visual aesthetics. This timely and original book develops a new area within cultural studies while contributing to debates about lifestyle and lifestyle media, consumption, class and methodology. A must read for anybody concerned with or intrigued by the cultural construction of identification practices.

Drawing on a broad range of historical and sociological literature, this book traces the everyday gambling experiences of a diverse group of women. It provides fascinating and original insights into the pleasures afforded to women through their gambling participation and draws on a variety of feminist literature to understand women's motivations and experience of play, and to examine the ways in which women negotiate their right to gamble without reprimand. Since gambling tends to be framed within moral discourses of danger and excess, this book offers a defence of women's decisions to gamble against an often hostile backdrop. It rewrites claims that gambling is 'meaningless' and reckless spending, by pointing instead to the highly complex strategies that women who gamble employ. Importantly, it adds to contemporary feminist debates about women's leisure by showing how women seize control of their lives in order to carve out a time and space for the pursuit of pleasure.

Given its popularity, international football might be viewed as a prism through which the imagined community of the nation becomes closer to a manifest reality with matches providing examples of that community collectively rejoicing or crying. The sport potentially sheds insights on the complexities of ethnic and national identity, as it is a medium through which allegiances are (re)produced and expressed. Alongside the internationalisation of club teams, international representative teams also appear to be becoming more trans-national with players born outside that country, but with family connections to it, playing in the national colours. Increasing flexibility of regulations governing international representation means that countries can potentially select from a considerably broader pool of talent, drawing on players with ethnic or cultural connections to the country. For example, for a number of decades now, the Republic of Ireland team has included sizeable numbers of non-Irish born players, sons and grandsons of Irish emigrants. Similar tendencies are clear in the selection of English-born players of West Indian origin for football teams representing Caribbean countries. Colonial connections and related migration flows explain France's selection of players born in places such as Algeria or Morocco but brought up in France. The successful French teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s drew heavily on players from a multiplicity of ethnic and geographic origins. Conversely, many African countries select French-born players of African origin thereby reclaiming some of the sons of their extensive diasporas and a sizeable number of players born in Europe have competed in the Africa Cup of Nations in recent years. In this way, historical colonial relationships and associated migration flows provide the backdrop to the more eclectic nature of national representative teams. Elsewhere this amalgamation of both civic and ethnic senses of national identity, has allowed teams like Turkey and Croatia to tap into their extensive emigrant pool. This book focuses on one dimension of the intricate connections between football, place and politics. It investigates the switching of national sporting allegiance by some footballers from their country of birth to country of residency or family origins, examines the reasons behind the recent growth of the phenomenon, and explores reactions to this.

As a consequence of the rapid proliferation of commercial gambling in Western-style democracies, governments and communities are encountering a complex array of economic, social and cultural harms associated with this expansion. This book focuses specifically on harms to democratic systems. It examines how people with key roles in democratic structures are vulnerable to subtle influence from the burgeoning profits of gambling. It focuses particularly on the Western-style democracies of North America, Europe and Australasia. It argues that governments have a duty of care to protect their own democratic processes from subtle degradations and that independence from the gambling industries needs to be proactively built into public sector structures and processes. It outlines how a public health approach, harm minimisation strategies and international conventions can provide the base for protecting the integrity of democratic systems.

The Meaning of Video Games takes a textual studies approach to an increasingly important form of expression in today's culture. It begins by assuming that video games are meaningful-not just as sociological or economic or cultural evidence, but in their own right, as cultural expressions worthy of scholarly attention. In this way, this book makes a contribution to the study of video games, but it also aims to enrich textual studies. Early video game studies scholars were quick to point out that a game should never be reduced to merely its "story" or narrative content and they rightly insist on the importance of studying games as games. But here Steven E. Jones demonstrates that textual studies-which grows historically out of ancient questions of textual recension, multiple versions, production, reproduction, and reception-can fruitfully be applied to the study of video games. Citing specific examples such as Myst and Lost, Katamari Damacy, Halo, Facade, Nintendo's Wii, and Will Wright's Spore, the book explores the ways in which textual studies concepts-authorial intention, textual variability and performance, the paratext, publishing history and the social text-can shed light on video games as more than formal systems. It treats video games as cultural forms of expression that are received as they are played, out in the world, where their meanings get made.

No other national stereotype in the world is so closely tied with a sport, as Brazil is with football. The five-time world champions have constructed their national identity around this sport. Perhaps for this reason it's no wonder that there are many Brazilian social scientists doing research on this theme. The first part of this volume is dedicated to the history of Brazilian football. The main question is how did football become so popular in the country? It also looks at other interesting historical developments in Brazilian football history up to this day. The second part considers current phenomena, especially the place of Brazilian football in a globalized world: What are the consequences of an extremely commercialized and mediatized sport on a developing country? How does Brazil figure as the main supplying country of football talents? How does the population feel about seeing their players in Europe instead of their own country? Finally, the book will conclude with a critique of a documentary film about a Brazilian national team game in Haiti which was part of the Brazilian army's blue helmet mission. The game was used as a political instrument, revealing the importance of this sport in attaining a political position for Brazil in the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

