Understanding Sport

John Horne is Professor of Sport and Sociology in the School of Sport, Tourism and the Outdoors at the University of Central Lancashire, where he is Director of the International Research Institute for Sport Studies (IRiSS).Alan Tomlinson is Professor of Leisure Studies and Director of Research and Development (Social Sciences) at the University of Brighton, and has authored and edited numerous volumes and more than 100 chapters/articles on sport, leisure and popular culture.Garry Whannel is Head of the Centre for International Media Analysis, Research and Consultancy (CIMARC) at the University of Bedfordshire, is one of the world’s leading experts on the cultural analysis of media sport, and has written extensively on media and culture for over thirty years. Kath Woodward is Professor of Sociology and Head of Department at the Open University and works in the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) on feminist materialist critiques, most recently in the field of sport, especially boxing. She has published extensively on identities and diversity and on issues in social science.

• Introduction Chapter 1. Industrial Society, Social Change and Sports Culture Chapter 2. Case Studies in the Growth of Modern Sports Chapter 3. Debates, Interpretations, Theories Chapter 4. Social Stratification and Social Division in Sport Chapter 5. The Social Construction of Identity and Cultural Reproduction Chapter 6. Sport and Representation Chapter 7. Sporting Bodies: Disciplining and Defining Normality Chapter 8. Sport, The State, and the Politics Chapter 9. Governance and Sport Chapter 10. The Labour Market Chapter 11. Sport, Commercialisation and Commodification Chapter 12. Global Transformations Chapter 13. Sport Spaces, Sites and Events Afterword – Methods for Understanding Sport Culture