Description

Prof. Nikolai Ponomaryov is a prominent expert in sport sociology, member of the UNESCO International Committee for Sport Sociology and corresponding member of the Committee for Interna-
tional History of Sport.What is the role of physical culture and sport in modern society? The author makes a close study of this interesting problem, covering such subjects as sport and work education, the influence of sport on the development of an individual and a group,the correlation between physical education and moral and aesthetic education, functions of sport as a spectacle, etc.
The book is of particular interest to teachers,coaches, sociologists and all those keen on sports problems in modern society.This book has a limited purpose: it is an attempt to examine the social functions of physical culture and sport in a sociological way. Using the above-mentioned schema, the author has attempted to analyse and summarise apposite material from differing areas. The nature and content of the work have necessitated recourse to a general theory and sociology of culture, philosophy, general sociology, history and other disciplines.The work includes both material concerned with theore-
tical analysis, and empirical sociological materials assembled by the author, and salient aspects of work undertaken by
research post-graduate students and colleagues under his supervision. The author would like to express his
gratitude to them for the opportunity of using their work.In so far as the sociology of sport studies the manifestation of general sociological rules in the area of sport, the book contains a characterisation of problems being studied in general sociology. It is hoped that this will also have a certain cognitive importance.