Despite the importance of sport as a social, economic and political institution, research into sport and social capital has not been extensive. Sport and Social Capital is the first book to examine this increasingly high profile area in detail. It explores the ways in which sport contributes to the creation, development, maintenance and, in some cases, diminution of social capital. Written by an internationally renowned author team who are leading figures in this area of study, this engaging and far-reaching text brings leading research from around the world into one comprehensively edited volume.Themes covered in the book include: education, gender, policy, community, youth sport, diversity and many more. It is essential reading for sport management, sport development and sport sociology students around the globe and offers fascinating and invaluable insight to interested stakeholders from industry, community and government. This is a progressive text which is the first book to explore sport's increasingly important contribution to social capital. It is written by the top authors in this field and comprehensively edited into a unified volume. It analyses the importance of sport and its relationship to social capital within local, national and international communities.

This book examines the youth sport parent experience through the lens of social capital, a cornerstone social science concept of the past 30 years. Social capital reflects the value of one's social networks, and the actual and potential benefits - and costs - of relationships. Bringing together a team of kids for a season also brings together their families who all must negotiate this new social world. Within this world, relationships are bound to form, and these are the foundation upon which this project rests. Youth sport scholars have traditionally been interested in questions such as: how many kids play sports, what sports they play, how and why do they start playing and stop playing, and the costs and benefit of participation. However, aside from sensational examples of youth sport parents behaving badly, scholars know far less about the parental experience. This time is meaningful for parents, because parents often spend as much or even more time at the fields than their children. It is thus worth examining what they might get out of this investment. Utilizing two years of fieldwork and over 30 interviews with parents and board members of a youth baseball league in the southwestern United States, this book provides an inside look at the beneficial relationships that can be found in the bleachers of a kids' baseball game, as well as the unseen, high-stakes games waged in the boardroom, where relationships can carry heavy costs as well. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

This book is an innovative and compelling work that develops a modified moral panic model illustrated by the drugs in sport debate. Drawing on Max Weber's work on moral authority and legitimacy, McDermott argues that doping scandals create a crisis of legitimacy for sport governing bodies and other elite groups. This crisis leads to a moral panic, where the issue at stake for elite groups is perceptions of their organizational legitimacy. The book highlights the role of the media as a site where claims to legitimacy are made, and contested, contributing to the social construction of a moral panic. The book explores the way regulatory responses, in this case anti-doping policies in sport, reflect the interests of elite groups and the impact of those responses on individuals, or "folk devils." The War on Drugs in Sport makes a key contribution to moral panic theory by adapting Goode and Ben-Yehuda's moral panic model to capture the diversity of interests and complex relationships between elite groups. The difference between this book and others in the field is its application of a new theoretical perspective, supported by well-researched empirical evidence.

'Whannel is a foundational figure in the study of sports and the media. ...For 20 years his writing has set a high standard ...and it remains an inspiration to many' - Toby Miller, Professor of Cultural Studies, New York University, USA Garry Whannel's text Blowing the Whistle: The Politics of Sport broke new ground when it was first published in 1983. Its polemical discussion brought sports as cultural politics into the academic arena and set the agenda for a new wave of researchers. Since the 1980s sport studies has matured both as an academic discipline and as a focus for mainstream political and public policy debate. In Culture, Politics and Sport: Blowing the Whistle, Revisited, Garry Whannel revisits the themes that led his first edition, assessing their 1980s context from our new millennium perspective, and exploring their continued relevance for contemporary sports academics. This revisited volume will appeal to undergraduate students and researchers in sports and cultural studies. Garry Whannel is Professor of Media Cultures and Director of the Centre for International Media Analysis at the University of Bedfordshire. His previous books include Media Sports Stars: Masculinities and Moralities, Fields in Vision: Television Sport and Cultural Transformation, Understanding Sport (co-authored with John Horne and Alan Tomlinson) and Understanding Television (co-edited with Andrew Goodwin), all published by Routledge.

This book offers a new history of drug use in sport. It argues that the idea of taking drugs to enhance performance has not always been the crisis or 'evil' we now think it is. Instead, the late nineteenth century was a time of some experimentation and innovation largely unhindered by talk of cheating or health risks. By the interwar period, experiments had been modernised in the new laboratories of exercise physiologists. Still there was very little sense that this was contrary to the ethics or spirit of sport. Sports, drugs and science were closely linked for over half a century. The Second World War provided the impetus for both increased use of drugs and the emergence of an anti-doping response. By the end of the 1950s a new framework of ethics was being imposed on the drugs question that constructed doping in highly emotive terms as an 'evil'. Alongside this emerged the science and procedural bureaucracy of testing. The years up to 1976 laid the foundations for four decades of anti-doping. This book offers a detailed and critical understanding of who was involved, what they were trying to achieve, why they set about this task and the context in which they worked. By doing so, it reconsiders the classic dichotomy of 'good anti-doping' up against 'evil doping'. Winner of the 2007 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for the best book in British sports history.