This paper seeks to synthesize aspects of feminism and figurational (process) sociology. Women’s bodies are viewed as sites for studying interrelationships between power, gender, and identity construction. The behavioral and emotional rituals of women in a specific aerobics class are mapped out and located within the “exercise–body beautiful complex.” We explore the way in which social constraints and individual self-control interweave in the rationalized management of women’s bodies. The embodied experiences of these women are intertwined with long term enabling and constraining features. Covertly disempowering, the “exercise–body beautiful complex” reinforces established standards of femininity. The realignment of dominant images of femininity is advocated in order to extend the liberating features of the figuration in question.

In this study, we examined sociocultural aspects of the identification, selection and development of elite soccer players as part of wider processes of globalization, particularly worker migration. Patterns of migration were identified among the 704 players who comprised the national squads of the 32 nations contesting the finals of the 1998 World Cup in France. An analysis of the migration patterns within and between the six Confederations into which member nations of FIFA are grouped established the European Federation (UEFA) as soccer's core economy. The study is subsequently focused on Europe and, in particular, upon the import strategies of clubs in the four most popular destination countries - England, Germany, Italy and Spain. It is argued that, in light of European Union deregulation of worker migration between member states and, in particular, the Bosman judgement, European soccer is being reshaped. The identification and selection of elite players are producing migrant patterns that are seen increasingly to impact upon indigenous player development and, potentially, the viability and success of national teams. We argue that, although these developments are contoured in part by global economic factors, economic accounts alone do not provide an adequate understanding of them. A series of interrelated economic, political, cultural and social factors is at work. We conclude with a brief outline of the policy implications of the analysis.

No abstract

No abstract

This article maps the development of British ice hockey and the role of Canadian migrants in the sport. The process is not new but has gathered momentum during the 1980s. Three areas are considered: the extent of involvement, the contested nature of this involvement, and the types of experience involved for the migrants themselves. Canadian ice hockey experiences are discussed in the light of a sport migrant typology: pioneers, settlers, mercenaries, returnees, and nomadic cosmopolitans. Local and global issues in sport labor migration are also highlighted. Questions of labor rights, gender relations, host/donor contacts, and personal/cultural identity are assessed. The data sources include the official records of the world governing body (International Ice Hockey Federation), interviews, ice hockey journals, and media reports.

The global migrations of athletic workers have increased dramatically in magnitude, composition, and direction in recent years. Studies examining these migrations have, however, remained limited to specific areas and have restricted their vision to those workers employed in the athletic sector. Few studies have drawn on concepts derived from research tracing the migrations of workers in other areas: the highly skilled for example. This paper shows how an understanding of athletic labor migration could be extended by drawing on research from the area of highly skilled labor migration. The paper also proposes a potential framework for future research in this area.

This paper provides a development from previous conceptual frameworks related to the risk/pain/injury nexus in sporting subcultures (Hughes & Coakley, 1991; Maguire & Roberts, 1998; Nixon, 1992; Young, 1991). To do this, we have developed a model of factors contributing to injury risk in sport. In outlining our framework we seek to trace the enabling and coercive social forces that combine to act upon athletes and consequently promote participation to the extent of risking injury. This paper is grounded in a two-year study of female rowers in the United Kingdom. Several dimensions of sporting activities are mapped out, including the physical and structural settings, or “stage” upon which the sport takes place; preparation and participation in the sport itself; and the athletes’ attitudes toward, and actions on, receiving an injury. The themes identified in the model are used to “make sense” of the substantive insights drawn from the rowers’ stories.

Attention is given to a series of conceptual issues associated with understanding global sport development. Several weaknesses are identified. The figurational approach to the study of sportization and globalization is then outlined. Associations between sport, habitus, identity politics, “willful nostalgia,” and globalization are examined, and a case study of nostalgia and male sporting and political disaster discourse in the British media over the past 2 years is used to highlight some of the issues involved in global sport development.