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For the first time, the determinants of a country’s success at the Paralympic Games are studied, using data from four editions, starting in 1996. By means of a tobit panel, the authors find that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita,…
Participation in organized sports is considered as a lifestyle characteristic that is dependent on social class and status considerations. It has been argued that each sport, to a certain extent, can be considered as a representative of certain status categories.…
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games 1 bids were selected as a case study to explore how the focus on social responsibility (CSR) and community development (CD) differs in traditional versus nontraditional bid cities. We employed a media framing methodology to…
This paper focuses on how engaging in hockey as an elite athlete influences educational paths. It relies on qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews with 36 ice hockey players in Switzerland and 605 respondents who completed a questionnaire. We argue…
Intercollegiate athletics in the United States have been linked with enhancing the sense of community between students on campus (Clopton, 2008). Still, little evidence confirms that maintaining a prominent athletics program contributes to the social capital of students on campus…
This research study investigated whether playing a digital game, Wii Bowling, with others can enhance the social life of older adults. Our research used a mixed-methods approach. Results showed that players’ levels of social connectedness increased and loneliness declined over…
The paper entitled Social Aspects of Physical Education and Sport in Schools follows the tradition of social research on physical culture, focusing on the evolution of physical education and sport in schools. The subject is analysed using terms and theories…
I miss living in Cape Town, South Africa. I miss lots of things: planting seeds in soil as deep and rich as chocolate pudding; the way the ocean curls around the land like a cat; being able to look up…
Building on Braun and Vliegenthart’s recent study of soccer hooliganism, this article develops an explanatory model of soccer fan violence and collective violence more generally. The fabric of soccer fan violence becomes a richer tapestry if the diversity of the…
The discrete choice experiment (DCE) is introduced in sports economics by empirically investigating soccer attendees’ preferences for facilities at a soccer stadium in Denmark. The appropriateness of the strategy of differentiating prices based on quality of opponents (A vs. B…
This paper examines how skateboarding is impacted by the current neoliberal economic and cultural climate of youth sport in the United States. Presently, youth sport is highly influenced by private entities and often packaged as a means to assuage parents…
Skateboarding has a global reach and will be included for the first time in the 2020 Olympic Games. It has transformed from a subcultural pursuit to a mainstream and popular sport. This research looks at some of the challenges posed…
This article is concerned with how sport museums, and in particular rugby museums, in South Africa tell the story of South Africa’s rich rugby heritage. By drawing on the author’s observations at the opening of the Springbok Experience Rugby Museum,…
The accession of the ‘A8 states’ into the European Union initiated considerable migration into Western Europe. The impact upon local communities has seen significant attention, yet little research exists that focuses upon migrant experiences and identity specifically in sport. This…
Since the early 2000s, there has been a groundswell of research on terrorism and sports mega-events, including investigations into the impact of ‘9/11’ on fear and risk management strategies at high profile sports events. In this article, we re-examine the…
Faced with the problems of governing high-level sports policy in France caused by the mobilisation of various categories of private actors, and with the downgrading of France in the ranking of leading sports nations, the Sports Ministry instigated a reform…
This study aims to understand the views, practices and experiences of seniors who participate regularly in sport within the context of identity management and cultural notions of sport and aging. We conducted on-site interviews and observations of male and female…
This paper argues that we might learn from the ways in which Eastern movement forms with a self-cultivation focus approach the development of spirituality through physicality. It also argues that these movement forms have potential to assist in the development…
Delinquent behavior of one’s peers is one of the most robust predictors of adolescent delinquency. However, no study to date has explored the role of this relationship among those who engage in high rates of nonproductive sedentary activities (e.g., video…
One of the major challenges that faces nation-builders in postcolonial societies is the incorporation of subaltern groups, particularly aboriginal peoples, into a collective national project. One vehicle for addressing this challenge is sport with schools being amongst the most important…
Public schools in the US are increasingly charging ‘pay-to-play’ fees for participating in sports. Although these fees can cause reductions in participation, particularly for children from lower-income families, pay-to-play has become a legitimate practice within the field of public education.…
Baseball has enjoyed its status as the “national pastime” in part because it has been associated with democracy. To the extent that baseball, as an institution of civil religion, fosters pluralism and inclusion, it can indeed be viewed in democratic…
Drawing upon data collected during the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s 2011 Hockey Day in Canada broadcast, this paper examines how users of Twitter variously reproduced or contested this mediated television program. Three emergent themes from these data are discussed: the sociocultural…
The aim of this study is to contribute to the ongoing discussion of sports clubs’ propensity to act as policy implementers. Theoretically, we conceptualize this propensity as contingent on an alignment between a sports club’s organizational identity and the cultural…
