This case study is part of the Contemporary Cases Online series. The series provides critical case studies that are original, flexible, challenging, controversial and research-informed, driven by the needs of teaching and learning.

Playing and watching sport can teach us a great deal about wider social issues. This book looks at how identities are constructed and reinforced in sport, exploring notions of race, class, sexuality and nationalism. With contributions from international experts, this book is key reading for students of sociology and sports studies.

Identity is one of the most theorised and contested of all sociological concepts and sport is fertile ground for an examination of its complexities. This book offers a wide-ranging and up-to-date exploration of the sport-identity nexus, drawing examples from a variety of sporting contexts and geographical locations, and incorporating a diversity of perspectives including players, spectators, officials, the media and policy-makers. Covering key themes in the social scientific study of sport such as gender, ethnicity and national identity, it considers the impact of social, cultural and technological change on the formation of sporting identities. Including original real-life case studies, each chapter makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between sport and identity. As this relationship is embedded within the broader structures of power that frame social inequality, this book also poses important questions about the role of sport-related initiatives in our society today, as well as in years to come. Sport and Contested Identities: Contemporary Issues and Debates is fascinating reading for all students and scholars of the sociology of sport.

A collection of essays drawing together perspectives from a number of disciplines across philosophy, sociology, gender studies and more, to explore ethical questions raised by issues of gender and sexuality in sport.

This book examines how different stages of adult life affect participation in lifestyle sports and in the construction of identity. Drawing on multi-disciplinary perspectives, it explores how gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and location, in conjunction with age and stage in career, affect lifestyle sport practices and meanings. Tracing engagement with lifestyle sport across the lifecourse, from young adult to older age, the book examines the concepts of authenticity and identity in subcultural and alternative sports, exploring how individuals develop lifestyle sport identities, maintain authentic identities, and how they manage those identities as older adults. It presents a range of fascinating, cutting-edge case studies from around the world, covering sports as diverse as climbing, surfing, mountain biking, skateboarding and roller derby, and considers key contemporary issues such as professionalisation, sports labor, and digital technology. It also highlights political tensions and shifts that shape the identities of lifestyle sport communities. This is essential reading for anybody with a serious interest in alternative or lifestyle sports, the relationships between sport and wider society, or the development of subcultures and cultural identity.

Including the work of top sports communication researchers, Examining Identity in Sports Media explores identity issues, including gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and (dis)ability, as well as the intersections within these various identity issues. This co-edited, twelve-chapter book investigates how various identity groups are framed, treated, affected, and shaped by a ubiquitous sports media, including television, magazines, film, the Internet, and newspapers. While other books may devote a chapter or section to issues of identity in sports media, this book offers a complete examination of identity from cover to cover, allowing identity variables to be both isolated and intermingled to capture how identity is negotiated within sports media platforms. Far more than a series of case studies, this book surveys the current state of the field while providing insight on future directions for identity scholarship in sports communication. Examining Identity in Sports Media is ideal for undergraduate or graduate-level courses in Sports Communication, Sports Media, Media Criticism, Sports Sociology, Gender Communication, and Identity Politics.

This volume of essays examines the ways in which sports have become a means for the communication of social identity in the United States. The essays included here explore the question, How is identity engaged in the performance and spectatorship of sports? Defining sports as the whole range of mediated professional sports, and considering actual participation in sports, the chapters herein address a varied range of ways in which sports as a cultural entity becomes a site for the creation and management of symbolic components of identity. Originating in the New Agendas in Communication symposium sponsored by the University of Texas College of Communication, this volume provides contemporary explorations of sports and identity, highlighting the perspectives of up-and-coming scholars and researchers. It has much to offer readers in communication, sociology of sport, human kinetics, and related areas.

Given sport’s centrality in English society, what role does it play in symbolising contemporary English national identity? This comprehensive study explores the complex set of relationships between sport and what it means to be English in the twenty-first century. The bond between sport and nationalism has long been recognised, but with increasingly vociferous separatist nationalisms threatening the dismantling of the United Kingdom, a closer analysis is timely. Part one addresses key debates regarding English national identity within the specific sporting contexts of association football, cricket, tennis, cycling and rugby. Part two discusses the complex relationship between religion, sport and English national identity as well as the attitudes and experiences of traditionally marginalized groups, including women, minority ethnic groups and disabled people. Part three considers the perspectives of the other UK nations on the link between sport and English national identity. Sport and English National Identity in a 'Disunited Kingdom' is fascinating reading for all those with an interest in the sociology, politics and history of sport, and the study of nations, nationalism and national identity.

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.

National Identity and Global Sports Events looks at the significance of international sporting events and why they generate enormous audiences worldwide. Focusing on the Olympic Games and the men's football (soccer) World Cup, the contributors examine the political, cultural, economic, and ideological influences that frame these events. Selected case studies include the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin, the 1934 World Cup Finals in Italy, the unique case of the 1972 Munich Games, the transformative 1984 Games in Los Angeles, and the 2002 Asian World Cup Finals, among others. The case studies show how the Olympics and the World Cup Finals provide a basis for the articulation of entrenched and dominant political ideologies, encourage persisting senses of national identity, and act as barometers for the changing ideological climate of the modern and increasingly globalized contemporary world. Through rigorous scholarly analyses, the book's contributors help to illuminate the increasing significance of large-scale sporting events on the international stage.