Over the last decade extreme has become a popular adjective to
describe a range of physical pursuits and activities such as bungee
jumping, dirt biking, skysurfing and street luge. Yet,
notwithstanding its widespread usage, extreme remains largely a
connotative term to differentiate individualistic, adventure-type
sports with high aesthetic components from more functional and
traditional team sports such as baseball, basketball, cricket,
football and hockey. However, as well as its physical
characteristics extreme also connotes an ideological dimension that
refers to a range of anti-social attitudes, many of which are
embodied and stand in sharp contrast to conservative, mainstream
middle-class sporting values. Indeed, the ideology of extreme
attracts as much attention among scholars interested in the study
of sport as the physical elements. The Encyclopedia of Extreme
Sports offers a comprehensive dissection of this new and emerging
phenomenon, and its characteristics, philosophy, ideology,
functions, history and future. component-risk-from a number of
disciplinary perspectives including history, sociology, psychology,
theology and physiology. In examining the history of individual
extreme sports, the Encyclopedia explores ancient, feudal and
cross-cultural forms while also looking at the appeal of modern
extreme activities to entrepreneurs, marketers, advertisers and the
media as they seek to connect with consumers in the critical
13-34-age cohort. The commercialization of extreme sports as well
as their institutionalization-formation of governing bodies, grand
prix circuits, and inclusion in traditional mega-events such as the
Olympic Games-highlights another critical dimension addressed by
the Encyclopedia, their contradictory and paradoxical nature. As
numerous commentators have observed, participants in extreme sports
are typically no less racist, sexist and class and status conscious
than their brothers and sisters participating in mainstream sports.
cross-cultural and historical extreme sports; thematic essays;
biographies of leading extreme exponents; descriptions of the best
known extreme playgrounds.
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