Argument

Social change and sport: the COVID-19 Pandemic and other turning points in modernityThe still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected all areas of individual and collective life – and sport is no exception.

In this context, bodily practices, their meanings and their representations changed radically, at the macro, meso and micro societal levels as well as at their intersections. For example, with regard to: micro- and mega-sports events, individual and group sports practices, e-sports, the relationship between sport, identities and bodies, the use of sport for individual and collective health and well-being, or as means of social control or inclusion, the status of sports’ professionals, public policies, the role of new technologies in the worlds of sports and more generally, the research agenda on sport and bodily practices.

The aim of this special issue is to bring sociologists and other social scientists interested in sport to propose their works. The focus of this special issue lies in the social changes that the COVID-19 directly or indirectly provoked/provokes/will provoke to the area of sport: How did the social relevance of sport change? How (radically) did the sport system adapt? How much importance has technology gained in relation to sport? Which new practices emerged and which ones are fated to disappear? Which lessons about these matters can be learned from previous crises-prompted radical social changes? Which implications in terms of policies and practices do emerge?

Submissions are invited to a special issue of Contemporary Social Science on actual social changes of sports: We encourage the submissions of original articles, both theoretical and empirical, that investigate and analyse from single disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives on the following, but not exhaustive, topics:

• The evolutions of sport (micro and/or mega) events;
• The role and/or use of new technologies for sports;
• The transformations of sports’ practices;
• E-sports;
• Sports, identities, bodies and genders;
• New ethical issues related to sports;
• The transformations of the relationships between sports and health;Sports as a means of social control and/or social inclusion;
• The crisis of sports’ professions;
• International, national, regional or local policies for sports in times of crisis;
• Communities sports development;
• The new worlds of sports in times of crisis.

Guest Editors

Nico Bortoletto (Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Teramo), Enrico Michelini (Institute for sport and sport science, TU Dortmund) and Alessandro Porrovecchio (ULR 7369 URePSSS laboratory, University of the Littoral Opal Coast) welcome submissions now.

Submission guidelines

Authors should indicate that they wish the manuscript to be reviewed for inclusion in the special issue. The Editors of this issue would be happy to review plans for papers in advance of their receipt.

All papers will be peer reviewed.

The closing date for submitting papers is March 31st 2022

Manuscripts should follow the journal instructions for online submission of papers.

For any queries contact Alessandro Porrovecchio: alessandro.porrovecchio@univ-littoral.fr

Scientific Committee

• Members of the ESA RN 28 Board
• Nico Bortoletto, University of Teramo
• Enrico Michelini, TU Dortmund
• Alessandro Porrovecchio, University of the Littoral Opal Coast
• Kaja Różdżyńska, University of Warsaw
• Lucie Forté-Gallois, University of Toulouse III
• Stacey Pope, Durham University
• Loredana Tallarita, “Kore” University

Members of the journal’s editorial board

• Dame Glynis Breakwell FAcSS, Professor of Psychology, University of Bath, UK
• Graham Crow FAcSS, Professor of Sociology, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Eve Darian-Smith, Professor of Global & International Studies, University of California, Irvine, USA
• Rosemary Deem, Professor of Higher Education Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
• Leon Feinstein FAcSS, Professor of Education and Children’s Social Care, University of Oxford, UK
• Matthew Flinders FAcSS, Professor of Politics, University of Sheffield, UK
• Rita Gardner FAcSS, Chief Executive, Academy of Social Sciences, UK
• Sally Hardy FAcSS, Chief Executive, Regional Studies Association, UK
• Helen Kara FAcSS, Independent Social Scientist
• Mattias Klaes FAcSS, Professor of Political Economy, University of Buckingham, UK
• Eric Lassiter, Professor of Humanities and Anthropology, Marshall University, Huntington WV, USA
• Jieyu Liu, Reader in Sociology and China Studies, SOAS University of London, UK
• Monique Marks, Professor of Sociology, Durban University of Technology, South Africa
• Jonathan Michie, FAcSS, Professor of Knowledge and Information Exchange, University of Oxford, UK
• Catherine Ross, Professor of Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA
• Charalambos Tsekeris, Professor of Sociology, Aegean College and Academy of Athens, Greece
• Jane Ussher, Professor of Women’s Health Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Australia
• David Wall, FAcSS, Professor of Criminology, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds, UK