Barry Smart of Sporting Celebrity The Sport Star Modern Sport and the Cultural Economy S TC The Sport Star Smart www.hybertdesign.com • Cover design by Hybert Design New Delhi . is Professor of Sociology Theory, Culture & Society Theory, Thousand Oaks . Why are sport stars central to celebrity culture? to celebrity culture? stars central Why are sport fame? of their implications What are the fame and broadly based discussion of heroism, Proceeding from a of prominent modern sports and Smart addresses a number celebrity, Beckham David including Michael Jordan (basketball), sport stars, and the Williams Anna Kournikova (golf), (football), Tiger Woods sisters (tennis). in the UK and USA, of modern sport the development He analyses have key economic and cultural factors that demonstrating the while examining issues stars, contributed to the popularity of sport growing the impact of professionalization, such as race and gender, the increasing presence of the role of agents and media coverage, sponsorship and endorsement commercial corporations providing contracts. embodiment of the various This book situates the sport star as the It argues that sporting gender and culture. race, class, tensions of age, of authenticity that gives figures possess an increasingly rare quality The book is a major them the capacity to lift and inspire people. of sport and celebrity. contribution to the sociology and culture Barry Smart at the University of Portsmouth. The Sport Star The Sport
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