ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part examines how fundamental social divisions are manifested and experienced within sport. It focuses on different sociological theorists in order to examine the intersection of social class and sport. The part shows that the systematic analysis of social class within sport emerged from the 1960s onwards; some early work was particularly polemical, for example in attacking the capitalist exploitation of ‘worker-athletes’. It highlights how our interpretations and understandings of gender, femininity, sex, and sexuality have been critically transformed by different theoretical interventions, such as from liberal, Marxist, and postmodernist feminist theories. The part explores the critical significance of ‘race’ within sport. It also examines the structural positions and everyday experiences of African Americans in North American sports as an extended case study of how ‘race’ plays out within contemporary sport.
