Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport

by D. Stanley Eitzen, Cheryl Cooky, Michael A. Messner (Foreword by)

Overview

Sport is a pervasive aspect of US society. Most children in the U.S. are involved in organized sport and it's the subject of much conversation, media content, leisure activity, and discretionary spending. There is a growing number of broadcast networks, online news sites, social media accounts, and streaming platforms devoted to covering sports that fans consume with keen interest. But do we truly understand sport?

Fair and Foul explores our love of sport, just as it reveals sport's darker side-the influence of big business, corruption, price gouging, political maneuvering, gender bias, media grandstanding, and more. Broken into two parts, Part I, “Sport is Fair, Sport is Foul,” discusses issues of social class, race, gender, and health as well as the opportunities and demands of youth sports. Part II, “Sports as a Microcosm of Society,” examines issues stemming from the media, college athletics, professional sports franchises, and whether it's possible to bring about change for a better and brighter future.

Ideal for sparking classroom discussion, Fair and Foul is an excellent book for students of sports and society, American culture, and other courses.

New to the Seventh Edition:
· New Chapter 3, “Sports Includes, Sports Excludes,” discusses Title IX and how barriers to sport continue to persist despite an expansion of opportunities.
· New content on athlete activism tied to social and racial justice reflects the current state of politics in the U.S, especially anti-trans bills, which exclude trans athletes from participating in sports.
· Expansion of Chapter 4, “Sport is Healthy, Sport is Destructive,” includes new discussion of mental health issues faced by athletes to reflect current issues and conversations in sports as well as a key concern for this generation of athletes.
· New coverage of the role of social media and streaming platforms in sports coverage reflects changes in the media production and consumption of sports
· New content on the Name Image Likeness (NIL) Supreme Court ruling, recent university conference realignments, and the role of the media (e.g. ESPN and Fox Sports television contracts) explores the possible implications of these changes on the future of college athletics

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538175675
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

D. Stanley Eitzen was professor emeritus of sociology at Colorado State University, where he taught for twenty-one years, most recently as John N. Stern Distinguished Professor. He was the author or coauthor of twenty-four books, including three on sport, as well as numerous scholarly articles and chapters in scholarly books. He was a former president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and the recipient of that organization's Distinguished Service Award. Among his other awards, he was selected to be a Sports Ethics Fellow by the Institute for International Sport.
Cheryl Cooky is a professor of American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Purdue University. Her research focuses in three areas: gendered media representations of sport; gender politics of sport and public policies; and how gender shapes sports experiences, cultural meanings, and organizational structures in sports. She is the co-author of Serving Equality: Feminism, Media and Women's Sports (2022, Peter Lang Publishers) and No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change (2018, Rutgers University Press).
Cheryl Cooky is a professor of American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Purdue University. She is the co-author of Serving Equality: Feminism, Media and Women's Sports (2022) and No Slam Dunk: Gender, Sport and the Unevenness of Social Change (2018). She is a past-President of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal.

Table of Contents

Preface
New to the Seventh Edition
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Michael A. Messner
Chapter 1: Paradoxes of Sport: An Introduction
Theme I: Sport Is Fair; Sport Is Foul
Theme II: Sport as a Microcosm of Society
Common Characteristics of Sport and Society
Variation on the “Sport as a Microcosm of Society” Theme: The Super Bowl
Variation on the “Sport as a Microcosm of Society” Theme: What Football and Baseball Tell us About our Society
Overview
Paradoxes of Sport
Part I: Sport is Fair, Sport is Foul
Chapter 2: Sport Unites, Sport Divides
The Role of Sport in Unity and Division among Nations
Unity and Division through Sport in the United States
Caveats
Chapter 3: Sport Includes, Sport Excludes
Title IX, Participation, and Opportunity
Barriers to Girls and Women's Sports
Media Coverage of Women's Sports
Impact of Sports on Girls and Women, on Society
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Sport Is Healthy, Sport Is Destructive
Sports and Girls and Women's Health
The Destructive Aspects of Sport
Conclusion
Chapter 5: The Organization of Youth Sport: Issues and Consequences
Two Fundamentally Different Forms of Play for Young Children
The Dark Side of Adult-Centered Play
Conclusion
Part II: Sports as a Microcosm of Society
Chapter 6: Are Sports Played on a Level Playing Field? Issues of Race, Class, and Gender
Racial Inequities
Class Inequities
Gender Inequities
Conclusion
Chapter 7: Media and Sport: Changing Sports, Changing Media
Shifts in the Media Landscape
Televised Sports as a Window on Reality or a Social Construction?
Commercial Interests
Sport as a Male Preserve
Television as a Game Changer
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Big-Time College Sport: Commercialized Sport Within Academia
The Case that Big-Time Sport Promotes Education
The Case that Big-Time Sport Compromises Educational Goals
College Sport as Big Business
Summary: The Contradictions of Big-Time Sport in Academia
Chapter 9: Professional Sports Franchises: Public Teams, Private Businesses
Professional Sport as a Monopoly
Public Subsidies to Professional Team Franchises
The Rationale for Public Subsidization of Professional Sports Teams
An Alternative Structure
Chapter 10: The Challenge: Changing Sport
Is Change Possible?
Should We Change Sport?
How Do We Go About Making Changes?
Index
About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

