Sport and Democracy in the Ancient and Modern Worlds

Bibliographic Data

ID19940980
AuthorsPaul Christesen (Dartmouth College, corresponding author)
Year2012
Publication date2012-10-15
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueSport and Democracy in the Ancient and Modern Worlds (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511998508
OpenAlexW1577063174
ISBN9780511998508
Open LibraryOL34480582M
LanguageEN
Citations received10

This book explores the relationship between sport and democratization. Drawing on sociological and historical methodologies, it provides a framework for understanding how sport affects the level of egalitarianism in the society in which it is played. The author distinguishes between horizontal sport, which embodies and fosters egalitarian relations, and vertical sport, which embodies and fosters hierarchical relations. Christesen also differentiates between societies in which sport is played and watched on a mass scale and those in which it is an ancillary activity. Using ancient Greece and nineteenth-century Britain as case studies, Christesen analyzes how these variables interact and finds that horizontal mass sport has the capacity to both promote and inhibit democratization at a societal level. He concludes that horizontal mass sport tends to reinforce and extend democratization

Cartography · Democracy · Democratization · Egalitarianism · Geography · Horizontal and vertical · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Scale (ratio) · Social science · Sociology · Doping in Sports · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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