When Class, Sports, and Social Development was published in 1983 it stood the world of sport sociology on its collective head. The original edition brought social theory to sport studies and signaled sport sociology's coming of age. Gruneau brilliantly captured the current conditions within the field and anticipated where it was going.

Unfortunately, this classic has been out of print since 1993. But no longer. The new edition features the original ground-breaking text, a foreword by R.W. Connell of the University of Sydney, and a postscript by the author.

In his postscript Professor Gruneau places the book within a scholarly, historical context 15 years after its first printing. He also explains how he might have written the book differently had he written it today.

When you read this book you'll understand why Contemporary Sociology called the first edition “The most ambitious, provocative, and penetrating effort yet undertaken by a North American sociologist to locate sport within the framework of the classical tradition of sociological theory....”

If you already own the book, the new edition brings the author's perspective full circle. And if you don't have a copy of the original you'll want to buy the new edition of Class, Sports, and Social Development to round out your collection of essential works in the field.