Trying to fit in - upper secondary school students' negotiation processes between sports culture and youth culture

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trying to fit in - upper secondary school students' negotiation processes between sports culture and youth culture

AU - Nielsen, Stine Frydendal

AU - Thing, Lone Friis

N1 - CURIS 2019 NEXS 168

PY - 2019/6/1

Y1 - 2019/6/1

N2 - In this paper we present results concerning how students in a Danish upper secondary school negotiate between sports culture and the prevailing norms of youth culture in a local school context. The study shows that it can be rather difficult for young people to combine sports culture with the local youth culture, because living a healthy and physically active life doesn’t fit very well with the prevailing norms of youth culture, which involve a dominant social arena characterized by parties and alcohol. By applying the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, this article shows that being included in a sports figuration can result in exclusion from the youth figuration. Young athletic students are therefore in a constant process of negotiation, where they struggle to fit into both sport and non-sport related contexts, because it is important to belong within both. The study is based on 16 focus group interviews [N=120] conducted over four years in one Danish upper secondary school.

AB - In this paper we present results concerning how students in a Danish upper secondary school negotiate between sports culture and the prevailing norms of youth culture in a local school context. The study shows that it can be rather difficult for young people to combine sports culture with the local youth culture, because living a healthy and physically active life doesn’t fit very well with the prevailing norms of youth culture, which involve a dominant social arena characterized by parties and alcohol. By applying the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias, this article shows that being included in a sports figuration can result in exclusion from the youth figuration. Young athletic students are therefore in a constant process of negotiation, where they struggle to fit into both sport and non-sport related contexts, because it is important to belong within both. The study is based on 16 focus group interviews [N=120] conducted over four years in one Danish upper secondary school.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Figurational sociology

KW - Focus group interviews

KW - Physical education

KW - School-based research

KW - Sports culture

KW - Youth culture

U2 - 10.1177/1012690217725906

DO - 10.1177/1012690217725906

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1012-6902

VL - 54

SP - 445

EP - 458

JO - International Review for the Sociology of Sport

JF - International Review for the Sociology of Sport

IS - 4

ER -