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Why Would Anyone Do That? : Lifestyle Sport in the Twenty-First Century / Stephen C. Poulson.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Critical Issues in Sport and SocietyPublisher: New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2016]Copyright date: ©2016Description: 1 online resource (246 p.) : 9 photographs, 2 figures, 2 taContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780813564449
  • 9780813564456
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 796.04/6 23
LOC classification:
  • GV749.7 .P68 2016
  • GV749.7 .P68 2016eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Why Would Anyone Ride a Mountain Bike in the Middle of the Night? -- 1. Social Life and Sport -- 2. Looking for Adventure, Looking for Authenticity -- 3. Disciplining Bodies in Lifestyle Sport -- 4. Types of Lifestyle Athletes and Team Touch of Grey -- 5. Resistance to Discipline in a Cycling Community -- 6. Why So White? Race and Social Class in Lifestyle Sport -- 7. Where Are the Women? Differing Levels of Participation in Lifestyle and Adventure Sport -- 8. Conclusion -- Appendix: My Experience with Lifestyle Sport and Location of the Study -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author
Summary: Triathlons, such as the famously arduous Ironman Triathlon, and "extreme" mountain biking-hair-raising events held over exceedingly dangerous terrain-are prime examples of the new "lifestyle sports" that have grown in recent years from oddball pursuits, practiced by a handful of characters, into multi-million-dollar industries. In Why Would Anyone Do That? sociologist Stephen C. Poulson offers a fascinating exploration of these new and physically demanding sports, shedding light on why some people find them so compelling. Drawing on interviews with lifestyle sport competitors, on his own experience as a participant, on advertising for lifestyle sport equipment, and on editorial content of adventure sport magazines, Poulson addresses a wide range of issues. He notes that these sports are often described as "authentic" challenges which help keep athletes sane given the demands they confront in their day-to-day lives. But is it really beneficial to "work" so hard at "play?" Is the discipline required to do these sports really an expression of freedom, or do these sports actually impose extraordinary degrees of conformity upon these athletes? Why Would Anyone Do That? grapples with these questions, and more generally with whether lifestyle sport should always be considered "good" for people. Poulson also looks at what happens when a sport becomes a commodity-even a sport that may have begun as a reaction against corporate and professional sport-arguing that commodification inevitably plays a role in determining who plays, and also how and why the sport is played. It can even help provide the meaning that athletes assign to their participation in the sport. Finally, the book explores the intersections of race, class, and gender with respect to participation in lifestyle and endurance sports, noting in particular that there is a near complete absence of people of color in most of these contests. In addition, Poulson examines how concepts of masculinity in triathlons have changed as women's roles in this sport increase.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780813564456

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Why Would Anyone Ride a Mountain Bike in the Middle of the Night? -- 1. Social Life and Sport -- 2. Looking for Adventure, Looking for Authenticity -- 3. Disciplining Bodies in Lifestyle Sport -- 4. Types of Lifestyle Athletes and Team Touch of Grey -- 5. Resistance to Discipline in a Cycling Community -- 6. Why So White? Race and Social Class in Lifestyle Sport -- 7. Where Are the Women? Differing Levels of Participation in Lifestyle and Adventure Sport -- 8. Conclusion -- Appendix: My Experience with Lifestyle Sport and Location of the Study -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Triathlons, such as the famously arduous Ironman Triathlon, and "extreme" mountain biking-hair-raising events held over exceedingly dangerous terrain-are prime examples of the new "lifestyle sports" that have grown in recent years from oddball pursuits, practiced by a handful of characters, into multi-million-dollar industries. In Why Would Anyone Do That? sociologist Stephen C. Poulson offers a fascinating exploration of these new and physically demanding sports, shedding light on why some people find them so compelling. Drawing on interviews with lifestyle sport competitors, on his own experience as a participant, on advertising for lifestyle sport equipment, and on editorial content of adventure sport magazines, Poulson addresses a wide range of issues. He notes that these sports are often described as "authentic" challenges which help keep athletes sane given the demands they confront in their day-to-day lives. But is it really beneficial to "work" so hard at "play?" Is the discipline required to do these sports really an expression of freedom, or do these sports actually impose extraordinary degrees of conformity upon these athletes? Why Would Anyone Do That? grapples with these questions, and more generally with whether lifestyle sport should always be considered "good" for people. Poulson also looks at what happens when a sport becomes a commodity-even a sport that may have begun as a reaction against corporate and professional sport-arguing that commodification inevitably plays a role in determining who plays, and also how and why the sport is played. It can even help provide the meaning that athletes assign to their participation in the sport. Finally, the book explores the intersections of race, class, and gender with respect to participation in lifestyle and endurance sports, noting in particular that there is a near complete absence of people of color in most of these contests. In addition, Poulson examines how concepts of masculinity in triathlons have changed as women's roles in this sport increase.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)