ABSTRACT
Dovetailing Brian Turner’s seminal text The Body & Society, sport sociologists were awakened to the need to include examinations of the body in their research agendas. For example, in their influential article, J. Loy, D. A. Andrews, and R. Rinehart called for bringing the body into the sociology of sport. C. L. Cole reviewed the state of body studies in the sociology of sport. This chapter aims to develop some of the themes identified by Cole to sketch the state of body studies within the sociology of sport. It explores how each of these themes encompasses diverse theoretical approaches and methodological stances, while highlighting the main innovations and limitations of these sociological understandings of the body in sport, coaching, and exercise. The chapter highlights several themes emerging from socio-cultural studies of the physically active body. Body studies in sport sociology have diversified beyond sport to include other types of physically active bodies.
