Showing papers in "International Review for the Sociology of Sport in 2007"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify some useful intellectual resources for developing a phenomenology of sporting experience, specifically its sensory elements, and also subsequently examine the potential for its evocative portrayal and effective analysis via different kinds of textual forms.
Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed a vast expansion in research and writing on the sociology of the body and on issues of embodiment. Indeed, both sociology in general and the sociology of sport specifically have well heeded the long-standing and vociferous calls `to bring the body back in' to social theory. It seems particularly curious therefore that the sociology of sport has to date addressed this primarily at a certain abstract, theoretical level, with relatively few accounts to be found that are truly grounded in the corporeal realities of the lived sporting body; a `carnal sociology' of sport, to borrow Crossley's (1995) expression. To portray and understand more fully this kind of embodied perspective, it is argued, demands engaging with the phenomenology of the body, and this article seeks to contribute to a small but growing literature providing this particular form of `embodied' analysis of the body in sport. Here we identify some useful intellectual resources for developing a phenomenology of sporting experience, specifically its sensory elements, and also subsequently examine the potential for its evocative portrayal and effective analysis via different kinds of textual forms.
222 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined British national newspaper coverage of male and female athletes competing at the Olympic Games since 1948, and used a content analysis to compare all the articles and concluded that the coverage of female athletes outperformed male athletes.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine British national newspaper coverage of male and female athletes competing at the Olympic Games since 1948. A content analysis was utilized to compare all ar...
72 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a cohort of capable sporting cyclists who develop a sense of belonging and self-identity through ''buying'' into the social, semi-competitive, adrenaline-charged atmosphere of the weekend bunch ride.
Abstract: This study examines participation in an emerging, non-conventional sporting form that retains a self generated and mediated structure, providing an attractive alternative not fully explained by a shift to individualism. Based on ethnography and interviews, the study presents a cohort of capable sporting cyclists who develop a sense of belonging and self-identity through `buying' into the social, semi-competitive, adrenaline-charged atmosphere of the weekend bunch ride. In contrast to traditional sports, participants go some way to distance themselves from serious competition and its associated layers of formality. These practitioners range in ability and the extent to which the battle for victory is replaced by Maffesolian ideas of an emotional commonality and shared participation. Competition without consequence, excitement, sociability and multiple points for personal challenge (or not), combine with a sustained sense of control that diminishes the need for capable cyclists to seek out a formal structur...
67 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared how selected broadsheet newspapers from three countries covered female and male tennis players competing in the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, from the UK, The Times; from the US, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Abstract: This study compared how selected broadsheet newspapers from three countries covered female and male tennis players competing in the 2004 Wimbledon Championships. From the UK, The Times; from the US...
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors unpack how urban physical activity space is being imagined by physical activity policy-makers, and review literature pertaining to youth, urban space and play, and investigate the role of physical activity in urban environments.
Abstract: In this article, I begin to unpack how urban physical activity space is being imagined by physical activity policy-makers. I review literature pertaining to youth, urban space and play, and I engag...
63 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the influence of two Cuban families on individual migrants' decision to travel and considered the consequences of their decisions, and highlighted the need to pay more attention to local conditions and personal circumstances instead of relying solely on macro-scale structures for describing and explaining patterns of transnational sport migration.
Abstract: There is a growing interest in the transnational movements of sports professionals. Absent from these burgeoning discussions is the impact family plays upon any potential migrant's decision to travel. This article is an initial attempt to address the lack of attention paid to this important area. Using research conducted over the last decade, it examines the influences two Cuban families had upon individual migrants and considers the consequences of their decisions. Their circumstances are elided through the use of extended ethnographic case studies and transnational ethnographic research, in which the focus is not on Cuba per se, but on individuals' mobility between Cuba and elsewhere. These cases highlight the need for greater attention to be paid to local conditions and personal circumstances instead of relying solely on macro-scale structures for describing and explaining patterns of transnational sport migration.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors observed interactions between men and women during training sessions of the pole-hop in Toulouse and carried out interviews with judokas exhibiting various behaviours.
