This much needed book examines all of the major traditions of social thought to clearly show their influence in our understanding of sport and leisure.

'... show how sport and leisure have contributed to a better understanding of contemporary socialogical themes such as the body, globalization, social space, the environment, consumption, nationalism, and social inequality.' - Leisure Recreation & Tourism Abstracts

'They have done their task well and have produced what is arguably the best introduction to the sociology of sport yet published.' - Sociological Review

Introduction: Sport and Leisure and Social Thought 1. Functionalism, Solidarity and Social Stratification 2. Interpretive sociology: Rationalisation, Cultural Pessimism and the Search for Meaning 3. Beyond Conventional Pluralism 4. Classical Marxism, Political Economy and Beyond 5. Culture as a War of Position and a Way of Life 6. Figurations, Power and civilizing Processes 7. Feminist Thought and the Boundaries of Sisterhood 8. Fields of Power, Habitus and Distinction 9. Beyond Modernity and the Problems of Postmodernism 10. Dependency and Globalisation: Sport, Leisure and Global Processes