Mega-events like the Olympics, the World Cup of soccer, the World Series of baseball, cycling's Tour de France, and the Super Bowl draw our attention to the deep cultural significance of sport and its role in fostering social bonds. Yet when it comes to sport, there is no shortage of debate: stereotypes regarding sexuality, race, gender, and children abound and have been hotly contested by critics for over 40 years. Even today, sport is one of the very few socially accepted sites of violence, intense competition and controlled' forms of social disorder. Never before have sport controversies received more public attention, and we are now only beginning to understand the social complexity of how violent or aggressive behaviors happen in sport and how they might be regulated.
Battleground: Sports presents the 100 most contentious public and private controversies of the sports world. Highlighted throughout are debates surrounding ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social identity, sports fan behavior, as well as the role of governments and corporations. Engaging and accessible to a wide variety of readers, this fascinating reference illustrate how sports controversies reflect the historically enduring and changing nature of our broader cultures, and the social battles we engage on a day-to-day basis surrounding the struggles for equality, debates about social violence, the ethics of competition, the politics of civic life, the creation of global communities, and the State's role in protecting citizens. Entries contain an array of thoughtful perspectives on historic and current controversies, and allow readers to formulate their own conclusions. Among the key areas of coverage:
Drugs in sport
Racial profiling and sport
Gender inequality and sport
Alternative sport cultures
Sport and violence
Globalization of sport
Political protests through sport
Sport and alternative sexualties
Corporatization of sport
Exploitation of atheles
Gambling in sport
Olympic sport scandals
Institutional corruption in sport
Rule violations by players
Policing sport
Enhanced with a timeline, a thorough guide of print and electronic resources for high school and undergraduate student research, this one-stop reference goes beyond the newspaper headlines to provide readers with a guide map for understanding what sport controversies teach us about our culture and ourselves.
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