Pub Date : 2024-01-09DOI: 10.1177/10126902231221265
Nikolas Dickerson
This paper examines the story arc of a trio of Black male wrestlers called the New Day within the World Wrestling Entertainment industry (WWE) who go from militant nationalists, stereotypical singing/dancing preachers, and finally to self-described unicorns bringing magic back to the WWE. Wrestling is used to explore anti-Blackness, Black masculinity, and conceptions of the human/humanity. Drawing on Katherine McKittrick's Black methodological intervention of textual accumulation to interrogate issues of race, masculinity, and sexuality within their performances, I argue the group's unique position as wrestlers allows us to conceptualize the trio as “writers” of fiction; a position that when read through Kevin Young's concept of storying provides insight into a Black creative practice engaging in alternative worldmaking and rewriting understandings of the human outside of a Western European framework. I advocate that the stories of the New Day not only provide glimpses into new genres of being human, but also forms of Black manhood(s) outside of a patriarchal framework.
{"title":"Unicorns, rainbows, and unicorn magic: Storying new knowledge of black masculinities within the WWE","authors":"Nikolas Dickerson","doi":"10.1177/10126902231221265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231221265","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the story arc of a trio of Black male wrestlers called the New Day within the World Wrestling Entertainment industry (WWE) who go from militant nationalists, stereotypical singing/dancing preachers, and finally to self-described unicorns bringing magic back to the WWE. Wrestling is used to explore anti-Blackness, Black masculinity, and conceptions of the human/humanity. Drawing on Katherine McKittrick's Black methodological intervention of textual accumulation to interrogate issues of race, masculinity, and sexuality within their performances, I argue the group's unique position as wrestlers allows us to conceptualize the trio as “writers” of fiction; a position that when read through Kevin Young's concept of storying provides insight into a Black creative practice engaging in alternative worldmaking and rewriting understandings of the human outside of a Western European framework. I advocate that the stories of the New Day not only provide glimpses into new genres of being human, but also forms of Black manhood(s) outside of a patriarchal framework.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"46 47","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139442197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1177/10126902231218700
Ahmed A. M. Hassan, Jia Wang
This research examines public opinion on Twitter during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, focusing on the interplay between sport, communication, and soft power. It sheds light on the online discourse surrounding a global sporting event by analyzing tweet frequency, sentiment changes, prevalent topics, and the most popular tweets surrounding controversial events. Political discussions surrounding the World Cup initially dominated but gradually declined, shifting the focus to sporting achievements and cultural exchange. Throughout the tournament, the host country, European countries participating in the World Cup, and fans contested the narrative surrounding the event. However, the study highlights how celebrities and public figures had a more significant impact on shaping conversations about sports, cultural exchange, and sociopolitical issues. These findings deepen the understanding of the interplay between sports, politics, culture, and social issues, offering insights to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
{"title":"The Qatar World Cup and Twitter sentiment: Unraveling the interplay of soft power, public opinion, and media scrutiny","authors":"Ahmed A. M. Hassan, Jia Wang","doi":"10.1177/10126902231218700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231218700","url":null,"abstract":"This research examines public opinion on Twitter during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, focusing on the interplay between sport, communication, and soft power. It sheds light on the online discourse surrounding a global sporting event by analyzing tweet frequency, sentiment changes, prevalent topics, and the most popular tweets surrounding controversial events. Political discussions surrounding the World Cup initially dominated but gradually declined, shifting the focus to sporting achievements and cultural exchange. Throughout the tournament, the host country, European countries participating in the World Cup, and fans contested the narrative surrounding the event. However, the study highlights how celebrities and public figures had a more significant impact on shaping conversations about sports, cultural exchange, and sociopolitical issues. These findings deepen the understanding of the interplay between sports, politics, culture, and social issues, offering insights to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"7 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138596927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1177/10126902231218180
N. Barker-Ruchti, Valeria Varea
The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal raised global awareness about child sexual abuse (CSA) in women's artistic gymnastics. The ensuing media coverage also centre-staged victims’ survivorship stories, a process that for many moved from dissociating, recognising and disclosing CSA to feeling comfort when connecting with survivors and accepting CSA as part of their life history. However, scholarship on what survivorship from CSA in sport entails, and importantly, what it means to athletes, is limited. In this article, we frame the survival of CSA using Arthur Frank’s socio-narratological conceptualisation of people being able to process the devastating consequences of a life-threatening and/or a life-altering event, and present the survivorship stories of two former gymnasts, Maria and Lucia (pseudonyms). For these two women, survivorship was facilitated by hearing others’ stories of sexual abuse, purposefully facing their CSA experiences and connecting with one another later in life to raise awareness about sexual abuse in sport. Thus, in addition to presenting Maria and Lucia's stories for the purpose of providing CSA victims with a survivorship narrative, we outline and reflect on the role hearing and telling stories have in CSA survivorship.
