British Cultural Studies and Sport: Past Encounters and Future Possibilities

Abstract

The primary purpose of this essay is to address the linkage between the emergence and development of cultural studies on the one hand, and the study of sport as a cultural practice on the other. Specifically, this linkage is examined in a fourfold manner: first, an overview of the implicit political commitments associated with cultural studies as a critical intellectual pursuit; second, a genealogy of an overlooked dimension of cultural studies, namely, the sport-related analyses conducted by researchers affiliated with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Study at the University of Birmingham; third, an examination of the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of Stuart Hall's (1986a) “Marxism without guarantees” as an innovative and incisive response to the cultural studies problematic; and fourth, a discussion of the relevance of Hall's conjunctural approach for critically interpreting the significance of sport in the production and experiencing of contemporary national cultures.