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Dramatic changes have occured in the every day life of Eastern Europe, in the world of sports as well as in politics: the breakdown of state top sports, the public attention to doping, the uncovering of deficiencies in "mass sports", the emigration of a professional sport elite...But when analyzing beneath the surface of the events, things are not so simple. Some very different and contradicting theses are possible.1. The change of systems: The Western world has won the cold war of sports, and a commercial sport system is being established with capitalist sponsorship, media market, sale and migration of professionals, etc.2. A delayed modernization: The Eastern countries are "underdeveloped" and now trying to catch up (in vain?) in the same way as Western sport did before them: Sport for all. An evolutionist interpretation.Both interpretations - dominating the public discourses today - ignore the fact that "the Western sports" is not monolithic either, but is also changing fundamentally since the 1960/70s:- Top sport is changing from the production of individual results towards a media circus, the putting on stage of a - often fascinating - show sport.- A commercial market of body culture is expanding, threatening the traditional system of club sports.- New alternative movement cultures have arisen, redefining - repractizing - the popular (in Nordic language: folkelig) grassroot aspect of sports.3. Therefore a third interpretation is obvious: Are the events happening in the East (and the West), rather a revolution of body culture? A fundamental change creating something structurally new that has never been seen before? In this perspective - and maybe only in this one - the Eastern European peoples have the chance of non-synchronicity. We learn today, that popular games in Georgia and Kazakhstan have not disappeared as they did in Denmark and West-Germany. The peoples of Eastern Europe and Soviet Asia can use an experience - of resistance, of change, of underground alternatives in sports - which they have, whilst the Western countries have not.Or have we, too? New problems are rising at the horizon of sports sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information regarding the International Committee for Sociology of Sport (ICSS). Combining all these objectives will not be a simple matter, as sport sociology, similar to sociology as a whole, is at different stages of development in the various countries. It has to be seen against the background of different traditions and is subject to disparate scientific standards. Being oriented towards different objectives and ideologies its functions and tasks may vary from country to country. All this has to be minored in an international journal which should strive to reflect the diversity of scientific trends which have emerged in the respective countries. The standards prevalent in North America or western Europe for example cannot be the sole criteria when assessing whether or not an article is to be included. It should also be taken into account whether the article in question is characteristic of and significant for the sociology of sport in the respective country. The editors will endeavor to attain the objectives of the periodical by providing articles on new scientific investigations and surveys on selected topics highlighting the situation of research in the various countries.