Making Sense of Sports

Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at Staffordshire University's Faculty of Health. Prior to this he was Professor of Sociology at the University of Tampa, Florida, and Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. Previous publications include, Martin Scorsese's America (Polity Press, 2009), Sport and Exercise Psychology: The Key Concepts (Routledge, 2008) and Celebrity/Culture (Routledge, 2006).

‘Provides a thorough overview of issues... it is a text that is to be strongly recommended.’ – Sociology‘Ellis Cashmore’s text is a clear and eloquent outline of many of the important areas in the broad field of sports sociology... an original, interesting and timely interpretation of a fast-moving field of academic study.’ – Times Higher Education Supplement‘One of the strengths of Cashmore’s book is that he does not limit himself to one particular perspective... the multi-disciplinary approach to sports studies which is employed here is certainly an attractive and integrative alternative to the more traditional sub-disciplinary approach.’ – Culture, Sport, Society (USA)

• 1. Introduction: What Would a World Without Sport be Like? 2. Back to Nature: How do we Decide Whether Althetes are Born of Made? 3. Built for Action: How Does the Body Compare to Well-Engineered Machinery? 4. A Very Different Animal: What Impact did Industrialism Make on Sport – and on Us? Burning Questions... How Old is Sport? 5. The Hunt for Reasons: How do Theories Help us Understand Sports? 6. In the Mind: How can Psychology Enrich our Understanding of Sports? 7. The Pursuit of Perfection: When did Fitness become a Culture Industry? Burning Questions... Why Don't More Gay Athletes Come Out? 8. Control of the Body: Where do we Draw the Line between Natural and Artificial? 9. Sports Emasculated: How Come Even Top Sportswomen are Still Sex Commodities? 10. Behind on Points: Why are we Still Discussing the Issue of Race in Sports? Burning Questions... Is Cheating Fair? 11.Champs and Cheats: When did we First Decide Drugs in Sport Were Wrong? 12. Not for the Fainthearted: Why do we like Athletes who Break the Rules? 13. Representing the Challenge: What Can we Learn from Painting, Sculpture, Photography and Film? 14. A Match Made in Heaven: How does the Media Control Sports? 15. Planet Murdoch: When did the Professionalization of Sports Begin? Burning Questions... Is Leing Left-handed an Advantage in Sports? 16. The [NIKE LOGO] that Conquered the World: How did Globalization Affect Sports? 17. Buying into Celebrity Culture: What makes Sports so Appealing to Advertisers? 18. Morals and Medals: Why is Sport about Rights and Wrongs? 19. Same Rules, Different Game: Why are Politics and Sport Inseparable? 20. Things to Come: Where do we Draw the line Between Technology and Humanity?