This book critically examines the ways in which sports contribute to, or inhibit, social well-being, the directions these changes take and the conditions necessary for sport to have beneficial outcomes. The themes addressed in the book demonstrate the diversity and versatility of the social impacts sport can potentially achieve as well as the variable benefits of sport in different social contexts. The contributions are focused around four major themes:

- Sport development and social change: intended and unanticipated consequences

- Empowerment and personal change through sport

- Sport participation, social inclusion and social change

- The impact of sport in society: historical and comparative perspectives

The volume constitutes the first scholarly attempt to locate, compare and conceptualize the social impact of sport in different local, national and international contexts. Through international comparison and empirically grounded case studies the book provides an important new departure in the study of the social meanings of sport in society, linking themes and areas that have previously been studied merely separately from one another.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Contents

1. Introduction: The Social Impact of Sport: Diversities, Complexities and Contexts Ramón Spaaij Part 1: Sport development and social change: intended and unanticipated consequences 2. The Transnational View of Sport and Social Development: The Case of Dominican Baseball Alan Klein 3. The Glue that Holds the Community Together? Sport and Sustainability in Rural Australia Ramón Spaaij Part 2: Empowerment and personal change through sport 4. Sport as a Post-Disaster Psychosocial Intervention in Bam, Iran Valeria Kunz 5. Esther Phiri and the Moutawakel Effect in Zambia: An Analysis of the Use of Female Role Models in Sport-for-Development Marianne Meier and Martha Saavedra 6. Developing through Sport: EviSport Impacts on Young People Tess Kay Part 3: Sport participation, social inclusion and social change 7. Engaging Sport-for-Development for Social Impact in the South African Context Cora Burnett 8. Participation in Sport: Bonding and Bridging as Identity Work Jeroen Vermeulen and Paul Verweel 9. Race Relations, Indigenous Australia and the Social Impact of Professional Australian Football Chris Hallinan and Barry Judd Part 4: The impact of sport in society: historical and comparative perspectives 10. Social Functions of High School Athletics in the United States: A Historical and Comparative Analysis Ruud Stokvis 11. The social construction and impact of champions Joseph Maguire 12. Epilogue: Personal and Social Change in and through Sport: Cross-Cutting Themes Ramón Spaaij

Author Bio

Ramón Spaaij is a Research Fellow at the Refugee Research Centre and School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University. He is also a Research Fellow at the Amsterdam School for Social ...