The ambiguity of play
Sutton-Smith focuses on play theories rooted in seven distinct "rhetorics"--The ancient discourses of fate, power, communal identity, and frivolity and the modern discourses of progress, the imaginary, and the self. In a sweeping analysis that moves from the question of play in child development to the implications of play for the Western work ethic, he explores the values, historical sources, and interests that have dictated the terms and forms of play put forth in each discourse's "objective" theory
Print Book, English, 1997
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1997
x, 276 pages ; 25 cm
9780674017337, 9780674005815, 0674017331, 0674005813
36977268
Preface Acknowledgments Play and Ambiguity Rhetorics of Animal Progress Rhetorics of Child Play Rhetorics of Fate Rhetorics of Power Rhetorics of Identity Child Power and Identity Rhetorics of the Imaginary Child Phantasmagoria Rhetorics of Self Rhetorics of Frivolity Conclusion Bibliography Index
New Zealand author