Abstract: This study analyses gender relations amongst high-level judokas. It uses the interactionist paradigm developed by Goffman and takes into account both the actors' history and the context. More precisely, we observed interactions between men and women during training sessions of the pole-hope in Toulouse and carried out interviews with judokas exhibiting various behaviours. Results attest to the existence of differentiated behaviours according to sex throughout the judo session in mixed-sex non-adversarial situations and during the fight when the principle of pride is paramount. Behaviours constitute a sort of out of frame communication, reinforcing gender hierarchy. Moreover, the coeducational fight situation allows us to observe the framing activity of the judokas, the judo framework conflicting with that of gender experience. Indeed, the competitors must position themselves as men or women but also be recognized as judokas. During coed fights, the majority of judokas interpret the situation through the g...
57 citations
TL;DR: This article carried out an empirical analysis of the amount of coverage dedicated to women's sports and research of a more qualitative nature which focuses on a detailed evaluation of the narratives employed, the images published and the political commentary surrounding women's events and female athletes.
Abstract: Women have traditionally been under-represented in the global sports media in terms of the amount of coverage dedicated to women's sport compared to men's. There have also been qualitative differences in the manner of reporting of women's and men's sports, reflecting the patriarchal attitudes dominant in society. This article explores the extent to which these traditional differences exist today in the Spanish print media. Drawing on data analysed from a sample of Spanish newspapers during the summer Olympic Games of 2004 in Athens, we carried out an empirical analysis of the amount of coverage dedicated to women's sports and research of a more qualitative nature which focuses on a detailed evaluation of the narratives employed, the images published and the political commentary surrounding women's events and female athletes. While the gender gap in the coverage of the Olympic Games in Spain is narrowing and ideologies regarding masculinity and femininity are gradually changing, gendered discursive strateg...
53 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored career retirement, role exit and related identity issues among sport professionals using a qualitative interview design, drawing from micro-sociology and the psychology and sociology of sport, and using qualitative interviews.
Abstract: Drawing from micro-sociology and the psychology and sociology of sport, and using a qualitative interview design, this study explores career retirement, role exit and related identity issues among ...
50 citations
TL;DR: In the article ''The Fire Within'' as mentioned in this paper, the Australian indigenous boxer and world bantam weight title holder is the subject of discussion around his inability to be his own man.
Abstract: In the article `The Fire Within', Anthony Mundine, the Australian indigenous boxer and world bantam weight title holder, is the subject of discussion around his inability to be his own man. Martin ...
45 citations
TL;DR: The number of female athletes undertaking male-dominated sports, including tackle football, continues to grow as mentioned in this paper, and a physical feminist perspective is used to explore the potential empowerment of women in tackle football.
Abstract: The number of female athletes undertaking male-dominated sports, including Tackle Football, continues to grow. This article uses a physical feminist perspective to explore the potential empowerment...
TL;DR: The role of the public intellectual in sport has been discussed in this paper, where the authors argue that sport is one of the most public, visible forms of activity and engagement in many communities.
Abstract: This article argues that the role of the public intellectual in sport is desperately needed. The research for the article draws upon key interviews and newspaper reports. The article examines three questions: i) What is the role of the public intellectual in sport? ii) Do we wish to encourage the role of the public intellectual in sport? iii) How does one balance the objective of challenging unseen silences in sport with its potential transformative capacity to produce change (or at least be a resource for hope) in many communities. The challenge is for today's sociologists of sport and others not to accept the narrow job description of the academic but instead to ensure that the social study of sport is one of these very public, visible forms of activity and engagement.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze how public sport policy is made as a result of the interactions between the public sport administration, the political system and sport organizations, and discuss the relevance of three theoretical approaches for explaining policy-making within the Norwegian context.
Abstract: This article analyses how public sport policy is made as a result of the interactions between the public sport administration, the political system and sport organizations, and discusses the relevance of three theoretical approaches — corporatism, policy communities and clientelism — for explaining policy-making within the Norwegian context. It builds on two case studies. The first case study concerns the process leading up to the adoption of Parliament's white paper on `Changing Sport Life', whereas the second case investigates the processes leading to the change in the law on gambling, which had a considerable impact on sport funding. These two cases cast light on different ways in which sport policy is made. The white paper on sport life is a central policy document that defines the objectives and means of public policies within sport, whereas the law on gambling has a determinant impact on the public funding of sport. The sport administration initiated the first case, whereas the Norwegian sport confe...
