Book Review by Daniel O’Neill
From the Leisure Studies Journal, Dan O'Neill reviews my book Skateboarding and Religion from Palgrave.
Here is a excerpt from the review…
Skateboarding and Religion has much to offer those who are interested in reading more serious
work about skateboarding and action sports. The book will also interest researchers studying
contemporary religion and spirituality, particularly those with an interest in religion’s relationship
with popular culture and sport. O’Connor displays a fine skill for bringing together work from
divergent fields of scholarship, as his concept of ‘lifestyle religion’ demands. For instance, O’Connor
draws on Conrad Ostwalt’s notion that secular life is becoming more and more religious, with
skateboarding (much like wider popular culture) being sacralised through shared myths and
symbolism. O’Connor combines this idea with Belinda Wheaton’s idea of ‘lifestyle sports’, high-
lighting that activities such as skateboarding require a considerable commitment of time from
participants and come to form part of their identity. The result is an activity which holds a central
place in the lives of skateboarders and endows them with a unique worldview, with the shared joy
the activity brings helping to build a large community of believers. Skateboarding is, however,
a thoroughly modern and individualised activity which indulges people’s desire to be true to oneself
and to not be committed to some higher authority or dogma. In this sense, skateboarding is
comparable to other potential lifestyle religions such as motorcycle gangs, yoga and veganism,
which provide participants with a strong sense of belonging and identity.
