Getting your head around theory

As we move further into the twenty-first century, qualitative scholars more broadly are becoming more immersed in the practice and politics of doing post-qualitative research, whether it be post-structuralism, postmodernism, posthumanism or critical theory. This chapter explores post-structuralist and postmodernist themes, issues and challenges in theory. We investigate what it is about these ‘posts’ that attracts so much attention or confusion, and do a deep dive into their challenges and provocations. I draw out lessons in wider reading and the process of engagement with theory in the social sciences in sport studies, advocating for a new familiarisation with disruptive theory and demonstrating what it may mean to take a post-structuralist/postmodernist approach to sport studies research. These orientating principles that are predicated on how knowledge is constructed, a concern with multiple or fractured realities, notions of power, subjectivity, language and meaning all contribute towards a new reading of contemporary sport and cultural logic. Using personal reflections and applying an interrogative critical consciousness, I show that my journey into becoming a post-structural/postmodern scholar has benefited me as a researcher. Finally, I suggest ways that they can be used alongside other theoretical and critical methods so that you might become a more informed sport scholar.