Josef Fahlén

The order of logics in Swedish sport - feeding the hungry beast of result orientation and commercialization

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyse the dominant logics (Bettis & Pralahad, 1995) that set the stage for the Swedish sports movement. The study was made within the conceptual framework of institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983) and the concept of design archetypes (Greenwood & Hinings, 1988). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with six respondents representing six Swedish voluntary sports clubs. The results reveal a design archetype emerging from the Swedish sports movement that is influenced by three dominant logics; the sport-for-all logic, the result-oriented logic and the commercialization/professionalization logic. It is proposed that there is an order in these logics where the sport-for-all logic, promoted by the sports movement itself, is overshadowed by forces originating from the open market and the inherent performance focus of competitive sports, i.e. the commercialization/professionalization logic and the result-oriented logic. Furthermore, it is argued that this order of logics originates from the implementation of attitudes and values in organizational structures that reflect the result-oriented and commercialization/professionalization logics.

Resisting self-regulation: an analysis of sport policy programme making and implementation in Sweden

Political programming of sport has become the new orthodoxy in many countries where the strive for a more healthy and civically engaged population is intertwined with an ambition to encourage and make responsible individuals and organizations for meeting societal goals. Although much effort has been put into studying this phenomenon, there is still a shortage of understanding of how, why and with what results sport policy programmes are made and implemented. To address this shortage this article reports on a study of the largest government intervention in sport in Sweden with the purpose of exploring processes of responsibilization and self-regulation at play in the relationship between the government and sport as well as between sport organizations on different levels. Results show how sport has received a more salient position on the government agenda, where more instrumental goals have been accompanied by increased resources to aid in their attainment. This process has assisted in the ambitions to modernize sports organizations by encouraging development through self-regulation. The sports organizations involved have embraced the new goals and resources. However, instead of self-regulating in the desired direction, each organizational level in the sports system has forwarded the responsibility for development to the next level below. This process has left the sports clubs with the full responsibility of meeting the government goals, a responsibility they have not accepted. Understandings of these phenomena and processes are discussed by pointing to the specific institutional landscape and tradition of Swedish sport.

Sport policy in Sweden

Contemporary sport policy in Sweden is the result of a century-long relationship between national and local governments and voluntary, non-profit and membership-based club sport which has resulted in extensive financial support to organised sport. The relationship is defined by an ‘implicit contract’ in which the government decides on the extent and the purpose of the funding, and the recipient, the Swedish Sports Confederation, determines the details of the distribution and administration. These funds are distributed to 20,164 sport clubs and their 3,147,000 members in exchange for the realisation of social policies on public health and the fostering of democratic citizens. While an important cornerstone of the relationship has been the autonomy and self-determination of the recipient of the funds in their capacities as civil society organisations, recent decades have witnessed an increase in demands on performance outputs. These demands have explicated a wider social responsibility for organised sport and entailed a system for follow-up and control of the results of the government support via key performance indicators. In these ways, the corporatist agreement and consensus traditionally characterising the public–civil society interaction has been accompanied by governing mechanisms associated with neo-liberal ideologies which in turn are putting the sustainability of the implicit contract to the test.

The corporal dimension of sports-based interventions: Understanding the role of embedded expectations and embodied knowledge in sport policy implementation

The aim of this paper is to show how the corporal character of activities commonly provided in sports-based policy interventions has implications for the results of policy implementation. By employing the theoretical concepts of embedded expectations and embodied knowledge, this paper examines how expectations embedded in such activities interact with experiences embodied by the participants and combine in availing or restricting the possibilities for participation – thereby affecting the outcome of policies for increased participation in organised sport. The paper builds on data from a case study of a sports-based intervention that aimed to usher so-called un-associated youth in to participation in regular sport-club activities by offering ‘organised spontaneous sports’ in ‘drop-in’ sessions that focus on the intrinsic characteristics of non-competitive sports and participants’ wishes. Findings from interviews, the intervention’s internal documentation, and observations show how expectations embedded in these activities require a very specific embodied knowledge of the individual participant. Instead of challenging dominant notions of what sport ‘is’ and ‘can be’, the activities reproduce existing preconceptions and, in extension, existing patterns of sport participation instead of supporting the formation of new ones as aimed for by policy makers. The findings are discussed in relation to the wider discussion about policy implementation in sport and highlight the necessity for understanding the content of the activities offered in sports-based interventions relative to the previous experiences of the pronounced recipients.

