Boxing and Urban Cultures
‘Pugilistic Points of View’
SOC280: Lecture III

 2016 Czech Fulbright Mid-year Conference
Olomouc, Czech Republic
27-30 January 2016
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So, just why do boxers box?
¤Exploring the ‘positive moment of pugilism’ versus critiques of a ‘blood sport’
¤ Reasons against boxing tend to come from those outside the sport (ethicists, historians, etc.)—a
spectator’s point of view (p. 489)
¤Reasons in defense of boxing to be found from within the sport—the embedded and embodied
pugilist’s point of view
¤The voices of everyday boxers most often neglected in critical discussions of the sport
¤Nearly all boxers fail to achieve a ‘rags to riches’ career

The pugilistic point of view
¤ A view that is not simply a single perspective but rather a synthesis of:
¤Individual attitudes and preferences (choice of constraints and choices embedded within
constraints)
¤Socioeconomic and structural forces (structural shifts in manufacturing to service economies
wrought by neoliberalism and persistent structural violence)
¤Symbolic forms and codes (street cultures and the sociocultural practices they entail)
¤

Boxers’ views of violence
¤ ‘Boxin doesn’t jus’ teach you violence…’ (Kenny, p. 494-495)
¤‘It’s mostly probably people who have nothin’ to do with the sport…’ (Roy, p. 497)
¤‘Streetfightin’, I’ll probably half-kill a person…’ (Bernard, p. 498)
¤ ‘It’s a skill…’ (Keith, p. 498)
¤

The boxing gym as a ‘civilizing machine’
¤ Boxing as a physical deterrent to violent behavior (p. 499)
¤ Boxing as a highly constrained practice—a ‘sweet science of constraints’(p. 499)
¤ Boxing as controlled violence (p. 499)

Boxing as work
¤ Gym as workshop
¤ Boxers as laborers or practitioners of a marketable craft (bodily artisans) within capitalist
economies
¤ Boxers as essentially proletarian workers (wage-laborers)
¤ Boxers as laborers of the self—reflexive production and articulation/presentation of a unique
identity

Boxing as a working-class socioeconomic practice
¤ Professional boxers have a relatively high degree of control over their own labor processes (p.
502)
¤ Professional boxing as a skilled practice (p. 503)
¤ Professional boxing offers the prospect (albeit illusory) of a career, in contrast to low-paying
and de-skilled McJobs(p. 504)
¤ Being a boxer is a mark of respect and social recognition in contexts of disrespect and
reification (p. 505)