A Bourdieusian Investigation into Reproduction and Transformation in the Field of Disability Cricket

Disability cricket in England and Wales exists within a constant state of change. This thesis is an organizational analysis of how environmental factors foster reproduction and/or transformation within the field of disability cricket. It is important to examine how these factors are translated across multiple levels of analysis; institutional, organizational, and individual. A layered analysis is important because it attempts to overcome the limitations of previous micro- and macro-approaches to change. A reflexive ethnography that involved three years of fieldwork allowed perceptions and meanings of change to be examined in real-time. This approach is novel in studies of institutional and organizational change. Data was collected through formal and informal interviews, active-member observations, and document analysis. The findings reveal a series of structural and cognitive consequences, which included a greater number of playing opportunities for disabled cricketers and the establishment of an economic market for disability cricket which ensured organizational commitment to accepting accountability and managerial pressures. While change occurred, the nature of organizational responses to these environmental factors varied. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Bourdieu (2005) and the institutional theory of translation (Czarniawska & Sevon, 1996), I demonstrate that these responses varied between organizations because of the relationship between the field, the organization’s doxa and the habitus of the individuals employed within. It concludes empirically that the translation of environmental factors is dependent on the interlinking relationships between institutions, organizations and individuals. The use of Bourdieu extends previous institutional analysis in sport management by providing a unique perspective on the role of organizations in reproducing inequality. As this thesis demonstrates institutional change is a recurrent theme in British sport organizations and further work is needed to examine the impact of these changes on the relations between sport organizations and the participants, employees and volunteers within them. As such it reinforces interdisciplinary calls to link sport management and the sociology of sport

The needs of disabled fans must not be ignored when sports stadiums reopen to spectators

Most professional sport in Europe has taken place in empty stadiums since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with the proposed return of spectators upon us, Connor Penfold, Paul Kitchin and Paul Darby argue the sports industry must facilitate a disability-inclusive restart for spectator sports. Drawing on a recent study, they outline a series of recommendations that could be used by stadium operators to ensure the pandemic does not lead to further neglect of the needs and rights of disabled people in the context of sport

Disability, space and sexuality: access to family planning services

In this paper we examine, from a social perspective, access to family planning clinics for disabled people. We argue that disabled people are commonly understood to be either asexual, uninterested in sex or unable to take part in sexual activity, or sexual `monsters' unable to control their sexual drives and feelings. These understandings are reproduced through the use of cultural representations and myths, and are evidenced in the planning and design of family planning clinics and the information and services they provide. To illustrate our arguments we present the ®ndings of a short questionnaire survey of all family planning clinics in Northern Ireland. Physical access to these clinics was partial, and access to information and services were extremely limited. These results indicate that disabled people are not expected to be using the services (consultation, treatment, information) that family planning clinics provide. As such, family planning clinics in Northern Ireland represent a landscape of exclusion, denying disabled people access to services and reproducing cultural ideologies concerning disability and sexuality. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved