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In this paper we offer a rejoinder to MacAloon's arguments in his article, "The Ethnographic Imperative in Comparative Olympic Research," and briefly situate the other contributions in this theme issue of Sociology of Sport Journal. We argue that while MacAloon's polemic against the so called "cultural studies" approach raises important issues, notably the need for more soundly based empirical work, his characterization is misconceived, and that what he presents as an alternative is neither theoretically clear nor empirically well founded. We suggest that the contributions in this volume provide a better guide to the quality of current work in the sociological analysis of sport in Britain than does MacAloon's characterization of the so called cultural studies approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]