The social responsibility of the Olympic Games: Olympic women.

This paper will review the history of women’s involvement in the Olympic Games, how gender is socially (re)constructed through these events, current issues facing women who compete at the Olympic/Paralympic level, and what social responsibility the Olympic movement might assume to improve the experiences of Olympic women in the futurePeer reviewe

‘CEO equals man’: Gender and informal organisational practices in English sport governance

© The Author(s) 2019. © YYYY Owner. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Piggott, L. V., & Pike, E. C. (2019). ‘CEO equals man’: Gender and informal organisational practices in English sport governance. International Review for the Sociology of Sport by Sage Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. It is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690219865980Despite the benefits of diversity amongst sport leaders increasingly being argued by both researchers and practitioners, English sport governance remains gender-imbalanced at all levels of leadership. Within this article, we aim to explore how informal organisational practices within two established English national governing bodies impact upon gender equity and gender balance within their governance. This is important to raise awareness of the power of informal organisational practices to favour one gender over another. We present findings generated through a multi-method qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Official documents from the two organisations were also drawn upon to add specific detail or fill information gaps during the collection, analysis and write-up of data. Throughout the article, we draw upon Bourdieu’s theory of practice to focus on the ways in which cultural resources, processes and institutions hold sport leaders within gendered hierarchies of dominance. We found that informal organisational practices contribute to the reinforcement of gendered structures of dominance which privilege (dominant) men and masculinity, and normalise and naturalise the positions of men as leaders. Some examples of resistance against inequitable informal practices were also evident. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s theorising, we highlight that alternative practices must be valued more highly by the organisation than current problematic practices in order for them to become legitimised, habitual and sustainable. We suggest that one way of achieving this is by linking gender-equitable governance to organisational values and performance to provide motivation for organisations to make genuine, sustainable change.Peer reviewe

“What on earth are they doing in a racing car?”: Towards an Understanding of Women in Motorsport.

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupMotorsport is an under-researched area of socio-historical study. There is particularly limited academic understanding of female involvement in the social world of motorsports. Therefore, this paper focuses on the role of the media in presenting and establishing motorsport for women. In particular, a documentary analysis of articles published by a UK national newspaper group from 1890, and a case study of an all-female UK-based motor-racing championship are used to account for gendered processes that have influenced attitudes and behaviours towards women motor racers. The motor car emerged through technological progress in an overtly masculine-dominated industrial period. Traditional assumptions and biologically deterministic attitudes towards women were used by men to position motoring and motor-racing as a male preserve. Newspaper reporting throughout the 1930s suggests an era of heightened success for women motor racers as a result of gaining access to a key resource in the form of Brooklands motor-racing circuit. Following the Second World War, there was increasing commercialization and professionalization of male-dominated motorsport, as well as renewed marginalization and trivialization of female participants within the newspapers. These processes continue to influence perceptions of women in contemporary motorsport.Peer reviewe

Playing Out: A Movement for Movement?

In 2009, the “Playing Out” project was set up in Bristol in the United Kingdom by a parent-led community group who were seeking to address concerns about the lack of freedom for young people to play outside. Playing Out has, as its primary purpose, supporting children to “play out” where they live through providing the space within which children might engage in informal play and physical activity, while also improving relations between neighbors and developing a sense of community. This paper examines the potential of Playing Out for fostering community cohesion by undertaking interviews with participants, officials and policy-makers, alongside some observation of Playing Out events, between 2013 and 2016. In particular, we evaluate the significance of social capital for the development, and success, of a community-led initiative to influence policy outcomes and increase physical activity levels in the local population, giving consideration to the ways in which social movement concepts build on, and strengthen, social capital. In many societies, such activities take place within a context of neoliberalism, where social order is viewed as being dependent on individual responsibility: governments are deregulated, social programs are cut and/or privatized, and social problems have to be solved by individual, private solutions. Our findings draw on the work of Putnam (1993, 1996, 2000) to demonstrate that social capital is both cause and effect in the success of initiatives such as Playing Out, and that when social capital is combined with elements of a social movement, there can be more fundamental and sustained outcomes.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Assessing the Sociology of Sport: On Age and Ability

