Cricket's Changing Ethos

Description

This book examines historically how cricket was codified out of its variant folk-forms and then marketed with certain lessons sought to reinforce the values of a declining landed interest. It goes on to show how such values were then adapted as part of the imperial experiment and were eventually rejected and replaced with an ethos that better reflected the interests of new dominant elites. The work examines the impact of globalisation and marketization on cricket and analyses the shift from an English dominance, on a sport that is ever-increasingly being shaped by Asian forces. The book’s distinctiveness lies in trying to decode the spirit of the game, outlining a set of actual characteristics rather than a vague sense of values. An historical analysis shows how imperialism, nationalism, commercialism and globalisation have shaped and adapted these characteristics. As such it will be of interest to students and scholars of sport sociology, post-colonialism, globalisation as well as those with an interest in the game of cricket and sport more generally. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 1-5 The Noble Sport: The Role of the Aristocracy in the Early History of Cricket (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 7-27 The Construction of Ethos: The Spirit of Cricket (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 29-60 The Spread of Ethos: Cricket and Empire (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 61-92 The Reality of Ethos: Segregation (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 93-126 Challenging Ethos: Nationalism (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 127-152 The Decline of Ethos: Cricket in the Contemporary Age (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 153-196 The New Ethos: The Rise of India (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 197-240 Conclusion: Test Matches, Globalisation, and Superpowers (Jon Gemmell)....Pages 241-253 Back Matter ....Pages 255-307