Taking a sociological approach to the phenomena of professional and academic sports, Eitzen (professor emeritus of sociology, Colorado State U.) examines nine particular contradictions of American sports. Among these are breaking down social barriers yet reinforcing them, the commitment to fair play versus the selfishness of some sports professionals, the commitment of higher education to sport at a cost to good education, and the image of social mobility contrasted with the number of opportunities actually available. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

A timely update of a longtime leader in the field, Fair and Foul is a model of how to think critically about sport without losing sight of sport's unique pleasures and social benefits. Fabulous for teaching.” —Doug Hartmann, University of Minnesota, author of Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy

“Fair and Foul has been the text since I started teaching Sociology of Sport. To many students, sports are sacred not to be spoiled by the sociologist's critique, but the critique is necessary. I was elated to learn that Cheryl Cooky would take on the work of co-author and publish a new edition. With her important reorganization of the chapters, her respect for Stan's work in previous editions, and sociological yet interdisciplinary framework, Cooky's edition well exceeded my expectation. I applaud her and thank her.” —Judith McDonnell, Bryant University

“Fair and Foul offers a critical, yet accessible discussion of central issues related to sport and society including NIL, health, media, franchises and more. Fair and Foul is a perfect read for students interested in the study of sport and society at various levels.” —Letisha Brown, University of Cincinatti

“Fair and Foul is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the relationship between sport and society, including pressing recent issues. With compelling prose and vivid examples, this new edition brings to light the social and cultural forces that shape contemporary sport and our relationships to it, for good or for ill.” —Rachel Allison, Mississippi State University

From the Publisher

This book presents the various social issues embedded in sports in an accessible way and provides a useful overview for many of the units in my course.

Holly Swyers

Fair and Foul is unique in its approach and provides quality coverage of significant issues impacting the world of sport. It is an insightful resource that students respond well to.

Jason Lee

As a microcosm of society, sport is a social construction and therefore is an arena in which sociological processes can be studied. As my course is an introduction to the field of sport sociology, the goal of the course is to apply a sociological lens to the world of sports and athletics. Fair and Foul helps me attain this goal. It looks at issues and concerns surrounding the sports world. Its’ coverage is vast and accommodates many of the sections of my course.

Keri A. Diggins

Stan Eitzen has been a pioneer in this field. Like many others, I am in his debt as one of the many he has inspired.

Richard Lapchick

Fair and Foul is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the relationship between sport and society, including pressing recent issues. With compelling prose and vivid examples, this new edition brings to light the social and cultural forces that shape contemporary sport and our relationships to it, for good or for ill.

Mississippi State University Rachel Allison

Fair and Foul has exceeded my expectations. Each semester that I use it, there is a group of students that understand the good and the bad of sport and see sport as an intellectual issue. Eitzen’s book is a really different sort of text.

Judith McDonnell

Fair and Foul offers a critical, yet accessible discussion of central issues related to sport and society including NIL, health, media, franchises and more. Fair and Foul is a perfect read for students interested in the study of sport and society at various levels.

University of Cincinatti Letisha Brown

A timely update of a longtime leader in the field, Fair and Foul is a model of how to think critically about sport without losing sight of sport’s unique pleasures and social benefits. Fabulous for teaching.

