Abstract
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Review for the Sociology of Sport |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 445-458 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 1012-6902 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2019 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Science
- Figurational sociology
- Focus group interviews
- Physical education
- School-based research
- Sports culture
- Youth culture