Assessing the sociology of sport: On sociological understandings and local sport policy

Abstract

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, a foundational scholar in the development of the sociology of sport in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe, Irena Slepičková, reflects on the relationship between sociological understandings and local sport policy. Even with considerable interest in sport across the social sciences, the development of an explicit sociology of sport was hindered by discouraged engagement with Western bourgeois sociology, resulting in stifled theoretical development and bias towards scientific research linked to priorities of administration. Key challenges for the field’s development can be seen in the needs to prioritize theory and scientific method over “linguistic equilibristics” and subjective advocacy. Key areas for development in the future for the sociology of sport center on issues of social stratification and remedying problems of social exclusion in and through sport. Future research on the sociology of sport needs to focus on laying a scientific basis for the implementation of public policies that can make a healthy difference in everyday lived experience.