This book celebrates the life and career of Eric Dunning. Eric Dunning was a pioneer of the sociology of sport, firstly known for his ground-breaking theoretical work with Norbert Elias, and his study of the development of football. Subsequently he published seminal work on amateurism, professionalism and the development of rugby (with Kenneth Sheard) and on football hooliganism (with Patrick Murphy and John Williams) and became a focal point for figurational sociological work on sport. Such was the scope of his thinking and the force of his personality that he bestrode the sociology of sport from its inception and initial organisational formation to his retirement. This book charts the breadth and depth of Eric Dunning's influence through a series of chapters written by friends, colleagues and others who have worked with his ideas. Chapters provide an overview of his thinking, reflect on his own core research, and describe the departures this inspired across a range of topics embracing politics, sport, health and education, spanning different nations and sporting cultures.

This book will be beneficial to students, researchers and professionals with an interest in sport and in the relationship between sport and society. The chapters in this book were originally published in Sport in Society.

Dominic Malcolm is Professor in the Sociology of Sport at Loughborough University, UK, and Editor of International Review for Sociology of Sport. His core research interests draw on and apply the theoretical ideas of Norbert Elias's figurational sociology to two substantive areas: the social development of cricket; and sport, health and medicine.

Ivan Waddington is Visiting Professor at the University of Chester, UK. His edited and authored books include Sport, Health and Drugs (2000), Sport Histories (2004), Pain and Injury in Sport (2006), and An Introduction to Drugs in Sport. Addicted to Winning (2009).