Sociocultural Issues in Sport and Physical Activity explores the intersections between modern physical activity and society. The text surpasses the scope of sociological texts that focus solely on sports, covering a broad range of physical activities such as fitness, dance, weightlifting, and others. The authors emphasize the promotion of healthy individuals and a healthy body in the many movement settings where the body is active.
Sociocultural Issues in Sport and Physical Activity explores contemporary topics such as reducing disparities in education and income, increasing socioeconomic diversity in communities, the medicalization of fitness, the rise of cosmetic fitness, the promotion of physical activity as a requirement for health, and the globalization of the fitness industry. The text includes the following features to enhance student engagement:
- Chapter objectives help students achieve their learning goals
- Key points and terms to highlight important information throughout the text
- Active Bodies sidebars that offer context for concepts presented in the chapter and provide examples and applications
- Discussion questions that provide opportunities to reflect on chapter topics
Part I of
Sociocultural Issues in Sport and Physical Activity examines political, educational, media, and economic institutions that influence the relationship between society and physical activity. Part II explores how an individual's race, gender, social class, and ability are interpreted through a social lens. Part III of the text discusses the process of developing healthy populations as well as promoting public health and body positivity.
Sociocultural Issues in Sport and Physical Activity offers a cross-cultural perspective of society, health, and the body in motion. Readers will finish the text with a greater understanding of social theory applications in physical culture.
Robert Pitter, PhD, is a professor at Acadia University. His publications have examined sport, physical activity, and society as well as environmental education and organizational theory. He has been published in such journals as Research in Sport and Exercise Quarterly, Quest, Sociology of Sport Journal, International Review for Sociology of Sport, and Journal of Sport and Social Issues.
David L. Andrews is a professor of physical cultural studies in the department of kinesiology at the University of Maryland. He is also an affiliate faculty member in the department of American studies and the department of sociology.
Dr. Andrews' research interests center on contextualizing sport and physical culture in relation to the intersecting cultural, political, economic, and technological forces shaping contemporary society. His latest book is titled
Making Sport Great Again? The Uber-Sport Assemblage, Neoliberalism, and the Trump Conjuncture (published by Palgrave). Previous books include
Sport-Commerce-Culture: Essays on Sport in Late Capitalist America (published by Peter Lang),
Sport and Neoliberalism: Politics, Consumption, and Culture (edited with Michael Silk and published by Temple University Press),
The Routledge Handbook of Physical Cultural Studies (edited with Michael Silk and Holly Thorpe and published by Routledge), and
Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body: Materialisms, Technologies, Ecologies (edited with Joshua Newman and Holly Thorpe and published by Rutgers University Press). His current book project is titled
The Great Moving Right Show: Sport, Political Assemblages, and the Trump Awakening (to be published by Rutgers University Press).
Joshua I. Newman, PhD, is director of the Center for Sport, Health, and Equitable Development and a professor of sport, media, and cultural studies at Florida State University. He is also the doctorate program coordinator and associate chair in the department of sport management. Previously, Newman was a lecturer of sport studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. In 2017, he served as president and research fellow of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS). He currently serves on the editorial boards of
Communication & Sport,
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, and
Sociology of Sport Journal. Newman's work has featured in The Society Pages, the Somatic Podcast, and the Global Sport Matters Podcast, and he has done interviews for the
Washington Post,
Time magazine, BuzzFeed, and the Associated Press.
