Violence in the Workplace of Professional Sport from Victimological and Cultural Studies Perspectives

Although the past few decades have seen a considerable growth in the number of victimological studies, these studies have generally been based on traditional notions of crime and victim. Consequently, victimology has offered only a very narrow and limited victim agenda which requires expansion. While criminologists are paying increasing attention to the victimization of workers in general, so far little attention has been paid to ways in which professional athletes may be victimized. The paper explores the possibility of including the work of piofessional athletes in the new victim agenda, and critically assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the 'new victimologies' using a cultural studies approach.