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.

Occupational devotion, as defined by Robert A. Stebbins, is a strong and positive attachment to a form of self-enhancing work, where the sense of achievement is high and the core activity, or set of tasks, is endowed with such intense appeal that the line between work and leisure is virtually erased. This volume examines conditions that attract people to their work in this profound way, and the many exceptional values and intrinsic rewards they realize there.

The author sets out by discussing people who are devoted to their occupations, and describes the kinds of occupations in which such people are found, the nature of their commitment to their work, and the kind of values they strive to realize through work. Stebbins frames occupational devotion in four broad social contexts--history, religion, work, and leisure--then considers the further subdivisions of gender, social class, and social character.

The heart of the book uses research findings on leisure to develop a powerful critique of the "workaholic" model. Stebbins shows instead that deeply felt worker enthusiasm is devoid of addictive or coerced behavior. Stebbins also explores the role of money. How important is it? What happens when money becomes a major if not dominant value, as has happened, for example, in the realm of professional sports? Finally, he examines the social implications of the compatibility of work and serious leisure, using exploratory research to identify their shared motivational factors.

Between Work and Leisure aims to debunk the prevailing myth that work and leisure are wholly separate and, often as not, mutually antagonistic spheres of life. Stebbins shows that a close relationship between leisure and work offers the opportunity for people to find joy in work just as they do in leisure. This volume will be of interest to those interested in work and occupations, as well as those interested in the quality of their own lives.

The relationship between sport, medicine and health in our society is becoming increasingly complex. This important and timely study explores this relationship through an analysis of changing political economies, altered perceptions of the body and science's developing contribution to the human condition. Surveying the various ways in which medicine interacts with the world of sport, it examines the changing practices and purposes of sports medicine today. Drawing on the latest research in the sociology of sport, this book investigates the scientific discourse underlying the promotion of physical activity to reveal the political context in which medical knowledge and public policies emerge. It considers the incongruities between these policies and their attempts to regulate the supply of and demand for sports medicine. Through a series of original case studies, this book exposes the social construction of sports medical knowledge and questions the potential for medicine to influence athletes' well-being both positively and negatively. Sport, Medicine and Health: The medicalization of sport? provides valuable insights for all students and scholars interested in sports medicine, sports policy, public health and the sociology of sport.

Contents:
1. Race and Class in Manhattan and Harlem History
2. Locating Class and Race in Anthropology and History
3. Professionals, Entrepreneurs and Artists: Harlem's African American Professional-Managerial Workers
4. Work and its Impact on Income and Housing
5. Lifestyle, Consumption and Ideology
6. Negotiating Socioeconomic Boundaries in Kin Networks
7. Negotiating Socioeconomic Boundaries in Community Life
8. Conclusion: Race, Class, History and Identity

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415261554

We live in a culture in which sports play an important role. The growth in broadcasting, merchandising, iconography and the commercialization of sports has led to an increasing interest in the emerging field of sports culture.
This book examines individual issues, people, artefacts, events and organizations in their historical, social and cultural contexts. Coverage is wide-ranging with more than 170 entries including:
aggression
Bosman Case
corruption
drugs
eating disorders
Fever Pitch
Field of Dreams
Michael Jordan
Don King
left-handedness
nationalism
paternity
racism
Raging Bull
rivalries
tobacco
The book also includes suggestions for further reading to help with further study, and a comprehensive index.

'Sport' and 'religion' are cultural institutions with a global reach. Each is characterised by ritualised performance and by the ecstatic devotion of its followers, whether in the sports arena or the cathedral of worship. This fascinating collection is the first to examine, in detail, the relationship between these two cultural institutions from an international, religiously pluralistic perspective. It illuminates the role of sport and religion in the social formation of collective groups, and explores how sport might operate in the service of a religious community.
The book offers a series of cutting-edge contemporary historical case-studies, wide-ranging in their geographical coverage and in their social and religious contexts. It presents important new work on the following fascinating topics: * sport and Catholicism in Northern Ireland
* Shinto and sumo in Japan
* women, sport and the American Jewish identity
* religion, race and rugby in South Africa
* sport and Islam in France and North Africa
* sport and Christian fundamentalism in the US
* Muhammad Ali and the Nation of Islam.
With God on their Side is vital reading for all students of the history, sociology and culture of sport. It also presents important new research material that will be of interest to religious studies students, historians and anthropologists.

