Reflections on the Remit of the Journal of Sport and Social Issues and the Sociocultural Study of Sport

Abstract

In this essay, Lawrence Wenner, a former editor of the Journal of Sport and Social issues (JSSI), along with two other leading scholarly journals focused on the sociocultural impact of sport, reflects on the special remit of the JSSI project. In the essay's first section, Wenner outlines his vantage point and experiences and speaks to the complexities that confront the sociology and broader sociocultural study of sport in the academy. The second section of the essay considers the dynamics of the founding of JSSI as a personal and political project that, under the guidance of Richard Lapchick, looked to leverage public intellectualism, scholarly inquiry, and activism to advance human rights and social justice in the sporting space. The essay's third section considers how the foundational remit of JSSI evolved under the five editorial reigns that followed Lapchick's launch of the journal and outlines some of the more immediate challenges that incoming JSSI Editor Douglas Hartmann will face in reimagining the journal in a changed political climate. The essay closes by considering some of the “forks in the road” that JSSI must necessarily confront in charting a path that meshes the goals of its foundational remit concerning sport in a marketplace and political climate that stands in stark contrast to when the journal was founded.

Keywords

Journal of Sport and Social Issues sociology of sport Richard Lapchick anticipatory avoidance editorial leadership Center for the Study of Sport and Society

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