'Working Out' Identity: Distance Runners and the Management of Disrupted Identity
Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn; Hockey, John
Date: 2007
Journal
Leisure Studies
Publisher
Routledge
Publisher DOI
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Abstract
This article contributes fresh perspectives to the empirical literature on the sociology of
the body, and of leisure and identity, by analysing the impact of long-term injury on the identities of
two amateur but serious middle/long-distance runners. Employing a symbolic interactionist framework,
and utilising data derived from a ...
This article contributes fresh perspectives to the empirical literature on the sociology of
the body, and of leisure and identity, by analysing the impact of long-term injury on the identities of
two amateur but serious middle/long-distance runners. Employing a symbolic interactionist framework,
and utilising data derived from a collaborative autoethnographic project, it explores the role
of ‘identity work’ in providing continuity of identity during the liminality of long-term injury and
rehabilitation, which poses a fundamental challenge to athletic identity. Specifically, the analysis
applies Snow and Anderson’s (1995) and Perinbanayagam’s (2000) theoretical conceptualisations
in order to examine the various forms of identity work undertaken by the injured participants, along
the dimensions of materialistic, associative and vocabularic identifications. Such identity work was
found to be crucial in sustaining a credible sporting identity in the face of disruption to the running
self, and in generating momentum towards the goal of restitution to full running fitness and reengagement with a cherished form of leisure.
Sport and Health Sciences
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