Power Games A Critical Sociology of Sport [Hardcover]

Critical and radical perspectives have been central to the emergence of the sociology of sport as a discipline in its own right. This ground-breaking new book is the first to offer a comprehensive theory and method for a critical sociology of sport. It argues that class, political economy, hegemony and other concepts central to the radical tradition are essential for framing, understanding and changing social and political relations within sport and between sport and society.
The book draws upon the disciplines of politics, sociology, history and philosophy to provide a critical analysis of power relations throughout the world of sport, while offering important new case studies from such diverse sporting contexts as the Olympics, world football, boxing, cricket, tennis and windsurfing. In the process, it addresses key topics such as:
* nations and nationalism
* globalisation
* race
* gender
* political economy.
Power Gamescan be used as a complete introduction to the study of sport and society. And will be essential reading for any serious student of sport. At the same time, it is a provocative book that by argument and example challenges those who research and write about sport to make their work relevant to social and political reform.1.Theory and Method for a Critical Sociology of Sport 2. Sport Sectarianism and Society in a Divided Ireland Revisited 3. Globalisation Theory, Global Sport, and Nations and Nationalism 4. Theorising Spectacle: Beyond Debord 5. Leading with the Left: Boxing, Incarnation and Sartre's Progressive-regressive Method 6. Critical Social Research and Political Intervention: Moralistic Verses Radical Approaches 7. 'Its Not a Game': The Place of Philosophy in a Study of Sport 8. Sport, Power and the State in Weimar Germany 9 Contest, Conflict and Resistance in South Africa's Sport Policies 10. The Sport Star in the Media: The Gendered Construction and Youthful Consumption of Spl“f