TY - JOUR

T1 - Sensory sociological phenomenology, somatic learning and 'lived' temperature in competitive pool swimming

AU - McNarry, Gareth

AU - Allen-Collinson, Jacquelyn

AU - Evans, Adam B.

N1 - CURIS 2021 NEXS 017

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - In this article, we address an existing lacuna in the sociology of the senses, by employing sociological phenomenology to illuminate the under-researched sense of temperature, as lived by a social group for whom water temperature is particularly salient: competitive pool swimmers. The research contributes to a developing ‘sensory sociology’ that highlights the importance of the socio-cultural framing of the senses and ‘sensory work’, but where there remains a dearth of sociological exploration into senses extending beyond the ‘classic five’ sensorium. Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of competitive swimmers in the UK, our analysis explores the rich sensuousities of swimming, and highlights the role of temperature as fundamentally affecting the affordances offered by the aquatic environment. The article contributes original theoretical perspectives to the sociology of the senses and of sport in addressing the ways in which social actors in the aquatic environment interact, both intersubjectively and intercorporeally, as thermal beings.

AB - In this article, we address an existing lacuna in the sociology of the senses, by employing sociological phenomenology to illuminate the under-researched sense of temperature, as lived by a social group for whom water temperature is particularly salient: competitive pool swimmers. The research contributes to a developing ‘sensory sociology’ that highlights the importance of the socio-cultural framing of the senses and ‘sensory work’, but where there remains a dearth of sociological exploration into senses extending beyond the ‘classic five’ sensorium. Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of competitive swimmers in the UK, our analysis explores the rich sensuousities of swimming, and highlights the role of temperature as fundamentally affecting the affordances offered by the aquatic environment. The article contributes original theoretical perspectives to the sociology of the senses and of sport in addressing the ways in which social actors in the aquatic environment interact, both intersubjectively and intercorporeally, as thermal beings.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Lived temperature

KW - Sociological phenomenology

KW - Sociology of the senses

KW - Sport and physical cultures

KW - Swimming

U2 - 10.1177/0038026120915149

DO - 10.1177/0038026120915149

M3 - Journal article

VL - 69

SP - 206

EP - 222

JO - Sociological Review

JF - Sociological Review

SN - 0038-0261

IS - 1

ER -