ABSTRACT
In a time of unprecedented political and economic transformation, the middle classes of Victorian and Edwardian England became principal players in a new social order. Nowhere did their culture, values and identity gain clearer expression than in their sports, and their influence is still felt in the way we organise, play and think of sport today.
A Sport-Loving Society presents a selection of groundbreaking essays from the journals which have defined sport history over the past three decades. These essays explore the role of the social institutions and issues of the Victorian and Edwardian periods in shaping the sports of the English middle classes, including:
- education
- the emancipation of women
- religion
- culture and class
- diplomacy and war.
Showcasing the work of prominent sport historians, this book demonstrates the value of sport as a vehicle for the study of wider social change.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |32 pages
Prologue: setting the scene
part |47 pages
Part I Sport and schools
chapter |20 pages
Chapter 1 The other side of the coin
chapter |25 pages
Chapter 2 English elementary education revisited and revised
part |51 pages
Part II Sport, universities and colleges
chapter |26 pages
Chapter 3 ‘Oars and the man'
chapter |23 pages
Chapter 4 Athleticism in the service of the proletariat
part |34 pages
Part III Sport and emancipation
chapter |8 pages
Chapter 5 The social construction of Victorian femininity
chapter |24 pages
Chapter 6 The “lady blue'
part |40 pages
Part IV Sport and religion
chapter |19 pages
Chapter 8 To pray or to play?
part |38 pages
Part V Sport and recreation
chapter |20 pages
Chapter 9 Culture, class and respectability
chapter |16 pages
Chapter 10 Of pride and prejudice
part |42 pages
Part VI Sport, war and diplomacy