Abstract
In recent years, a new trend has appeared in sports sociology. Macro-theoretical problems are examined through case studies of sports. However, most of these studies are based on historical texts, not ethnography.
In this regard, J. Sugden's boxing studies provide a valuable, example of ethnography as a link between micro and macro-theoretical points of view. Analyzing his main book, Boxing and Society: An International Analysis, this paper develops a methodology for the micro-macro link in sport sociology.
This paper makes the following points. The first ethnography in Sugden's book, of a professional boxing club in a US ghetto, appropriately addresses important questions about reproduction of exploitative relation between managers and professional boxers in the research of boxing at that time. Second, this paper argues that the second ethnography in his book, of an amateur boxing club in Northern Ireland, a land of sectarian conflict, appropriately answers his macro-theoretical question about the maintenance of social order in a stateless society, although Sugden did not explicitly recognize the macro-micro link examination in his work. These two cases show that by combining diverse sports ethnography with macro-theoretical interests, a model for achieving a macro-micro link in sports sociology can be achieved.
