After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Describe the four major things that sociologists try to understand when they study sports in society.
Understand the differences between social research and social theories on the one hand and the kind of data gathering and theorizing that we do in the normal course of our lives.
Explain what makes the knowledge that is produced in the sociology of sport different from other forms of knowledge that we may use to explain things in the world around us.
Explain the similarities and differences between the cultural, interactionist, and structural theories used by sociologists when they study social worlds.
Give examples of research inspired by each of the three types of theories discussed in the chapter.
Explain why scholars in the sociology of sport are expected to publish their research findings.
Know what it means to say that sports are more than reflections of society.
Know the most important features of a “critical approach” to producing knowledge in the sociology of sport
Be able to distinguish between physical impairments, handicaps, and disabilities, and give one example of each.
