Sport and leisure: A historical sociological study

This chapter provides a developmental account of the historical sociological study of sport and leisure. Adopting a framework informed by the broader approach of Norbert Elias, it begins by presenting an overview of the development of the sociology of sport subdiscipline, arguing that the broader characteristics of this field - its location within the multi- and interdisciplinary sports sciences, its manifest status insecurities stemming from the cultural perceptions of sport as "low brow," and the relative influence of Elias himself on the study of sport - have shaped the tension balances between historically oriented sociologists of sport and sports historians. The chapter charts three distinct developmental phases of relations, starting with a period of relatively harmonious separation in which the pioneers of these respective fields were largely supportive and encouraging of work which fundamentally advanced the study of sport. This was followed by a period of heightened tensions as the research in the respective fields increasingly converged due in part to the maturation of historical sociological studies of sport, and the challenge to history as a discipline posed by postmodernism. In the third and final phase, cross-disciplinary tensions have declined and historical sociological research on sport has been reinvigorated, expanding in both quantity and quality. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the degree to which the historical sociological study of sport and leisure, and the Eliasian study of this field, has distinct if not unique characteristics.