Cultures of Sport Hazing and Anti-Hazing Initiatives for the 21st Century

In sport, hazing and initiation rites and rituals are commonly justified by team leaders and proponents as upholding traditions, proving one’s commitment to a team, and as a way of strengthening team bonds. This edited collection offers a current critical analysis of sport hazing practices, including diverse perspectives and experiences of hazing and initiation in the contemporary sport landscape.

Providing a much-needed cutting-edge update on the last major publication on sport hazing practices published more than two decades ago, the chapters delve into the continuation of potentially harmful, traditional initiations including the use of alcohol, secrecy, attire, hierarchy, confinement, gender, tradition, heterosexism, homoeroticism, misogyny, power, masculinity, cohesion, symbolism, ritual and the cycle of status from initiated to initiator. With a section dedicated to practical suggestions for enacting positive change to team sport cultures and welcome rituals, authors consider intersections of identity, gender, race, ethnicity, and more, and offer examinations of team hazing from diverse perspectives, analytical frameworks, and theoretical lenses.

Responding to recent shifts in the political and sport landscape, it presents an international view, collectively including multi-disciplinary, pioneering perspectives on the current sport hazing landscape – a timely and rich offering to the sporting literature.