Abstract

This book is not a comprehensive history of sociological thought about sport and leisure but rather a selective history of some of the major traditions of social thought which have informed an ever increasing body research into the sociology of sport and leisure. Contents: 1. Functionalism, solidarity and social stratification; 2. Interpretative sociology: Rationalisation, cultural pessimism and the research for meaning; 3. Beyond conventional pluralism; 4. Classical Marxism, political economy and beyond; 5. Culture as war of position and a way of life; 6. Figurations, power and civilising processes; 7. Feminist thought and the boundaries of sisterhood; 8. Fields of power, habitus and distinction; 9. Beyond modernity and the problems of postmodernism; 10. Dependency and globalisation: Sport leisure and global processes. Aus Einleitung und Inhalt