On the International Review for the Sociology of Sport,the field of play,and six years of more “more than less”

Abstract

In this editorial essay, Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Wenner reflects on his six-year tenure editing the International Review for the Sociology of Sport and the sociology of sport as a scholarly field of play. Thanks are given to the many in the sociology of sport community who have supported the IRSS and contributed to its success. Consideration then turns to the imprimatur of the IRSS and a series of identity struggles evident in the scholarly community. Using the “framing of the naming” of the IRSS, the essay poses that the IRSS is “more than” each of the constituent parts making up the journal’s title. In considering how the IRSS is “more than international,” arguments are advanced that most socio-cultural studies of sport tend to focus on local, regional, and national sporting experiences and that the IRSS might be better characterized as “multinational” or “multi-vocal” in its orientation. In considering how the IRSS is “more than a review,” arguments are advanced that the IRSS has always gone beyond featuring critical articles, a chief technical characteristic marking publications as reviews. In considering how the IRSS is “more than sociology,” arguments are advanced that the socio-cultural study of sport has always necessarily reached beyond sociology in engaging a host of disciplines. Related consideration is given to the current status of socio-cultural inquiry about sport, sociology, the sport sciences, and management. In considering how the IRSS is “more than sport,” arguments are advanced about the how the socio-cultural study of sport has always had boundaries that blur with the study of physical activity that engages fitness, health, and recreation. Finally, the essay closes with consideration of physical cultural studies and poses that it is deficient as an alternative characterization of the scholarly community.