Abstract
This chapter sets out the ways in which the concept of globalization, as well as all of its attendant sport-related processes, has been defined and subsequently developed in academic scholarship, ranging from Robertson, Bauman, and Giddens to Robins, Maguire, and Appadurai. There is considerable debate in this connection as to whether global sport is leading to a form of homogenized body culture—specifically, along Western lines. Although frequently ignored by mainstream social scientists, sport is both constituent of and a facilitator of greater global interdependence: both adding scope to global processes, and also being shaped by the influences of globalization patterns. Simultaneously, sport is also a potent symbol of local/national cultures and identities and provides a point of abrasion with global interconnectedness.