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Social Sciences
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The Contested Terrain of Sport: Sociological, Political and Policy Perspectives
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The Contested Terrain of Sport: Sociological, Political and Policy Perspectives

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 June 2024 | Viewed by 5588

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Steve Jackson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Interests: sociology of sport; sport media; sport and globalization
Dr. Mike Sam

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
NZ Centre for Sport Policy and Politics, School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Interests: the politics of policy regimes around stadium financing, sports gambling and sport integrity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue seeks to bring together a set of critical analyses that delve into the contested terrain of sport. By contested terrain, we are referring to sport as a site of debate, negotiation and conflict involving diverse interest groups with varying levels of resources and contrasting and competing sets of ideas and beliefs.

Contested sites can surround, for instance, the processes of gaining recognition and legitimacy for new sports as witnessed by the recent entry of breakdancing into the 2024 Paris Olympics and the increasing pressure to include e-sports. However, the contested terrain of sport can also extend far beyond this to include the use of sport for peace and development on the one hand and as a strategic target for terrorists on the other. Given its global presence and strategic location alongside key state sectors including health, education, culture, business and foreign policy, ‘sport’ is increasingly the focus of serious discussion amongst scholars, policy makers and citizens. Our aim is to showcase novel research that illustrates the contested terrain of sport within the broad intersections of sociology, politics and policy.

We invite papers that address one or more of the following topics: sociology of sport; sport policy; new and alternative sports: from e-sport to breakdancing; sport integrity; Indigenous sport; trans athletes and sport policy; sporting identities; sport mega-events; sport media; sport mega-events; sport, diplomacy and foreign policy; sports activism; sport gambling and match-fixing; sport and national identity; sport and wellbeing; sport and the environment.

Prof. Dr. Steve Jackson
Dr. Mike Sam
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • contested terrain
  • sociology of sport
  • sport policy
  • new and alternative sports
  • sport integrity
  • indigenous sport
  • trans athletes and sport policy
  • sporting identities
  • sport mega-events
  • sports activism
  • sport, diplomacy and foreign policy
  • sports gambling and matchfixing
  • sport media
  • sport, the environment and sustainability
  • sport and wellbeing

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 342 KiB  
Article
Rethinking Sporting Mystification in the Present Tense: Disneylimpics, Affective Neoliberalism, and the Greatest Transformation
by Junbin Yang
Soc. Sci. 2024, 13(4), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040226 - 20 Apr 2024
Viewed by 289
Abstract
While questioning the universalization, naturalization, neutralization, and idealization of sport and physical culture, this paper examines the ultimate mystification process of sport and physical culture by expanding upon two conceptual frameworks: Jules Boykoff’s celebration capitalism and Lawrence Grossberg’s affective landscape. It first analyzes [...] Read more.
While questioning the universalization, naturalization, neutralization, and idealization of sport and physical culture, this paper examines the ultimate mystification process of sport and physical culture by expanding upon two conceptual frameworks: Jules Boykoff’s celebration capitalism and Lawrence Grossberg’s affective landscape. It first analyzes the evolution of the Olympics into a corporatized, commercialized, spectacularized, and celebritized “Disneylimpics” that can consistently evoke an affective reverberation. It then introduces the idea of “affective neoliberalism” to highlight neoliberalism’s affective and ideological aspects. With Grossberg’s concept of affective landscape, this paper explores the internalization and intensification of anxiety and affective isolation within society. Additionally, the paper utilizes Karl Polanyi’s analysis in his influential book, The Great Transformation, to investigate the historical expansion of affective neoliberalism. By highlighting the 11 September 2001, attacks in the United States, it points out provocative militarization and (re)organization of the soul into a fictitious commodity, in addition to labor, land, and money, which triggers the greatest transformation. Lastly, summarizing central arguments, this paper concludes with modest suggestions, mainly focusing on two questions: (1) where are we now? and (2) how can we more effectively respond to the present context? Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Contested Terrain of Sport: Sociological, Political and Policy Perspectives)
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15 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
‘I’ve Always Fought a Little against the Tide to Get Where I Want to Be’—Construction of Women’s Embodied Subjectivity in the Contested Terrain of High-Level Karate
by Fabiana Cristina Turelli, Alexandre Fernandez Vaz and David Kirk
Soc. Sci. 2023, 12(10), 538; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12100538 - 25 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1083
Abstract
Karate can be both a martial art and a combat sport. Male and female karate athletes attended the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 (2021). Elite sport often portrays female athletes through the sexualization of their bodies, while the martial environment leaves them open to [...] Read more.
Karate can be both a martial art and a combat sport. Male and female karate athletes attended the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 (2021). Elite sport often portrays female athletes through the sexualization of their bodies, while the martial environment leaves them open to accusations of masculinization. In the process of constructing themselves as fighters, karateka women do produce new ways of performing femininities and masculinities, which is a hard-work process of negotiations, leading them to the construction of a particular habitus strictly linked to their performativity within the environment. They take part in a contested terrain that mixes several elements that are often contrasting. In this article, we aim to present factors identified with the women athletes of the Spanish Olympic karate team that affect the construction of their embodied subjectivities. We focus on two main topics, authenticity as the real deal to belonging, and a possible gendered habitus struggling with the achievement of the condition of a warrior. We carried out an ethnographic study with the Spanish Olympic karate squad supported by autoethnographic elements from the first author. We focus here on the data from double interviews with 14 women athletes and their four male coaches. Embodied subjectivity as a process of subject construction to disrupt objectification and forms of othering showed to be a challenge, a complex task, and embedded in contradictions. Karate women’s embodied subjectivities are built in the transit between resisting and giving in. Despite several difficulties, through awareness and reflection on limitations, karateka may occupy their place as subjects, exerting agency, feeling empowered, and fighting consciously against the naturalized ‘tide’. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Contested Terrain of Sport: Sociological, Political and Policy Perspectives)
15 pages, 328 KiB  
Article
Sport for Social Cohesion: Transferring from the Pitch to the Community?
by Louis Moustakas
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(11), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11110513 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2936
Abstract
European sport policies and programmes have increasingly focused on promoting social cohesion. Often presented as a multi-dimensional concept, social cohesion is considered the ‘glue’ that holds societies together and is seen as essential to addressing common challenges. However, the term remains contested, and [...] Read more.
European sport policies and programmes have increasingly focused on promoting social cohesion. Often presented as a multi-dimensional concept, social cohesion is considered the ‘glue’ that holds societies together and is seen as essential to addressing common challenges. However, the term remains contested, and it is not always clear how programmes conceptualize or support social cohesion. Thus, this paper explores how three European sport programmes conceptualize and foster social cohesion. Findings are generated from a thematic analysis of interviews, group discussions, observations and documents. The themes developed show how organizations adopt an individual-centerd view of social cohesion, focusing mainly on social relations, tolerance and mutual help. In turn, this translates to an individual-focused practice of social cohesion, emphasizing personal skills, behaviors, and social relations, with the transfer of social cohesion to the broader community left mostly in participants’ hands. Due to a number of systemic barriers, programmes struggle to implement more holistic and structural approaches. As such, if we want to facilitate a move towards more structural or interventionist approaches, we as researchers must play an active role in questioning, challenging, and reshaping the systems that underpin sport-based social interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Contested Terrain of Sport: Sociological, Political and Policy Perspectives)
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