{"title":"Surviving child sexual abuse in women's artistic gymnastics: ‘It's beautiful, because had I stayed in the past, I wouldn’t have evolved as a person’","authors":"N. Barker-Ruchti, Valeria Varea","doi":"10.1177/10126902231218180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231218180","url":null,"abstract":"The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal raised global awareness about child sexual abuse (CSA) in women's artistic gymnastics. The ensuing media coverage also centre-staged victims’ survivorship stories, a process that for many moved from dissociating, recognising and disclosing CSA to feeling comfort when connecting with survivors and accepting CSA as part of their life history. However, scholarship on what survivorship from CSA in sport entails, and importantly, what it means to athletes, is limited. In this article, we frame the survival of CSA using Arthur Frank’s socio-narratological conceptualisation of people being able to process the devastating consequences of a life-threatening and/or a life-altering event, and present the survivorship stories of two former gymnasts, Maria and Lucia (pseudonyms). For these two women, survivorship was facilitated by hearing others’ stories of sexual abuse, purposefully facing their CSA experiences and connecting with one another later in life to raise awareness about sexual abuse in sport. Thus, in addition to presenting Maria and Lucia's stories for the purpose of providing CSA victims with a survivorship narrative, we outline and reflect on the role hearing and telling stories have in CSA survivorship.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138597163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1177/10126902231217941
Martin Nesse, S. Agergaard, Lucy V. Piggott
For the last 20 years, Putnam's conceptualisations of bonding and bridging social capital have become a common reference for policies and programmes that seek to promote integration in and through sports. However, few researchers have looked beyond face-to-face interactions to how sports may develop migrants’ relations to formal associations, institutions, and agencies in civil society. In this article, we aim to explore how young refugees accumulate diverse forms of social capital through participation in sports clubs and informal sports. Drawing on Lewandowski's conceptualisations of horizontal and vertical social capital, we analyse 10 young refugees’ experiences with sports participation in Norway. The results show that informants found it challenging to participate in sports clubs due to conflicting views on how to ‘do sports’ as well as processes of ‘othering’. As a result, their opportunities for accumulating vertical social capital (social connections and resources across vertical power differentials) were limited and only identified for the most highly skilled informants. Consequently, the informants dropped out of sports clubs and instead joined informal sports to experience a sense of community and belonging with peers similar to themselves. By doing so, the informants were able to accumulate horizontal social capital (resources within a specific socioeconomic or cultural stratum) as well as negotiating specific types of vertical social capital. Overall, our findings illustrate some of the challenges and limitations of Norwegian sports policy and clubs in facilitating social capital and, thus, social mobility for young refugees.
