ABSTRACT
There is a large and expanding literature on the relationship between physical activity and health. Almost all of this literature has been written from a physiological perspective and has typically been concerned with issues such as the relationship between physical activity and cardiovascular functioning, or the way in which exercise can help to control obesity. However, very little has been written about the relationship between exercise, sport and health from a distinctly sociological perspective. The central object of this chapter, which in some respects sets the scene for the remainder of the book, is to try to develop a properly sociological approach to understanding some of the key issues in the relationships between exercise, sport and health. More specifically, the objects of this chapter are: (1) to outline and to examine critically the widely accepted idea that sport and exercise have beneficial consequences for health; (2) to examine the different patterns of social relations associated with sport and exercise; and (3) to examine some of the physiological consequences of these social differences, in terms of the rather different impacts which sport and exercise can have on health.
