Sport, Professionalism and Pain: Ethnographies of injury and risk

Sport, Professionalism and Pain considers these and other pertinent concerns as it questions whether, in the world of modem sport, it is the participants themselves or the sport’s administrators who exert more control over athletes’ well-being. It is asserted that because of the distinctive nature of sport, the power to transform medical practice and application of sports medicine lies not with physicians but within the practices of sport itself.

Sport, Professionalism and Pain bridges a perceived space in the literature between medical anthropology, medical sociology and sport studies, examining issues such as:

• the relationship between sports medicine, the body and culture,
• the power struggle between sport administrators and participants,
• the historical transformation of sports medicine.

The Author

P.David Howe is a Senior Lecturer in the Anthropology of Sport in the School of Sport and Leisure at the University of Gloucestershire.