Making Sense of Sports - Softcover

Cashmore, Ellis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415213835 ISBN 13: 9780415213837

Publisher: Routledge, 2000

Synopsis

Sports are more important than ever socially, economically and culturally. As well as embodying cherished values and ideals, sports now reflect many of the worries of wider society. Drugs, racism, corruption and violence are all now major concerns and our experience of sport is increasingly subject to a gigantic industry made up of owners, players, sports goods manufacturers, television networks and corporate sponsors.

In this newly expanded edition of Making Sense of Sports, Cashmore addresses all these issues as well as the more basic questions about the history of sports, its social context and possible future development. Among the new editions other themes are:

* the body, how it works and why it is more cultural than natural
* why women continue to be devalued and depreciated by sports
* Nike, globalization and the sports industry
* art and how it reflects changing conceptions of sports.

About this title

Review:

'Provides a thorough overview of issues that pervade the growing field of sports sociology ... it is a text that is to be strongly recommended.' - Sociology

Praise for a previous edition:
'Ellis Cashmore's text is a clear and eloquent outline of many of the important areas in the broad field of sports sociology ... an original, interesting and timely interpretation of a fast-moving field of academic study.' - Times Higher Education Supplement

From the Back Cover:

Praise for the second edition of Making Sense of Sports

‘Ellis Cashmore’s text is a clear and eloquent outline of many of the important areas in the broad field of sports sociology… an original, interesting and timely interpretation of a fast-moving field of academic study.’

Times Higher Education Supplement

‘One of the strengths of Cashmore’s book is that he does not limit himself to one particular perspective… the multi-disciplinary approach to sports studies which is employed here is certainly an attractive and integrative alternative to the more traditional sub-disciplinary approach.’

Culture, Sport, Society

Ellis Cashmore's unique, multidisciplinary introduction to sport studies is completely revised, updated, enlarged and enhanced with new chapters that reflect the changing character of contemporary sport.

Already established as a standard text, Cashmore's challenging approach to the study of sport has been improved and augmented with new chapters on:

THE MIND OF THE ATHLETE — a probe into the psychological qualities and processes that separate winners from also-rans.

THE RISE AND RISE OF CELEBRITIES — about the rise of celebrity culture and how this has affected the status of athletes.

Among the questions that are addressed in the new edition are:

Cyborgization — will the human body be re-designed in a way that meets athletic needs — in much the same way as cosmetic surgery has enabled the re-design of bodies to suit aesthetic preferences?

Nature or nurture — have advances in genetic science helped us solve whether great athletes are either born or made and, if so, how will this affect our understanding of competition?

Masculinities — Does masculine power still dominate in sports and, if not, what does this tell us about the state of men?

Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at the University of Staffordshire. His latest books include Beckham (Polity, 2002), Tyson (Polity, 2004) and Sports Culture – An A-Z Guide (Routledge, 2000).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0415213835
• ISBN 13: 9780415213837
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 432