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Swedish gymnastics has been reduced to a directory of progressive analytical movements intended to form the basis of what is known in French physical education as a global gymnastics. This article explains how Philippe Tissié was inspired by Swedish gymnastics in his development of a hybrid vision between the Swedish method of physical education and the French model that was largely derived from the works of Jean Saint-Martin Amoros and Philippe Sarremejane. The paper demonstrates how Tissié's French gymnastics was not only limited to analytical movements but also included the practice of sports. At the same time, it explains how the creation of this hybrid model meshed scientific findings from life sciences (biology and physiology) with human and social sciences (psychology and sociology). Between 1886 and 1935, Tissié's appropriation, thus, enabled him to structure his conceptions of physical education and to move from the Swedish to the Franco-Swedish method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about changing contemporary Western societies have emphasized the increasingly fluid and fragmented nature of identities, suggesting that people draw their sense of identity from increasingly diverse sources, including sport and leisure lifestyles. Drawing on ethnographic work on windsurfing subcultures, this article explores the ways in which participants create and perform (sub)cultural identities through their "'new sport" consumption and its attendant lifestyle. The paper identifies the main features of the windsurfers' status system, illustrating that demonstrating commitment, not the conspicuous display of equipment or subcultural style, is central to the meanings the windsurfers give to their participation and subcultural identity. The paper concludes by examining to what degree purported features of contemporary postmodern culture, such as a loss of self- identity, are reflected in such seemingly "image-based" new sport consumption practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author was delighted that sociologists Alan G. Ingham and Peter Donnelly found his article, worthy of their efforts. The topic is clearly a significant one for sociology of sport and it is time when everyone came to grips with those more pressing issues that have heretofore hindered the development of the field. Ingham and Donnelly's research paper does not contribute substantively to the development of applied sociology of sport. However, it does address a number of significant issues regarding the political and philosophical implications of such an enterprise. While the author is sensitive to their concerns, he says that he must point out that many of the issues they raise were originally addressed by many sociologists in stage I of this process in the 1960s and 1970s define Stage I as the exploratory phase, in which goals are identified, assumptions are examined, and implications are critically evaluated. Unfortunately, Ingham and Donnelly's contribution misses the mark since their concerns deal almost exclusively with Stage Tissues. Had they been familiar with the earlier works to develop applied sociology, perhaps their paper could have made a more pertinent contribution to the development of Stage II. However, the issues that were debated at length in the 1960s and 1970s have now become rather tiresome.

The paper argues that a psychosociological study of the sports fan has an important place in any comprehensive sport studies curriculum. Not only is there an exciting body of knowledge developing around this ubiquitous of sport actors, but a study of sports fandom forces one to confront several significant and enduring issues that transcend the immediate boundaries of spectatorship. The paper suggests that a study of the sports fan provides an opportunity for exploring relevant and timely contemporary issues and problems. What makes this all the more exciting, from the standpoint of the instructor, is that the spectator role is one with which most if not all students can identify. A discussion of sports fandom will provoke some of the liveliest and most stimulating discussions the instructor has ever been privy to. In most social science courses offered under the rubric Sport Studies, the focus is typically on the sport participant rather than the sport consumer. What is being suggested instead is an alternative way of presenting the same material, that is, from the perspective of the sports fan. Social influence processes abound in any discussion of spectatorship.

Following criticism leveled at sociologists by Chris Rojek and Bryan Turner in “Decorative Sociology: A Critique of the Cultural Turn,” this article identifies a troubling absence of systematic contextualization in sport sociology. In addressing this issue, I begin by describing the role of history and context in sociology and conclude that the discipline should take history more seriously, not least by giving context greater due. I then engage the debate as to whether radical contextual cultural studies or social history offers the best explanation of context. Here I argue for the latter. In justifying my position, I adapt a model employed by the conservative social historian Arthur Marwick in “The sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy, and the United States, c. 1958-c. 1974,” to contextualize a contemporary cultural phenomenon, the female boarder (i.e., the female surfboard rider, skateboarder, and snowboarder). Ultimately, this paper illustrates that the systematic and transhistorical tools developed by social historians have the potential to facilitate a more all-encompassing contextualization of cultural phenomena, to examine multiple historical conjunctures, and to help sociologists take time and change more seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although deviance on and off the field have become popular topics of sociological investigation, sociologists have not studied the criminal or otherwise "deviant" roles ticket scalpers play in the cultural spectacle that is professional sport, In many ways, ticket scalpers have become a mainstay part of the backdrop upon which fans experience sporting events. As a first step in developing a sociological portrait of the social processes involved in ticket scalping, it is essential to examine how scalping is accomplished and experienced by its practitioners. This paper is intended to introduce sociologists of sport to the subculture of ticket scalpers by attending to the in-group perspectives and understandings ticket scalpers share toward their practices. Specifically, using ethnographic data collected on 54 ticket scalpers in a central Canadian city, I address how scalpers develop recipes of knowledge for their trade and how ticket scalping is accomplished as a social practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that the process of marginalization of women bodybuilders can be analyzed according to two theoretical frameworks. The first is essentially a pessimistic interpretation based on critical sociology and the concept of alienation, which discusses the limits of applying this concept to an empirical reality (in this case, female bodybuilders). The second considers the future of female bodybuilders as being constructed through the muscle cult. Our interpretation is comprehensive. The study stresses self-realization and self-fulfillment in female bodybuilders and discusses their attachment to the bodybuilding subculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological production is prompted and affected by the major social preoccupations of the society it stems from. This is an inherent feature of the social sciences because those who produce knowledge, in this case sociologists, participate in the society they study. The aim of this article is to highlight the social and historical conditions that are at the root of the production of knowledge in the sociology of sports, and the role the latter has played in the exercise sciences in Quebec. This article is composed of two parts. First, it will try to shed light on the social dynamics that created the sociology of sport. Second, it will try to show that the researchers' problematics and the theoretical traditions they have followed were a part of the power dynamics specific to Quebec society and the field of physical education. Briefly, this paper aims to show that the sociology of sport in Quebec has been shaped by the socio-historical conditions in which it has been created and that, at the same time, it has generated a specific social and academic dynamics.

