We intend this Handbook to be a ‘user-friendly’ collection that will meet the interests of a diverse set of readers from many countries. We expect that most readers will have a background in sociology but others will have backgrounds primarily in psychology, social and economic history, politics, philosophy, or the geography of sport. The content of the chapters has been aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as their teachers. We asked the authors to define fully and clearly technical and philosophical terms so as to make their meanings accessible to a diverse readership.

Although the content of many chapters draws heavily on research done in Western Europe and North America, the authors were careful to avoid ethnocen-trism in their chapters, and they made concerted attempts, when possible, to draw on materials from non-North American and non-West European parts of the world.

We have divided the book into four parts:

• 1.
  Major perspectives in the sociology of sport
• 2.
  Cross-disciplinary differences and connections
• 3.
  Key topics
• 4.
  Sport and society research around the globe.

The chapters in the first section outline key features of seven major theoretical perspectives used in the sociology of sport. The authors pay special attention to the emergence and development of the perspectives, especially in terms of how they have been used in sociological analyses of sport. The authors also include comprehensive bibliographies of general sources and relevant work that provide insights into the perspectives and examples of how they have been used in the sociology of sport.

The chapters in Part Two provide state-of-the-art summaries of the disciplines in which analyses of sport are most closely related to work in the sociology of sport. The authors outline the major claims about the special value of their fields and then show how their disciplines have linked with, or failed to link with, other disciplines in connection with work on sport and society. The bibliographies presented in the chapters are designed to enable readers to have immediate access to key work in the seven disciplines.

Part Three contains discussions of theory and research on 18 key topics in the sociology of sport. We selected topics on the basis of three criteria: first, the amount of interest and attention received since the publication of the last (1981) Handbook; secondly, the centrality of the topic in the sociology of sport; and thirdly, our sense that the topic will become increasingly important in future work [Page xx]in the field. Authors outline the major issues and controversies related to the topics, and then provide bibliographies that enable readers to identify the range of research that deals with the topics.

Finally, the 12 chapters in Part Four provide brief summaries of sport and society research in those countries or regions of the world where sociological work is being done. These chapters are intended as overviews rather than detailed accounts of the history, focus and current status of the field. They are meant to provide a general sense of the global scope of the sociology of sport and the range of scholars, programmes and research that is included in the field. It is also our hope that they may play a small part in reducing the North American and Western European dominance that has characterized sport and society research and writing up to now.

The overall goal of the Handbook is to enable new as well as experienced scholars to grasp the scope and importance of theory and research on sport and society.