Coordenators:
João Sedas Nunes [NOVA FSCH e CICS.NOVA]
Daniel Seabra [UFP]
Rahul Kumar [FMH-UL e IHC-UNL]
The Sociology of Sport Thematic Section of the APS welcomes the submission of proposals for papers presenting research situated in both academic and non-academic contexts. These proposals should start from an analysis of the sporting phenomenon to interpret processes that engage with the theme of the XIV APS Congress "Futures Under Construction: Sociology in the Public Sphere". In a context of polycrisis, where geopolitical conflicts, social inequalities, environmental degradation, and financial instability intersect, how can the sociology of sport contribute to the production of socially relevant knowledge? How can a closer look at the sporting phenomenon, anchored in the theoretical and methodological tools of sociology, help us interrogate the power structures of contemporary societies and offer fresh perspectives on them? What is the meaning of the sporting phenomenon in the face of the epochal transformations we face?
Starting from this set of questions, and taking the worlds of sport as central elements in the construction of the contemporary public sphere – as contexts of social integration and exclusion, of professional practice but also of leisure time occupation, of economic production but also of social reproduction, of political organization and participation, and finally, as part of the core of modern media systems – we aim to measure the levels of autonomy and interdependence of the sporting field relative to other spheres of activity and consider the hierarchies that form within each of them and between them.
We are especially interested in papers that explore the following thematic areas, and related ones:
- Major sporting events and their relationship with international geopolitics, the reproduction of national identities, the construction of neoliberal capitalism, and modern systems of governmentality;
- Public debates around sport: with a special focus on their relations with public policies and ideological formations; with regional, national, and international political economy; with citizenship policies, for example concerning naturalized athletes and those from racialized minorities, etc.;
- Mediatizations of sport, particularly the space of sports commentary and opinion and its rhetorical processes, processes of naturalizing or contesting dominant values in sports media discourse in its various forms;
- Sport and its pathologies: doping, violence, sports betting, corruption, sexual abuse, racial and gender discrimination, etc.
- Sports public policies for different sectors of the sporting field: federated, associative/grassroots, school-based, the presence of sport in electoral and party programs; parliamentary debates on sport, etc.;
- Sport and the environmental crisis: the adaptation of sports clubs to sustainable development goals; the reconfiguration of sporting events based on environmental criteria; greenwashing policies, etc.
We invite the submission of abstract proposals based on academic and non-academic research, including empirical work, theoretical and methodological contributions, as well as reports of professional experiences.
Proposals, in addition to theoretical essays, must be formulated presenting their theoretical framework, objectives, methodologies used, results and conclusions.
Professional contributions can take the form of experience reports, including context, objectives, actors involved, methodologies, activities developed, and key learnings.
Proposals must be submitted via the personal area by the deadline specified in the submission guidelines.
Proposals may be submitted in Portuguese, English, Spanish or French.
The maximum length of the abstract is 2,500 characters (excluding spaces).
Evaluation will consider the clarity of objectives, methodological adequacy, relevance of results, and the overall quality of the proposal.
The Congress will take place in person at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Algarve, in Faro, from 23 to 25 March 2027, and may include online sessions on 22 March. At the time of submission, authors must indicate whether they intend to participate in person or online.
All the authors will be invited to submit the full papers for publication in the Congress Proceedings.
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