Sport, Emotion, and Engagement

Emotions are an essential feature of social life. They are the glue that can bind people together or, instead, drive them apart. In recent years, sociologists have increasingly considered (1) how emotions such as guilt, joy, anger, and pride are enacted, embodied, and produced in, as well as through, relations with others, and (2) the consequences of emotional experience for individual and group life. Unfortunately, there has been a paucity of corresponding inquiry within the sociology of sport. This chapter considers some of the ways in which the subdiscipline might productively engage with emotions in the sporting milieu. In order to achieve this goal, the chapter is divided into three sections. The first section addresses foundational issues regarding the sociological study of emotion. The second section provides an overview of several theoretical approaches that have been used to advance our understanding of emotion. The final section considers some of the ways in which this theorizing could be utilized to frame and enrich research in the sociology of sport subdiscipline.