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Sport and Leisure Cultures

Sport and Leisure Cultures

Alan Tomlinson

A sweeping analysis of sport culture’s global, national, and local impact

296 Pages, 6 x 9 in

  • Paperback
  • 9780816633838
  • Published: May 18, 2005
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Sport and Leisure Cultures

Alan Tomlinson

ISBN: 9780816633838

Publication date: May 18th, 2005

296 Pages

9 x 5

On the soccer field and the basketball court, in the football stadium and the baseball park, far more is played out than a game of athletic skill. In this collection of essays, the influential sports theorist Alan Tomlinson delves into the phenomenon of contemporary sport and reveals much about its impact on local, national, and global culture. This far-reaching book includes essays ranging from an in-depth examination of sport culture in one working-class English community to a theoretical discussion of how national identity is often linked to sport. Through ethnographic techniques, Tomlinson uses sport and leisure to explore issues of identity, globalization, American cultural hegemony, and the media. Whether analyzing the legacy of the World Cup or the Olympics; urban games or suburban leisure; historical traditions or modern spaces in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia?his essays show how sport and leisure cultures contribute to the dynamics of power in societies.

Alan Tomlinson is professor of leisure studies at the University of Brighton, UK, where he heads the Chelsea School Research Centre and its Sport and Leisure Cultures research group.

Contents AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Analyzing Sport and Leisure Cultures Part I: Global Themes1. Magnificent Trivia: Olympic Spectacle, Opening Ceremonies, and Some Paradoxes of Globalization2. Sport, Politics, and Identities: Comparative Sports Cultures3. FIFA and the Men's World Cup: The Expansion of the Global Football Family Part II: National Studies4. Sport, Cultural Diversity, and National Identity: The Swiss Case5. Stateside Football: The Men's World Cup USA '94 and Its Legacy6. Eastern Promise?: Football in the Societies and Cultures of the Middle and Far East Part III: Local Cultures7. Patterns of Consumption in Sport and Leisure Cultures: Urban Space and Suburban Fears8. The Politics of Men's Leisure: Northern English Working-Class Culture in the 1930s9. Continuities and Change in Male Working-Class Leisure: The Case of Knur-and-Spell Conclusion: Observations and Research DirectionsNotesBibliographyIndex