Mobilising sociology of sport for social change beyond the pandemic

Abstract

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, conversations about how to build sport back better are becoming increasingly pronounced. The crisis both deepens inequities and creates opportunity as a new way to configure sport post-pandemic demands to be discovered. The challenge has been thrown down to sociologists to help reimagine and reshape the course of sport. What might such re-enchantment look like? And how might it help realise the sociology of sport’s untapped potential to advance impactful public sociology? This paper explores these questions with a particular focus on sociologists of sport as co-creators of, and actors in, social change. I discuss five issues that I see as being relevant for rethinking and reconfiguring sport beyond the pandemic: (1) reclaiming the ludic and pleasure; (2) rethinking sociality in sport; (3) social inequities and ‘sport for all’; (4) de-/re-centring power in sport for development; and (5) global interdependence and interconnectedness. The insights presented can hopefully make a modest contribution to our collective understanding of transformative practice in and through the sociology of sport in uncertain times.