Tag: class

Today, leisure is often seen as a universal right – accessible to all, regardless of background. Yet historically, access to leisure and sport was highly regulated and deeply unequal. This talk examines the cultural and social functions of leisure through the lens of equestrian sport. Focusing on the Victorian era, it argues that horseback riding was far more than a recreational pastime; it was a highly coded system of social communication. Practices such as dress, posture, and riding instructions served to reinforce existing social hierarchies and embodied norms.

The purpose of this special issue is to explore the link among social class, sport, and physical activity. We seek quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual papers that investigate the ways that wealth, social class background, and power intersect to influence the opportunities people have to consume sport, their chances to be physically active, their experiences as sport consumers, and how they experience work in sport organizations.

What is the nature and extent of discrimination in sport today? How does it affect people’s experience of sport and their wider lives? What are the barriers to change? And how can discrimination best be tackled in the future? We welcome proposals from academics, postgraduates and policy makers, who wish to present papers making empirical, theoretical or personal contributions.