Sport as Symbol

Sport as Symbol
Author: Mari Womack
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0786415797

Upon first consideration, sport and art seem to occupy separate, even opposing, realms--sport, associated with physical prowess, and art, with the highest reaches of the human mind. But because sport is such a powerful metaphor for so many human experiences, it has found its way into artistic traditions all over the world. Part One of this book provides a basic understanding of sport as symbol. Part Two gives attention to animals as adversaries and traces the origins of sporting art back to the hunt. Part Three considers humans competing against humans in combat sports, ball games, stick-and-ball games, and racquet sports, as well as in warfare. Part Four concentrates on contesting with oneself in races and sports of grace and beauty such as gymnastics, figure skating and ice dancing. The book concludes with a discussion of the athlete's relationships to society.

Doing your Research Project in Sport

Doing your Research Project in Sport
Author: Chris Lynch
Publisher: Learning Matters
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2010-05-20
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0857255886

The research project is a major component of most higher education sport courses. While undertaking a research project can be an exciting and rewarding experience, it can all too easily lead to stress and disappointment. Mistakes made early in the process – in the design of experiments, for example – can lead to frustration later on. This accessible book guides students through the process, from the initial stages of research (identifying problems and designing questions) right through to the presentation of their findings.

This Great Symbol

This Great Symbol
Author: John J. MacAloon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2008
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780415390774

This Great Symbol is the definitive study of the origins of the modern Olympic Games and of their founder, Pierre de Coubertin, whose ideological stamp the Olympics still bear. Behind this fascinating blend of biography and history lies an impressive framework of cultural, social, and psychological theories skilfully employed to interpret the creation and symbolism of the modern Olympic Games. Hailed as both a classic in sport history and as a paradigmatic study in the anthropology of the past, This Great Symbol helped launch the new collaboration between historians and cultural anthropologists that continues to mark the human sciences worldwide. For this 25th anniversary edition, Professor MacAloon adds a new preface evaluating subsequent scholarship on Coubertin and the Olympic origins and a highly personal afterword describing the impact of This Great Symbol on his own subsequent career as an Olympic anthropologist and cultural performance theory. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

National Symbols at the Olympic Games

National Symbols at the Olympic Games
Author: Jörg Krieger
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2025-02-17
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1040297226

This provocative book makes the case for the complete removal of national symbolism in the Olympic Games. Focusing on the case of national flags at the Olympic Games, it explores the history of national symbols at the Olympics and asks what this issue can tell us about the politicisation of sport in the twenty-first century. Drawing on multi-disciplinary research from history, political science and sociology, and exploring the link between historical processes and the experiences of individuals, the book attempts to deconstruct the global sport system and its traditions. It argues that the history of flags is essentially the history of nationalism itself, impacted by power interests, and by exploring the lesser-known Olympic histories of athletes such as American boxer Oscar De La Hoya or those from the Faroe Islands, the book explores the complex links between national symbolism and international sport. It concludes with a controversial set of proposals for breaking those links, including a new tradition that would symbolically ‘lock up’ national flags as part of the opening ceremony of Olympic Games. Thought-provoking and concise, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the politics, sociology, history or governance of sport, or in nationalism, international organisations or the history of protest.

Sport Branding Insights

Sport Branding Insights
Author: Constantino Stavros
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2019-10-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000733904

In a sporting world dominated by media and money, an understanding of sport branding is an essential skill for any sport manager. Success means being able to ‘brand’ – and therefore differentiate – a sport club, player, code, or event in a highly competitive entertainment market. For anyone seeking to understand or manage sport, this book offers an immediate and salient insight into the complex and dynamic process of creating a powerful sport brand. The book explains how a sport brand goes beyond just an identifying badge, reinforced by a name or a logo that helps sport consumers recognise a product or an organisation. It reveals how a brand becomes linked with consumers’ opinions and perceptions of a sport product and the organisation that owns it. Readers will learn how to create a powerful brand that has both recognition in the market and strong associated imagery, by imbuing it with a spirit of the past through appeals to tradition, by endowing it with human qualities of emotionality, thought, and volition, and through the use of characters, colours, texts, and symbols. It also provides a brief guide to the new domains of digital sport branding and social media. Concise, informative, and entertaining, this is an essential resource for anyone exploring or practising the business of sport.

A Sociological Perspective of Sport

A Sociological Perspective of Sport
Author: Wilbert Marcellus Leonard
Publisher: Pearson
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1998
Genre: Sports
ISBN:

A Sociological Perspective of Sport, Fifth Edition offers a comprehensive look at the social world of sport. The text is organized to show how sport is a vital component of major sociological concepts such as culture, social organization, socialization, deviance, small groups, collective behavior, mass media, and institutional interrelationships (education, politics, and religion). Chapters move from the "macro" perspective to the "micro" view to make the connection between sport and society clear. A Sociological Perspective of Sport is based on three central themes: sport is a social institution worthy of sociological examination like the more traditional institutions of marriage/family, politics, economy, religion, law, health/medicine, science, and education; sport is a microcosm of the larger society and as such reflects and reinforces the dominant ideology; and numerous institutional connections between sport and other societal institutions make it impossible for changes in one sphere not to have reverberating effects in all spheres.

Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World

Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World
Author: Dilwyn Porter
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 113445693X

This book provides a broad range of international case studies to examine how sport has helped to shape national identities, and how national cultures have shaped sport.

Sport Brands

Sport Brands
Author: Patrick Bouchet
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0415532841

Sport brands are a central element of modern sport business and a ubiquitous component of contemporary global culture. This groundbreaking book offers a complete analysis of the topic of sport brands from both a marketing management approach (strategy and implementation) and a psycho-sociological approach (consumption and wider society). In doing so it explores both supply and demand sides, offering a complete introduction to the nature, purpose and value of sport brands not found in any other sports marketing text. The book covers the whole heterogeneity of sport brands, going much further than the sport team and league brands covered in most other books. As well as teams and leagues, the book considers the brands of sports celebrities, events, media, computer games and governing bodies, as well as the ethical, professional and technological 'label brands' associated with sport. Richly illustrated with cases, examples and data, the book explores the tangible and intangible influence of sport brands, their economic and social value, and the subcultures and communities that grow up around them. It also introduces common strategies for growing brands, and growing through brands, and examines the challenges and threats that sport brands face, from boycotts and ambush marketing to counterfeiting. An understanding of sport brands is essential for a fully rounded understanding of contemporary sport marketing. As a result, this book is important reading for any student or practitioner working in sport marketing, sport business, or mainstream marketing management.

Strategic Sport Communication

Strategic Sport Communication
Author: Paul M. Pedersen
Publisher: Human Kinetics
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2024-04-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1718221479

"Strategic Sport Communication explores the multifaceted segment of sport communication. This text presents a standard framework that introduces readers to the many ways in which individuals, media outlets, and sport organizations work to create, disseminate, and manage messages to their constituents"--