TL;DR: Wu et al. as discussed by the authors have shown that sport and exercise at the grassroots has become an individual and social activity as a new feature in Chinese urban life The Chinese people have benefited from increased opportunities and have made great progress in sports participation.
Abstract: Since the 1980s the `economic reformation'1 has played a crucial role in leading China to a fundamental change in every aspect of its society This change accelerated a new process of urbanization In conjunction with the vigorous economic, political and social transformations caused by urbanization, sport in China has undergone a comprehensive process of industrialization, commercialization, decentralization and privatization (Wu, 1999) Urbanization has changed the infrastructure of sport, sports values and forms of participation Against this background, sports participation in China has emerged with new spaces, forms, contents and concepts Although elite sport has still been tightly controlled by the state as a political instrument, sport and exercise at the grassroots has become an individual and social activity as a new feature in Chinese urban life The Chinese people have benefited from increased opportunities and have made great progress in sports participation
TL;DR: In this paper, an ethnographically informed critical interrogation of the spaces and spectacles of 'NASCAR Nation' is presented, informed by a series of open-ended interviews with fans and administrators.
Abstract: This study offers an ethnographically informed critical interrogation of the spaces and spectacles of `NASCAR Nation'. Informed by a series of open-ended interviews with fans and administrators at ...
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that there is heterogeneity in bodybuilder identities and whilst bodybuilding may positively reinforce identity construction, it may also lead to identity conflicts, negative experiences and self-risk.
Abstract: Existing research implies bodybuilders are a homogenous group with gender, power, control and empowerment, as well as afflictions such as personal inadequacies, dominating scholarly thinking concerning their identity. External critiques have frequently portrayed bodybuilders in a negative light, whilst phenomenological accounts have emphasized participant's positive experiences. This research has focused on bodybuilder identity in New Zealand. Some 382 competitive bodybuilders completed a questionnaire as part of a three-year project. Factor analysis generated the following themes: Self-Life Enhancement; Bodybuilder Lifestyle; Body Manipulation; Physical Attractiveness Tool; Healthy-Balanced Self-Image; The Price of Bodybuilding and An Extreme Competitive Aesthetic Pursuit. The findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in bodybuilder identities and whilst bodybuilding may positively reinforce identity construction, it may also lead to identity conflicts, negative experiences and self-risk.
TL;DR: The process of homogenization and differentiation have characterized international sports organizations and competitions for more than a century as mentioned in this paper. So have imaginaries of race as these are linked to sp...
Abstract: Processes of homogenization and differentiation have characterized international sports organizations and competitions for more than a century. So have imaginaries of race as these are linked to sp...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the corporatization of a national sports culture, Norwegian keep-fit exercise, by commercial fitness organizations, using advertisements from the major Norwegian commercial fitness chains, media texts and qualitative interviews with commercial fitness entrepreneurs.
Abstract: This article analyses the corporatization of a national sports culture, Norwegian keep-fit exercise, by commercial fitness organizations. The introduction of commercial fitness in Norway from the 1980s is examined based on advertisements from the major Norwegian commercial fitness chains, media texts and qualitative interviews with commercial fitness entrepreneurs. The neo-institutional concept of translation is used to identify how this new, global fitness culture was transformed by commercial chains to fit the Norwegian context, by drawing on ideas and values within traditional Norwegian keep-fit exercise. The conditions determining actors' possibilities for performing such a translation successfully are then discussed. In addition to adequate financial and administrative resources, the ability of actors to understand and interact with different societal sectors is pointed out as crucial to their ability to translate global, commercial concepts into local contexts. The article contributes to the existin...
TL;DR: The early development of sport medicine in Canada, from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, in relation to the development of Canadian high performance sport during this period of time is discussed in this paper.
