Short description
When French sociologist Lo"ic Wacquant signed up at a boxing gym in a black neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, he had never contemplated getting close to a ring, let alone climbing into it. Yet for three years he immersed himself among local fighters, amateur and professional. He learned the
Sweet science of bruising, participating in all phases of the pugilist's strenuous preparation, from shadow-boxing drills to sparring to fighting in the Golden Gloves tournament. In this experimental ethnography of incandescent intensity, the scholar-turned-boxer supplies a model for a "carnal
sociology" capable of capturing "the taste and ache of action."
Body & Soul marries the analytic rigor of the sociologist with the stylistic grace of the novelist to offer a compelling portrait of a bodily craft and of life and labor in the black American ghetto, but also a fascinating tale of personal transformation and social transcendence.
Long description
When French sociologist Loic Wacquant signed up at a boxing gym in a black neighborhood of Chicago's South Side, he had never contemplated getting close to a ring, let alone climbing into it. Yet for three years he immersed himself among local fighters, amateur and professional. He learned the Sweet science of bruising, participating in all phases of the pugilist's strenuous preparation, from shadow-boxing drills to sparring to fighting in the Golden Gloves tournament. In this experimental ethnography of incandescent intensity, the scholar-turned-boxer supplies a model for a "carnal sociology" capable of capturing "the taste and ache of action." Body & Soul marries the analytic rigor of the sociologist with the stylistic grace of the novelist to offer a compelling portrait of a bodily craft and of life and labor in the black American ghetto, but also a fascinating tale of personal transformation and social transcendence.
Review
[R]eveals a remarkable ethnographic and theatrical eye...a model account of a personal, embodied sociology... -- American Journal of Sociology
Body & Soul not only sets a new standard for scholarly research and writing on sport. It is a virtuoso performance that could--if properly read and disseminated and emulated--put the study of sport at the center of all sociological theorizing and analysis. --Social Forces
[A] sociological tour de force...sure to be widely used as an exemplar of how to conduct participant observation research.... It is packed with fruitful conceptual and theoretical discussions. --Qualitative Sociology
A fresh and authoritative treatment. --The Ring: The Bible of Boxing
Body & Soul will pull you into the deep rhythms of boxing and should certainly earn a place in the canon of literature in the ring. --Los Angeles Times
[R]eveals a remarkable ethnographic and theatrical eye...a model account of a personal, embodied sociology... -- American Journal of Sociology
.,. a provocative, exhilarating, maddening, and profoundly idiosyncratic effort. --Contemporary Sociology
Table of contents
- THE TASTE AND ACHE OF ACTION
- Preface to the U.S. Edition
- PROLOGUE
- THE STREET AND THE RING
- An Island of Order and Virtue
- "The Boys Who Beat the Street"
- A Scientifically Savage Practice
- The Social Logic of Sparring
- An Implicit and Collective Pedagogy
- Managing Bodily Capital
- FIGHT NIGHT AT STUDIO 104
- "You Scared I Might Mess Up 'Cause You Done Messed Up"
- Weigh-in at the Illinois State Building
- An Anxious Afternoon
- Welcome to Studio 104
- Pitiful Preliminaries
- Strong Beats Hannah by TKO in the Fourth
- Make Way for the Exotic Dancers
- "You Stop Two More Guys and I'll Stop Drinkin'"
- "BUSY" LOUIE AT THE GOLDEN GLOVES
- List of Illustrations
- A Note on Acknowledgments and Transcription
- Index