Brighton, JamesTownsend, Robert C.Campbell, NatalieWilliams, Toni L.2026-06-112026-06-112021Brighton, J., Townsend, R. C., Campbell, N., & Williams, T. L. (2021). Moving beyond models: Theorizing physical disability in the sociology of sport. Sociology of Sport Journal, 386-398. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-00120741-1235https://hdl.handle.net/10289/18342In this paper we explore current theoretical approaches available from the discipline of critical disability studies (CDS) for conceptualizing physical disability and advocate how these understandings can advance sociological research on disability sport. After reviewing a dominant “models” approach that has historically been employed, we illuminate how theoretical architecture provided by selected sociological theorists (Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and Zygmunt Bauman) and from aesthetic, cyborg, and new materialist approaches can help reveal the materialist conditions, sociocultural structures, and lived realities of disability. In doing so, we appeal to researchers of disability sport to develop critical understandings of why alternative theoretical approaches are valuable, what theoretical choices to make, and how we can use theory to highlight oppression and empower those involved in disability sport.enThis is an authors accepted version of an article published in Sociology of Sport Journal. © 2021 Human KineticsSocial SciencesScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineHospitality, Leisure, Sport & TourismSociologySport SciencesSocial Sciences - Other TopicsOSCAR PISTORIUSDISABLED PEOPLESOCIAL MODELCYBORGTECHNOLOGYEMBODIMENTBOUNDARIESMODERNITYEDUCATIONIDENTITYJournal Article10.1123/ssj.2020-00121543-278535 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services4 Quality Education