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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: the new fitness boom -- 1 Historicizing fitness technology -- 2 A game for everyone: the fitness-technology complex -- 3 Be your best self: gamification, optimization, surveillance -- 4 Anywhere, anytime: fitness technology and mobile privatization -- 5 This is hard work: negotiating technology consumption -- Conclusion: amusing ourselves to life -- Index

This article advances the claim that a new 'fitness boom' has arrived, one marked by the proliferation of devices such as wearable fitness trackers. The first fitness boom of the 1970s/1980s was characterized by the heightened availability of fitness 'tools' and the supposition that pursuing a 'fit' lifestyle was tantamount to responsible living. The new era in fitness intensifies foregoing fitness trends, rather than departing from them completely. Specifically, the second fitness boom is deemed to be characterized by the following traits: (1) the manifestation of socio-technical networks, (2) an emphasis on human–technology interactivity, (3) data-intensiveness, (4) customization in the interest of 'optimization', (5) the option for individual users to partake in wider online communities and, finally, (6) both 'new' and 'old' forms of commodification. With these characteristics in mind, a case is made that fitness is a site for prosumption – production and consumption together – now more so than ever. More importantly, fitness is a site for automated prosumption in that fitness data can be generated with limited effort from fitness participants. Consideration is given to the significance of automated prosumption in the fitness realm as it pertains to fitness and to the notion of prosumption both.

Against the common perception that media consumption engenders inactivity, in recent years the technology sector has developed an extensive catalogue of games for bodily and cognitive exercise. Despite their popularity, however, and despite their potential ability to affect perceptions and experiences of health and fitness, there remains a shortage of academic research on video games of this kind. Drawing from earlier studies, the central contribution of this article lies in the introduction of "bio-play" and "bio-games" as terms for conceptualizing these new fitness products. The former term refers to the conjoining of self-care—specifically, self-assessments, surveillance, and discipline—and entertainment in games such as Nintendo's Wii Fit; the latter refers to the technological genre as a whole that is characterized by such activity. The prefix "bio" in each case reflects the contribution of new fitness technologies to the broader conjuncture in which they are located—namely, their discursive and material support of the (neoliberal) presumption that biological "self-improvement" is achievable through the marketplace. Acknowledging their possible benefits, in this analysis I also highlight concerns associated with the arrival of bio-games. These include the relations underlying the production of these technologies, their manner of proffering fitness services, and their representations of the "ideal" body and brain. I close by outlining challenges for researchers, educators, and policymakers that follow from industry's newfound promise that, with the help of new media, we can amuse ourselves to life.

This article considers the role of 'active' video games — specifically the Nintendo 'Wii' — as technologies that foster control over corporeality. New media scholars have examined the politics of embodiment and hybridity as they relate to video games, yet have paid limited attention to the ways in which new gaming technologies might contribute to contemporary systems of 'government', or what Foucault calls the 'conduct of conduct'. Borrowing from influential social theorists, the article argues that, by undergoing what Latour labels 'translation' (by merging with the body), the Wii invokes and reinscribes governmental and post-disciplinary rationalities. The analysis concludes by contending that the Wii might be a particularly influential innovation in risk-based post-disciplinary societies: rather than connecting 'at-risk' subjects to human experts, the Wii functions as an active and autonomous quasi-object risk expert, able to diagnose 'problematic' tendencies and prescribe basic behavioural remedies.

Sport and the environment are inextricably linked. Sport is dependent on its environmental contexts and is potentially environmentally impactful in its own right. Sport facilities - like ski hills, golf courses, and stadiums - can upset ecosystems and displace local residents. Teams and fans commonly travel in cars and planes that emit CO2. Rising temperatures might make participation in some sports impossible. Other examples abound. Yet while sport can be environmentally damaging, there is also hope that it can be a force for positive environmental change - for example, in modelling pro-environment forms of sport, and in decision-making by sport's many stakeholders. In a context where pressing concerns about the climate crisis have inspired calls for changes in how people relate to the environment, questions remain about the environmental sustainability of sport. Such questions are at the core of "Sport and the environment: politics and preferred futures", which brings together a diverse collection of contributors to explore a range of topics, such as how sport is implicated in environmentally damaging activities, how decisions about responding to environmental issues are made, who benefits most and least from these decisions, and, ultimately, what a truly environmentally-friendly sport could look like.

Golf is a major global industry. It is played by more than 60 million people worldwide, and there are more than 32,000 courses across the globe in 140 countries. This book looks at the power relationships in and around golf, examining whether the industry has demonstrated sufficient leadership on environmental matters for the government to be able to trust them to make decisions with implications for public health. It is the first comprehensive study of the varying impacts of golf on the environment, and is based on extensive empirical research, including interviews with major stakeholders in the golf industry and members of protest groups. The authors examine golf as a sport and as a global industry, drawing on three discrete literatures – the study of sport as a global social movement, environmental sociology and the study of corporate environmentalism.

