In this Book
- Play and the Human Condition
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Illinois Press
summary
In Play and the Human Condition, Thomas Henricks brings together ways of considering play to probe its essential relationship to work, ritual, and communitas. Focusing on five contexts for play--the psyche, the body, the environment, society, and culture--Henricks identifies conditions that instigate play, and comments on its implications for those settings. Offering a general theory of play as behavior promoting self-realization, Henricks articulates a conception of self that includes individual and social identity, particular and transcendent connection, and multiple fields of involvement. Henricks also evaluates play styles from history and contemporary life to analyze the relationship between play and human freedom.
Imaginative and stimulating, Play and the Human Condition shows how play allows us to learn about our qualities and those of the world around us--and in so doing make sense of ourselves.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-viii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-18
- 1. Variations on a Theme
- pp. 19-41
- 2. Play Compared to Other Behaviors
- pp. 42-67
- 3. Play as Sense-Making
- pp. 68-89
- 4. The Psychology of Play
- pp. 90-115
- 5. Play's Nature
- pp. 116-137
- 6. Play and the Physical Environment
- pp. 138-160
- 7. The Social Life of Play
- pp. 161-183
- 8. Cultural Play
- pp. 184-208
- 9. The Play of Possibility
- pp. 209-228
- References
- pp. 229-242
Additional Information
ISBN
9780252097058
Related ISBN(s)
9780252039072, 9780252080685
MARC Record
OCLC
964546465
Pages
264
Launched on MUSE
2018-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2015