This book provides an overview and analysis of the thought of figures across the human and social sciences on the character, causes, and consequences of discontent in modern societies. Exploring the important social and cultural conditions associated with modernity, it focuses on the contributions of 38 prominent scholars from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries - philosophers, historians, and social scientists - on the subject of discontent and social malaise, and individual and collective well-being. Thematically organized, this volume offers brief portraits of the lives and key ideas of these thinkers, leading toward a presentation of modernity as a "differentiated complaint." Reclaiming an important tradition in the human and social sciences that sees life on a grand scale, that integrates personal affairs with social and cultural matters, and that dares people to recommit themselves to this broader vision of human involvement, Anatomies of Modern Discontent will appeal to readers across the social sciences and humanities, particularly those with interests in social theory, sociology, and philosophy.

This book provides an overview and analysis of the thought of figures across the human and social sciences on the character, causes, and consequences of discontent in modern societies. Exploring the important social and cultural conditions associated with modernity, it focuses on the contributions of 38 prominent scholars from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries - philosophers, historians, and social scientists - on the subject of discontent and social malaise, and individual and collective well-being. Thematically organized, this volume offers brief portraits of the lives and key ideas of these thinkers, leading toward a presentation of modernity as a "differentiated complaint." Reclaiming an important tradition in the human and social sciences that sees life on a grand scale, that integrates personal affairs with social and cultural matters, and that dares people to recommit themselves to this broader vision of human involvement, Anatomies of Modern Discontent will appeal to readers across the social sciences and humanities, particularly those with interests in social theory, sociology, and philosophy.

Building on contributions from sociology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, literature, and neuroscience, Henricks develops a more general account of how people discover and reproduce the "meanings" of their involvements with others. Among its many themes are treatments of selves as "projections of personhood," of the ways in which self-expression has changed historically and is now experienced in our electronically mediated era, of emotions as "framing judgments," and of ritual, play, communitas, and work as four distinctive "pathways of experience."

In Play and the Human Condition, Thomas Henricks brings together ways of considering play to probe its essential relationship to work, ritual, and communitas. Focusing on five contexts for play--the psyche, the body, the environment, society, and culture--Henricks identifies conditions that instigate play, and comments on its implications for those settings. Offering a general theory of play as behavior promoting self-realization, Henricks articulates a conception of self that includes individual and social identity, particular and transcendent connection, and multiple fields of involvement. Henricks also evaluates play styles from history and contemporary life to analyze the relationship between play and human freedom. Imaginative and stimulating, Play and the Human Condition shows how play allows us to learn about our qualities and those of the world around us--and in so doing make sense of ourselves.

Within the social sciences, few matters are as significant as the study of human play--or as neglected. In Play Reconsidered, rather than viewing play simply as a preoccupation of the young and a vehicle for skill development, Thomas S. Henricks argues that it's a social and cultural phenomenon of adult life, enveloped by wider structures and processes of society. In that context, he argues that a truly sociological approach to play should begin with a consideration of the largely overlooked writings on play and play-related topics by some of the classic sociological thinkers of the twentieth century. Henricks explores Karl Marx's analysis of creativity in human labor, examines Emile Durkheim's observations on the role of ritual and the formation of collective consciousness, extends Max Weber's ideas about the process of rationalization to the realm of expressive culture and play, surveys Georg Simmel's distinctive approach to sociology and sociability, and discusses Erving Goffman's focus on human conduct as process and play as "encounter." These and other discussions of the contributions of more recent sociologists are framed by an initial consideration of Johan Huizinga's famous challenge to understand the nature and significance of play. In a closing synthesis, Henricks distinguishes play from other forms of human social expression, particularly ritual, communitas, and work.

Building on contributions from sociology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, literature, and neuroscience, Henricks develops a more general account of how people discover and reproduce the "meanings" of their involvements with others. Among its many themes are treatments of selves as "projections of personhood," of the ways in which self-expression has changed historically and is now experienced in our electronically mediated era, of emotions as "framing judgments," and of ritual, play, communitas, and work as four distinctive "pathways of experience."

Few books have attempted to contextualize the importance of video game play with a critical social, cultural and political perspective that raises the question of the significance of work, pleasure, fantasy and play in the modern world. The study of why video game play is "fun" has often been relegated to psychology, or the disciplines of cultural anthropology, literary and media studies, communications and other assorted humanistic and social science disciplines. In Utopic Dreams and Apocalyptic Fantasies, Talmadge Wright, David Embrick and Andras Lukacs invites us to move further and consider questions on appropriate methods of researching games, understanding the carnival quality of modern life, the role of marketing in altering game narratives, and the role of fantasy and desire in modern video game play. Embracing an approach that combines a cultural and/or critical studies approach with a sociological understanding of this new media moves the debate beyond simple media effects, moral panics, and industry boosterism to one of asking critical questions, what does modern video game play "mean," what questions should we be asking, and what can sociological research contribute to answering these questions. This collection includes works which use textual analysis, audience based research, symbolic interactionism, as well as political economic and psychoanalytic perspectives to illuminate areas of inquiry that preserves the pleasure of modern play while asking tough questions about what such pleasure means in a world divided by political, economic, cultural and social inequalities.

The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) is the sponsor of this eighth volume in the Play & Culture Studies series. TASP is a professional group of researchers who study play. The focus of this eighth volume of the Play & Culture Studies series is on how play takes many forms as it cuts across species, ages, and cultures. The articles in this volume present current theoretical and empirical research on play and culture from a variety of disciplines including psychology, education, animal studies, and sociology. Applications to practice and policy implications are presented as well. Volume 8 continues the tradition of the Play & Culture series by presenting a view of play that is broad in scope both in terms of the subjects of study and the ways in which researchers approach the study of these diverse forms of play.

This work explores the development of English sport during the eight centuries preceding the industrial era. Focusing on outdoor activities that involved intergroup competition among adults, Thomas Henricks demonstrates that sport was a sophisticated and "rational" experience, connected to society in many subtle yet important ways. Accessible to readers in many disciplines and on many levels, the book charts the changes in sport preceding the modern era, serves as an introduction to the historical literature on English sport, traces the relationship between sport and shifting social patterns, and develops an original thesis of sport as an identity ceremony for its participants. The work begins with a detailed introduction to English sport and the historians, and continues with Henrick's thesis of sporting events as identity ceremonies. The next of five chapters trace the development of sport and society through five periods of English history: the feudal society of the early Middle Ages; the decay of feudalism and the later Middle Ages; the centralized administration and middle-class appeal of the Tudor era; the elitist nostalgia and French influence of the Stuart era, followed by the Puritan Revolution; and the celebration of private property and mixture of snobbery and social mingling of Georgian England. Each chapter is organized in a similar manner, beginning with a brief introduction to the social life of the times, followed by presentations of patterns within individual sports and a summary of dominant themes in sport during that era. A concluding chapter considers some sociological aspects of sport and society. Disputed Pleasures will be an important resource for courses inEnglish social history, sociology, and the history of sport, as well as a significant addition to public and academic libraries.