Sociology of Sport and Physical Education

This undergraduate text, written by writers, lecturers and academics in the field, covers the key issues in the field of sociology of sport and physical education. The first section of the text covers the importance of sport in culture, its theoretical background and methodological issues in research. The main body of the book then discusses issues including: gender; the sporting body; race and ethnicity; class, discrimination and stratification; equality; participation and socialization into sport; the hidden curriculum; critical pedagogy; the globalization of sport; sport and the media; and political involvement in physical education, sport and recreation.

"Chapters range from a useful introduction to very readable chapters on methodological issues and socialization ... Laker's inclusion of material on critical pedagogy and the idea of the hidden curriculum, important additions seldom included in such volumes, gives the anthology much-needed variety."-Choice

Anthony Laker is Degree Director in Physical Education in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at East Carolina University in the USA.