In this article, we analyze Taiwan’s grassroots reactions to the disqualification of taekwondo icon Yang Shu-chun in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, in order to examine how a technical dispute induced political and popular campaigns that variously blamed the governing…
The article explores the relationship between Slovenian national identity and popular music. A substantial empirical research (150 interviewees from 4 different Slovenian regions) has been conducted to find out what kind of music Slovenians themselves perceive as typically Slovenian and…
The author explores some of the virtues and the vices of sport for Christians. Although sport is clearly a popular and potentially fruitful enterprise for human beings, it has its glories and its temptations. On the one hand, sport can…
The recent growth in the aging population taking up road cycling and participating in Gran Fondo events has gained attention in popular media. However as of yet, little research exists regarding why, at this time, road cycling is drawing this…
The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions held by physical education professionals of the sport participation legacy associated with the 2016 Olympic Games (Rio 2016). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 professionals who resided in Rio de…
On 21 July 2013 Chris Froome became only the second British cyclist to win the Tour de France. This paper examines how the events surrounding Froome’s victory in the 2013 Tour de France were reported in the British (London-based) print…
The Urban Geography of Boxing makes a valuable contribution to the ever expanding literature on what is social, cultural and political about sport. Benita Heiskanen’s focus is an empirical study of the culture of boxing, including the key players, promoters,…
Globalisation has had a profound impact on European football and English football in particular. A series of political and economic transformations took place in the 1990s which reflected wider global transformations outside of the sport. Clubs sought additional funding from…
Review of The Fantasy Sport Industry: Games Within Games
A strong case could be made that a person who never played professional baseball was one of the most influential individuals in the history of that sport. Marvin Miller, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLPBA) from…
Football fascism and fandom provides a rare look beneath the surface of Italian neo-fascist hardcore football fandom. The book is the product of ethnographic dissertation research conducted by Alberto Testa on two of these fan groups (called UltraS) in Rome,…
This paper draws on a multi-sited ethnography of the North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament and examines the attachments and relationships that participation nurtures. I argue that rather than being exclusive, the NACIVT and its participants foster and nurture multiple…
Response to Comment on “Investigating Allegations of Point shaving in NCAA Basketball Using Actual Sportsbook Betting Percentages”
While the public subsidy of major league sport franchises and associated urban development projects remains wildly popular in some constituencies, these expenditures have, increasingly, been met with organized resistance. This article examines the formation of Voices for Democracy (VFD)—a grassroots…
This article looks at resilience as a form of governmentality. In particular, it is concerned to show that resilience, despite its claims to be about the operation of systems, is, in practice, closer to a form of governance that emphasises…
This article outlines and analysis the political character of Taiwan’s relationship with international sport, and in particular with the Olympic movement. In so doing, it seeks to add to the understanding of the links between sport and the formation and…
This paper considers how sport presents a dualism to those on the far left of the political spectrum. A long-standing, passionate debate has existed on the contradictory role played by sport, polarised between those who reject it as a bourgeois…
This paper explores the representation of the first African World Cup in the British and South African press. Drawing on the output of a variety of media outlets between 2004, when South Africa was awarded the right to host the…
Religiousness is rarely studied as protective factor against substance use and misuse in sport. Further, we have found no investigation where college-age athletes were sampled and studied accordingly. The aim of the present study was to identify gender-specific protective effects…
Religious offences in Italy, as in many European countries, have a long and complex history that is intertwined with the events in the history of the relationship between church and state and the institutional and constitutional framework of a nation.…
We are living in a time of increasing interest in the religious and spiritual aspects of sport and human movement activities. A strict distinction between religion and spirituality is, however, still missing in much of the literature. After delimiting religious…
In this essay, Toni Bruce considers key cultural and social issues at play in the relationship between mediated sport and women. The treatment reflects on over 30 years of research and assesses not only central tendencies and changes in the…
In this essay, Lawrence Wenner reflects on the social and cultural importance of communication about sport. He considers the major influences on his research agenda and how the evolution of his research program came to change over time from one…
In this essay, David Rowe reflects on how the nexus of sport and communication has affected national and global sensibilities. Sport contests take place at particular times in specific places, usually in a stadium setting, but not all who desire…
In this essay, Raymond Boyle reflects on how the study of sport within media and communication studies has evolved in the United Kingdom over the last 20 years. The first part of essay comments on the cultural importance of communication…
In this essay, Walter Gantz reflects on the importance of communication and sport and the evolution of his research on fanship and social relationships. Cutting across two overlapping dimensions—physical location and technology—this essay characterizes key ways that sports fanship may…
This essay explores the work of the Field Band Foundation (FBF) in South Africa, a non-governmental organisation that has been working nationwide since 1997 to create opportunities for the development of ‘life skills’ in youth in predominantly socioeconomically underprivileged communities…
