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Consuming Sport offers a detailed consideration of how sport is experienced and engaged with in the everyday lives, social networks and consumer patterns of its followers. It examines the processes of becoming a sport fan, and the social and moral career that supporters follow as their involvement develops over a life-course. The book argues that while for many people sport matters, for many more, it does not. Though for some sport is significant in shaping their social and cultural identity, it is often consumed and experienced by others in quite mundane and everyday ways, through the media images that surround us, conversations overheard and in the clothing of people we pass by. As well as developing a new theory of sport fandom the book links this discussion to wider debates on audiences, fan cultures and consumer practices. The text argues that for far too long consideration of sport fans has focused on exceptional forms of support ignoring the myriad of ways in which sport can be experienced and consumed in everyday life.

Social impacts are increasingly used as one of the main justifications for staging and funding events, and yet there is very little empirical evidence on the extent to which these impacts are realised by different kinds of events or in different settings. This timely volume fills this gap by being the first to explore the different social aspects of events, looking in particular at the role of events in developing social capital, social cohesion and participation in local communities. Based on cutting edge empirical research, it evaluatesthe contribution of both cultural and sports events to social capital, social cohesion, community spirit and local pride in range of different types of events and settings, with case studies drawn from Europe, Australia and South Africa. It therefore furthers knowledge about the social benefits and impacts of events and significantly contributes to the development of Events as a discipline. Written by leading academics in this area, this volume is essential reading for all those interested in Events Management and Studies.

This book explores the relationship between sport and democratization. Drawing on sociological and historical methodologies, it provides a framework for understanding how sport affects the level of egalitarianism in the society in which it is played. The author distinguishes between horizontal sport, which embodies and fosters egalitarian relations, and vertical sport, which embodies and fosters hierarchical relations. Christesen also differentiates between societies in which sport is played and watched on a mass scale and those in which it is an ancillary activity. Using ancient Greece and nineteenth-century Britain as case studies, Christesen analyzes how these variables interact and finds that horizontal mass sport has the capacity to both promote and inhibit democratization at a societal level. He concludes that horizontal mass sport tends to reinforce and extend democratization.

In recent years, scholars have understood the increasing use of the St George's Cross by football fans to be evidence of a rise in a specifically 'English' identity. This has emerged as part of a wider 'national' response to broader political processes such as devolution and European integration which have fragmented identities within the UK. Using the controversial figurational sociological approach advocated by the twentieth-century theorist Norbert Elias, this book challenges such a view, drawing on ethnographic research amongst fans to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary English national identity and football fan culture. Examining football fans' expressions of Englishness in public houses and online spaces, the author discusses the effects of globalization, European integration and UK devolution on English society, revealing that the use of the St George's Cross does not signal the emergence of a specifically 'English' national consciousness, but in fact masks a more complex, multi-layered process of national identity construction. A detailed and grounded study of identity, nationalism and globalization amongst football fans, English National Identity and Football Fan Culture will appeal to scholars and students of politics, sociology and anthropology with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, fan cultures, globalization and contemporary national identities.

Sports coaching is a social activity. At its heart lies a complex interaction between coach and athlete played out within the context of sport, itself a socio-culturally defined set of practices. In this ground-breaking book, leading international coaching scholars and coaches argue that an understanding of sociology and social theory can help us better grasp the interactive nature of coaching and consequently assist in demystifying the mythical ‘art’ of the activity. The Sociology of Sports Coaching establishes an alternative conceptual framework from which to explore sports coaching. It firstly introduces the work of key social theorists, such as Foucault, Goffman and Bourdieu among others, before highlighting the principal themes that link the study of sociology and sports coaching, such as power, interaction, and knowledge and learning. The book also outlines and develops the connections between theory and practice by placing the work of each selected social theorist alongside contemporary views on that work from a current practicing coach. This is the first book to present a critical sociological perspective of sports coaching and, as such, it represents an important step forward in the professionalization of the discipline. It is essential reading for any serious student of sports coaching or the sociology of sport, and for any reflective practitioner looking to become a better coach. Section 1: Background and Context 1. Introduction Section 2: Sociological Thinkers 2. Erving Goffman: Interaction and Impression Management: Playing the Coaching Role 3. Michel Foucault: Power and Discourse: The ‘Loaded’ Language of Coaching 4. Pierre Bourdieu: A Theory of (Coaching) Practice 5. Arlie Russell Hochschild: The Managed Heart, Feeling Rules, and Emotional Labour: Coaching as an Emotional Endeavour 6. Anthony Giddens: Acknowledging Structure and Individuality within Coaching 7. Niklas Luhmann: Coaching as Communication 8. Etienne Wenger: Coaching and communities of Practice 9. Peter Blau: Exchange, Reciprocity and Dependency: How Coaches and Athletes Rely on each Other 10. Jürgen Habermas: Communicative Action, the System, and the Lifeworld: Critiquing Social Interaction in Coaching Section 3: Coaching and the Social 11. Power in Coaching 12. Social Interaction in Coaching 13. Coach and Athlete Learning: A Social Approach 14. Conclusion. References \"... accessible to a scholarly audience, but also to practising coaches and students interested in this area ... We greatly enjoyed reading this text and encourage others to do so. The editors have delivered a well-balanced application of both prominent and lesser known social theorists. The value placed on the voices of practicing coaches provides an immediate application of theory and contributes to the accessibility of the text\", Jenny McMahon and Christ Zehntner, Sport, Education and Society Dr. Robyn L. Jones is a Professor of Sport and Social Theory at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, and a Professor II at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Dr. Paul Potrac is the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Coaching) within the Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science at the University of Hull, UK. Dr. Chris Cushion is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, UK, where he leads the MSc in Coaching. Dr. Lars Tore Ronglan is an Associate Professor and former Head of the Department of Coaching and Psychology at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.