Emotions in Sport Sociology

It is suggested that a sociology of and through sport approach to research might be applied to the study of emotion in a manner beneficial to both sport sociology and to the emerging sociology of emotions. As an exploratory step in this direction, two sport-relevant emotion-oriented theories — Scheff's (1979) distancing theory of catharsis, and Elias and Dunning's (1970) approach to the understanding of emotion in leisure spectacles — are synopsized and compared. A very tentative approach to their synthesis in a broader theory of emotions in sport is attempted, and some possible implications for our understanding of emotions in sport, and of sport in society, are discussed.