Susan Birrell
Biographic Data
| ID | 3923722 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Susan Birrell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Susan |
| FAMILY NAME | Birrell |
| SIGNATURE | BIRRELL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 256 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Loneliness of Learning to Labor
This paper presents a case for reading sport films like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1961) within an intertextual framework. To that end, Tony Richardson’s classic film is read alongside Paul Willis’ equally classic cultural studies text Learning to Labor (1977). Both reflect critical responses to a particular historical and cultural moment in post-World War II Great Britain. For deeper insight into the character of Colin Smith, th…
Enduring Heroes: Hillary, Bannister, and the Epic Challenges of Human Exploration
On May 29, 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay crested Mount Everest’s 29,035 peak, becoming the first men to do so. Nearly a year later, Englishman Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile (May 6, 1954). In this paper we explore the intertextuality of the public discourses of Hillary and Bannister, focusing on the themes highlighted by the media to give their accomplishments particular cultural meanings within contemporary accounts.…
Break Points: Narrative Interruption in the Life of Billie Jean King
This article explores intertextual representations of Billie Jean King, focusing on the announcement of her relationship with Marilyn Barnett in 1981 as a disruptive moment that occasioned remedial narrative work on King's part. Media framing of the incident is examined through three mainstream newspapers, U.S. magazines, television interviews, and King's autobiography. Analysis of the coverage reveals that at first glance King was quite successf…
Reclaiming Goffman: Erving Goffman’s Influence on the Sociology of Sport
Erving Goffman was the consummate sociologist. Throughout our academic careers we had heard anecdotes about him, and when we started work on this chapter we sought out people who had known him. All their stories confirmed the ones we had heard — Goffman was always working, always observing, always making field notes. He is seen at 3:00 am in a Las Vegas hotel elevator, riding up and down, observing how people behave. Guests at a dinner party real…
Feminist Theories for Sport
Reading Sport Critically: A Methodology for Interrogating Power
This paper discusses a methodology for interrogating power, which we call reading sport critically. Although versions of this method are currently practiced by a number of sport scholars, the theoretical and methodological groundings for the approach are rarely explicitly articulated. In this paper, we outline this critical analytic strategy, map its theoretical locations, and explore the ontological and epistemological issues that ground it. We …
Double Fault: Renée Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference
Double Fault: Renee Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference
This study examines the implications of the entrance of Renee Richards, a constructed-female transsexual, into the women’s professional tennis circuit. The purpose of our analysis is to show how our culture constructs woman and produces particular notions of gender, sex, and difference by examining a case in which these ideological processes are literally enacted: the construction of a “woman,” Renee Richards, from a man. We do this by exploring …
Racial Relations Theories and Sport: Suggestions for a More Critical Analysis
This paper suggests that sport sociology may be ready to move from a generally atheoretical approach to “race and sport“ to a critical analysis of racial relations and sport. Four theoretical groups are identified from the writing of racial relations scholars: bias and discrimination theories, assimilation and cultural deprivation theories, materialist and class-based theories, and culturalist or colonial theories. In the past, studies of race an…
Is a diamond forever? Feminist transformations of sport
The Woman Athlete's College Experience: Knowns and Unknowns
Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine
The availability of female role models is examined through a content analysis of Young Athlete magazine. Two research questions are posed: Do males and females receive differential treatment in Young Athlete ? Does the representation of males and females in Young Athlete reflect actual participation rates? Young Athlete depicts sport as a male activity. For example, less than one-third of all photographs depict females, and the percentage decreas…
Sport as Ritual: Interpretations from Durkheim to Goffman
Media Sport: Hot and Cool1
Marshall McLuhan's revolutionary ideas about the role of media in society established him as the prophet of what he terms "the electric age" and had a major impact upon the field of communication. According to McLuhan, understanding media means understanding society, for the two are so closely related that societies can in fact be characterized by the media form most prevalent in them. McLuhan's books are packed with fascinating contentions about…
Character Work-Up and Display: Collegiate Gymnastics and Professional Wrestling
Reading Sport Critically: A Methodology for Interrogating Power
This paper discusses a methodology for interrogating power, which we call reading sport critically. Although versions of this method are currently practiced by a number of sport scholars, the theoretical and methodological groundings for the approach are rarely explicitly articulated. In this paper, we outline this critical analytic strategy, map its theoretical locations, and explore the ontological and epistemological issues that ground it. We …
Racial Relations Theories and Sport: Suggestions for a More Critical Analysis
This paper suggests that sport sociology may be ready to move from a generally atheoretical approach to “race and sport“ to a critical analysis of racial relations and sport. Four theoretical groups are identified from the writing of racial relations scholars: bias and discrimination theories, assimilation and cultural deprivation theories, materialist and class-based theories, and culturalist or colonial theories. In the past, studies of race an…
Double Fault: Renee Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference
