Sport Histories - Figurational Studies in the Development of Modern Sports (Paperback, New Ed)

"Sport Histories" draws on figurational sociology to provide a fresh approach to analyzing the development of modern sports. The book brings together ten case studies, examining both mainstream, well-researched sports - such as soccer, rugby, baseball, boxing and cricket - and sports relatively neglected by historians and sociologists - such as shooting, motor racing, tennis, gymnastics and martial arts.
The book explores key issues in the study of sport, including:
- The relative influence of intra-national and international conflicts
- The importance of commercial processes
- Violence and control of violence
- Differences between elite and mass sport movements
- The part played by sport in the development of cultures and societies
This groundbreaking work illustrates the distinctiveness of the figurational sociological approach and its usefulness in examining the development of modern sport. It represents an important crossing of the boundary between the disciplines of history and sociology in the study of sport, and will be of great interest to students and researchers working in both disciplines.