IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v3y2015i3p108-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing Sport for Public Health: Approaching Contemporary Problems with Traditional Solutions

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Aggestål

    (Department of Education, Umeå University, Sweden)

  • Josef Fahlén

    (Department of Education, Umeå University, Sweden)

Abstract

In the area of public health, civil society involvement in attaining government objectives on physical activity participation is often carried out by voluntary sport organizations (Agergaard & Michelsen la Cour, 2012; Österlind & Wright, 2014; Skille, 2009; Theeboom, Haudenhuyse, & De Knop, 2010). In Sweden, this responsibility has been given to the Swedish Sport Confederation (SSC), a voluntary and membership-based non-profit organization, granted government authority to govern Swedish sport towards government objectives (Bergsgard & Norberg, 2010; Bolling, 2005). Research has pointed to difficulties for sport organizations to shoulder such responsibilities due to the deeply rooted logic of competition in sport and organizational structures adapted for competitive sport (Skille, 2011; Stenling & Fahlén, 2009). This article focuses on how public health is being constructed, implemented and given meaning within the SSC. Drawing on a critical discourse approach (Fairclough & Fairclough, 2012) this study explores the SSC’s role and position in public health promotion by interviewing SSC representatives and National Sport Organizations’ (NSO) general managers. Results indicate how discourses on democracy, equality and physical activity are used to legitimize the SSC’s role in public health. Also, how these discourses are compromised in practice, posing challenges for organized sport in meeting objectives of public health.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Aggestål & Josef Fahlén, 2015. "Managing Sport for Public Health: Approaching Contemporary Problems with Traditional Solutions," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(3), pages 108-117.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:108-117
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v3i3.197
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/197
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v3i3.197?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cecilia Stenling, 2014. "The emergence of a new logic? The theorizing of a new practice in the highly institutionalized context of Swedish voluntary sport," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 507-519, October.
    2. Stenling, Cecilia, 2014. "The emergence of a new logic? The theorizing of a new practice in the highly institutionalized context of Swedish voluntary sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 507-519.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anna Aggestål & Josef Fahlén, 2015. "Managing Sport for Public Health: Approaching Contemporary Problems with Traditional Solutions," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(3), pages 108-117.
    2. Kumar, Harish & Manoli, Argyro Elisavet & Hodgkinson, Ian R. & Downward, Paul, 2018. "Sport participation: From policy, through facilities, to users’ health, well-being, and social capital," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 549-562.
    3. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v3:y:2015:i:3:p:108-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.