For a Sociology of Sport

Abstract

This essay focuses on some of the main challenges that currently face the sociology of sport, the challenge from the natural sciences, the challenge from mainstream sociology and the challenge which we have set ourselves and which, requires new intellectual innovations of the type discussed in the final sections of this essay. It is vital that the sociology of sport be defended against the tyranny of the natural sciences. This project, however, must not be disaggregated from the requirements to fight for greater acceptance from mainstream sociology and to address our own shortcomings by extending the sociology of sport in potentially exciting ways. In this respect, both memory and space present interesting possibilities. They are highlighted in this essay, from among numerous possible alternatives, for largely personal reasons. The general point, however, is that if we are to defend the sociology of sport successfully, we need to be more creative, both methodologically and theoretically.