Product details:
| ISBN13: | 9781978839533 |
| ISBN10: | 1978839537 |
| Binding: | Hardback |
| No. of pages: | 340 pages |
| Size: | 279x216x41 mm |
| Weight: | 1379 g |
| Language: | English |
| Illustrations: | 92 color and 180 B-W images |
| 700 |
Category:
The High School ? Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903?2024
Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903-2024
Series:
Critical Issues in Sport and Society;
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Date of Publication: 7 April 2025
Number of Volumes: Hardback with laminated cover
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GBP 27.99
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Short description:
Taking over a century’s worth of yearbooks from his alma mater, Salinas High School, as a historical archive, acclaimed sociologist Michael A. Messner discovers a not-so-distant time when all the cheerleaders were boys and nearly equal attention was paid to boys’ and girls’ sports. In the process, he explores the changing meanings of high school athletics.
Taking over a century’s worth of yearbooks from his alma mater, Salinas High School, as a historical archive, acclaimed sociologist Michael A. Messner discovers a not-so-distant time when all the cheerleaders were boys and nearly equal attention was paid to boys’ and girls’ sports. In the process, he explores the changing meanings of high school athletics.
Long description:
High school yearbooks provide both a vivid snapshot of student life and a reflection of what the adults in the community valued the most. For instance, athletics are often covered more than academics, and boys’ sports routinely receive more attention than girls’ sports. But how have those values changed over time?
In The High School, acclaimed sociologist Michael A. Messner reads through 120 years of El Gabilan, the yearbook from his own alma mater, Salinas High School in California, where his father taught and coached. Treating the yearbooks as a historical archive, Messner makes surprising discoveries about the school he thought he knew so well. For example, over fifty years before Title IX, the earliest yearbooks gave equal spotlights to boys’ and girls’ athletics, while the cheerleaders were all boys.
Tracing American life and culture from 1903 to 2024, Messner illuminates shifts in social practices at his high school that reflect broader changes in American culture across the twentieth century. The High School spotlights how the meanings and iconography of certain activities have changed radically over the decades, even as the “sports spirit complex”—involving athletes, cheerleaders, band members, and community boosters—has remained a central part of the high school experience. By exploring evolving sports cultures, socioeconomic conditions, racial demographics, and gender norms, Messner offers a fresh perspective on a defining feature of American teenage life.
"The High School takes us on a compelling historical journey, offering a unique blend of sociology, history, and personal memoir. Messner captures not only the evolution of one high school but also the broader cultural shifts in race, gender, class, and sexuality. A brilliant and insightful work that may have many of us digging out our own yearbooks and revisiting our own stories."
In The High School, acclaimed sociologist Michael A. Messner reads through 120 years of El Gabilan, the yearbook from his own alma mater, Salinas High School in California, where his father taught and coached. Treating the yearbooks as a historical archive, Messner makes surprising discoveries about the school he thought he knew so well. For example, over fifty years before Title IX, the earliest yearbooks gave equal spotlights to boys’ and girls’ athletics, while the cheerleaders were all boys.
Tracing American life and culture from 1903 to 2024, Messner illuminates shifts in social practices at his high school that reflect broader changes in American culture across the twentieth century. The High School spotlights how the meanings and iconography of certain activities have changed radically over the decades, even as the “sports spirit complex”—involving athletes, cheerleaders, band members, and community boosters—has remained a central part of the high school experience. By exploring evolving sports cultures, socioeconomic conditions, racial demographics, and gender norms, Messner offers a fresh perspective on a defining feature of American teenage life.
"The High School takes us on a compelling historical journey, offering a unique blend of sociology, history, and personal memoir. Messner captures not only the evolution of one high school but also the broader cultural shifts in race, gender, class, and sexuality. A brilliant and insightful work that may have many of us digging out our own yearbooks and revisiting our own stories."
