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Cricket, violence and social conflict: an Eliasian examination

Dominic Malcolm (Senior Lecturer, based at School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research

ISSN: 1759-6599

Article publication date: 30 September 2013

340

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the claims made for the potential of sports such as cricket to reduce social conflict and engender peace.

Design/methodology/approach

The use of an Eliasian sociological perspective to analyze historical documentary sources and contemporary media analyses of narratives of the role of violence and its regulation in cricket.

Findings

Violence and its regulation interweave with the broader development of cricket and remain central concerns in status conflicts between competing social groups involved in the game. This ranges from evidence of an increasing internalization of expectations regarding the regulation of violence to the stratification of social groups according to beliefs about differing uses of and attitudes towards violence.

Originality/value

This paper provides the first long-term analysis of violence trends in relation to cricket, and provides clarification of some problematic aspects of Elias’ sociological framework.

Keywords

Citation

Malcolm, D. (2013), "Cricket, violence and social conflict: an Eliasian examination", Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 211-219. https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-12-2012-0016

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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