Assessing the sociology of sport: On the capacities and limits of using sport to promote social change

Abstract

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, former IRSS Editor John Sugden, one of the foremost scholars to advance a critical sociology of sport and to apply its tenets to Sport for Development (SDP) programmes, reflects on a key question about how the sociology of sport has and can inform social and political activism that engages sport. Noting a 'new orthodoxy that dominates the SDP sector', there is a pressing need for a more critical sociology of sport in engaging strategies, and understanding the limits, of sport in the service of conflict reduction and peace making in divided societies. Building on the tenets of Wright Mills and his notion of 'the sociological imagination' and the work of Brewer connecting it to the ending of violence, Sugden calls on the sociology of sport community to bring critical engagement to the advancement and refinement of using sport as a mechanism to bring about changes in social relations and in the reduction of conflict in divided societies. While it is noted that sport cannot be a panacea for development and conflict reduction, it can play an important role in practical interventions aided by a critical sociology of sport. Keywords applied sociology, conflict reduction, social change, sport and peace, Sport for Development Reflections on the sociology of sport: pondering a key questionThis 50th anniversary essay affords the opportunity to complete an answer long overdue to a testing question. The question was asked of me after a staff and postgraduate student seminar I delivered at the University of Loughborough in 2006. Here I highlighted key challenges that were faced and overcome while instituting sport-based

The transformative potential of using participatory community sport initiatives to promote social cohesion in divided community contexts

“…Researchers point to the potential for sport to build relationships and social cohesion across religious, ethnic and economic lines, but there is little explicit evidence to support this assertion (Beutler 2008). In more recent times, research into sport for development and Peace (SDP) has advocated how sport may be used as a tool to intervene within complex and deeply divided societies and to promote a greater level of mutual understanding and conflict resolution at grassroots level between different cultural groups within a specific community (Darnell, Whitley and Massey, 2016;Lindsey, 2013;Sugden, 2015).…”

'Games Climbers Play': Critical Sensuality in Movement, Ethics, and Sport

“…At times this social aspect seemed to trump even the climbing itself: It would be a mistake to assume that these unexpectedly strong communities emerged out of an inherent quality in sport. Though tempting, this would resemble the claims Sugden, Erickson, and others (Erickson 2011;Sugden 2015) have argued againstthose invocations of sport as an uncomplicated solution to all conflict, where community is not related to an ethical question of inclusion/exclusion, but assumed to be a 'natural' human quality (and so used masks exclusion). A more insightful explanation might be found in works like that of Hawkins (2016), who describes the political companionship of Argentinian soccer clubs as the fostering of social and political memory -a project of solidarity based in experiences and narratives of place, practice, and endangerment.…”

“…Climbing, of course, is not the first or only movement practice to experience these sorts of tensions. Resisting the dominating power effects of modern sport while encouraging a progressive or liberatory practice has been an area of concern for many scholars working within critical sport studies, feminist praxis, and Foucauldian thought (Shogan 1999;Markula and Pringle 2006;Haraway 2008;Chrisholm 2008;Sugden 2015). These works, however 4 , are often divided between phenomenological accounts of liberatory experience (Lewis 2000;Chrisholm 2008;Pettinen 2014) and a genealogical analysis of oppressively normalizing discourses (Eichberg 1998;Shogan 1999;Markula and Pringle 2006).…”

Exploring the capabilities approach in a sport for development and peace setting.

“…Some examples include systems theory and structural, attitudinal, and transactional theory (Massey, Whitley, Blom, & Gerstein, 2015), contact theory (Allport, 1954;Lecrom, & Dwyer, 2013;Lyras & Hums, 2009) as well as SDP-specific theory such as sport-fordevelopment theory (Lyras & Welty Peachey, 2011). Although a program may have sound objectives, a program's design and structure will ultimately dictate whether it is successful (Coakley, 2011;Coalter, 2010;Darnell & Black, 2011;Hartmann & Kwauk, 2011;Levermore, 2008b;Spaaij & Jeanes, 2013;Sugden, 2015). A well-tailored theoretical framework may help guide a program's design and structure.…”

“…SDP has become increasingly popular as a global development tool and the on sport and youth socialization (Haudenhuyse, et al, 2012), sport and gender equity in sport and society (Swiss Academy of Development, 2005), sport and empowerment (Hayhurst, 2013), sport and peace-building (Schulenkorf, 2010;Sugden, 2006Sugden, , 2010Sugden, , 2015, sport and cultural understanding (Lecrom, & Dwyer, 2013), sport and disability (Goodwin et al, 2004), and sport and health (Clark et al, 2006). Each program used sport as a tool to advance social change.…”