Power Games: A Critical Sociology of Sport

In this important agenda-setting book, leading sport scholars draw upon the disciplines of politics, sociology, history and philosophy to provide a critical analysis of power relations in the world of sport. Unifying the studies within this fascinating collection is a shared view that the sociology of sport may have become too removed from the applied and activist projects that inspired the development of the discipline in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on studies of sporting contexts as diverse as the Olympics, world football, cricket, boxing, tennis and windsurfing, the book explores key themes in the sociology of sport, including: nations and nationalism; globalisation; race; gender; political economy. Power Games demonstrates how through sound theoretical reasoning, solid empirical investigation and critical imagination the sociology of sport can inform critical debate as well as contribute to policy development and social change. This book challenges those who study, research and write about sport to make their work relevant to social and political reform.