The paper presents an anthropological analysis of whiz sports from a new standpoint in the social sciences. This standpoint ignores the existing split between a science of society and a science of the individual. This approach also offers a new way of thinking the "collective." The concept of transitional space defined by Winnicott is put forward as a central concept that permits consideration of the individual/group interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an introduction to the topic of Michel Foucault and the sociology of sport. First, we discuss the concepts used in the works of Foucault that have had the greatest impact in sociology of sport. Second, we present a brief review of the important articles in sociology of sport that have been inspired by Foucault's approach. This exercise allows us to provide indices of the influence of the Foucauldian perspective on the sociology of sport: directly, by allowing us to situate the body at the center of research questions, or indirectly, in the context of the development and use of contemporary social theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The works of Pierre Bourdieu contribute to the establishment of a true sociology of culture and open prospects for the sociology of sport. A review of the genesis of this sociology shows that it has been constructed through breaks with French sociology's way of approaching culture in the 1960s. The presentation of some of Bourdieu's concepts is intended to show how they illuminate the social coherence of cultural behaviors and how the latter fit together. Finally, the paper emphasizes the relevance of such cultural analyses for those who study the social uses of the body. sport culture, or physical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the author's fieldwork experiences while initiating and undertaking substantive participant observation research with two rival groups of Scottish football hooligans ("football casuals''). Key problems examined are those that emerge from attempted entrée into the hooligan subcultures and the everyday risks of comparative research with violent fans. The au/liar provides regular illustrations to highlight how dangers such as the researcher's personal characteristics, lack of guiding sociological literature, and interaction with police officers can threaten the urban ethnographic project. The resultant ambivalence of some research subjects toward the author is interpreted as one reason for minimizing the prospect of his "going native.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we offer a rejoinder to MacAloon's arguments in his article, "The Ethnographic Imperative in Comparative Olympic Research," and briefly situate the other contributions in this theme issue of Sociology of Sport Journal. We argue that while MacAloon's polemic against the so called "cultural studies" approach raises important issues, notably the need for more soundly based empirical work, his characterization is misconceived, and that what he presents as an alternative is neither theoretically clear nor empirically well founded. We suggest that the contributions in this volume provide a better guide to the quality of current work in the sociological analysis of sport in Britain than does MacAloon's characterization of the so called cultural studies approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nostalgia is an important emotion in society that also has significance for the analysis of sport. Two types of nostalgia are discussed: collective and private nostalgia. The data for this paper were qualitative and collected at sport halls of fame, museums, and archives. Data collection procedures included people's responses and reactions to the displays, notes of people's conversations, analysis of sound tracks associated with the displays, photographs, and printed material from the halls of fame and museums. Nostalgia is defined in terms of the remembrance of the past that is imbued with positive feelings such as pleasure, joy, satisfaction, and goodness. These feelings may also be mixed with feelings of sadness. Some implications of nostalgia for the meanings associated with sport are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the June 1995 issue of the "Sociology of Sport Journal." The task associated with this special issue is more complicated than it appears at first sight. It implies more than translating, since in addition to the language barrier a cultural barrier must be overcome. In fact, several factors have to be considered when publishing research papers written in another language, especially when they are inspired by works that have already been translated. Obviously, this special issue is intended not to solve difficulties but rather to raise awareness about them and contribute to the discipline by allowing a confrontation of readings specific to different scholarly spaces within sociology of sport. Some of the ideas conveyed here might appear inadequate or simply wrong to some readers. If that is the case, this issue will have From a thematic point of view, the feature articles are a good illustration of a number of issues central to French-language sociology of sport communities.