Social exclusion is one of the most pressing challenges in post-industrial societies, encompassing economic, social, cultural and political dimensions. This important new book critically examines the relationship between sport and social exclusion, from global and cross-cultural perspectives. The book analyses sport and social exclusion by focusing on three key questions: How does social exclusion affect participation in sport? How is social exclusion (re)produced, experienced, resisted, and managed in sport? How is sport used to combat social exclusion and promote social inclusion in other life domains? To answer these questions, the authors discuss and critically reflect on existing knowledge and in-depth case studies from Europe, Australasia, Africa and Latin America. The book illuminates the relationship between sport and social exclusion in Global North and Global South contexts, addressing key issues in contemporary social science such as social inequality, worklessness, gender, disability, forced migration, homelessness and mental health. Sport and Social Exclusion in Global Society is important reading for all students, researchers and policy-makers with an interest in sport sociology, sport development, sport management, or the relationship between sport and wider society.

Structured around key excluded groups, such as the elderly, ethnic minorities, the disabled and rural communities, this book offers an assessment of sports policy in contemporary Britain.

Society is obsessed with categorising and treating individuals and groups according to their physical and non-physical differences, such as sex, gender, disability and race. This treatment can lead to the inclusion or exclusion of an individual from the tangible and intangible benefits of society. Where this practice becomes discriminatory, legal frameworks can protect human rights and ensure that people are treated with due respect for their similarities and differences. In a sporting context, the inclusion and exclusion of athletes based upon their differences is often a necessary part of the essence of competitive sporting activity, arranged around rules and categories that can have an unequal exclusionary impact on certain classes of individual. Dominant sporting cultures can also have exclusionary effects. This important and innovative book seeks to investigate the socio-legal and regulatory balance between inclusion and exclusion in competitive sport. It critically analyses a range of legal and non-legal cases concerning sport-specific inclusion and exclusion in the areas of sex, gender, disability and race, including those cases involving Oscar Pistorius, Caster Semenya and Luis Suarez, to identify the extent to which the law and sport adopt a justifiable and legitimate inclusive or exclusive approach to participation. The book explores national and international regulatory frameworks, identifying deficiencies and good practice, and concludes with recommendations for regulatory reform. Inclusion and Exclusion in Competitive Sport is important reading for anybody with an interest in the relationship between sport and wider society, sports development, sport management, sports law, or socio-legal studies.

Sport is perceived to have the potential to alleviate a variety of social problems and generally to ‘improve’ both individuals and the communities in which they live. Sport is promoted as a relatively cost effective antidote to a range of social problems – often those stemming from social exclusion - including poor health, high crime levels, drug abuse and persistent youth offending, educational under-achievement, lack of social cohesion and community identity and economic decline. To this end, there is increasing governmental interest in what has become known as ‘sport for good’. A Wider Social Role for Sport presents the political and historical context for this increased government interest in sport’s potential contribution to a range of social problems. The book explores the particular social problems that governments seek to address through sport, and examines the nature and extent of the evidence for sport’s positive role. It illustrates that, in an era of evidence-based policy-making, the cumulative evidence base for many of these claims is relatively weak, in part because such research is faced with substantial methodological problems in isolating the precise contribution of sport in many contexts. Drawing on worldwide research, A Wider Social Role for Sport explores the current state of knowledge and understanding of the presumed impacts of sport and suggests that we need to adopt a different approach to research and evaluation if sports researchers are to develop their understanding and make a substantial contribution to sports policy..

"Research Centre for Sport in Canadian Society, University of Ottawa."

This book takes stock of British football at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is written by a range of concerned academics and writers, all of whom have an active relationship with the contemporary football world. The book assesses the changes that have occurred in many areas of football culture and the political and academic debates that have accompanied these changes. English football in particular, it seems, is 'fat city'. The Premiership, now eight years old, has, via satellite television, become a globalised phenomenon: there are Liverpool supporters in Bangladesh, Chelsea fans in sub-Saharan Africa and Manchester United followers across the globe. Grounds are full. Top class football attracts people to bars and pubs in huge numbers. Hooliganism appears a thing of the past. Everyone seems to love football and/or to support a team. The British football media are generally euphoric in their rendering of contemporary football culture. However, the contributors to this book argue that the heavily commodified, PR-driven and cartelised British football world, with which so many contemporary politicians and other public figures rush to identify themselves, has either created, exacerbated or continued to ignore serious problems of social exclusion problems of class and community, race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality and age.

This text is written especially for sport management students to examine the wider social and cultural environment and to fully explain the key issues and practical implications for everyday sport management.

What impact does sport have on the lives of ordinary people? How does sport help to perpetuate inequalities in society? What can social theory tell us about the role of sport in society?? At their origin competitive sports were institutionalized in Western cultures for the privilege of white, heterosexual men. Over time sport has become more open to categories of people traditionally marginalized in society: women; those from lower social classes; gay men; people of colour; and those differently abled. However, focusing solely on increased social inclusion in sport masks significant problems with both the culture and structure of sport. This critical textbook examines social exclusion in sport and analyzes the socio-negative attributes associated with competitive, institutionalized sport, for all who play. Focusing on sport at non-elite levels, this book explores the lives of everyday citizens who play and examines how inequality and social deviance are structured into the social and sporting system. Each chapter uses a key social theory to address a particular social problem in sport, such as learned obedience to authority; the acceptance of pain and injury; the adoption of hyper-masculine, homophobic and sexist attitudes; the teaching of in-group/out-group; and the use of sport as a false mechanism for social mobility. By concentrating on real sport, and through the use of startling vignettes illustrating the experiences of real people, this textbook develops the critical senses, social conscience and theoretical understanding of all students of sport and anybody for whom sport is part of their everyday life.

This book examines sport as an inclusive and developmental environment, exploring the conditions by which community sport initiatives can promote personal development, health and social cohesion, particularly for at-risk youth. At the empirical core of the book is a multiple disciplinary study of community sport programmes in Flanders, Belgium, involving researchers from social sport sciences, social work, pedagogy and health care sciences. Drawing on this cutting-edge, realist research, the book considers the implications for sport development policy and practice around the world. The book considers community sport as a vehicle for promoting social inclusion, and the ways it allows people of all backgrounds and abilities to participate and access social and health benefits, whilst touching on key issues including monitoring and evaluation; exercise and health; youth welfare, and volunteering. This book is a fascinating reading for any student, researcher or practitioner working in sport for development, sport management, sport coaching, social work, education, sociology or urban studies.

Social inclusion is a pressing issue confronting all levels of sport today, and community sport in particular. Sport is being promoted as an inclusive environment in which people of all backgrounds and abilities can participate and access a range of social and health benefits. Moreover, sport is often heralded as a vehicle for promoting social inclusion in other societal domains. Yet, the policy ideal of ‘sport for all’ is not always realised in practice, and community sport continues to be plagued by various forms of discrimination and social exclusion. This book brings together a team of scholars from across the globe whose research addresses the complex relationship between community sport and social inclusion. Their contributions critically examine the dynamics of inclusion/exclusion in community sport, as well as the broader outcomes and impacts that sports programmes may have in promoting, or hindering, social inclusion in other areas of life, such as employment, education and migrant integration. This book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and advanced students of sport, sociology, politics, social work and public policy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.