Sport, Theory and Social Problems

Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities at the University of Winchester, UK. He holds four degrees, has published 17 books, over 60 peer-reviewed articles, and is regularly featured in international television, print, and digital media. Professor Anderson is recognized for research excellence by the British Academy of Social Sciences and is a fellow of the International Academy of Sex Research. His work shows a decline in cultural homohysteria and promotes inclusive attitudes toward openly gay, lesbian and bisexual athletes as well as a softening of heterosexual masculinities.Adam White is a Lecturer at the University of Winchester, UK. In addition to publishing on the social inclusion of sexual minorities in sport, his doctoral research examines the structural and cultural matrix that promotes head trauma. He runs the Sport Collision Injury Collective and is a public-activist for protecting children from sport-induced brain damage.

• Introduction 1. Why We Value Organized, Competitive Sport 2. Sport’s Use in Teaching Obedience to Authority and Complicity to Abuse 3. Learning to Accept, Inflict, and Enjoy Violence and Injury 4. Head Games: Brain Injuries and Youth Sport 5. The Governance of Youth Sport: Rights, Representation and Consent 6. Sport’s Use in the Maintenance of Class 7. Sport’s Use in Stratifying Men 8. Sport’s Use in Marginalizing Women 9. Sport’s Use in Subordinating Racial Minorities 10. Sport’s Use in Excluding, Reproducing Stereotypes, and Othering 11. Changing Sport

‘Anderson and White expose long-ignored problems in organized, competitive youth and school team sports in an effort to elicit transformational actions on the part of readers. They challenge readers to view sports critically, to be aware of empirically unsupported myths about sports, to review research documenting problems in these sports, and to develop strategies that convert sports into activities that foster compassion, cooperation, and consistently positive health outcomes for all participants. As the authors explain, with the mythology and vested interests associated with current sport structures, it will take a long, heated struggle to achieve such outcomes.’ – Jay Coakley, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, USA‘This is an important book which everyone studying, playing and administrating sport should read. Academically rigorous, intellectually challenging and very well written this book changed the way I think about sport and what I teach. Undergraduates will find this book accessible and the case studies illuminating and thought-provoking. All readers will find the content provocative, interesting and insightful. The work is relevant to sport both in the UK and the USA and more widely. At a time when sport faces so many challenges this book helps us understand why and is seminal in the critical analysis it presents.’ – Andy Smith, Professor and Founding Head of the School of Sport, York St John University, UK'Sport, Theory and Social Problems is an outstanding introduction to critical theory in sport sociology ... a brilliant addition to the curriculum of any introductory course on the sociology of sport ... This book is powerful, engaging both intellectually and emotionally, pedagogically structured and well written. It highlights how damaging organized, competitive team sports can be, without claiming that all sport is bad all the time, or that sport cannot be socially good.' - Anne Tjonndal, idrottsforum.org'In my opinion, this book is a brilliant addition to the curriculum of any introductory course on the sociology of sport. Most readers (sport science/sport sociology students at least) will find that this book confronts them with many of the cultural ‘truths’ we believe about organized sport in Western cultures. Students at both bachelor and master level would benefit greatly from reading Anderson and White’s introduction to critical perspectives on the sociology of sport. This book is powerful, engaging both intellectually and emotionally, pedagogically structured and well written. It highlights how damaging organized, competitive team sports can be, without claiming that all sport is all bad all the time, or that sport cannot be socially good.' - Anne Tjønndal, Faculty of Social Science, Nord University