This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dunning, E. Articles by Maguire, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Process-Sociological Notes on Sport, Gender Relations and Violence Control

University of Leicester, Department of Sociology, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH / Great Britain

Joseph Maguire

Loughborough University, Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU / Great Britain

In this working paper, we apply Elias' theory of "civilizing processes" to problems of gender relations, gender identities and, less systematically, to the more deeply embodied level of gender habituses in modem sport. More particularly, we hypothesize that, because it offers an explanation of both male fears of "emasculation/feminization" and the limited growth of equality between males and females which has so far occurred in the more "advanced" urban-industrial-nation-states, Elias' theory can help to account for: (i) the perceived need by males for a "masculinity-validating" enclave as a counter to "emasculation/feminization"; (ii) male opposition to direct female participation in sport; and (iii) the relative empowerment of females to an extent sufficient to enable them to enter sport in growing numbers. Preliminary empirical evidence is cited in support of these hypotheses and some of the contradictions and tensions generated in gender relations by the interrelated processes of "sportization" and "civilization" are explored.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 31, No. 3, 295-319 (1996)
DOI: 10.1177/101269029603100305


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Mansfield Reconsidering feminisms and the work of Norbert Elias for understanding gender, sport and sport-related activities European Physical Education Review, February 1, 2008; 14(1): 93 - 121. [Abstract] [PDF]