Sport and Body Politics in Japan (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society) - Hardcover

Manzenreiter, Wolfram

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415840406 ISBN 13: 9780415840408

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

There is more to Japanese sport than sumo, karate and baseball. This study of social sport in Japan pursues a comprehensive approach towards sport as a distinctive cultural sphere at the intersection of body culture, political economy, and cultural globalization. Bridging the gap between Bourdieu and Foucault, it explains the significance of the body as a field of action and a topic of discourse in molding subject and society in modern Japan. More specifically, it provides answers to questions such as how and to what purposes are politics of the body articulated in Japan, particularly in the realm of sport? What is the agenda of state actors that develop politics aiming at the body, and to what degree are political and societal objectives impacted by commercial and non-political actors? How are political decisions on the allocation of resources made, and what are their consequences for sporting opportunities and practices of the body in general? Without neglecting the significance of sport spectatorship, this study takes a particular angle by looking at sport as a field of practice, pain and pleasure.

About this title

About the Author

Wolfram Manzenreiter is a Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415840406
• ISBN 13: 9780415840408
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 330