POLS 498: Senior Seminar (Politics of Sports)

As the first edited collection dedicated specifically to race, ethnicity and British football, this book brings together a range of academics, comprising both established commentators and up-and-coming voices. Combining theoretical and empirical contributions, the volume addresses a wide variety of topics such as the experiences of Muslims, the recruitment of African players, devolution and national identities, case studies of minority ethnic clubs, "mixed-race" players, multiculturalism and anti-racism, sectarianism, education, and covering the amateur and professional spheres, and focusing on both players and supporters, the book elucidates the linkages between race, ethnicity, gender and masculinity.

Sport has become a global business. There is no corner of the Earth that isn't reached by coverage of global sporting mega-events such as the Olympics or the World Cup, events managed by international governing bodies such as the IOC and FIFA that operate like major international businesses. Companies such as Nike now design, produce, distribute and market their products across every continent, while an increasingly important part of every country's sport market is now international in terms of its influences and opportunities. This book is the first to examine the economics of contemporary sport using the global market as the primary unit of analysis. Starting with a survey of the changing nature of the sports market over the last hundred years, the book explores the difficulties of measuring the true scale and impact of the global sports economy, employing a wealth of empirical data to define and analyze the sports market and all its sub-sectors. In doing so, the book draws on case studies from the UK, Europe, North America and beyond. This book is essential reading for any student or professional with an interest in the economics of sport.

This book examines the relationship between athletics and philosophy in ancient Greece and Rome focused on the connection between athleticism and virtue. It begins by observing that the link between athleticism and virtue is older than sport, reaching back to the athletic feats of kings and pharaohs in early Egypt and Mesopotamia. It then traces the role of athletics and the Olympic Games in transforming the idea of aristocracy as something acquired by birth to something that can be trained. This idea of training virtue through the techniques and practice of athletics is examined in relation to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Then Roman spectacles such as chariot racing and gladiator games are studied in light of the philosophy of Lucretius, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. The concluding chapter connects the book's ancient observations with contemporary issues such as the use of athletes as role models, the relationship between money and corruption, the relative worth of participation and spectatorship, and the role of females in sport. The author argues that there is a strong link between sport and philosophy in the ancient world, calling them offspring of common parents: concern about virtue and the spirit of free enquiry. This book was previously published as a special issue of thenbsp;Ethics andnbsp;Sport.

Bread and circuses were what the Romans demanded of their emperors, and for more than 500 years spectacular events in amphitheaters, circuses, and theaters were the most important leisure activities of the masses in all parts of the Roman empire. In Rome itself, public holidays featuring magnificent and costly shows occupied more than half the year. Comedies and tragedies, pantomimes and bawdy folk plays were staged in the theaters, while in the arena of the Colosseum, opened in a.d. 80, gladiators fought in pairs or with wild animals to satisfy the blood lust of the crowd, and hundreds of thousands of race-goers packed the stands of the Circus Maximus to enjoy the thrills of chariot racing. The organization of games came to be part and parcel of electioneering in towns and cities and was increasingly used as a means to consolidate the power of the reigning emperor. Like the sports stars of today, the top gladiators, charioteers, and actors were folk heroes, and the power of their universal appeal was recognized and exploited by politicians and emperors alike. Two thousand years later, the Roman games may seem remote, but, as this superbly illustrated book shows, they satisfied the same need for excitement and hero-worship that gives rise to the intense media coverage of sports in our own time.

Football is unquestionably the world's most popular and influential sport. There is no corner of the globe in which the game is not played or followed. More countries are affiliated to FIFA, football's governing body, than to the United Nations. The sport has therefore become an important component of our social, cultural, political and economic life. The Routledge Handbook of Football Studies is a landmark work of reference, going further than any other book in considering the historical and contemporary significance of football around the world. Written by a team of leading sport scholars, the book covers a broad range of disciplines from history, sociology, politics and business, to philosophy, law and media studies. The central section of the book examines key themes and issues in football studies, such as the World Cup and international competition, governance and ownership, fandom and celebrity. The concluding section offers in-depth surveys of the culture and organisation of football in each of the regional confederations, from UEFA to CONCACAF. This book is fascinating reading for all serious football fans and an essential resource for students and scholars of sport studies, as well as any practitioner or policymaker working in football.   .

The world of sport is saturated with the signs and images of transnational corporations. But what effect does the relationship between sport and transnational corporate capitalism have on national cultural identities?From baseball in Japan to the growth of womens soccer in the US, from the corporate use of sport after September 11th to the FA Cup and the NBA, sporting events and their corporate partners can have a profound impact on collective imaginations at both transnational and local levels. Sport and Corporate Nationalisms explores the localized logics and practices underlying the marketing initiatives of major conglomerates and their increasing influence on the shaping and experiencing of national cultures. Corporations depend on sport as a vital marketing vehicle for inserting their interests into the lives of local consumers. This book puts forth convincing arguments that relate the role of sport-marketing complexes to national cultural markets in a global age.Sport and Corporate Nationalisms provides a much-needed analysis of the growing evolution of marketing strategies in the world of sport.

Though Americans spend more than $25 billion a year on sports and sporting events, this book argues that the influence of sports on our lives is even more profound than this huge figure would seem to suggest. Exploring such topics as the role of sports in the creation of mass culture, cheating, the abuse of illegal drugs, the strange and fascinating role that numbers play in sporting events, and the future of spectator sport, this book surveys the outsized impact that sports have on American culture. The author draws from new work in such fields as history, economics, politics, sociology, psychology, and ethics to support his claims. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.