Abstract: In this academic interview, professor Alan Bairner at Loughborough University reviews the experiences in his academic career. He identifies himself as a 'sociologist' or 'social scientist' studying the sport and politics. He claims that it is an interdisciplinary field which strongly connects with many of the issues important to the study of the sociology of sport. In this field, social theories such as Marxism, figurational sociology, as well as the qualitative/interpretivism paradigm, should be comprehensively and critically applied to vividly interpret the issues of sport and politics in daily life. However, like other social scienceof sport, this field is facing many internal and external challenges, such as neoliberalism and elitism in the global high education environment, 'double marginalization' in the subdiscipline and restrictions onknowledge structure of sport scholars. Finally, Alan also comments on recent development and some research agendas of sport and politics in China. He also hopes that Chinese social scholars of sport can continue to contribute to knowledge accumulation in this subdiscipline.

Key words: sport and politics, interdisciplinary, social theory