ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part aims to examine many of the major substantive issues and problems that are addressed by sociologists of sport. It considers physical and experiential issues relating to the body, health, risk-taking, and doping. The part explores the public aspects of sport, with regard to sport fandom, sport violence, and the use of sport to deal with identified social problems such as youth-related crime. It also explores the growing importance of questions of risk and uncertainty within contemporary sport. The part describes in detail how sport fans have been studied by social scientists. It concludes by exploring the transnational aspects of sport, on the sporting nation in the global context, athlete migration, aspects of global sport’s commercialization, the sport for development and peace sector, and the interface of sport and globalization.
