Pierre Bourdieu and Sociology of Sports

Abstract

　Although Bourdieu had considerable interests in sports, he published only three articles on them. His works on Sociology of sports are not many, nor systematic. However, his influence on the sport studies is considerable in France.
　In this article, I examine the connection between Bourdieu and Sociology of sports. What Bourdieu questioned in sports is closely connected with his own sociology. His questions were concerned with the historical or social conditions of sports as well as the practice and the consumption of them. He dealt with the spaces of sports, too. These questions are related to such concepts as habitus, capital, field and social space. His colleagues, especially Pociello and Defrance, shared interests with Bourdieu and they applied his sociology in order to study sports.
　Today’s sociologists can apply Bourdieu’s sociology in different ways than they did. New interpretations have been already presented. One is that by Bourdieu: an international and global perspective on sports with the example of the Olympics. Another one is that by Wacquant: an ethnographic work at a boxing gym in a black ghetto of Chicago, which is local and deals with the flesh.