On this episode Andrea Bundon and Meredith Wing discuss disabilities and sports. They begin by helping listeners understand some of the key concepts in this area. They go to outline some the complexities of study disability sports and politics of it. This episode addresses Ch 10 on Age and Ability, Ch 2 on Knowledge Production through social research, and parts of Chapters 4 on Youth Sports and Ch 9 on Social Class that deal with social inclusion in sports. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv.

Women’s sports are currently experiencing tremendous excitement and rapid growth, much of which is driven by market forces. But what does that mean for social justice? Ajhanai Keaton (UConn) and Roc Rochon (Pacific Univ) join the podcast to discuss the potentials and limitations of using the market to advance social justice in women’s sports. This episode addresses chapters 7, 11, and 16 of Sports in Society. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv.

Chen Chen (UConn) joins the podcast to discuss sports, imperialism, and anti-imperialist activism. This episode is relevant to chapters 6, 8, 11, and 13. In it, we trace the meaning of imperialism and how it manifests in sports. We use imperialism to talk through the current stage of globalized capitalism and what it means for people in both core and periphery nations. We conclude discussing Chen’s work with Sport Scholars for Justice in Palestine (SSJP) and how students can make a difference.

Jess Kirby and Marissa Baranauskas join us to talk about how athlete health is a concern of gender justice. We discuss how sedimented ideas about gender in sports negatively effects girls and women, especially regarding diet and menstrual health. Part of the issue is how gender ideology limits and guides sport science research. We also discuss the dangers of politicizing hormones. We conclude by addressing what athletes, coaches, and other can do to create more just health outcomes in sports. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv.

Derek Silva and Nathan Kalman-Lamb join the podcast to discuss their book The End of College Football. This episode is relevant to chapter 6, 8, 9, 11, and 14 since we discuss violence and abuse in college football as well as racial capitalism and the political economy of college sports. We begin with a discussion of radical politics in sociology before discussing exploitation in college football. We further address politicians’ intrusion into college football to maximize exploitation and commodity spectacle. We conclude by discussing the abolition of college football. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv.

Faye Linda Wachs (CSU, Pomona) joins us to discuss the excitement and passion in producing sports knowledge. We walk through her sports and scholarly biography to understand the passions and politics that drive her. We discuss her early research on coed softball, her research on Body Panic in health and fitness magazines, and her current research on the uses of the LA Dodgers in anti-ICE protests. This episode addresses chapters 2, 3, 7, and 12 of Sports in Society. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv.

Journalist Luke Thomas joins us to discuss the costs and consequences of media and corporate consolidation. We use combat sports, and specifically Dana White’s TKO Group Holdings, as a case study of media consolidation. Luke Thomas uses the term “depletion system” to describe the toll that combats sports takes upon the athletes within it. We begin by broadly surveying the sports media landscape and tendency towards consolidation. Then we move into combat sports to see how media monopoly hurts athletes, enriches sport capitalists, and leaves sports fans with fewer, more expensive choices. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv. And you can always reach Luke Thomas with questions at [email protected].

Tracie Canada joined the podcast to discuss her research on Black collegiate football players, their labor, and care. This episode addresses chapters 8, 9, 11, and 14 of Sports in Society. We begin discussing Dr. Canada’s experience getting to know football players as a student at Duke. Those experiences set her on a scholarly course that led to the publication of Tackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football (UC Press, 2025). Through her detailed ethnographic research, Dr. Canada shows how an exploitative system impacts the young men and their families within it. She provides a detailed discussion of how the young Black men that predominate in college football and their mothers engage in caring labor in response to the exploitation of the system. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv

Jules Boykoff (Pacific University) and Cerianne Robertson (Fordham University) join us to discuss the cost of mega-sporting events to communities, athletes, and fans. This episode illustrates the relationship between wealth and sports. We begin by discussing the many costs of hosting mega-sporting events like the Olympics or World Cup that communities must bear beyond just the financial, such as attacks up on poor and unhoused communities, increased surveillance of citizens and militarized police, and loss of citizen control over their communities. We discuss the complexities and contradictions of stadium building specifically before shifting to the costs that athletes and their families must bear. We then discuss how the skyrocketing costs of attending these events far exceeds the rise of inflation. Finally, we conclude by discussing what citizens who want to protect their communities and democracy from corporate greed can do to stop these takeovers. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv

Drs. Jessica Kirby (UCCS) and Cassandra Phoenix (Durham Univ) join us to discuss aging and sports participation across the life course. We begin by challenging the ageist narrative of aging as a process of decline. We push back on that idea to argue that people across their life course participate in sports in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes including skill development, competition, exercise, and community building. We go on to explore older adults' different engagements in sports and barriers they experience. We ultimately focus on ways in which sports participation can be encouraged at all ages from youth to older years. Join the conversation of the Sports in Society discord server: https://discord.gg/QDzzETYThv