Game Theory, Experimental Games and many other social theorists use games as an analytic device to understand non-game social processes, yet operate with a narrow conception of games restricted to the formal or codified rules. This formalist imagery of games provides an inadequate account of agency in games and fails to access the interpretive work by players in negotiating with game-structures. In contrast Garfinkel's ethnomethodological perspective on social processes provides the basis for identifying five interdependent dimensions of rule-following in games. This suggests that game processes are necessarily under-determined by formal rules, and that players can explore the essential insufficiency of the rules in pursuit of their interests in winning. This provides the basis for understanding changes to game-structures over time and has broader application to other social processes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Albrittan, A., 1978: The Game Analogy and Bourgeois Ideology. In: Social Praxis3, (3-4) 231-42.
2.
Benson, D., and Hughes, J., 1983: The Perspective of Ethnomethodology. London, Longmans.
3.
Brittan, A., 1973: Meanings and Situations. London, Routledge, Kegan Pau, Ch. 7.
4.
Cicourel, A., 1964: Method and Measurement in Sociology. New York, Collier Macmillan.
5.
Cicourel, A., 1968: The Social Organisation of Juvenile Justice. London, John Wiley.
6.
Coleman, J.S., 1969: "Games as vehicles for social theory". In: American Behavioural Scientist12, 2-6.
7.
Colman, A., 1982: Game Theory and Experimental Games: The Study of Strategic Interaction. Oxford, Pergamon Press .
8.
Coulter, J., 1983: The Social Construction of Mind: Studies in Ethnomethodology and Linguistic Philosophy. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
9.
D'Agostino, F., 1981: "The ethos of games". In: Philosophy of Sport, Vol8, 7-18.
10.
Dunning, E., & Sheard, K., 1979: Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players. Oxford, Martin Robertson.
11.
Elias, N., & Dunning, E., 1986: The Quest for Excitement. Blackwell , Oxford.
12.
Elster, J. , 1978: Contradictions and Possible Worlds. Chichester, John Wiley.
13.
Ganz, J., 1971: Rules. The Hague, Mouton Press.
14.
Garfinkel, H., 1963: "Conceptions of, and Experiments with, Trust as a Condition of Stable Concerted Actions". In: O. J. Harvey , (ed.): Motivation and Social Interaction, 187-238.
15.
Garfinkel, H., 1967: Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs NJ, Prentice-Hall.
16.
Giddens, A., 1985: The Constitution of Society. London , Polity Press.
17.
Gouldner, A., 1970: The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. New York, Basic Books.
18.
Greenblat, C.S., 1974: "Sociological theory and the multiple reality game". In: Simulation and Games5, 1, 3-21.
19.
Hargreaves, J., 1968: Sport, Power and Culture. Cambridge , Polity Press.
20.
Haywood, L. , et al, 1990: Understanding Leisure. Cheltenham, Stanley Thornes.
21.
Heritage, J., 1984: Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Cambridge , Polity Press.
22.
Heritage, J., 1987: "Ethnomethodology Since Garfinkel". In: A. Giddens & J. Turner (ed.): Social Theory Today. Cambridge , Polity Press.
23.
Ingham, A., and Hardy, S., 1984: "Sport, Structuration and Hegemony". In: Theory, Culture and Society2, 2.
24.
Kew, F., 1986: "Playing the Game: an ethnomethodological perspective ". In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport21, 4, 305-22.
25.
Kew, F., 1987: "Contested rules: an explanation of how games change". In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport22, 2.
26.
Kew, F., 1990: "The development of games: an endogenous explanation". In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport25, 4.
27.
Luschen, G., 1970: "Co-operation, Association and Contest". In: J. Conflict Resolution14,21-34.
28.
Maguire, J., 1988: "The Commercialisation of English Elite Basketball, 1972-1988: a figurational perspective". In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport23, 4, 305-24.
29.
Maulden, E., and Redfern, E., 1968: Games in the Primary School. London , McDonald and Evans.
30.
McIntosh, P., 1979: Fair Play: Ethics in Sport and Education. London, Heinemann.
31.
Mehan, H., and Wood, H., 1978: The Reality of Ethnomethodology. London , Wiley.
32.
Olshewsky, T., 1976: "On the 'Notion of Rule"'. In: Philosophia6, 267-87.
33.
Paddick, R., 1987: Rules and Games. Paper presented at Sporting Traditions Conference, Melbourne, Autralia, May, 1987.
34.
Parsons, T., 1937: The Structure of Social Action. New York, McGraw-Hill (1963).
35.
Parsons, T., 1951: The Social System. New York, Free Press.
36.
Rail, G., 1988: A Phenomenological Study of Physical Contact m Women's Baseketball. Paper presented at Seoul Olympic Scientific Congress Sept. 9-15, Dankook, Korea.
Rigauer, B., 1987: Sport and Work. New York, Columbia University Press, (translated A. Guttmann).
39.
Schutz, A., 1967: The Phenomenology of the Social World. Illinois, Northwestern Univ. Press.
40.
Sharrock, W., and Anderson, R., 1986: The Ethnomethodologists. Key Sociologists Series, Tavistock Press.
41.
Shubik, M. , 1964: Games for Society, Business and War: Towards a Theory of Gaming.
42.
Silva, J., 1981: Normative Compliance and rule-violating behaviour in sport , Intern. J. Sp. Psychology, 12,10-18.
43.
Suits, B., 1967: "What is a game?" In: Philosophy of Science34,148-56.
44.
Vaz, E., 1977: "Institutionalised rule violation in professional hockey: perspectives and control systems". In: Journal of Canadian Assoc. of Health Phys. Ed. & Rec.43, 3, 6-14, 32-34.
