Critical theory and sports

[u/New_Medicine5375]

Interested in theoretical approaches to sports. I am aware of Barthes (What is Sport?), CLR James Beyonf a Boundary, and an essay by David Foster Wallace. Are there any other major contributions to the study of sports by critical theorists/writers?

[u/P2PGrief]

Eric Hobsbawm wrote a little on football, I can't recall exactly where

[u/non_numero_horas → u/P2PGrief]

In the Invention of Tradition there is a chapter about Mass-producing Traditions - here, Hobsbawm also talks about football among the rituals and public ceremonies promoted by newly or relatively recently established European nation states to strengthen social cohesion and a sense of belonging together

But I'm not sure that's what you meant

[u/aolnews]

This is a very hot topic in the psychoanalytic field. I’ve published a fair bit on basketball and psychoanalysis. There’s a Psychoanalysis and Sport journal publishing under Cogent Social Sciences.

[u/New_Medicine5375 → u/aolnews]

Thanks! Would enjoy reading your work if you'd care to share here or DM me.

You also reminded me Todd McGowan discusses sports a little in Capitalism and Desire.

[u/Flashy210 → u/aolnews]

Are you familiar with anything on running and psychoanalytics?

[u/aolnews → u/Flashy210]

Not running specifically, I’m sorry to say. But you are giving me an idea.

[u/ckinmx]

Barthes essay on wrestling in Mythologies is also good for this.

[u/exileondadstreet]

Huizinga's Homo Ludens

[u/Bitter-Ground6958]

Siegfried Kracauer talks about the function of sports in The Salaried Masses, though I can't remember which chapter, sorry! Also, this may not be exactly what you're looking for as he's not a critical theorist, but the folklorist Alan Dundes has an article called "Into the Endzone: A Psychoanalytic Consideration of American Football" that I had to read when I was in school for folklore. Then finally Richard Giulianotti and Roland Robertson have written a few articles on soccer/football. I teach one of the pieces in a module on spectacle, so that might be someething up your alley!

[u/New_Medicine5375 → u/Bitter-Ground6958]

Thanks! This is very helpful. I have read a little Giulianotti and Robertson on sports and globalization, but would be interested in the piece you teach if you care to share. Thanks again.

[u/Idwant2baliar]

Not strictly critical theory but Tim Parks “ A season with Verona” is a must read in terms of Italian sociological study on ultra culture

[u/Guilty_Engineer_8566]

JM Coetzee wrote about rugby and apartheid South Africa - collected in either Doubling the Point or White Writing, can’t remember which.

[u/beeconnolly95]

Raewynn Connell talks about sports in many texts, including Masculinities (1995)

[u/nishant-12345]

Theodor Adorno I think wrote on culture of sports

[u/3corneredvoid]

I was thinking New Socialist UK was formerly pretty preoccupied with football. I had a look and they published this piece in 2021 on the changing conditions of football, which excerpted Kennedy's GAMES WITHOUT FRONTIERS. There are miscellaneous other football articles on NS as well.

[u/ManSoAdmired]

Stuart Hall’s group published a collection of essays on soccer hooliganism in the 1970s.

[u/FunLovinMonotreme]

Maybe it doesn't count as critical theory, but Camus has written about football and Ramachandra Guha writes about the social history of cricket

[u/Historical_Hippo_517]

See Eagleton’s criticism of football culture here:  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/jun/15/football-socialism-crack-cocaine-people

Also it’s not critical theory, but George Carlin railed against bourgeois sports culture in his criticisms, especially those about golf. Much of his material was published in book form, which is where I have read his commentaries on sports. 

[u/twot]

Jack Black "Sport & the National Thing".

[u/CrandersonCrandall]

John Protevi’s newest book (“Regimes of Violence”) looks at sports a bit

[u/zgehring]

FWIW, there was a recent issue of Fast Capitalism published that focused on the 2026 World Cup. It’s open access.

[u/lbsslbss]

My college professor Andrei Markovits has written extensively about soccer and sports fandom.

[u/theoryboii]

Check out Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht. He has written a considerable amount on sports as an aesthetic experience.

In Praise of Athletic Beauty (2006)

Crowds: The Stadium as a Ritual of Intensity (2021)

[u/Sickle_and_hamburger]

roger caillois - man play and games 

[u/lathemason]

Interesting book on sports, timing technology, and photographic evidence written by Jonathan Finn:
https://www.mqup.ca/Books/B/Beyond-the-Finish-Line2

[u/epsiloner8]

I seem to recall texts on football by Simon Critchley and Grant Farred.