For much of his triple career as heroic cancer survivor, sports champion, and, latterly, fallen idol, Lance Armstrong, a professed atheist, has worn a silver necklace with a cross pendant. Why does he wear this Ur-symbol of Christian religious faith?…
Olympic all-around gymnastics gold medalist Gabby Douglas, of the London 2012 Games, proclaimed her relationship with God as a “win-win situation”: “The glory goes to Him, and all the blessings fall down on me.”1 Ray Lewis, the future Hall of…
For at least the past three decades, the sociology of football and its supportedcultures has been responsive to the social issues which have emerged within it. Today, the fact that fans rejoice and protest at overseas purchases of their club…
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the reactions of 13 pre-service teachers (PTs) implementing an adventure-based learning (ABL) unit through the lens of occupational socialization. Data were collected through interviews, critical reflections and reflection of videotaped ABL…
This paper presents two meta-autoethnographies written by a former elite swimmer. In the first meta autoethnography, the swimmer revealed doubts in relation to details, emotions and inner-thoughts that she had included in her historical autoethnographic work. As a means of…
Sociological studies of sport have established their subject matter as significant to a wide range of sociocultural concerns. Despite a broad consensus about its global importance, however, the reasons for the particular, even ‘extraordinary’, societal importance of sport today remain…
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was heralded by mainstream media outlets, the local organisers, the South African government and FIFA as an unequivocal success. The month-long spectacle saw South Africa Take centre stage and host the world’s largest single sporting…
In this paper we report findings from a study of what we are calling ‘sports media activism’ (or ‘SMA’). We were interested in how, why, and for what purposes a range of sport media activists are engaging with sport-related social…
This study examines the sport of quidditch, based on the Harry Potter franchise, an alternative sport growing in popularity. The purpose of this research was to examine the impact and benefits participants of this sport received and determine similarities and…
The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of a collegiate men’s basketball fan group. Little research has been undertaken exploring student fan groups, especially using ethnographic methods. The primary researcher attended two men’s home basketball games at…
In this paper we present the ideas of a number of speeches from which public policies have been designing and implementing that have embodied body practices (related to sport) with seniors and who build a particular social representation of ageing.…
after negotiating for several months to finance and build a $55 million ballpark in Charlotte, baseball’s Class AAA Charlotte Knights will receive $7.25 million from the city, $750,000 from Charlotte Center City Partners (an economic and cultural development group), and…
In this article I focus on intersections between the National Football League’s (NFL) security practices and the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) counter-terrorism agenda, including new policies and legal structures that support pre-emption, protection, and preparation activities that manage…
In the spring of 2006, the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Edmonton Oilers made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 16 years. Predictably, hockey fans and media pundits responded enthusiastically to the one-time return…
In the past, traditional Buddhism in China focused on chanting and meditation that detached itself from the society. However, after generations of strenuous efforts to promote ‘Humanistic Buddhism’, several Masters have been encouraging religion to engage more in daily lives.…
Repetitive mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), such as that experienced by contact-sport athletes, has been associated with the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Executive dysfunction is believed to be among the earliest symptoms of CTE, with these symptoms presenting…
To date, studies of sports labour migration have afforded little attention to analysis of how individual athletes relate to historical and macro- structural power relations and forces. In this article, we set out to develop a transnational perspective on sports…
Rugby is a sport that has given Fiji international recognition. The professionalisation of rugby has led to a growing number of elite players emigrating from Fiji – often temporarily but sometimes permanently – to metropolitan countries, with an estimated 450…
Audio of Gregg Williams imploring players to violence only preserves the status quo. First, the facts: Sounding like Garrison Keillor doing an impression of Robert De Niro as Al Capone, we now have audiotape of former New Orleans Saints Defensive…
From a Bourdieu-inspired understanding of how personal resources (‘capitals’) enable certain practices in certain contexts, the links between families’ cultural, social and economic capitals, and children’s daily physical activity were investigated in 500 suburban Danish schoolchildren using questionnaire data and…
Sport is currently mobilized as a tool of international development within the “Sport for Development and Peace” (SDP) movement. Framed by Gramscian hegemony theory and sport and development studies respectively, this article offers an analysis of the conceptualization of sport’s…
There have been innumerable political debates around the world over the distribution of live sporting events in the digital era. Typically, these deliberations involve competing claims and interests associated with sport, commerce, cultural and broadcasting policies, and, at times, language…
This article discusses the sociological understanding of popular religion by first exploring the theories of Gramsci. It then critiques this approach by arguing that the social construction of popular religion in contrast to institutionalized religion is not as clear cut…
Allegations of selection bias toward the major conferences and teams with committee representation have previously been levied on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball tournament selection committee. We illustrate the source of this bias is political correctness. When using…
