Understanding Lifestyle Sport

Consumption, Identity and Difference

Edited by Belinda Wheaton

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• ISBN: 978-0-415-25955-2
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 26th August 2004
• Pages: 240

About the Book

The past decade has seen a tremendous growth in the popularity of activities like skateboarding and snowboarding; sports that have been labelled as 'extreme' or 'lifestyle' and which embody 'alternative' sporting values such as anti-competitiveness, anti-regulation, high risk and personal freedom. The popularity of these activities goes beyond the teenage male youth that the media typify as their main consumers.
This book examines the popularity, significance and meaning of lifestyle sport, exploring the sociological significance of these activities, particularly as related to their consumption, and the expression of politics of identity and difference. This edited collection includes much unique ethnographic research work with skaters, surfers, windsurfers, climbers, adventure racers, and ultimate frisbee players. The central themes explored in Understanding Lifestyle Sport include:
- How might we describe lifestyle sports?
- What influence do commercial forces have on lifestyle sports?
- Do lifestyle sports challenge the hegemonic masculinities inherent in a traditional sport environment?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Mapping the lifestyle sport-scape 2. 'Chicks dig scars': Commercialisation and the transformations of skateboarders' identities 3. Death, danger and the selling of risk in adventure sports 4. Sustainable Adventure: Embodied experiences and ecological practices within British climbing 5. Surfing: From one (cultural) extreme to another 6. Taking risks: Identity, masculinities and rock climbing 7. 'New Lads'? Competing masculinities in the windsurfing culture 8. 'Mandatory equipment': Women in Adventure Racing 9. 'Anyone can play this game': Ultimate Frisbee, identity and difference 10. Extreme America: The cultural politics of extreme sports in 1990s America

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