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Spoil in Society: Issues and Controversies. 7th ed. Jay Coakley. New York: McGraw Hill. 2001. 570 pages. $61.50.
There are a number of good texts on the sociology of sport, but Coakley's Sport in Society is an exceptional text. It is among the very best in covering its subject. This assessment has a caveat, however. All instructors have different teaching styles and emphases, and aspects of a text that some may perceive as strengths, others may perceive as weaknesses. No text can cover everything. But Sport in Society comes as close to covering everything of interest on its topics as any text. Encyclopedic in its scope, it provides an abundance of information and resources not only for interested students, but for teachers and researchers, as well. Furthermore, despite covering all that it covers, it also happens to be a remarkably readable text.
Sixteen chapters can be roughly grouped into three areas: conceptual points, contemporary issues and controversies, and post-contemporary expectations. Sport in Society is nicely balanced and well organized. The initial four chapters of the text, focusing on conceptual points, are the most patently sociological. They include an introductory chapter that delineates the social characteristics of sports, a theoretical chapter that introduces six social theories for studying sports, a historical chapter that helps readers understand the present state of sports, and a socialization chapter that examines sport as both a socializing force and an institution of socialization.
As valuable as this information is, some beginning college students, particularly those with no previous exposure to sociology, may feel a bit overwhelmed by the large number of sociological concepts and definitions contained in these early chapters. Even some sociology majors may encounter difficulty trying to grasp six different theoretical perspectives-functionalist, conflict, interactionist, critical, critical feminist, and figurational-since many sociology texts stop with the first three. The fact that the material may be challenging is not, in itself, problematic. But it does force instructors to make an immediate choice since these early chapters are as much an introduction to sociology as they are an introduction to the sociology of sport. How much should be covered? Overall,...