"One Hundred Per Cent American": Nationalism, Masculinity and American Legion Baseball in the 1920s

"'One Hundred Per Cent American': Nationalism, Masculinity and American Legion Baseball in the 1920s," provides a sociohistorical analysis of baseball and social attitudes and ideologies of the pre- and post-World War I period, specifically focusing on the joining of nationalism and masculinity through the playing of sport. My work explores amateur baseball in the context of the post-World War I period (1920-1930), focusing on the American Legion's baseball program started during that same era. By incorporating the theorization of "hegemonic masculinity," first popularized by sociologist R.W. Connell and a major theme in the sociology of sport, I argue that amateur baseball constituted a distinct form of nationalist American masculinity that figured prominently in both the status of the sport and the understanding of gender within post-war American culture. By focusing on the instruction of these amateur players, I demonstrate how nationalism and masculinity converged through the kinesthetic "play"ing of baseball by young American males

Policing the Void: Recreation, Social Inclusion and the Baltimore Police Athletic League

In this article, we explore the relationship between public recreation policy and planning and the transformation of urban governance in the context of the Police Athletic League centers in Baltimore, Maryland. In light of contemporary discussions of the role of youth programs for sport and physical activity within post-industrial cities, the origination, development, and eventual demise of Baltimore’s network of Police Activity League centers is an instructive, if disheartening, saga. It illustrates the social and political rationales mobilized in justifying recreation policy and programming, the framing of sport and physical activity as preventative measures towards crime and juvenile delinquency, and the precarity of such initiatives given the efficiency-driven orthodoxies of neoliberal urban entrepreneurialism (Harvey, 1989). This analysis emphasizes how the PAL centers were designed to ‘fill the void’ left by a declining system of public recreation, thereby providing an example of a recreation program as part of the “social problems industry” (Pitter & Andrews 1997)

"Two silos of thinking that were not connected" : a board's attempt to manage the logics of recreational and elite youth soccer in an urban community club

The objective of this study was to explore the Board of a youth soccer club’s decisions and actions as it transitioned from a small community club to the biggest soccer club in a metropolitan area in the United States. The study was designed as a case study using observations, interviews, document analysis as its primary method. Using an institutional logics perspective, this study examines how board members’ social identities and goals were not always congruent with each other, and explains why the organisation was unable to make any meaningful changes and instead most often reproduced prevailing institutional logics. We argue this case serve as an example of embedded agency. The consequence was a dysfunctional board that was unable to further develop sport programs and services. More studies are needed to further problematise how community clubs navigate the new youth sport landscape from a leadership and government perspective and help navigate positive change

Chapter 8 Confronting America: Black commercial aesthetics, athlete activism and the nation reconsidered

While globalisation has undoubtedly occurred in many social fields, in sport the importance of ‘the nation’ has remained. This book examines the continuing but contested relevance of national identities in sport within the context of globalising forces. Including case studies from around the world, it considers the significance of sport in divided societies, former global empires and aspirational nations within federal states. Each chapter looks at sport not only as a reflection of national rivalries but also as a changing cultural tradition that facilitates the reimagining of borders, boundaries and identities. The book questions how these national, state and global identifications are invoked through sporting structures and practices, both in the past and the present. Truly international in perspective, it features case studies from across Europe, the UK, the USA and China and touches on the topics of race, religion, terrorism, separatism, nationalism and militarism. Sport and National Identities: Globalisation and Conflict is fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the sociology of sport or the relationship between sport, politics, geography and history

Chapter 8 Confronting America: Black commercial aesthetics, athlete activism and the nation reconsidered

While globalisation has undoubtedly occurred in many social fields, in sport the importance of ‘the nation’ has remained. This book examines the continuing but contested relevance of national identities in sport within the context of globalising forces. Including case studies from around the world, it considers the significance of sport in divided societies, former global empires and aspirational nations within federal states. Each chapter looks at sport not only as a reflection of national rivalries but also as a changing cultural tradition that facilitates the reimagining of borders, boundaries and identities. The book questions how these national, state and global identifications are invoked through sporting structures and practices, both in the past and the present. Truly international in perspective, it features case studies from across Europe, the UK, the USA and China and touches on the topics of race, religion, terrorism, separatism, nationalism and militarism. Sport and National Identities: Globalisation and Conflict is fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in the sociology of sport or the relationship between sport, politics, geography and history