On whiskey, generational osmosis, and thinking ‘til it hurts: Eric Dunning and the Canadian Sociology of Sport Figuration

Abstract

Any study of violence in the sociology of sport owes a substantial debt of gratitude to Eric Dunning. This is certainly true of Canadian sociology of sport where, for at least three generations, the ideas of Dunning and his mentor, Norbert Elias, have proven both foundational and enduring for a core group of scholars. In this paper, two recognized scholars in the Canadian figuration, Michael Atkinson and Kevin Young, reflect on Dunning’s influence in shaping both their own and others’ understanding of how ‘sport matters’; in this case, the analysis of violence inside and outside of sport. The authors consider their own research ‘in the field’ of sport violence, their personal career intersections with figurational thinking, and both the formal and informal mentorship Eric provided over several decades. For both Michael and Kevin, Eric helped to shape not only the contents of their theoretical leanings over the course of time, but also instructed them to envision substantive issues related to sport violence as both long-term sociogenic and psychogenic processes more broadly. The paper concludes with personal reflections on Eric the scholar and gentleman.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 While Patrick Murphy and Ivan Waddington collaborated directly with Eric Dunning on the football hooliganism projects, Ilya Neustadt did not. Closely aligned with Norbert Elias, Ilya Neustadt, taught sociological theory (among other things) during Kevin’s time at Leicester. Both hugely impactful, the significant contributions of Neustadt and Elias to the intellectual climate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester in the 1960s and 1970s have been carefully illustrated by Goodwin and Hughes (2011).

2 We respectfully emphasize that we are referring here to our own professional socialization only, and an ‘osmosis’ of figurational ideas for us only. It is crucial to acknowledge that, by virtue of age and graduate training cohort, other Canadian sociologists of sport had, in turn, noted their own indebtedness to Eric Dunning long before we were exposed to him and his work. Seminal Canadian sport scholars such as Michael Smith, Rick Gruneau, Rob Beamish, Nancy Theberge, Gerald Kenyon, Peter Donnelly and others had acknowledged the influence of Dunning’s work long before we entered the Canadian scene as professors.

3 The body of theory emerging from the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University, UK, from the mid-1960s onwards, firstly under the directorship of Richard Hoggart and then Stuart Hall.