Play and the Human Condition - Softcover

Henricks, Thomas S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252080688 ISBN 13: 9780252080685

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2015

Synopsis

In Play and the Human Condition, Thomas Henricks brings together ways of considering play to probe its essential relationship to work, ritual, and communitas. Focusing on five contexts for play--the psyche, the body, the environment, society, and culture--Henricks identifies conditions that instigate play, and comments on its implications for those settings. Offering a general theory of play as behavior promoting self-realization, Henricks articulates a conception of self that includes individual and social identity, particular and transcendent connection, and multiple fields of involvement. Henricks also evaluates play styles from history and contemporary life to analyze the relationship between play and human freedom.

Imaginative and stimulating, Play and the Human Condition shows how play allows us to learn about our qualities and those of the world around us--and in so doing make sense of ourselves.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas S. Henricks is the Danieley Professor of Sociology at Elon University and author of Play Reconsidered: Sociological Perspectives on Human Expression.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252080688
• ISBN 13: 9780252080685
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264