Call for Papers | “Work in sport, sport as work: Sociological perspectives”, Special Issue of Sport in Society | Call ends November 30, 2024

Special Issue Editors

While serving diverse social functions, sport is also an important segment of the economy. Like other sectors, it is described and classified in statistical and economic categories through the lens of employment statistics, profits and losses, forms of business activity, and management models. The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) is a four-level classification of occupational groups managed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and used in public statistics. In the most popular iteration of this classification (ISCO-88), occupations related to sports are classified under category 3 (technicians and associate professionals) with the number 347 (artistic, entertainment, and sports associate professionals). This excludes highly skilled professionals with higher education specializing in sports, such as doctors and psychologists, who belong to category 2 (professionals), while managers in charge of sports, recreation, and entertainment belong to category 1 (legislators, senior officials, and managers). This classification reflects the contemporary professionalization of the world of sports, which constitutes one of the sectors of national economies and a significant part of the global economy.

Considering the sheer scale of the sport-related sector of the economy and the significant amount of labour that takes place in this sector, the topics of work relations remain relatively understudied. In the context of football, the diagnosis formulated almost two decades ago by Martin Roderick in his seminal book about “labour of love” remains accurate (2006:1-2). Roderick wrote that in the ever-growing body of research on football, scrutiny of the working lives of footballers and others working in the football world is rare. This rarity holds true even in other sport settings, both in and out of professional sports.

There are several reasons why work in sport deserves attention as a part of the economic, social, and cultural processes affecting it. Firstly, the professionalization of both athletes and organizational processes has meant the convergence of sports with work issues in other sectors. Secondly, the problem of low levels of physical activity in many countries raises sports and exercise as a key research topic, and the work done in this field should also be scrutinized. Thirdly, changes in working life, such as increased precarization, burnout, and feelings of constant hurry, also affect the sports sector. Its working conditions, as well as the pull to the sports sector from other sectors, remain poorly understood.

Given that work is one of the fundamental subjects of sociological research, the lack of research in this area may seem surprising, especially considering that both sub-disciplines—sociology of work and sociology of sport—are highly vibrant, addressing a wide spectrum of issues, yet they rarely intersect.

This special issue of the Sport in Society journal is located at the crossroads of the sociology of sport and the sociology of work and aims to partially fill these gaps in knowledge. We welcome abstracts applying diverse theoretical and methodological approaches within the sociological discipline, as well as studies from the perspectives of other social sciences (anthropology, economics, philosophy).

Non-exclusive list of topics

• • • Working conditions in sports industry
    • The legal, cultural and identity-related contexts of the economic migration of athletes
    • Managerial work and various modes of governance in sports organizations
    • Work in sport as a (false?) promise of social mobility and an opportunity for social inclusion
    • Impact of sports events and sport-related investment on local, regional and national labour markets
    • Precarization of work in sports sector
    • Emerging job opportunities in sport sector
    • Entrepreneurialization of the field of sport, sport entrepreneurship
    • Gender inequality in the sports industry
    • Sport careers and their trajectories from the life-course perspective
    • Legal frameworks and occupational standards for sports sector
    • Collective bargaining and unionization in the sports industry
    • Occupational hazards in sport
    • Impact of socio-economic, educational and ethnic background on the career opportunities in sports sector
    • Class relations in the world of sport
    • Sports organizations (clubs, associations) as employers

Submission Instructions

This special issue welcomes both empirical and/or theoretical article-length contributions from all geographical areas that extend our understanding of the current issues and specific nature of work in sports sector. Following a review of abstracts, selected authors will be contacted by the editors and asked to submit the full papers for peer review.

Note: acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee publication of the final manuscript, full papers still undergo a peer-review process.

Submission and publication timeline

• • • 01 September 2024 – 30 November 2024: Call for Abstracts
    • Abstract submission (500 words) by email to both editors: Hanna-Mari Ikonen, email: hanna-mari.p.ikonen@jyu.fi and Wojciech Woźniak, email: wojciech.wozniak@uni.lodz.pl
    • 31 December: abstract decision
    • 31 May 2025: deadline for submission of full papers (no more than 7 000 words) based on invitation. Select “Special Issue Work in sport, sport as work. Sociological perspectives” when submitting your paper to ScholarOne
    • 1 June – 31 August: review process
    • 1 December 2025: deadline for revised papers
    • 31 January 2026: final decision about acceptance of the contributions
    • First half 2026: publication

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