Women, Horseracing and Gender

Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and the concepts of field, capital and habitus, this book shows the inequalities that fracture the racing field, both historically and currently, by illustrating the classed and gendered nature of horseracing and how it has developed since the eighteenth century when it was the sport of the aristocracy. Using ethnographic research, the author demonstrates that the racing field is one of power, with men and women who work in racing acquiring a contradictorily gendered racing habitus as a result of learning by ¿doing¿, developing practical skills and participating in a (gendered) community of practice.