The Spatial Perspective of Sport Sociology

Dear Colleagues,

The role of space in shaping social interactions, identities, and structures has long been a central concern in sociological research. In sport, spatial arrangements significantly impact the ways individuals engage with, perceive, and experience athletic participation and spectatorship. Whether through local community sports fields, urban stadiums, or international arenas, the spatial context of sport offers a unique lens to understand broader social dynamics, including issues of race, gender, class, and power.

Sport sociology, in particular, has evolved to consider how physical, social, and symbolic spaces within sports intersect with broader social processes such as class stratification, racial and gender dynamics, and economic power structures. From the neighborhood basketball court to the grandeur of the Olympic Games, sport is deeply embedded in physical spaces that influence access, participation, and spectatorship. The geographical and physical arrangements of sport—whether in cities, rural areas, or even virtual spaces—serve as a reflection of wider societal values and tensions.

Research on spatiality in sport reveals how access to sporting opportunities can be unevenly distributed based on factors such as socioeconomic status, race, and gender. For instance, urban development may prioritize commercialized sports venues over community recreation areas, leading to disparities in who can participate. Additionally, spatial inequalities are often magnified in professional sports, where the location of mega-events like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup can reshape entire urban environments, displacing communities while offering new economic opportunities to others.

The importance of examining space in sport sociology lies in understanding these spatial dynamics as both a product and a producer of social relations. By analyzing the socio-spatial dimensions of sport, we gain insight into how sporting environments can either reinforce or challenge existing inequalities. This spatial perspective also highlights how the physicality of space intersects with symbolic spaces in sport, such as the role of media in framing global sporting events and how that impacts perceptions of race, gender, and nationhood.

This Special Issue of Societies, “The Spatial Perspective of Sport Sociology”, aims to critically explore how space—both physical and metaphorical—shapes sporting practices, identities, and institutions. We invite scholars to contribute original research articles, reviews, and conceptual papers that address topics related (but not limited) to the following themes:

• The distribution of sports facilities in cities, the impact of gentrification on community sports, or the relationship between socioeconomic status and access to physical activity;
• How geographic location, funding disparities, and infrastructure development affect who can access sports spaces and how this shapes opportunities for participation in sport;
• How individuals and groups (e.g., ability, class, gender, language, nationality, race, religion) experience and navigate sports spaces and how these experiences influence the formation of personal and collective identities;
• The social, economic, and environmental impacts of mega-events, focusing on issues such as displacement, infrastructure development, and the reshaping of cityscapes;
• The historical development of sports spaces, from local pitches to global arenas, and how these changes have reflected broader societal shifts.

We invite you to contribute your research to this Special Issue and help advance the understanding of space in sports sociology. All submissions must fit into one of the three categories of papers—original research, conceptual papers, or reviews—and address the central theme of the Special Issue. Manuscripts should be submitted by 1 June 2025.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Joshua D. Vadeboncoeur
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sport sociology
• spatiality
• space
• social geography
• urban development
• mega-events
• social inequality
• identity formation