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The Ambiguity of Play by Brian Sutton-Smith (Paperback, 2001)
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ISBN-13: 9780674005815, 978-0674005815. The Ambiguity of Play Author(s): Brian Sutton-Smith. 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.
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Every child knows what it means to play, but the rest of us can merely speculate. Is it a kind of adaptation, teaching us skills, inducting us into certain communities? Is it power, pursued in games of prowess? Fate, deployed in games of chance? Daydreaming, enacted in art? Or is it just frivolity? Brian Sutton-Smith, a leading proponent of play theory, considers each possibility as it has been proposed, elaborated, and debated in disciplines from biology, psychology, and education to metaphysics, mathematics, and sociology. 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. This work reveals more distinctions and disjunctions than affinities, with one striking exception: however different their descriptions and interpretations of play, each rhetoric reveals a quirkiness, redundancy, and flexibility. In light of this, Sutton-Smith suggests that play might provide a model of the variability that allows for natural selection. As a form of mental feedback, play might nullify the rigidity that sets in after successful adaption, thus reinforcing animal and human variability. Further, he shows how these discourses, despite their differences, might offer the components for a new social science of play.Product Identifiers
PublisherHarvard University Press
ISBN-139780674005815
eBay Product ID (ePID)87807536
Product Key Features
Book TitleThe Ambiguity of Play
AuthorBrian Sutton-Smith
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
TopicEducation, Psychology
Publication Year2001
TypeTextbook
GenreChildren & Young Adults
Number of Pages288 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height229mm
Item Width152mm
Item Weight381g
Additional Product Features
Title_AuthorBrian Sutton-Smith
Topic AreaDevelopmental Psychology, Human Biology
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited States
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- 13 Nov, 2019
Very interesting and highly recommended book
Very interesting and profound book!Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
