The Racing Tribe: Watching the Horsewatchers

by Kate Fox

Kate Fox studied the arcane world of horseracing—the whole racing tribe, from race-goers to jockeys, trainers, bookies, and stewards. An unexpected world is revealed from an anthropological perspective. Instead of an amorphous racing crowd, Kate sees enthusiasts, horseys, addicts, anoraks, socials, pair-bonders, suits, and be-seens. Among the racing professionals, she identifies shamans and warriors, scribes and elders, connections and sin-eaters. The author spends time with each of these groups, finding out how to identify them from their dress, body-language and behavioural quirks; learning about their position in the social structure of the tribe, their attitudes and beliefs, their territories and habitats. Every kind of racegoer will be intrigued and entertained by this book.

Genres: Nonfiction, British Literature

223 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Kate Fox is a social anthropologist and Public Relations director. She is the director of the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC).

Fox is the daughter of an anthropologist Robin Fox (not to be confused with the famous historian Robin Lane Fox). As a child she lived in the UK, the United States, France and Ireland. She studied for an undergraduate degree in anthropology and philosophy at Cambridge University. After a period in publishing and marketing in 1989 she became a co-director of MCM Research, a PR and marketing firm. She is now a director of the Social Issues Research Centre, which is a PR front group, that is funded by the marketing company MCM Research based in Oxford, England.