Critical Research in Sport, Health and Physical Education

Within the overlapping fields of the sociology of sport, physical education and health education, the use of critical theories and the critical research paradigm has grown in scope. Yet what social impact has this research had?
This book considers the capacity of critical research and associated social theory to play an active role in challenging social injustices or at least in 'making a difference' within health and physical education (HPE) and sporting contexts. It also examines how the use of different social theories impacts sport policies, national curricula and health promotion activities, as well as the practices of HPE teaching and sport training and competition.
Critical Research in Sport, Health and Physical Education
is a valuable resource for academics and students working in the fields of research methods, sociology of sport, physical education and health.
Chapter 5 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Richard Pringle is Professor of Sport and Physical Education at Monash University, Australia, and is on the editorial boards of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport and Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education. He is a critical qualitative researcher who examines diverse socio-cultural and pedagogical issues associated with sport, exercise, health, physical education, bodies and gender relations. Håkan Larsson is Professor of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Sweden, where he heads the research group for physical education and sport pedagogy. His main interests concern sport, gender and sexuality, and teaching and learning in physical education. In 2015 he held the honorary scholar lecture at the British Educational Research Association's Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Invisible College. Göran Gerdin is Senior Lecturer of Physical Education and Sport at Linnaeus University, Sweden, and is on the editorial board of the journal Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education. His research focuses on how issues of gender, bodies, spaces and (dis)pleasures shape students' participation, enjoyment and identities in school health and physical education.

1. Introduction: Are we making a difference?, Part I: Critical socio-cultural examinations of sport, 2. Exploring the place of critical research in Sport for Development and Peace, 3. Football 4 Peace v Homophobia: A critical exploration of the links between theory, practice and intervention, 4. Autoethnography and public sociology of sport in Caribbean: Engagement, disengagement and despair, 5. Critical research on Black sporting experiences in the United States: Athletic activism and the appeal for social justice, 6. Problematizing practice: Coach development with Foucault, Part II: Critical perspectives and social change within school physical education, 7. Critical pedagogy in physical education as advocacy and action: A reflective account, 8. A new critical pedagogy for physical education in 'turbulent times': What are the possibilities?, 9. In pursuit of a critically oriented Physical Education: Curriculum contests and troublesome knowledge, 10. Socially critical PE: The influence of critical research on the social justice agenda in PETE and PE practice, 11. Critical scholarship in physical education teacher education: A journey, not a destination, 12. Gender in Physical Education: A case for performative pedagogy?, Part III: Critical health examinations in education and other socio-cultural contexts, 13. Schools and health: An argument against the tide, 14. Is asking salutogenic questions a way of being critical?, 15. Cruel optimism? Socially critical perspectives on the obesity assemblage, 16. Critical research in exercise and fitness, 17. Un-charting the course: Critical indigenous research into Sport, Health and Physical Education, 18. "What do we want? When do we want it? Now!": Some concluding observations