This study examines the implications of the entrance of Renee Richards, a constructed-female transsexual, into the women’s professional tennis circuit. The purpose of our analysis is to show how our culture constructs woman and produces particular notions of gender, sex, and difference by examining a case in which these ideological processes are literally enacted: the construction of a “woman,” Renee Richards, from a man. We do this by exploring …
Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine
The availability of female role models is examined through a content analysis of Young Athlete magazine. Two research questions are posed: Do males and females receive differential treatment in Young Athlete ? Does the representation of males and females in Young Athlete reflect actual participation rates? Young Athlete depicts sport as a male activity. For example, less than one-third of all photographs depict females, and the percentage decreas…
Is a diamond forever? Feminist transformations of sport
Sport as Ritual: Interpretations from Durkheim to Goffman
The Woman Athlete's College Experience: Knowns and Unknowns
Character Work-Up and Display: Collegiate Gymnastics and Professional Wrestling
Break Points: Narrative Interruption in the Life of Billie Jean King
This article explores intertextual representations of Billie Jean King, focusing on the announcement of her relationship with Marilyn Barnett in 1981 as a disruptive moment that occasioned remedial narrative work on King's part. Media framing of the incident is examined through three mainstream newspapers, U.S. magazines, television interviews, and King's autobiography. Analysis of the coverage reveals that at first glance King was quite successf…
Media Sport: Hot and Cool1
Marshall McLuhan's revolutionary ideas about the role of media in society established him as the prophet of what he terms "the electric age" and had a major impact upon the field of communication. According to McLuhan, understanding media means understanding society, for the two are so closely related that societies can in fact be characterized by the media form most prevalent in them. McLuhan's books are packed with fascinating contentions about…
Character Work-Up and Display: Collegiate Gymnastics and Professional Wrestling
Sport as Ritual: Interpretations from Durkheim to Goffman
Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine
The availability of female role models is examined through a content analysis of Young Athlete magazine. Two research questions are posed: Do males and females receive differential treatment in Young Athlete ? Does the representation of males and females in Young Athlete reflect actual participation rates? Young Athlete depicts sport as a male activity. For example, less than one-third of all photographs depict females, and the percentage decreas…
Is a diamond forever? Feminist transformations of sport
The Woman Athlete's College Experience: Knowns and Unknowns
Racial Relations Theories and Sport: Suggestions for a More Critical Analysis
This paper suggests that sport sociology may be ready to move from a generally atheoretical approach to “race and sport“ to a critical analysis of racial relations and sport. Four theoretical groups are identified from the writing of racial relations scholars: bias and discrimination theories, assimilation and cultural deprivation theories, materialist and class-based theories, and culturalist or colonial theories. In the past, studies of race an…
Double Fault: Renee Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference
This study examines the implications of the entrance of Renee Richards, a constructed-female transsexual, into the women’s professional tennis circuit. The purpose of our analysis is to show how our culture constructs woman and produces particular notions of gender, sex, and difference by examining a case in which these ideological processes are literally enacted: the construction of a “woman,” Renee Richards, from a man. We do this by exploring …
Double Fault: Renée Richards and the Construction and Naturalization of Difference
Reading Sport Critically: A Methodology for Interrogating Power
This paper discusses a methodology for interrogating power, which we call reading sport critically. Although versions of this method are currently practiced by a number of sport scholars, the theoretical and methodological groundings for the approach are rarely explicitly articulated. In this paper, we outline this critical analytic strategy, map its theoretical locations, and explore the ontological and epistemological issues that ground it. We …
Feminist Theories for Sport
Reclaiming Goffman: Erving Goffman’s Influence on the Sociology of Sport
Erving Goffman was the consummate sociologist. Throughout our academic careers we had heard anecdotes about him, and when we started work on this chapter we sought out people who had known him. All their stories confirmed the ones we had heard — Goffman was always working, always observing, always making field notes. He is seen at 3:00 am in a Las Vegas hotel elevator, riding up and down, observing how people behave. Guests at a dinner party real…
Enduring Heroes: Hillary, Bannister, and the Epic Challenges of Human Exploration
On May 29, 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay crested Mount Everest’s 29,035 peak, becoming the first men to do so. Nearly a year later, Englishman Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile (May 6, 1954). In this paper we explore the intertextuality of the public discourses of Hillary and Bannister, focusing on the themes highlighted by the media to give their accomplishments particular cultural meanings within contemporary accounts.…
Break Points: Narrative Interruption in the Life of Billie Jean King
This article explores intertextual representations of Billie Jean King, focusing on the announcement of her relationship with Marilyn Barnett in 1981 as a disruptive moment that occasioned remedial narrative work on King's part. Media framing of the incident is examined through three mainstream newspapers, U.S. magazines, television interviews, and King's autobiography. Analysis of the coverage reveals that at first glance King was quite successf…
The Loneliness of Learning to Labor
This paper presents a case for reading sport films like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1961) within an intertextual framework. To that end, Tony Richardson’s classic film is read alongside Paul Willis’ equally classic cultural studies text Learning to Labor (1977). Both reflect critical responses to a particular historical and cultural moment in post-World War II Great Britain. For deeper insight into the character of Colin Smith, th…
Sociology (12 works) · Sports, Gender, and Society (11 works) · Political science (7 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works)