Peter Donnelly

Jay Coakley

University of Colorado Colorado Springs Colorado Jay Coakley

How do people become involved in sports? What can their experiences teach us? These are two of the many questions asked by this unique collection of personal stories of people involved in sport. Told by researchers who have interviewd participants and observed what happens in the setting where people play sports, the contributions not only show how sport studies contribute to the wider study of society, but also describe the difficulties and challenges faced when doing research of this kind. Inside Sports is divided into four main sections reflecting the social processes and developments over time that make up the experience of sport for most people, however diverse their circumstances may otherwise be: * Early experiences: being introduced to sports * Experience and identity: becoming an athlete * Deep in the experience: doing sports * Transition experiences: facing life beyond the playing field. In its extensive coverage of the sporting experience from within, as well as its discussion of research methods, Inside Sports will be essential reading for all students studying sport in society.

Inside Sports

Sports in Society emphasizes the cultural, interactional, and structural dimensions of sports. Coakley encourages readers to think critically about issues and controversies in sports while considering their own personal experiences, families, schools, communities and societies.

Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies

Eric Dunning

Now available in paperback, this vital handbook marks the development of sports studies as a major new discipline within the social sciences. Edited by the leading sociologist of sport, Eric Dunning, and Jay Coakley, author of the best selling textbook on sport in the USA, it both reflects and richly endorses this new found status. Key aspects of the Handbook include: an inventory of the principal achievements in the field; a guide to the chief conflicts and difficulties in the theory and research process; a rallying point for researchers who are established or new to the field, which sets the agenda for future developments; a resource book for teachers who wish to establish new curricula and develop courses and programmes in the area of sports studies. With an international and inter-disciplinary team of contributors the Handbook of Sports Studies is comprehensive in scope, relevant in content and far-reaching in its discussion of future prospect.

Jay Coakley

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