{"title":"Young refugees’ experiences of accumulating horizontal and vertical social capital through organised and informal sports","authors":"Martin Nesse, S. Agergaard, Lucy V. Piggott","doi":"10.1177/10126902231217941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231217941","url":null,"abstract":"For the last 20 years, Putnam's conceptualisations of bonding and bridging social capital have become a common reference for policies and programmes that seek to promote integration in and through sports. However, few researchers have looked beyond face-to-face interactions to how sports may develop migrants’ relations to formal associations, institutions, and agencies in civil society. In this article, we aim to explore how young refugees accumulate diverse forms of social capital through participation in sports clubs and informal sports. Drawing on Lewandowski's conceptualisations of horizontal and vertical social capital, we analyse 10 young refugees’ experiences with sports participation in Norway. The results show that informants found it challenging to participate in sports clubs due to conflicting views on how to ‘do sports’ as well as processes of ‘othering’. As a result, their opportunities for accumulating vertical social capital (social connections and resources across vertical power differentials) were limited and only identified for the most highly skilled informants. Consequently, the informants dropped out of sports clubs and instead joined informal sports to experience a sense of community and belonging with peers similar to themselves. By doing so, the informants were able to accumulate horizontal social capital (resources within a specific socioeconomic or cultural stratum) as well as negotiating specific types of vertical social capital. Overall, our findings illustrate some of the challenges and limitations of Norwegian sports policy and clubs in facilitating social capital and, thus, social mobility for young refugees.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"29 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138595359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-29DOI: 10.1177/10126902231217185
K. Lehtonen, E. Skille, Josef Fahlén
The governance of Indigenous people is in many contexts a combination of political ambitions to promote self-governance, and more traditional policies and governance practices. These combinations often carry unintended contradictions and exclusionary processes. In this article, we investigate the consequences of one such contradiction: the aspiration for self-determination and self-governance on the one hand and the aspiration for broader political influence in decisions about resources to Sámi sport on the other. Since legitimation of governance structures and practices is essential for their overall functionality, we constructed the research question: What strategies are used to legitimise the policy and governance practices of Sámi sport? To explore this research question, we employed Sámi sport in Finland as an empirical case. Results show that authorisation as a legitimation strategy is prominent and used at institutional and individual levels. Moral evaluation as strategy is based on authoritative actors’ personal choice. Inclusion and integration in mainstream policy is seen as a rational legitimation strategy, which is supported by narratives where smallness and uniqueness are dominant.
{"title":"The art of balance: Indigenous sport governance between traditional government and self-governance","authors":"K. Lehtonen, E. Skille, Josef Fahlén","doi":"10.1177/10126902231217185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231217185","url":null,"abstract":"The governance of Indigenous people is in many contexts a combination of political ambitions to promote self-governance, and more traditional policies and governance practices. These combinations often carry unintended contradictions and exclusionary processes. In this article, we investigate the consequences of one such contradiction: the aspiration for self-determination and self-governance on the one hand and the aspiration for broader political influence in decisions about resources to Sámi sport on the other. Since legitimation of governance structures and practices is essential for their overall functionality, we constructed the research question: What strategies are used to legitimise the policy and governance practices of Sámi sport? To explore this research question, we employed Sámi sport in Finland as an empirical case. Results show that authorisation as a legitimation strategy is prominent and used at institutional and individual levels. Moral evaluation as strategy is based on authoritative actors’ personal choice. Inclusion and integration in mainstream policy is seen as a rational legitimation strategy, which is supported by narratives where smallness and uniqueness are dominant.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139214692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-29DOI: 10.1177/10126902231217186
Johannes Müller
Based on an ethnographic study in a German prison, this article explores the question of what meaning incarcerated men attach to sport in light of the loss of freedom and autonomy which according to Sykes are particular ‘pains of imprisonment’. The material shows the following: (1) Incarceration is perceived by imprisoned men as a life under duress and proves to be a stark contrast to life outside prison due to the limited freedom of movement, action and decision making. (2) Sport is a means for incarcerated men to bring back memories of being free and to mentally escape into the time before imprisonment. (3) Sport is one of the few opportunities for imprisoned men to spend time in fresh air, which results in a physically–sensually experienced liberation. (4) Participation in sports enables the incarcerated to temporarily regain freedom of action and decision making. Overall, the findings indicate that sport can best be understood as a help in coping with incarceration. It is concluded from the findings that imprisoned men attach their own meanings to sport, largely detached from the function of sport ascribed by the institution (such as rehabilitation and health promotion).
