Routledge Handbook of Sport, Leisure, and Social Justice

This is the first book to explore in breadth and in depth the complex intersections between sport, leisure, and social justice.

This book examines the relations of power that produce social inequalities and considers how sport and leisure spaces can perpetuate those relations, or act as sites of resistance, and makes a powerful call for an activist scholarship in sport and leisure studies. Presenting original theoretical and empirical work by leading international researchers and practitioners in sport and leisure, this book addresses the central social issues that lie at the heart of critical social science - including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, religious persecution, socio-economic deprivation, and the climate crisis - and asks how these issues are expressed or mediated in the context of sport and leisure practices. Covering an incredibly diverse range of topics and cases - including sex testing in sport; sport for refugees; pedagogical practices in physical education; community sport development; events and human rights; and athlete activism - this book also surveys the history of sport and social justice research, as well as outlining theoretical and methodological foundations for this field of enquiry.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport, Leisure and Social Justice is an indispensable resource for any advanced student, researcher, policymaker, practitioner, or activist with an interest in the sociology, culture, politics, history, development, governance, media and marketing, and business and management of sport and leisure.

Stefan Lawrence is Senior Lecturer in sport business management at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Stefan has published widely on sport and leisure and their relationship to social justice and digital cultures respectively. He is a member of the editorial boards for Leisure Sciences, Leisure Studies and Managing Sport and Leisure, and is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE.

Joanne Hill is Senior Lecturer in physical education and sport sociology at the University of Bedfordshire, UK, where she is also Co-Deputy Director for the Institute of Sport and Physical Activity Research. She researches the impact of the social construction of the body, gender and ethnicity on physical activity and sport engagement; and critical pedagogies/social justice in physical education and higher education, using participatory and creative methods.

Rasul Mowatt is Professor and Researcher who studies social justice and the geographies of race. He is Head of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State’s College of Natural Resources, USA. Before joining NC State, Mowatt served on Indiana University’s faculty for 15 years and previously taught at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is president of The Academy of Leisure Sciences, co-editor of Leisure Sciences, and founding editor of Recreation, Parks and Tourism in Public Health.