Doug Hartmann

Fair and Foul has been the text since I started teaching Sociology of Sport. To many students, sports are sacred not to be spoiled by the sociologist’s critique, but the critique is necessary. I was elated to learn that Cheryl Cooky would take on the work of co-author and publish a new edition. With her important reorganization of the chapters, her respect for Stan’s work in previous editions, and sociological yet interdisciplinary framework, Cooky’s edition well exceeded my expectation. I applaud her and thank her.

Bryant University Judith McDonnell

Especially well suited for undergraduates in sport sociology or sport studies programs, but will be of interest and use to those interested in the way sport intersects with broader sociological issues. Highly recommended.

November 2009 CHOICE

This book offers a clear and well structured rationale for the need to study sport from a sociological perspective and draws specific attention to the call for a critical examination of the 'dark side' of sports....Fair and Foul offers an excellent, broad introduction to many of the paradoxes evident in American sport and, in so doing, encourages the reader to challenge a number of basic preconceptions held about sport in modern western societies. It goes a long way in encouraging readers/students to think critically about an industry that is often passed off as 'just a game'.

Sage The British Sociological Association

With sweeping scope, and through the use of engaging examples, Fair and Foul simultaneously offers constructive criticism of what's wrong with sport, while showing what's right. Eitzen demonstrates how sport is part of larger systems of inequality, greed, and intolerance, while also suggesting the ways that the positive aspects of sport can be mobilized to become a vibrant part of movements for progressive social changes. A must-read!

Cheng Chen

I think it largely succeeds in accomplishing its primary objective: to provide an overview of social and ethical problems in the American sports world. For anyone wanting to learn about these unsavory aspects of sport, this book is the place to begin. I recommend it for introductory level courses on sport sociology, American society, and American social problems.

Contemporary Sociology - Robert E. Washington

D. Stanley Eitzen continues to demystify the American sport system in this accessible book by combining a critical point of view with 'bottom-up' social activism...The structure of the book means that it can be read either in its entirety or in a more thematic way, and Eitzen skillfully deploys quotes from athletes, coaches, and reporters. The text should be useful for sensitizing students, coaches, athletes to the need for change, and will also appeal to people who are trying to resolve their love-hate relationship with sport.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport - Alexandre Dumas

This book is an outstanding presentation of the 'fair' and the 'foul', 'uniting' and 'dividing', 'healthy' and 'destructive', and 'expressive' and 'controlled' aspects of athletics in the U.S. . . . The chapters on school sport and big-time college athletes were especially compelling. . . . Eitzen [also] dispells the myth of lifelong financial security among professional athletes. This [assertion] is especially poignant for those not familiar with the sociology of sport literature and provides the basis for a classroom discussion of these issues.

Sociology of Sport Journal

Excellent . . . a good read for academics and non-academics alike. This is a solid companion to texts in the sociology of sport.

CHOICE

America's No. 1 addiction is sports, and we don't want a cure. We overlook the trash talk, drug abuse and outrageous salaries of our athletic heroes, because we can't take our eyes off the game. Why? D. Stanley Eitzen explains it all for you.

Mark Kiszla

I think it largely succeeds in accomplishing its primary objective: to provide an overview of social and ethical problems in the American sports world. For anyone wanting to learn about these unsavory aspects of sport, this book is the place to begin. I recommend it for introductory level courses on sport sociology, American society, and American social problems.
— Robert E. Washington

Contemporary Sociology

Excellent . . . a good read for academics and non-academics alike. This is a solid companion to texts in the sociology of sport.

Choice

D. Stanley Eitzen continues to demystify the American sport system in this accessible book by combining a critical point of view with 'bottom-up' social activism...The structure of the book means that it can be read either in its entirety or in a more thematic way, and Eitzen skillfully deploys quotes from athletes, coaches, and reporters. The text should be useful for sensitizing students, coaches, athletes to the need for change, and will also appeal to people who are trying to resolve their love-hate relationship with sport.
— Alexandre Dumas

International Review For The Sociology Of Sport

This book is an outstanding presentation of the 'fair' and the 'foul', 'uniting' and 'dividing', 'healthy' and 'destructive', and 'expressive' and 'controlled' aspects of athletics in the U.S. . . . The chapters on school sport and big-time college athletes were especially compelling. . . . Eitzen [also] dispells the myth of lifelong financial security among professional athletes. This [assertion] is especially poignant for those not familiar with the sociology of sport literature and provides the basis for a classroom discussion of these issues.

Sociology Of Sport Journal