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Preferred term

sociology of play and power  

Definition

  • Play has been commonly related to power in various ways: Play is a metaphor that stands for the exercise of power, a source of power, something that is constrained by existing power relations, and a setting and activity where power is socially constructed by means of the interaction between participants. These conceptions of play as contest have deep roots in the work of historian Johan Huizinga, and are somehow external to the classical reflections that are at the foundation of the sociology of power, based mainly on the contributions of Karl Marx and Max Weber. [Source: Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society; Play and Power, Sociology of]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/sociology_of_play_and_power

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