Ramón Spaaij
An invited panel presentation for The Sociology of Sport and Leisure: A Thematic Group Panel on the State of Play and Replay, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Conference
Abstract
This Sport and Leisure Theme Group Panel takes the opportunity to consider the ‘now normal’ and ‘abnormal’ in this sub-field of Sociology in and beyond the global pandemic. The panellists are all active in academe and the wider public sphere. They will briefly address their specific areas of research – including ethnicity, religion, gender, sport for development, participation, inclusion, culture and media – as well as engage with the broader research and scholarly field. The principal questions underlying the Panel are: How can the Sociology of Sport and Leisure come to terms with the intellectual and social problems that pre-existed, persisted and have now been exacerbated by the pandemic? Is the ‘now normal’ in sport and leisure a decisive break with the past or, primarily, a means by which it can be repeated, not as tragedy or farce, but as competitive reality media genre?
Ramón Spaaij 