Introduction

This introductory chapter will situate the nexus sport and social movement activism and how this relates to: specific historical and contemporary events, temporalities, and their legacies in studies of modern Olympics; athlete campaigns for social justice; and sports fan rights and representation. It will also unpack some of the key theoretical tools relating to the social scientific study of social movements including relational-temporal sociology, and classic and contemporary work on the sociology of sport and leisure. First, however, it will provide the backdrop for the volume, by unpacking sports-based protest as a key theme in the study of social movements and collective action, and how this may be understood as composing a critical juncture in a wider sociohistorical context of late capitalism. Second, it will review, briefly, the relevant literature that the volume builds upon and connects with, before it will provide an overview of the separate sections and individual chapters of the book.