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol 50 (4-5), June 2015, published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved.On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a leading scholar on ageing, sport, and physical activity, ISSA President Elizabeth Pike considers the increasing numbers of "Third Age Societies" and the trajectory, challenges, and future directions of sociological research on sport, age, and ability. Noting longstanding interest in sport and ageing dating back to the late 1800s, the trajectory of research in this area has accelerated with both longer life spans and evidence of a more 'heroic' model of the possibilities of aging. A continuing challenge for sociologists of sport is to critique dominant perceptions of ageing that suggest many activities are inappropriate for the ageing body. Future inquiry in the area of sport, age, and ablility needs to expand in coming years in recognition that people over 60 constitute the fastest growing segment of the population in many societies and many received conceptions about the roles and possibilities for physical activity and sport need more careful interrogation in companion with more nuanced understandings of both the populations and processes.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Illness, injury and sporting identity: a case study of women's rowing

The purpose of this project was to explore the injury experiences of female amateur British rowers located within a symbolic interactionist framework. The study intended to ascertain the major injury-risk factors and inform future practice. This follows the logic of previous researchers who have identified a culture of risk in sporting subcultures (Nixon, 1992) and have presented evidence of injuries related to participation in rowing (Bernstein, 1995; Edgar, 1999). A typology is presented identifying the key risk factors in rowing. A questionnaire was administered to rowers during the 1997 regatta season. The themes identified from this questionnaire were explored further through a period of participant observation in two rowing clubs, and semi-structured interviews conducted with members of both clubs and their coaches. The findings identified that it jury should be considered as part of a broader experience of illness in sport. The participants in the study had limited recognition of their vulnerability to illness and injury as a result of their involvement in rowing. The major risk factors appeared to be the high level of commitment expected of the rowers, pressures from significant others within the subculture (in particular the coaches), and inadequate medical support for amateur athletes. Illness and injury are considered to be embodied and emotional experiences, affecting the athlete's body project (Shilling, 1993). The stigma of such fatal flaws (Goffman, 1969; Sparkes, 1996) has the potential to disrupt the individual's sense of self as athlete andlor as female, which occasionally led to compensatory behaviour. It is suggested that coaching practice needs to be more humanistic than performanceoriented Furthermore, non-orthodox, complementary health care is recommended to offer women a more supportive environment for taking control of their own medical practice. Finally, it is believed that there is a need for greater dialogue between sociologists of sport and other sport scientists and medical professionals in order to develop a more holistic approach to working with sports participants

A participatory action research project to improve school readiness in rural Grade R classes in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.School readiness in the South African context has multiple complex facets to consider. Many children in South Africa are entering school not ready to learn for a whole range of reasons, sometimes resulting in low levels of reading, learning delays and difficulties and slow progress in their whole development. Long lasting consequences include an inability to break out of the cycle of poverty because of factors contributing to a large percentage of South African children not getting the opportunity to thrive and learn in an optimal environment. Teaching in South Africa therefore has many problems and challenges. Thinking of ways for transforming our South African systems to support all our children reaching their potential is challenging in itself. With our historical past still drenched in Apartheid and power dynamics so much needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about approaches to enable change. This thesis looks at what it means to enable change in South Africa with such a past and such a current situation for many of our children. Participation is explored through a rich, critically reflective process, bringing consciousness to this topic through creating opportunities for change that come from the ground up, by supporting educational development in not only a sustainable way, but one that also engages with pertinent issues of power in our South African context. This study is about the deep, ground level learning that came from participating within a participatory action research project that was planned within a critical paradigm. It is deeply embedded in a critically self-reflective approach using an experiential cyclical way of learning, to activate and facilitate change and development. The PAR team comprised of a mixture of pre-school, Grade R and Grade 1 teachers who, together with myself, sought ways to improve school readiness of children in their particular disadvantaged rural school setting. The overall findings include a systematic way of improving practice in such spaces, highlighting the importance of self-awareness and building relationships