'Sport' and 'religion' are cultural institutions with a global reach. Each is characterised by ritualised performance and by the ecstatic devotion of its followers, whether in the sports arena or the cathedral of worship. This fascinating collection is the first to examine, in detail, the relationship between these two cultural institutions from an international, religiously pluralistic perspective. It illuminates the role of sport and religion in the social formation of collective groups, and explores how sport might operate in the service of a religious community.
The book offers a series of cutting-edge contemporary historical case-studies, wide-ranging in their social and religious contexts. It presents important new work on the following fascinating topics:
* sport and Catholicism in Northern Ireland
* Shinto and sumo in Japan
* women, sport and the American Jewish identity
* religion, race and rugby in South Africa
* sport and Islam in France and North Africa
* sport and Christian fundamentalism in the US
* Muhammad Ali and the Nation of Islam.
With God on their Side is vital reading for all students of the history, sociology and culture of sport. It also presents important new research material that will be of interest to religious studies students, historians and anthropologists.

In times when the social sciences have become increasingly fragmented and more focused on 'the pieces of the puzzle', the puzzle, as a topic in its own right, has slowly been moved towards the background. Nonetheless, as humanity becomes ever more globalized, there is a greater need for in-depth discussion on the theory behind the direction of humanity in history and the interrelationships between the different areas in which humans associate, including that of leisure and sport. At its heart, Norbert Elias and the Analysis of History and Sport explains both the course of history and how the roles that leisure and sport have occupied in it should be investigated. Exploring this from Norbert Elias' figurational (or process sociological) standpoint, the book offers a unique perspective as Van Gestel approaches the theoretical concepts and ideas by systematizing the views of the iconic scholar and offers new insights into his central theory. Furthermore, drawing upon theoretical principles that are universal to humans rather than relative to a case study, Van Gestel offers an applicable guideline which explains phenomena beyond specific cultures or circumstances that have so far been a customary practice by process sociologists. Norbert Elias and the Analysis of History and Sport is a valuable title which will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars interested in fields such as social studies, leisure and sport studies, and history.

It is beyond dispute that physical activity is good for us, but what are the benefits, challenges and impacts of sport on health? This is the first book to focus on football in the context of health from individual, public and population-level perspectives. Football as Medicine examines the effects of football training on the three main types of fitness (cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal) and on specific target populations (for example, children, type 2 diabetes patients, cancer patients, people with mental health conditions, the socially deprived and older people). It discusses the significance of football for public health and assesses the efficacy of football interventions by clubs and community sport development programs. With its multi-disciplinary approach, this is a valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners working in physical activity and health, public health, health promotion and medicine, as well as football and sport business management, sport and exercise science, and the sociology of sport.

The emerging field of body ecology offers fresh insights into how the body engages with its surrounding environment through consciousness, perception, knowledge and emotion. In this groundbreaking collection, leading scholars of sport, leisure and philosophy draw on research on topics as diverse as surfing, freediving, slacklining, parkour, bodybuilding, dance and circus arts to flesh out the concept of body ecology and its potential for helping us understand our connection with the world around us. Touching on theories of subjectivity, embodiment, pleasure and play, this book explores different approaches to studying body ecology as a way of conceptualising the experience of being immersed in nature, in the elements and in one's own body through the power of awareness. An experience becomes emersive when it involves the production of new emotions in the body: emersion is the activation of what is living within the body itself. Shedding new light on the possibilities of physical cultural studies, Body Ecology and Emersive Leisure is fascinating reading for all students and scholars with an interest in sport, leisure, philosophy and the body.

Sport sociology has a responsibility to engage critically with the accepted wisdom of those who govern and promote sport. This challenging collection of international research is a clear call for enacting the transformation of sport. The contributing authors argue that it is not enough to merely advocate for change. Rather, they insist that scholars need to take an active political stance when conducting research with the explicit purpose of attempting to transform the practices, structures, and the ways in which knowledge is produced about sport. By exposing and challenging the power relations which perpetuate discrimination and inequality within sport, it becomes possible to catalyse wider societal changes. Drawing on a diversity of topics including sport for development and peace, transnational feminism, disability sport, refugees and football activism, FIFA, the Olympics, sports journalism and digital sports media, this book makes a case for sport sociology as an agent of positive change in the hierarchies and institutional structures of contemporary sport. Transforming Sport: Knowledges, Practices, Structures provides valuable insights for all students and scholars interested in the sociology of sport and its transformative potential.

Soccer has long been known as 'the beautiful game'. This multi-disciplinary volume explores soccer, soccer culture, and the representation of soccer in art, film, and literature, using the critical tools of aesthetics, poetics, and rhetoric. Including international contributions from scholars of philosophy, literary and cultural studies, linguistics, art history, and the creative arts, this book begins by investigating the relationship between beauty and soccer and asks what criteria should be used to judge the sport's aesthetic value. Covering topics as diverse as humor, national identity, style, celebrity, and social media, its chapters examine the nature of fandom, the role of language, and the significance of soccer in contemporary popular culture. It also discusses what one might call the 'stylistics' of soccer, analyzing how players, fans, and commentators communicate on and off the pitch, in the press, on social media, and in wider public discourse. The Aesthetics, Poetics, and Rhetoric of Soccer makes for fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, culture, literature, philosophy, linguistics, and society.

Sex, gender and sexuality have played an important role in shaping the culture of surfing and are central themes in the study of sport and movement cultures. Rooted in a rich precolonial history, surfing has undergone a modern transformation shaped by visual culture, commodification, sportization, mediatization and globalization, arguably all linked to sex, gender and sexuality. Using the physical culture of surfing as its focus, this international collection discusses the complex relationships between surfing, sex/es, gender/s and sexuality/ies. This book crosses new theoretical, empirical and methodological boundaries by exploring themes and issues such as indigenous histories, exploitation, the marginalized, race, ethnicity, disability, counter cultures, transgressions and queering. Offering original insights into surfing's symbolism, postcolonialism, patriocolonial whiteness and heteronormativity, its chapters are connected by a collective aspiration to document sex/es, gender/s and sexuality/ies as they are shaped by surfing and, importantly, as they re-shape the many, possibly previously unknown, worlds of surfing. Surfing, Sex, Genders and Sexualities is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport or gender and sexuality studies.

The importance of political boundaries in the development, function and flow of tourism cannot be overemphasized. In light of today's political transformations and processes of globalization, this book provides a systematic examination of the relationships between boundaries and tourism, and offers a basis upon which tourism can be better managed and researched in a geo-political context.

eBook available with sample pages: 020321448X

This book provides new insights into contemporary betting shops, with a particular focus on the manner in which losing bets are dealt with by customers. Drawing on research undertaken in Ireland, it demonstrates that customers tend to shift responsibility for monetary losses onto factors external to themselves as part of a collective process engaged in to restore self-esteem, and considers the role played by announcements made in betting shops in creating an atmosphere of inclusion - and the implications of this for 'problem gambling'. Through an analysis of newspaper representations of the first legally operating betting shops in Ireland, which opened in the 1920s, the author places the contemporary betting shop in historical context and examines trends in gambling across the British Isles with reference to social class and the security or precarity of work. An interactionist study not only of gambling but also of responsibility and the connection between the micro-world and social structures, this volume will appeal to sociologists with interests in symbolic interactionism and strategies of blame.

The phrase "martial arts studies" is increasingly circulating as a term to describe a new field of interest. But many academic fields including history, philosophy, anthropology, and Area studies already engage with martial arts in their own particular way. Therefore, is there really such a thing as a unique field of martial arts studies? Martial Arts Studies is the first book to engage directly with these questions. It assesses the multiplicity and heterogeneity of possible approaches to martial arts studies, exploring orientations and limitations of existing approaches. It makes a case for constructing the field of martial arts studies in terms of key coordinates from post-structuralism, cultural studies, media studies, and post-colonialism. By using these anti-disciplinary approaches to disrupt the approaches of other disciplines, Martial Arts Studies proposes a field that both emerges out of and differs from its many disciplinary locations.

Race Against ... Against Race: My Journey of Diversity and Inclusion through Sports is Bo-Dean Sanders' memoir about transcending stereotypes through sports culture and the positive impact multiculturalism had on his personal relationships in college. Race Against ... Against Race is the story of one young man's dream of playing college football and the social development that unfolded as he tried to fit in on a predominantly white campus. He slowly integrates into his new environment by staying positive, being himself and focusing on shared experiences with his teammates and classmates. Within Race Against ... Against Race, Bo-Dean paints a picture of a student athletes' campus life in the '80s and aims to examine the issues of race through his participation in college sports. Throughout his time as a student athlete, he discovers that he and his teammates learn from each other on and off the field by having the race conversation to develop and grow their relationships based on the foundation of sports, mutual respect, and acceptance.

