Sport & Society Research Network

How does power work in sport, especially when there seems to be no one enforcing unspoken rules? Power is about influence and relationships, and the ability to discipline, control, and steer the actions – and even the thoughts – of others. This can be done in different ways: directly, using force or “hard” methods such as punishment for breaking laws; or indirectly, without the use of harsh sanctions or physical violence.

One way of analyzing power is through the concept of hegemony – a soft form of power exercised through consent rather than force, through ongoing interaction between the powerful and powerless to produce common sense understandings of society and culture. This book focuses on how hegemony works, particularly in sport, to understand how power, dominance, and resistance may manifest in different ways within a variety of contexts, in theory and in practice. It also discusses how hegemony can work within sport and how dominance and power are maintained – as well as sometimes being challenged or resisted. Through discussions to help students develop tools for analyzing issues of power and empirical examples that show how various concepts can bring a deepened understanding of sport and society, this book gives insight into how hegemony works, particularly in sport.

Physical culture can be crudely defined as those exercise practices designed to physically change the body. In modern parlance we may associate physical culture with weightlifting, physical education, and/or calisthenics of various kinds. While the modern age has experienced an explosion of interest in gym-based activities, the practice of training one’s body has a much longer, and fascinating, history. This book provides an engaged and accessible historical overview from the Ancient World to the Modern Day. In it, readers are introduced to the training practices of Ancient Greece, India, and China among other areas. From there, the book explores the evolution of exercise systems and messages in the Western World with reference to three distinct epochs: the Middles Ages and Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and its aftermath and the nineteenth to the present day. Throughout the book, attention is drawn not only to how societies exercised, but why they did so. The purpose of this book is to provide those new to the field of physical culture an historical overview of some of the major trends and developments in exercise practices. More than that, the book challenges readers to reflect on the numerous meanings attached to the body and its training. As is discussed, physical culture was linked to military, religious, educational, aesthetic, and gendered messages. The training of the body, across millennia, was always about much more than muscularity or strength. Here both the exercise systems, and their meanings are studied.

When Adolf Hitler hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he used the Games to rally political support in Germany and abroad for his white supremacist worldview. In doing so, Hitler not only ruptured the myth that politics and sports do not mix, but he also initiated the first major instance of sportswashing: hosting a sports mega-event to launder one’s stained reputation on the world stage. The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing situates these controversial Games in the longer political history of the Olympics and examines the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to the International Olympic Committee handing these Games to Germany in the first place. In the United States, the Berlin Olympics catalyzed a raucous, if ultimately unsuccessful, boycott campaign that raised serious concerns about racialized repression in the host country. The Berlin Games furnished a high-profile testing ground for racial theories rooted in white supremacy—the marrow in the Nazis’ ideological bones—where Black athletes like Jesse Owens thrived. The Games also brought innovations—like the Olympic Torch Relay—that were subsequently woven into Olympic tradition. Sportswashing is a significant concern in modern-day sports studies; this book demonstrates how the Olympic Games have long been both a potential pedestal for autocrats to boost their unsavory regimes and a flashpoint for human-rights criticism. Although history does not gift the present moment with crisp facsimiles from the past, thinking through history illuminates patterns and possibilities that can help make sense of the whirling swirl of today.

Women in the Olympics traces the history of women in the Olympic Games. This pocket book offer details about important milestones in Olympic history and illustrates the salient themes that have shaped women’s involvement in the Games. From ancient times to today, women have always had a tenuous position in the Olympics. When Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympic Movement at the end of the nineteenth century, he did not include women in his vision. He viewed the Olympics as a way for boys to cultivate manliness and men to demonstrate masculinity. Women eventually overcame such prejudices and competed at 1900 Olympics. Despite their inclusion, they remained beset by roadblocks. Sports that Olympic officials considered too grueling, taxing, or physical remained off limits to women. Leaders introduced sex tests to remove muscular female Olympians who breached gender norms from the Games. The Olympics were inaccessible for women in certain countries. And women remained severely underrepresented in the Olympic governance structure. Women in the Olympics shows how women have continuously fought for increased opportunities as athletes, equal access to elite sports, and a place in the decision-making process.

Psychoactive Drug Use in Sport presents a broad epidemiological portrait of psychoactive drug use among athletes, bolstered by a sociological framework that problematizes sport as a “risk environment” for substance use. Interventions, policy options, and sporting contexts that may reduce or minimize drug-related harms, or encourage controlled substance use, are considered throughout the text. In addition to sketching a global history of psychoactive drug use in sport, two drug-specific case studies are presented in detail: alcohol use and overuse among university and non-elite “club” athletes, and the non-medical consumption of opioids within contact sports. An interdisciplinary text, this book provides a comprehensive review of current research in psychoactive drug use in sport, as well as a guide to evidence-based interventions.

Gender Performativity in Sports and Physical Education explores a perspective of gender called gender "performativity," coined by Judith Butler in the early 1990s. It starts from the idea that gender is something people do rather than something they are. Such a perspective offers new ways of understanding gender, and therefore also gender equity, insports and physical education. It provides new ways to think about how inequitable practices can change. Empirical illustrations ofgender performativity in sports and physical educationare mainly drawnfrom Håkan Larsson's thirty-year research onthe matter, but connections are also made to otherresearch in the field.

Settler Colonialism, Sport, and Recreation interrogates the interconnections between settler colonialism and sport, recreation, and physical activity, theorizing sport as a site of ongoing colonial violence and a vital space of resistance, refusal, and reterritorialization. Laurendeau explains that settler colonialism is not a relic of the past moment but an ongoing genocidal project in still-settling states as they perpetually work to claim ownership of and authority over stolen lands as part of a project of capital accumulation. Moreover, Laurendeau highlights settler colonialism is a fundamentally relational project, structuring the lives not only of Indigenous peoples but of all who live in occupied territories. Drawing primarily but not exclusively on examples unfolding on lands claimed by Canada, Laurendeau explains that sport and recreation constitute a critical cultural space that produces and/or challenges ideas about bodies, relationships, belonging, nationhood, sovereignty, and more.

Educators today face unprecedented changes in bodily norms and values. Teachers and coaches are increasingly cautious about navigating intimacy, particularly physical contact. These shifts are felt through the immediacy of teaching and learning, raising questions about personal risk. The long-standing view that physical touch can be essential for instruction now contends with contemporary discourse favoring minimal contact. This book synthesizes vital research on physical contact between adults and children in educational settings, highlighting tensions and exploring both teachers’ and students’ perspectives. Whether to touch or not to touch has become a pedagogical dilemma—not necessarily because the teaching content or learning outcomes are flawed, but because some instructional methods prompt concerns about caring for students and ourselves. As a result, educators must critically rethink their practices. The chapters presented here address significant societal, pedagogical, and moral implications, leading to a firm conclusion: to act responsibly, today’s teachers and coaches must engage in value-building work, embodiment work, and relational work.