Bourdieu, Gender Reflexivity, and Physical Culture: A Case of Masculinities in the Snowboarding Field

Holly Thorpe

Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, School of Education, University of Waikato

2010

Journal of Sport and Social Issues 2010 34: 176

Corresponding Author:

Holly Thorpe, Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, School of Education, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand

Email: hthorpe@waikato.ac.nz

This  article  contributes  to  recent  debates  between  supporters  of  the  concept  of hegemonic  masculinity,  as  exemplified  by  R. W.  Connell,  and  a  new  generation  of gender scholars, as to how best explain the dynamic and fluid relationships between men, and men and women, in the early 21st century. Here, the author concurs with many of Connell’s critics and proceeds by arguing that recent feminist extensions of Bourdieu’s original conceptual schema—field, capital, habitus, and practice—may help reveal more nuanced conceptualizations of masculinities, and male gender reflexivity, in  contemporary  sport  and  physical  culture. This  author  examines  the  potential  of such an approach via an analysis of masculinities in the snowboarding field. In so doing, this article not only offers fresh insights into the masculine identities and interactions in the snowboarding field but also contributes to recent debates about how best to explain different generations and cultural experiences of masculinities.

Keywords:

masculinity, Bourdieu, gender reflexivity, physical culture

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Qualitative

International

Recreation, Sport

Men, Young People

Other setting

Mountains

Impacts- social, Participation

Snowboarding

1186

February 27, 2013