The global diffusion of sport is both a complex topic and a thematic presence in sport history and sociology circles. Studies of colonialism, human geography, and cultural appropriation are just a few of the channels to the international dissemination of…
My article plays with notions of performativity and representation to repudiate assumptions of one-dimensional fandom. In particular, due to its self-reflexive writing style, I argue that autoethnography can articulate and show the subject-fan voice through evocations of first-person, insider experiences.…
During the still hours of a 1930s morning, a group of teenage girls trudged up the steep hill to the local playground in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The chain-link fence rattled as they shoved their fingers and feet into the holes…
This essay explores a set of new media user trends that are (re)shaping fan–athlete interaction through (para)social connections. Acting as bonding agents, the trends considered either contribute to or detract from membership in the community of sport. Accordingly, social leveling…
Despite the fact that athletic activism is non normative behavior, there is still a long, albeit small, tradition of individuals who use the playing field to advocate for political and social justice. This article examines such individuals who, while in…
On game forums, players often discuss the positive impact of video games on their lives. We collected 964 messages from top ranked game forums (via Alexa.com) and analyzed them using a coding scheme based on an existing taxonomy about the…
This document sets out the Government’s plans for the legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Disadvantaged rural youth may be especially at risk for obesity and poorer health due to physical inactivity. Research suggests that extracurricular school programs can increase physical activity for this population. This study sought to determine whether local differences existed in…
Contemporary Western society has an abundant variety of role models, with celebrities from all walks of life replacing yesteryear’s role models of military heroes and political leaders. However, sport has long provided religious and secular role models dating back to…
An additional concern is that there has been a decrease in physical education programmes, an increase in early sport-specialisation and a greater focus on elite sport programmes, which have all led to fewer opportunities to teach fundamental motor skills and…
Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and with guidance from a 15-member, cross-sector working group, this report offers a deep dive into the central idea behind Project Play. It builds on research showing that children with motor skills competence…
One is never quite sure what the response will be to a special issue call for papers. Certainly, that was the case with regard to this Physical Cultural Studies special issue of the Sociology of Sport Journal. As editors, our…
Since the 1960s, there has been a change in the portrayal of older people. This change has resulted in the promotion of an active way of life that led, at the turn of the twenty-first century, to the development by…
In a modern era of speed, uncertainty, pleasure and anguish, the boundaries between pharmacologically healing and enhancing the mind are being redefined [Pieters, T., and S. Snelders. 2009 . “Psychotropic Drug Use: Between Healing and Enhancing the Mind.” Neuroethics 2…
The purpose of this study was to examine how Olympians experience the transition to a second career, to identify the strategies they may or may not implement in order to prepare for it, and to determine the main factors that…
We examine the role of interpersonal discussion in an attempt to better understand talk’s contribution to perceived media impacts related to the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University. Through the use of a survey conducted both in the state…
Background. Churches are an appealing setting for implementing health-related behavior change programs. Purpose. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between perceived environmental church support for physical activity (PA) and PA behaviors. Method. Black church members from…
Objectives: Drawing from the basic needs theory [BNT; Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2002). An overview of self-determination theory. In E. L. Deci, & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 3e33). Rochester, NY: University of…
Deploying liberal multiculturalist discourse, the media depicts professional basketball as a post-racial space where all talented players, regardless of their race, can thrive if they work hard. An analysis of the construction of non-white players in the 1930s and in…
Although India has long held a passion for cricket, an organization called the Elite Football League of India(EFLI) is looking to disrupt that sporting nerve center, and introduce the foreign sport of American football to the country’s growing middle class.…
This paper presents data on the parenting practices and perceptions of middle-class parents in the domain of children’s sport. Adopting a grounded-theory approach, the data were generated through 16 semi-structured interviews conducted with parents and children from eight different families.…
Parents influence their children’s behaviors directly through specific parenting practices and indirectly through their parenting style. Some practices such as logistical and emotional support have been shown to be positively associated with child physical activity (PA) levels, while for others…
The goal of the study was to examine how parents use conversation to promote the internalization of safety values after their child has been seriously injured. Parent interviews detailing postinjury conversations were coded for strategies mentioned to prevent injuries in…
Parents influence their children’s behaviors directly through specific parenting practices and indirectly through their parenting style. Some practices such as logistical and emotional support have been shown to be positively associated with child physical activity (PA) levels, while for others…
The golden summer of sport is now over, but what is the legacy of London 2012 for disabled people? Nadia Ahmed, a disabled student, discusses the difficulties she has faced in finding accessible accommodation in London. She argues that while…