Danish sport has been associated with Europe and the World; not least through I.P. Muller and Niels Bukh and the Danish Gymnastics revolution with its emphasis on male aesthetics and hygiene in the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, Denmark has stood apart from Europe in the early moments of its history of sport with the rural revolution of the farming communities as a statement of political independence and assertion. However, during the German occupation of Denmark, Danish sport was part of a European collaboration which characterized a number of the occupied countries not least in the Nordic area. After the Second World War, Denmark embraced international body cultures with other European nations in particular Eastern martial arts. Denmark too, as part of trends in the European region and the world, became caught up in sport as a powerful contemporary political statement. This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.

Over the past two decades there has been a rapid transformation of masculinities in the West, largely facilitated by a decline in cultural homophobia. The significant changes in the expression of masculinity, particularly among younger generations of men, have been particularly evident in men’s team sports, which have become an increasingly diverse and inclusive culture. Drawing upon work from a wide range of established and emerging international scholars, this handbook provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of the contemporary relationship between masculinity and sport. It covers a range of areas including history, media, gender, sexuality, race, violence, and fandom, considering how they impact a range of different sports across the world. Students and scholars across many disciplines will find the unparalleled overview provided by these specially commissioned chapters an invaluable resource.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport, Gender and Sexuality brings together important new work from 68 leading international scholars that, collectively, demonstrates the intrinsic interconnectedness of sport, gender and sexuality. It introduces what is, in essence, a sophisticated sub-area of sport sociology, covering the field comprehensively, as well as signalling ideas for future research and analysis. Wide-ranging across different historical periods, different sports, and different local and global contexts, the book incorporates personal, ideological and political narratives; varied conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches; and examples of complexities and nuanced ways of understanding the gendered and sexualized dynamics of sport. It examines structural and cultural forms of gender segregation, homophobia, heteronormativity and transphobia, as well as the ideological struggles and changes that have led to nuanced ways of thinking about the sport, gender and sexuality nexus. This is a landmark work of reference that will be a key resource for students and researchers working in sport studies, gender studies, sexuality studies or sociology.

The book examines the increased influence on international sport of the politics of global institutions such as global economic market forces, International Non-Governmental Organisations and multi-national business and media.

This text looks at the sociology of sport. Narrative case studies of sports sociology from all over the world provide examples of how to interpret issues in professional and elite sports from a sociological perspective.

Sport is often at the centre of battles for rights to inclusion linked to class, race and gender, and this book explores struggles centred on disability in different cultural settings in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It challenges oversights and assumptions about the ‘normal’ body, and describes how individual and organizational transformations can occur through sport. The abilities of a person are recognised and placed centre stage - instead of the individual being forgotten, excluded, or placed at the margins simply because they have a disability. National, regional and global change is part of the shift to the rights based approach reflected in the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Making sport inclusive affects the accessibility of facilities, funding, the media, policies, programs, organisations, sponsors and spectators, and at the same time changes the cultural values of the wider society. It also raises issues about competition access and eligibility for ‘different’ and technologically enhanced ‘cyborg’ bodies, and for those most socially disadvantaged. Addressing these questions which ultimately touch on the real meaning of sport can lead to profound changes in people’s attitudes, and how sport is organized locally and globally. Growth in the influential global organisations of the Paralympic Games, Special Olympics and Deaflympics is examined, as is the approach to disability in sport in both advantaged and resource poor countries. The embodied lives of persons with disabilities are explored utilizing new theoretical models, perspectives and approaches. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

In the edited collection Athletics in the Nordic Countries, scholars from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden explore historical developments and current phenomena in the sport of athletics (track and field). The chapters provide insight into sport officials, events, and athletes from the Nordic countries that have shaped the international athletics scene. The authors identify the leading role of sport leaders from Scandinavia in the foundation years and highlight how athletics’ events held in the region were milestones in the transformation of the sport. Athletics’ international governing body World Athletics was founded in Sweden in 1912 as the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Seventy years later, Finland hosted the first World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983. In between those turning points, Nordic officials and athletes promoted significant changes in athletics, and their innovative approaches continue to shape the development of the sport until today.