ABSTRACT
In the remaining chapters the focus moves beyond the discipline of sociology and examines the impact of the sociology of sport further afield. Among the various sports-related subdisciplines, sociologists of sport most closely align to, and interact with, sports historians. Increasingly sports historians and sociologists of sport have come to have ‘complementary scholarly interests’ (as the BSASSG calls them), not only in terms of overlapping subject matter but also in terms of analytical approach. This chapter outlines some of the key aspects of the relationship between these two subdisciplines. After setting out the intellectual grounds for the disciplinary overlap, the chapter assesses the contribution sociologists have made to the historical understanding of sport. I then argue that there have been two distinct ways in which these sociological incursions have been received by sports historians. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the impact sociology, and the sociology of sport in particular, has had on sports history, arguing that the organizational weaknesses of, and crises within, the latter have enabled sociology to be the dominant partner in the relationship.