The theme of this important book is the influence of leisure and tourism on the production, representation and consumption of landscape. Increasingly significant as mediators of spatial identity and meaning, leisure, tourism, culture and heritage are only now beginning to be located within the rapidly evolving discourses of poststructuralist geographies.
The first half of the book focuses on different "ways of seeing" or representing landscape. The second half of the book examines different forms of productive consumption in leisure and tourism. Both symbolic and material spaces of leisure and tourism are examined in relation to urban and rural landscapes, heritage landscapes, gendered landscapes and landscapes of sexuality and desire

Sport has been a component of African cultural life for several hundred years. In today's globalized world, Africans and Africa have become a vital part of the international sporting landscape. This is the first book to attempt to survey the historical, contemporary and geographical breadth of that landscape, drawing on multidisciplinary scholarship from around the world. To gain an understanding of sport in Africa and its contributions to the global sports world, one must first consider the ways in which sport itself is a terrain of conflict and represents another symbolic territory to conquer. Addressing key themes such as colonialism, globalization, migration, apartheid, politics and international relations, sports media and broadcasting, ethnobranding, sports tourism and the African diaspora in Europe and the United States, this collection of original scholarship offers a significant contribution to this burgeoning field of research. Sport in the African World is fascinating reading for all students and scholars with an interest in sport studies, sport history, African history or African culture.

This edited collection expands scholarly and popular conversations about dark tourism in the American West. The phenomenon of dark tourism-traveling to sites of death, suffering, and disaster for entertainment or educational purposes-has been described and, on occasion, criticized for transforming misfortune and catastrophe into commodity. The impulse, however, continues, particularly in the American West: a liminal and contested space that resonates with stories of tragedy, violent conflict, and disaster. Contributions here specifically examine the mediation and shaping of these spaces into touristic destinations. The essays examine Western sites of massacre and battle (such as Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and the "Waco Siege"), sites of imprisonment (such as Japanese-American internment camps and Alcatraz Island), areas devastated by ecological disaster (such as Martin's Cove and the Salton Sea), and unmediated sites (those sites left to the touristic imagination, with no interpretation of what occurred there, such as the Bennet-Arcane camp).

Scotland has a parliament for the first time in almost 300 years, and this book is an account of how this came about. The authors trace the origins and history of the demand for home rule in Scotland, focusing particularly on developments following the failure of the first referendum on the issue in 1979, which culminated in a second referendum in September 1997.
This major political event attracted national and international interest, and its decisive result was a milestone in Scottish history. This work presents an analysis of the referendum campaign at both national and local levels, including media coverage of the event and the outcome. The reactions of voters are explored on the basis of a large survey of the electorate, and lessons to be learnt about referendums in the UK and elsewhere are discussed.

Scotland has a parliament for the first time in almost 300 years, and this book is an account of how this came about. The authors trace the origins and history of the demand for home rule in Scotland, focusing particularly on developments following the failure of the first referendum on the issue in 1979, which culminated in a second referendum in September 1997.
This major political event attracted national and international interest, and its decisive result was a milestone in Scottish history. This work presents an analysis of the referendum campaign at both national and local levels, including media coverage of the event and the outcome. The reactions of voters are explored on the basis of a large survey of the electorate, and lessons to be learnt about referendums in the UK and elsewhere are discussed.

We live in a culture in which sports play an important role. The growth in broadcasting, merchandising, iconography and the commercialization of sports has led to an increasing interest in the emerging field of sports culture.
This book examines individual issues, people, artefacts, events and organizations in their historical, social and cultural contexts. Coverage is wide-ranging with more than 170 entries, - including aggression, Bosman Case, corruption, drugs, eating disorders, Fever Pitch, Field of Dreams, Michael Jordan, Don King, left-handedness, nationalism, paternity, racism, Raging Bull, rivalries, tobacco. The book also includes suggestions for further reading to help with further study, and a comprehensive index.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203464397

Iceland is a tiny Nordic nation with a population of just 330,000 and no professional sports leagues, and yet its soccer, basketball and handball teams have all qualified for major international tournaments in recent years. This fascinating study argues that team sport success is culturally produced and that in order to understand collective achievement we have to consider the socio-cultural context. Based on unparalleled access to key personnel, including top coaches, athletes and administrators, the book explores Icelandic cultural capital as a factor in sporting success, from traditions of workmanship, competitive play and teamwork to international labour migration and knowledge transfer. The first book to focus specifically on the socio-cultural aspects of a small nation's international sporting success, this is an original and illuminating contribution to the study of the sociology of sport. Sport in Iceland: How small nations achieve international success is fascinating reading for team sport enthusiasts, coaches, managers and organisers, as well as for any student or scholar with an interest in the sociology of sport, strategic sports development, sports policy or sports administration.