This book examines how social issues shape and influence our engagement with sport, leisure time physical activity and health-promoting exercise. Connecting the personal with the public, it helps the reader to develop a deeper understanding of how social contexts and structures create or constrain opportunities for exercise, leisure and sport. Presenting a series of in-depth descriptions of grassroots sport, urban lifestyle sport, physical activity across the life course, sport for children with special needs, and the development of creative climates in sport, the book seeks to encourage what C. Wright Mills described as the ‘sociological imagination’. Every chapter begins with an individual-level account centered on everyday challenges with accessing sport, partaking in leisure activities, and meeting guidelines for daily exercise before exploring the larger, socially-determined patterns in which those experiences are located, establishing a vital template for the social scientific study of sport, leisure and health. Touching on key contemporary themes including diversity, inclusion, non-participation and health inequalities, the book offers new case material and theoretical tools for understanding the relationships between sport, leisure, health and wider society. This is an indispensable companion for any course on the sociology of sport, exercise, leisure, or physical activity and health.

This book examines how social issues shape and influence our engagement with sport, leisure time physical activity and health-promoting exercise. Connecting the personal with the public, it helps the reader to develop a deeper understanding of how social contexts and structures create or constrain opportunities for exercise, leisure and sport. Presenting a series of in-depth descriptions of grassroots sport, urban lifestyle sport, physical activity across the life course, sport for children with special needs, and the development of creative climates in sport, the book seeks to encourage what C. Wright Mills described as the ‘sociological imagination’. Every chapter begins with an individual-level account centered on everyday challenges with accessing sport, partaking in leisure activities, and meeting guidelines for daily exercise before exploring the larger, socially-determined patterns in which those experiences are located, establishing a vital template for the social scientific study of sport, leisure and health. Touching on key contemporary themes including diversity, inclusion, non-participation and health inequalities, the book offers new case material and theoretical tools for understanding the relationships between sport, leisure, health and wider society. This is an indispensable companion for any course on the sociology of sport, exercise, leisure, or physical activity and health.

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.

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.

Sociological Perspectives on Sport: The Games Outside the Games seeks not only to inform students about the sports world but also to offer them analytical skills and the application of theoretical perspectives that deepen their awareness and understanding of social processes linking sports to the larger social world. With six original framing essays linking sport to a variety of topics, including race, class, gender, media, politics, deviance, and globalization, and 37 reprinted articles, this text/reader sets a new standard for excellence in teaching sports and society.

Sociological Perspectives on Sport: The Games Outside the Games seeks not only to inform students about the sports world but also to offer them analytical skills and the application of theoretical perspectives that deepen their awareness and understanding of social processes linking sports to the larger social world. With six original framing essays linking sport to a variety of topics, including race, class, gender, media, politics, deviance, and globalization, and 37 reprinted articles, this text/reader sets a new standard for excellence in teaching sports and society.