Sport and Social Equality: A critical introduction

by Jim Lusted

This book offers a critical examination of ‘the equality consensus’ in sport – meaning the ways in which sport policy and sporting cultures reproduce the ideology that sport is an inherent force for good. It interrogates the idea that sport offers an exemplar of equality, fair play, meritocracy, equal opportunity and that these ‘innate’ sporting values can be harnessed to promote social equality beyond the playing field. It presents a more complex and nuanced picture of the equality consensus by exploring the theoretical positions related to social equality that help identify what equality actually ‘is’ or ‘should’ be, and how it might best be reached in and through sport.

Hardcover

Published December 31, 2025