{"title":"‘For those few minutes you are free’: The meaning of sport from imprisoned men's perspective","authors":"Johannes Müller","doi":"10.1177/10126902231217186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231217186","url":null,"abstract":"Based on an ethnographic study in a German prison, this article explores the question of what meaning incarcerated men attach to sport in light of the loss of freedom and autonomy which according to Sykes are particular ‘pains of imprisonment’. The material shows the following: (1) Incarceration is perceived by imprisoned men as a life under duress and proves to be a stark contrast to life outside prison due to the limited freedom of movement, action and decision making. (2) Sport is a means for incarcerated men to bring back memories of being free and to mentally escape into the time before imprisonment. (3) Sport is one of the few opportunities for imprisoned men to spend time in fresh air, which results in a physically–sensually experienced liberation. (4) Participation in sports enables the incarcerated to temporarily regain freedom of action and decision making. Overall, the findings indicate that sport can best be understood as a help in coping with incarceration. It is concluded from the findings that imprisoned men attach their own meanings to sport, largely detached from the function of sport ascribed by the institution (such as rehabilitation and health promotion).","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139214422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-27DOI: 10.1177/10126902231215296
Christiana Schallhorn, Kasey Symons, Jessica Kunert, Lina-Doreen Rose
Despite growing interest in women's football, limited research exists on its fans and their fan experience. Thus, findings from women's football culture against the background of hegemonic masculinity are presented, demonstrating how the space counteracts this concept. An online survey for fans located in Australia and Germany was developed to explore perceived differences in the culture of women's football. Participation in online (social media, broadcast) and offline (in stadium, in-person events) communities was examined. Further findings identified relevant themes for women's football fans: (1) the authentic character of women's football; (2) the strong bond between teams, players and fans; (3) the stadium as a safe space; (4) the friendly atmosphere in the stadium; and (5) less commercialisation, mediatisation and professionalisation. Implications for women's football, its fans and fan culture are discussed.
{"title":"Inclusive, inviting, inspiring: Insights into the experiences of women's football fans in Australia and Germany","authors":"Christiana Schallhorn, Kasey Symons, Jessica Kunert, Lina-Doreen Rose","doi":"10.1177/10126902231215296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231215296","url":null,"abstract":"Despite growing interest in women's football, limited research exists on its fans and their fan experience. Thus, findings from women's football culture against the background of hegemonic masculinity are presented, demonstrating how the space counteracts this concept. An online survey for fans located in Australia and Germany was developed to explore perceived differences in the culture of women's football. Participation in online (social media, broadcast) and offline (in stadium, in-person events) communities was examined. Further findings identified relevant themes for women's football fans: (1) the authentic character of women's football; (2) the strong bond between teams, players and fans; (3) the stadium as a safe space; (4) the friendly atmosphere in the stadium; and (5) less commercialisation, mediatisation and professionalisation. Implications for women's football, its fans and fan culture are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139233569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-15DOI: 10.1177/10126902231214955
Derrick Charway, Åse Strandbu
Despite numerous international and national policy documents promoting girls’ and women's empowerment and participation in community sports, the actual access to sport for women and girls is still restricted in several countries. This paper explores the situation in Ghana. Through the analytical lens of Cooky and Messner’s theory of ‘the unevenness of social change’, we analyse the cultural and structural barriers that prevent girls and women from participating in sport in Ghanaian communities. The data material is document analysis, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with male and female officials representing state-funded regional and district sports organisations as well as non-state sports organisations in Ghana. The findings reveal that cultural barriers, rooted in deep-seated cultural norms and structural hindrances that undermine gender-inclusive policies, contribute to the limited participation of girls and women in community sport. Furthermore, the interplay between these cultural and structural factors leads to gender-specific practices and fewer women in leadership positions. Based on our analyses, we suggest that structural changes (enforcing and implementing gender policies) can result in cultural changes (positive gender equality outcomes) over time.
{"title":"Participation of girls and women in community sport in Ghana: Cultural and structural barriers","authors":"Derrick Charway, Åse Strandbu","doi":"10.1177/10126902231214955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231214955","url":null,"abstract":"Despite numerous international and national policy documents promoting girls’ and women's empowerment and participation in community sports, the actual access to sport for women and girls is still restricted in several countries. This paper explores the situation in Ghana. Through the analytical lens of Cooky and Messner’s theory of ‘the unevenness of social change’, we analyse the cultural and structural barriers that prevent girls and women from participating in sport in Ghanaian communities. The data material is document analysis, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with male and female officials representing state-funded regional and district sports organisations as well as non-state sports organisations in Ghana. The findings reveal that cultural barriers, rooted in deep-seated cultural norms and structural hindrances that undermine gender-inclusive policies, contribute to the limited participation of girls and women in community sport. Furthermore, the interplay between these cultural and structural factors leads to gender-specific practices and fewer women in leadership positions. Based on our analyses, we suggest that structural changes (enforcing and implementing gender policies) can result in cultural changes (positive gender equality outcomes) over time.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"6 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139275632","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-13DOI: 10.1177/10126902231211683
Egil Trasti Rogstad
This study investigates the media construction of Chiquita Evans, the first woman to participate in the NBA 2 K League, uncovering a complex interplay of gender norms and power dynamics. Explored through Foucauldian discourse analysis, her identity negotiation within this unique space, where sport, gaming, and media converge, is illuminated. Evans emerges as a trailblazer who challenges and reshapes established gender conventions in the male-dominated esports arena. While her defiance of gender norms is evident, the media's focus on her physicality inadvertently perpetuates gendered expectations. Moreover, Evans’ participation showcases her navigation of racial and gender norms, exposing lingering biases. The intersection of sport and media logic demonstrates evolving dynamics while also highlighting challenges faced by women players. Overall, the media construction of Evans works to encourage acceptance while reproducing established stereotypes, suggesting that increased representation may not inherently challenge power dynamics.
