Whistle Blowers: Investigative Sociology of Sport: Theory and Practice

How can sociology (of sport)rediscover its investigative soul?
Rarely a day goes by in the media without a breaking story about cheating, violence, greed, and corruption in and around sport. Some stories are here today and gone tomorrow. Others, such as drug abuse, match fixing and sport-gambling fraud, murky transfer deals, child labor issues, and the abuses of power by sport bureaucrats, businessman and politicians are more reliant. Such controversies form the basis of sport and social issues-type courses in university degree programmes around the world.
Academic research about issues such as these is mostly garnered second hand, drawing from library-based research and the popular media. Such material is often stale, one dimensional, and lacking in authority. This book will remind students that the history of sociology is rooted in a "fourth estate" role and grows out of a close relationship with a style of investigative journalism, of " whistle blowing."
Whistle Blowers addresses the epistemological, theoretical, ethical and practical issues associated with investigative sociological research (and sport). The text provides contextual examples from the world of sport, exploring methodological concerns and approaches that are of interest to scholars and researchers working general sociology as well as related disciplines such as social anthropology and cultural studies. This text will be of interest to all students and researchers with an interest in the role of sport in the contemporary world