This volume examines the rise of an emerging sport as a grassroots effort (or ¿new social movement¿), arguing that the growth of non-normative sports movements occurs through two social processes: one driven primarily by product development, commercialization, and consumption, and another that relies upon public resources and grassroots efforts. Through the lens of disc golf, informed by the author¿s experience both playing and researching the sport, Joshua Woods here explores how non-normative sports development depends on the consistency of insider culture and ideology, as well as on how the movement navigates a broad field of market competition, government regulation, community characteristics, public opinion, traditional media, social media and technological change. Throughout, the author probes why some sports grow faster than others, examining cultural tendencies toward sport, individual choices to participate, and the various institutional forces at play.

Joshua Woods is Professor of Sociology at West Virginia University, USA.

Introduction

 

Chapter 1: The Disc Golf Movement

 

Chapter 2: The Professional Disc Golf Association Pushes for Legitimacy through Competition

 

Chapter 3: The Mixed Bag of Disc Golf Culture: Disc Golf as Lifestyle

 

Chapter 4: The Framing of Disc Golf in News Media

 

Chapter 5: The Associations Between Traditional and Social Media and the Growth of Disc Golf

 

Chapter 6: Neglect, Trivialization and Stigmatization: The Framing of Disc Golf in Popular Films and Television

 

Chapter 7: Disparities in Disc Golf Course Distribution in the United States

 

Chapter 8: Disc Golfer Demographics

 

Conclusion