This article focuses on the case of Trump International Golf Links, Scotland (TIGLS), a golf course in Aberdeenshire that opened in 2012 after a lengthy and contentious application and development phase. Herein, we draw from a larger study of golf and the environment with the aim of assessing both the TIGLS case in itself and its implications for the study of sport/physical culture in general. The TIGLS case on the one hand provides an empirical example of the concept of 'environmental managerialism' – which is to say it exemplifies how governments, even with an ostensible commitment to sustainability in place, can still give approval to environmentally impactful development projects. It also provides an empirical example of a new social movement at work. Once the TIGLS development earned government approval, it was met by opposition during the construction phase by a group called 'Tripping Up Trump'. On the other hand, we use the TIGLS case as a platform for a broader research commentary, one focused especially on the recently emergent Physical Cultural Studies (PCS) literature. Our contention at this time is that PCS as thus far conceived is anthropocentric in its scope; the important and necessary role that non-humans play in physical cultural contexts has largely been overlooked. We call for further consideration of how 'new materialist' perspectives can inform research on sport and other dimensions of physical culture.

This paper features a critical examination of recent legislation banning cosmetic pesticide applications in the province of Ontario, Canada. It focuses in particular on the exemption of golf courses from the province's Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act of 2009. Drawing from a wide range of materials, the authors first contextualize Ontario's recent law through an overview of the historical development of pre- and post-market pesticide regulation in Canada. This includes a review of the fierce debates that have at times arisen between pro- and anti-chemical factions. From there, the authors evaluate the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act. In one sense, the law – and especially golf's exemption from the law – is said to exemplify "environmental managerialist" decision-making, whereby governments must satisfy a "dual mandate" of promoting economic growth and environmental sustainability simultaneously. In another, related way, it is seen as demonstrative of an "ecological modernist" approach to environmental problems in which industry-led, technologically-advanced solutions are privileged above others. Taken together, golf's "special status" in Ontario's new pesticide legislation is deemed reflective of a wider trend towards neoliberal environmental policy making in Canada. It is also regarded in closing as a reason for future research into sport and environmental policy.

In this critical review we reflect on findings from a socio-historical study of golf's relationship with the environment. We focus especially on the golf industry's pursuit of modernization from the early 1900s to the present. Golf's quest to 'be' modern, we contend, has specifically constituted three particular 'turns': a first turn in the early 1900s involving the scientific rationalization of golf course development and maintenance; a second, 'exemptionalist' turn in the post-war years whereby science and technology fueled a perception of immense control over nature; and a third, more recent turn to ecological modernization (EM) whereby science and technology are leveraged toward environmental stewardship – or at least claims thereof. We ultimately argue that the golf industry's recent adoption of EM principles in their environment-related work has political implications, as it 'protects' the industry from more radical environmental alternatives.

This paper features a critical examination of recent legislation banning cosmetic pesticide applications in the province of Ontario, Canada. It focuses in particular on the exemption of golf courses from the province's Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act of 2009. Drawing from a wide range of materials, the authors first contextualize Ontario's recent law through an overview of the historical development of pre- and post-market pesticide regulation in Canada. This includes a review of the fierce debates that have at times arisen between pro- and anti-chemical factions. From there, the authors evaluate the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act. In one sense, the law – and especially golf's exemption from the law – is said to exemplify "environmental managerialist" decision-making, whereby governments must satisfy a "dual mandate" of promoting economic growth and environmental sustainability simultaneously. In another, related way, it is seen as demonstrative of an "ecological modernist" approach to environmental problems in which industry-led, technologically-advanced solutions are privileged above others. Taken together, golf's "special status" in Ontario's new pesticide legislation is deemed reflective of a wider trend towards neoliberal environmental policy making in Canada. It is also regarded in closing as a reason for future research into sport and environmental policy.

This article reports findings from a qualitative case study undertaken at a Vancouver high school designed to examine the role of media and physical education (PE) in shaping how young males ( n = 36) understand and practice gender. The authors were specifically concerned with developing a nuanced understanding of how interpretations of masculinity relate to performances of masculinity and how interpretations and performances vary depending on social context and according to a youth's social positioning. Findings revealed how participants criticized media portrayals of "hegemonic masculinities" (i.e., muscular, aggressive, and hyper-heterosexual masculinities) while simultaneously celebrating these same gender identities in PE. The authors used these findings as a foundation for arguing that (a) youth are flexible in their interpretations/performances of masculinity according to context; (b) the participants, in critiquing portrayals of hypermasculinity in media and supporting less radical versions of hegemonic masculinity in PE, were creating personal narratives around masculinity as a potential strategy for coping with feelings of disembodiment and disembeddedness; and (c) students' critiques of gender portrayals, although offering symbolic challenges to the contemporary gender order, are nonetheless limited by structures that normalize hegemonic masculinities.