Gambling has been a prominent part of many classical texts, from Georg Simmel’s essay on the philosophy of the adventure and Thorstein Veblen’s analysis of the leisure class, to Roger Caillois’ sociology of play. More recently, a number of contemporary sociologically-oriented gambling scholars have developed the sociological understanding of gambling further by applying existing social theory, and by developing gambling-specific theoretical approaches. The sociology of gambling has nevertheless remained fragmented, and an integration of the sociology of gambling into the sociological mainstream is still pending.
The aim of this Research Topic is to not only inquire the phenomenon of gambling from a sociological vantage point, but to showcase how the example of gambling serves in pushing sociological theory forward.
Gambling in its multifarious dimensions plays on all registers of the sociological score. Gambling as an activity spans a network of relations to others at the table or away at home, to institutions and companies, and to objects and other actors in the widest sense. It involves certain interactional dynamics and opportunities to display social codes. Game preferences and habits are gender-specific and nested in social classes, milieus, or ethnic groups. Gambling can also increase inequalities in itself. Gambling has always been an object of social control, and varying control regimes have formed over the years in all countries. Being a significant economic factor, gambling becomes interwoven with politics and certain forms of crime. Despite being usually considered a leisure and entertainment activity, the gambling infrastructure and gambling itself can also constitute a form of work. Finally, gambling is at the forefront of the development of the virtualization of social life and the digital economy. Assessing gambling sociologically provides countless opportunities in progressing our understanding of societies beyond the immediate topic of gambling.
"The Sociology of Gambling" Research Topic invites contributions from diverse sociological perspectives, a broad range of theoretical angles, and of various methodological approaches, which have gambling as their focus. The Topic concentrates on gambling as a set of intrinsically-playful activities; as a consequence, contributions conceptualizing stock market activities as gambling lie outside its scope. Contributions can address all kinds of games; e.g., poker, the lottery, and different forms of betting, be these played in physical locations or remotely. More specifically, research might focus on:
• how the phenomenon of gambling can advance, develop, and test sociological theories
• what online gambling tells us about the virtualization and digitalization of our societies
• what we can learn about gambling under an intersectional lens
• where gambling lies as an activity between leisure and work
• the political economy of gambling and gambling profits
• how gambling links people together or apart
• what gambling tells us about the governance of human behavior.
We welcome empirical as well as purely theoretical manuscripts.
Gambling has been a prominent part of many classical texts, from Georg Simmel’s essay on the philosophy of the adventure and Thorstein Veblen’s analysis of the leisure class, to Roger Caillois’ sociology of play. More recently, a number of contemporary sociologically-oriented gambling scholars have developed the sociological understanding of gambling further by applying existing social theory, and by developing gambling-specific theoretical approaches. The sociology of gambling has nevertheless remained fragmented, and an integration of the sociology of gambling into the sociological mainstream is still pending.
The aim of this Research Topic is to not only inquire the phenomenon of gambling from a sociological vantage point, but to showcase how the example of gambling serves in pushing sociological theory forward.
Gambling in its multifarious dimensions plays on all registers of the sociological score. Gambling as an activity spans a network of relations to others at the table or away at home, to institutions and companies, and to objects and other actors in the widest sense. It involves certain interactional dynamics and opportunities to display social codes. Game preferences and habits are gender-specific and nested in social classes, milieus, or ethnic groups. Gambling can also increase inequalities in itself. Gambling has always been an object of social control, and varying control regimes have formed over the years in all countries. Being a significant economic factor, gambling becomes interwoven with politics and certain forms of crime. Despite being usually considered a leisure and entertainment activity, the gambling infrastructure and gambling itself can also constitute a form of work. Finally, gambling is at the forefront of the development of the virtualization of social life and the digital economy. Assessing gambling sociologically provides countless opportunities in progressing our understanding of societies beyond the immediate topic of gambling.
"The Sociology of Gambling" Research Topic invites contributions from diverse sociological perspectives, a broad range of theoretical angles, and of various methodological approaches, which have gambling as their focus. The Topic concentrates on gambling as a set of intrinsically-playful activities; as a consequence, contributions conceptualizing stock market activities as gambling lie outside its scope. Contributions can address all kinds of games; e.g., poker, the lottery, and different forms of betting, be these played in physical locations or remotely. More specifically, research might focus on:
• how the phenomenon of gambling can advance, develop, and test sociological theories
• what online gambling tells us about the virtualization and digitalization of our societies
• what we can learn about gambling under an intersectional lens
• where gambling lies as an activity between leisure and work
• the political economy of gambling and gambling profits
• how gambling links people together or apart
• what gambling tells us about the governance of human behavior.
We welcome empirical as well as purely theoretical manuscripts.