ABSTRACT
The importance and relevance of a social scientific perspective on sport and physical activity becomes more pressing as a range of problems, issues and concerns merge within and impact on the sport, exercise and health worlds. This recognition was shared by Margaret Talbot throughout her career, including during her presidency of the International Council for Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE), sadly cut short by her death during late 2014. For Margaret, the task was not simply to understand the relevance of social science but to use this perspective to help change the sport, exercise and health worlds. With this in mind let me outline some thoughts on this subject more generally. A social scientific perspective is needed not only as a necessary complement to natural science. In some ways this perspective is better equipped to make sense of a range of phenomena that are evident in global sport and physical cultures today. Yet, too often, a natural science explanation is used in isolation and without recourse to a social scientific analysis. This is evident in several respects: in the teaching of sport, exercise and health science students; in the views of politicians and senior official in the sports world; and in the folklore of people who seek to explain different aspects of sport, exercise and health. In contrast, social science seeks to explore what we think, how we feel, the ways we live and how we cope with the problems of interdependence with each other and the world as a whole (Maguire, 2014). While the genesis of a social scientific perspective is a more recent development in human knowledge relative to the natural sciences, seeking to explain human behaviour, social groups and societal relations in a systematic way represents a decisive breakthrough in our understanding of ourselves. Connected, in part, to the transition to ‘modern’ societies, a social scientific perspective sought not only to explain this transition but also to use such knowledge to ‘improve’ the human condition. Such sentiments also underpin the advocacy of a human development model in sport,
exercise and health sciences which is outlined below. A range of issues, problems and concerns have intensified within sport over the past three decades. Indeed, as noted, this perspective can provide a necessary corrective to mythologies, political ideologies and wishful thinking held by a range of people, politicians and practitioners. In particular, a social scientific perspective better equips us to explain:
1 the function and meaning of sport and exercise in the lives of people, the identities they form and the communities they create together;
2 the role sport and exercise does and could play in dealing with societal and global problems, issues and concerns and the resources consumed;
3 the need to address issues of local and global questions of inequality, power, governance, democracy, transparency and accountability in sport and society more broadly.
