Sport occupies a central position in Irish social and cultural life, yet has been relatively marginal within the academy. Significant research has been undertaken by individual scholars, and various important books have been published recently – for example Paul Rouse’s Sport and Ireland; Mike Cronin et al.’s The GAA: A People’s History; and Conor Curran’s Irish Soccer Migrants. However, there are currently no collections or monographs devoted to the interrelationships between sport and me...

This textbook puts sport in the spotlight of cultural inquiry for the first time. The authors provide the essential resources for the study of sport within culture and popular culture. Sport is an important part of cultural life, yet until recently it has tended to remain on the margins of academic cultural studies.Beginning by considering sport in relation to the pre-cultural studies tradition of cultural commentary, The Uses of Sport then moves on to a critical engagemen...

WINNER of the 2015 ICA Outstanding Book AwardThis path-breaking book explores how solidarity towards vulnerable others is performed in our media environment. It argues that stories where famine is described through our own experience of dieting or or where solidarity with Africa translates into wearing a cool armband tell us about much more than the cause that they attempt to communicate. They tell us something about the ways in which we imagine the world outside o...

An essential A-Z guide to the full range of sociological thought, Sociology: The Key Concepts is an important addition to the established and successful Key Concepts series.Fully cross-referenced with an extensive glossary, this accessible text also includes:alphabetical listings of key concepts for ease of usesuggestions for further reading to enhance understanding of areas coveredentries on ‘traditionalism’ ‘race and racialization’ and ‘...

This innovative book marks a significant departure from tradition anlayses of the evolution of cultural landscapes and the interpretation of past environments. Maps of Meaning proposes a new agenda for cultural geography, one set squarely in the context of contemporary social and cultural theory.Notions of place and space are explored through the study of elite and popular cultures, gender and sexuality, race, language and ideology. Questioning the ways in which we invest ...

While certain aspects of Henri Lefebvre’s writings have been examined extensively within the disciplines of geography, social theory, urban planning and cultural studies, there has been no comprehensive consideration of his work within legal studies. Henri Lefebvre: Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City provides the first serious analysis of the relevance and importance of this significant thinker for the study of law and state power. Introducing Lefebvre to a ...

"This ambitious volume reviews the best recent work in historical geography... It demonstrates how a dual sense of history and geography is necessary to understand such key areas of contemporary debate as the inter-relationship between class, race and gender; the character of nations and nationalism; the nature and challenges of urban life; the legacies of colonialism; and the meaning and values attributed to places, landscapes and environments."- Mike Heffernan, Univers...

This new book brings together Doreen Massey's key writings on three areas central to a range of disciplines. In addition, the author reflects on the development of these ideas and outlines her current position on these important issues.The book is organized around the three themes of space, place and gender. It traces the development of ideas about the social nature of space and place and the relation of both to issues of gender and debates within feminism. It is debates in these a...

Objectivity in journalism is a key topic for debate in media, communication and journalism studies, and has been the subject of intensive historical and sociological research. In the first study of its kind, Steven Maras surveys the different viewpoints and perspectives on objectivity. Going beyond a denunciation or defence of journalistic objectivity, Maras critically examines the different scholarly and professional arguments made in the area. Structured around key questions, the book co...

This book's individual entries introduce, explain and contextualise the key topics within classical social theory. Definitions, summaries and key words are developed throughout with careful cross-referencing allowing students to move effortlessly between core ideas and themes.

Geographical Thought provides a clear and accessible introduction to the key ideas and figures in human geography. The book provides an essential introduction to the theories that have shaped the study of societies and space. Opening with an exploration of the founding concepts of human geography in the nineteenth century academy, the authors examine the range of theoretical perspectives that have emerged within human geography over the last century from feminist and marxist schol...

Why are sport and exercise important?What can the study of sport and exercise tell us about wider society?Who holds the power in creating contemporary sport and exercise discourses?It is impossible to properly understand the role that sport and exercise play in contemporary society without knowing a little social theory. It is social theory that provides the vocabulary for our study of society, that helps us ask the rig...