Bringing together leading international writers on cricket and society, this important new book places cricket in the postcolonial life of the major Test-playing countries. Exploring the culture, politics, governance and economics of cricket in the twenty-first century, this book dispels the age-old idea of a gentle game played on England's village greens.

This is an original political and historical study of the game's development in a range of countries and covers:

* cricket in the new Commonwealth: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Caribbean and India
* the cricket cultures of...

This volume provides a review of the social significance of one of the few common global mass cultural pursuits, Association Football. It traces the history, social context and national/nationalist role of football in the culture and mass media of countries across the globe, ranging from Europe, the USA and Canada to Asia and the Pacific.

This book is about the new politics of leisure and pleasure - the values, practices, struggles and contradictions that now characterize the social worlds of rambling, drinking, tourism, sex, watching TV, gambling, using the internet, reading, comedy, sport, popular music and censorship.

Clear, well researched entries explain the key concepts in the debates surrounding the social significance and social dynamics of sport.

The widespread concept of the 'postmodern city' is frequently linked to the decline of traditional manufacturing industries and a corresponding wane of white working-class culture. In place of these appear flexible working practices, a diversified workforce, and a greater emphasis on consumption, leisure, and tourism. Illustrated by an interdisciplinary study of Leeds, a typical postmodern city, this volume examines how such cities have reinvented themselves a commercially, politically and spatially a over the past two decades. The work addresses issues like cultural policy, city-centre...

"There are textbooks galore, but there aren't many crafted as intelligently as this one. This book will change the way that students understand leisure. It will give them an easier entry to that place where difficult ideas fuse into something intelligible, where real understanding sits and the educated imagination is stirred."
- Tony Blackshaw, Sheffield Hallam University

Peter Bramham and Stephen Wagg provide a foundation for those studying within the broad field of leisure studies. The book gives students an accessible and engaging introduction to...

This volume is built around three assumptions - first, that for huge numbers people around the world, including many sport lovers, there are more important things in life than sport; second, that the governance of sport is in many ways problematic and needs to be confronted; and, third, that contrary to the still-popular belief that sport and politics don't mix, sport often provides an ideal theatre for the enacting of political protest. The book contains studies of a range of protests, stretching back to the death of suffragist Emily Davison at the Derby of 1913 and encompassing subsequent...

First published in 1996, this volume is a sequel to Humour in Society: Resistance and Control which was edited by George E.C. Paton and Chris Powell. Now, seven years later, the culturally central nature of humour seems greater than ever. This collection of original essays critically assesses the practices of humour in various role relationships in a number of social contexts, for example, in the workplace and between family members. A feature of this new volume is the critical analysis of socio-linguistic practices, including the use of jokes and cartoons, to manage tensions in social...