Abstract: Using a combination of archival research and semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study outlines the early development of sport medicine in Canada, from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, in relation to the development of Canadian high performance sport during this period of time. I argue that the early development of sport medicine in Canada dovetailed with and benefited from the broader professionalization and rationalization of high performance sport, and that transformations in the production of international and national sport after the Second World War laid the foundation for the formalized and institutionalized entity we recognize today as sport medicine. These transformations were underpinned by the ideological re-centering of international high performance (specifically Olympic) sport from a moral and educational initiative to the all-out pursuit of sporting excellence that, in turn, was attentive to the claims of expertise from nascent sport medicine practitioners. The development of sport me...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the validity of this specific proposal, and the surrounding rhetoric of risk, which justify increased surveillance of young people and may have implications for their emergent adult identity.
Abstract: Teenage sexual activity and pregnancy are aspects of a perceived health crisis among youth in the United Kingdom. One suggested `solution' to this `problem' is grounded in a belief that participation in sport may delay sexual activity and reduce teenage pregnancies. This study examines the validity of this specific proposal, and the surrounding rhetoric of risk, which justify increased surveillance of young people and may have implications for their emergent adult identity. The article suggests that there is a lack of convincing evidence for a clear relationship between sport and sexual activity, and questions the social construction of `youth' which frames these recommendations.
TL;DR: This article used a mixed-method approach to examine why some NFL players participate in deviant, and sometimes law-breaking, behavior and others do not, and found that players that had strong ties to various social groups appeared less likely to succumb to anomie and deviance.
Abstract: This exploratory study utilized a mixed-method approach to examine why some NFL players participate in deviant, and sometimes law-breaking, behavior and others do not. The qualitative findings in conjunction with Durkheimian theory provided the conceptualization of a quantitative instrument. Through a snowball sample, 104 NFL players were interviewed and surveyed. From the qualitative data, three core themes emerged: 1) deviance, 2) anomie, and 3) social ties. Within the study group, a substantial number of players had prior experience with deviant and illegal behaviors. It appeared that some level of anomie was present in a number of these players' lives. However, players that had strong ties to various social groups appeared less likely to succumb to anomie and deviance. Supporting the qualitative data, the quantitative findings revealed that anomie was one of the significant predictors of law-breaking players. It would therefore appear reasonable to suggest that some of the players were involved in beh...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conduct an empirical examination of the way in which one particular public policy, that concerning the dual social and sporting training of high-level athletes in France, is implemented.
Abstract: Following on from studies focusing on the working of the state administration, the aim of this study is to conduct an empirical examination of the way in which one particular public policy — that concerning the dual social and sporting training of high-level athletes in France — is implemented. Because the aim is to respond as effectively as possible to the specifics of the problems encountered, it is on the local level that stakeholders have to come to an agreement and find common solutions built around coordination between departments. Through an analysis of the registers of action elaborated by the stakeholders in charge of this mission — the local civil servants of two Ministries (Sport on the one hand, National Education on the other) — the aim here is to see how they construct the rules of the collective action required to manage this dual project. This investigation was conducted through semi-directive interviews and reveals that the institutional positions and professional logic of each category o...
TL;DR: In this article, a pilot study was carried out to explore the experiences of sport volunteerism in Canadian sport and found that the importance of volunteerism to Canadian sport, and the need for research to understand the characteristics of sports volunteerism, was highlighted.
Abstract: Given the importance of volunteerism to Canadian sport, and the need for research to understand the characteristics of sport volunteerism, a pilot study was carried out to explore the experiences o...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a solid introduction to the ways in which Foucauldian theory can be utilized in sociological examinations of sport and exercise and their continued interweaving of empirical and sporting examples to illustrate the sometimes complex theoretical arguments.
Abstract: authors) of a critical voice could be identified as a small weakness in an otherwise admirable introduction to Foucauldian theory and its relevance to the field of sport and exercise studies. I would, however, highly recommend this book to those attempting to grapple with Foucault and his work at a preliminary level. The authors succeed in providing a solid introduction to the ways in which Foucauldian theory can be utilized in sociological examinations of sport and exercise. Particularly useful is their continued interweaving of empirical and sporting examples to illustrate the sometimes complex theoretical arguments. Given that a large volume of the book can be sourced, albeit in draft versions, from various existing journal publications I would imagine those well versed with Foucault stand to benefit less from purchasing this book.