{"title":"Media (re)presentation of a black woman esports player: The case of Chiquita Evans in the NBA 2K League","authors":"Egil Trasti Rogstad","doi":"10.1177/10126902231211683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231211683","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the media construction of Chiquita Evans, the first woman to participate in the NBA 2 K League, uncovering a complex interplay of gender norms and power dynamics. Explored through Foucauldian discourse analysis, her identity negotiation within this unique space, where sport, gaming, and media converge, is illuminated. Evans emerges as a trailblazer who challenges and reshapes established gender conventions in the male-dominated esports arena. While her defiance of gender norms is evident, the media's focus on her physicality inadvertently perpetuates gendered expectations. Moreover, Evans’ participation showcases her navigation of racial and gender norms, exposing lingering biases. The intersection of sport and media logic demonstrates evolving dynamics while also highlighting challenges faced by women players. Overall, the media construction of Evans works to encourage acceptance while reproducing established stereotypes, suggesting that increased representation may not inherently challenge power dynamics.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"27 11","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136282060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-08DOI: 10.1177/10126902231211680
Nicholas Hookway, Catherine Palmer, Zack Dwyer, Casey Mainsbridge
Once discouraged or viewed as dangerous, Masters athletes are now seen as exemplars of how people should age. This paper qualitatively examines the sporting pathways, embodied experiences and the moral formation of ageing identities among ‘young-old’ athletes competing in the 16th Australian Masters Games. Held in regional Tasmania (Australia), the Games attracted over 5000 participants competing across 47 sports over an 8-day period. Contributing to a critical body of scholarship on Masters athletes, the paper shows that class and gender inequality shape processes of becoming and being a Masters athlete that are rarely acknowledged in the ‘heroic ageing’ accounts the participants narrate. Further, the paper develops a unique spatial perspective on Masters sport that recognises the potential of the Games to disrupt place-based stigma but also identifies its class dimensions both as a site of middle-class shame and consumer opportunity for affluent sports tourists. We draw upon Allen-Collinson's concept of ‘intense embodiment’ to spotlight the sensory pleasures, pain and injuries of training and competing as an older athlete but also as an important lens for analysing the construction of ageing moral identities that can stigmatise and exclude the inactive old.
{"title":"Becoming and being a masters athlete: Class, gender, place and the embodied formation of (anti)-ageing moral identities","authors":"Nicholas Hookway, Catherine Palmer, Zack Dwyer, Casey Mainsbridge","doi":"10.1177/10126902231211680","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902231211680","url":null,"abstract":"Once discouraged or viewed as dangerous, Masters athletes are now seen as exemplars of how people should age. This paper qualitatively examines the sporting pathways, embodied experiences and the moral formation of ageing identities among ‘young-old’ athletes competing in the 16th Australian Masters Games. Held in regional Tasmania (Australia), the Games attracted over 5000 participants competing across 47 sports over an 8-day period. Contributing to a critical body of scholarship on Masters athletes, the paper shows that class and gender inequality shape processes of becoming and being a Masters athlete that are rarely acknowledged in the ‘heroic ageing’ accounts the participants narrate. Further, the paper develops a unique spatial perspective on Masters sport that recognises the potential of the Games to disrupt place-based stigma but also identifies its class dimensions both as a site of middle-class shame and consumer opportunity for affluent sports tourists. We draw upon Allen-Collinson's concept of ‘intense embodiment’ to spotlight the sensory pleasures, pain and injuries of training and competing as an older athlete but also as an important lens for analysing the construction of ageing moral identities that can stigmatise and exclude the inactive old.","PeriodicalId":47968,"journal":{"name":"International Review for the Sociology of Sport","volume":"55 6","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135430103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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