Gaelic Games in Society: Civilising Processes, Players, Administrators and Spectators

ISBN-13: 9783030317010 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 213 str.

John Connolly; Paddy Dolan

Spis treści

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction: Gaelic games in society

The study of Gaelic games and Irish society

Norbert Elias and figurational sociology

Data sources, analysis and synthesis

Involved detachment

Chapter overview

Chapter 2: Gaelic games and player violence

Introduction

Rule convergence and game standardisation

Thresholds of violence

Figurations of Ireland

Chapter 3: Spectators, emotions and the individualisation of violence

Spectator violence and Gaelic games

Civilising processes, emotions and forward panics

Collective impulses and violent actions

Deferred satisfaction and social protection

Individualisation of violence

Conclusion

Chapter 4: The sociogenesis and development of the GAA: Centralising and decentralising tensions

The sociogenesis of the GAA

Centralising and decentralising tensions and county committees

We-identifications and intra-organisational tensions

A decentralising spurt: the formation of provincial councils

Advances in processes of integration and mutual identification

The advance in the power sources of the central units

Centralising spurts

Conclusion

Chapter 5: The amateur-professional tension balance

The amateur ideal and the GAA

Bureaucratisation processes, advancing seriousness of involvement and the erosion of amateur structures

Advances in professionalisation: From the 1960s onward

Explaining th eerosion of amateur structures

The persistence of amateur structures

Conclusion

Chapter 6: The amplifying of professionalism and amateurism, and the emergence of 'Player Power'

Competitive tensions and amplification processes

Seriousness of involvement and the amplification of professionalism and amateurism

The figuration of players and administrators and the amplification of professionalism

The amplification of amateurism and 'Player power'

Conclusion

Chapter 7: Integrating Irish youth, national identification, and diminishing displays of superiority

Towards social controls

Movements in the balance of social controls and self-controls

Diminishing displays of superiority

Conclusion

Chapter 8: Cultural hybridisation as an essentialising strategy: The development of a new sport -- International Rules Football

Introduction

Cultural hybridisation

Origin myths

Sportisation of International Rules Football

Hybridity as national we-feeling

Tensions and cultural perspectives

Habitus formation and athletic we-feelings

Conclusion

Chapter 9: Conclusion: Some thoughts on contemporary developments

Introduction

Gender, Gaelic games and a developmental approach

Inter-organisational sporting competition

Organising dynamics

Conclusing remarks

O autorze

John Connolly is Senior Lecturer at Dublin City University, Ireland. 

Paddy Dolan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at Technological University Dublin, Ireland.

Blurb

‘Connolly and Dolan set Gaelic games in the context of the development of sport worldwide, including trends towards less violence among players and spectators. Yet they also show how the GAA has been tied up with power relations within Irish society, between players and administrators, and in rivalry with soccer and rugby. A model of sociological history.’

—Stephen Mennell, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University College Dublin, Ireland

‘Connolly and Dolan draw on a wealth of historical documents and skilfully employ key concepts in figurational sociology to analyse a range of developments in Gaelic games that have long been the subject of media and public interest and the focus of heated debate within the GAA.’

—Paul Darby, Reader in the Sociology of Sport, Ulster University, UK

‘Ireland is as central to our understanding of global sport as sport is to our understanding of both Irish society and the theories of Norbert Elias. Gaelic Games in Society is a critical synthesis of history and sociology and continues the rich tradition of figurational analyses of the development of particular sports. This fascinating work will sit comfortably alongside the best.’

—Dominic Malcolm, Reader in the Sociology of Sport, Loughborough University, UK

In this book John Connolly and Paddy Dolan illustrate and explain developments in Gaelic games, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), and Irish society over the course of the last 150 years. The main themes in the book include: advances in the threshold of repugnance towards violence in the playing of Gaelic games, changes in the structure of spectator violence, diminishing displays of superiority towards the competing sports of soccer and rugby, the tension between decentralising and centralising processes, the movement in the balance between amateurism and professionalism, changes in the power balance between ‘elite’ players and administrators, and the difficulties in developing a new hybrid sport. The authors also explain how these developments were connected to various social processes including changes in the structure of Irish society and in the social habitus of people in Ireland.