Same same, but different? Exploring the organizational identities of Swedish voluntary sports: Possible implications of sports clubs’ self-identification for their role as implementers of policy objectives

The aim of this study is to contribute to the ongoing discussion of sports clubs’ propensity to act as policy implementers. Theoretically, we conceptualize this propensity as contingent on an alignment between a sports club’s organizational identity and the cultural material, that is, ends and means of a given policy. Building on data from short, qualitative interviews with representatives of 218 randomly selected sports clubs, we construct 10 organizational identity categories. Between these categories, there is a variety of clubs’ core purposes, practices and logics of action. The implications of this heterogeneity, in terms of sports clubs’ propensity to act as policy implementers, is discussed with reference to what clubs in each category might ‘imagine doing’. Also discussed are three avenues by which institutional conditions might affect the formation and change of sports clubs’ organizational identity, in turn having implications for their role as implementers.

The survival of the fittest: intensification, totalization and homogenization in Swedish competitive sport

The prestige words of the Swedish sport movement have with a long tradition been ‘sport for all’. The extensive funding from the Swedish government to organized sport through the Swedish Sports Confederation originates from that same ideal, but with the results presented in this text we argue that the inherent logic in competitive sport hampers the pronounced ambition to offer sport for all regardless of age, sex, social class, cultural origin and level of ambition. The results were based on an analysis of both elite and broad sports activities and show how the processes of Sportification, Intensification, Totalization and Homogenization combine in creating a standardized array of clubs, where the space for different ideas about activities, principles for organization and ideals for success shrinks along with the norms being set by the most successful clubs regarding competition and expansion. The main conclusion is that the ‘sport for all’-logic predominant in Swedish competitive sport since the beginning of the twentieth century has in recent decades been challenged by a competition- and expansion-logic which seems more rewarding in terms of ability to attract resources.

More of the same instead of qualitative leaps: A study of inertia in the Swedish sports system

Abstract Between 2007 and 2011, the Swedish government added 50 million Euro per year to the budget of the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) for a Sports for All programme (SfA), Idrottslyftet (The Lift for Sport), with the aim of engaging more children and youth, especially those from underrepresented groups. The programme manifesto stated that all activities should be based on gender and equality perspectives and be permeated by the regular RF policy program, Idrotten vill (What sports want). In this article, we discuss mechanisms of change and inertia in the Swedish sports system by applying path dependency theory on results achieved in Idrottslyftet. Findings are based on three data sources from five National Sports Organisations (NSOs) (Swedish Budo & Martial Arts Federation, Swedish Floorball Federation, Swedish Gymnastics Federation, Swedish Ski Association and Swedish Sports Organisation for the Disabled); the data include their development plans, interviews with key personnel and granted project applications from sports clubs during the programme’s first and third year (N = 2,563). Overall, the study shows that when considering decisions and activities undertaken by the government, RF and the NSOs little has been done to enable change and to avoid inertia. The NSOs have mainly provided funds to applications that focus on recruiting instead of on applications with a qualitative approach focusing on changing activities for children and youth. Furthermore applications focused on only a few of the guidelines in Idrotten vill and lacked in general gender and equality perspectives. Our main conclusion is that projects carried out in sports clubs strengthen ongoing activities rather than being an engine for qualitative leaps in developing activities for engaging more children and youth. Finally, we note that path dependency theory has been a fruitful tool for analysing the results from Idrottslyftet. The theory has significantly contributed to a deeper understanding of inertia within the Swedish sports system.

Simply the best, better than all the rest? Validity issues in selections in elite sport

Selecting the ‘right’ athletes to competitions and games is crucial in eventually deciding winners and champions. Thus, the purpose of this study was to discuss selections to top-level sport teams using validity concepts as theoretical points of departure. Drawing on data from 14 semi-structured interviews with elite coaches (selectors) in football (n = 8) and alpine skiing (n = 6), this article adds to the knowledge on rationales behind selection decisions in elite sport, how selections are performed and with what consequences. Results point to several key validity concerns in selection processes such as the (non) use of explicit selection criteria, lack of structure in selection processes and coaches’ giving way to gut feelings and their ‘eyes for the sport‘ instead of utilizing various selection aids at hand.

State sport policy for indigenous sport : inclusive ambitions and exclusive coalitions

ABSTRACT With the policy aim ‘Sport for all’ as a backdrop, this paper investigates sport policies for Sami sport in Sweden and Norway (the Sami is the indigenous people residing in the northern parts of Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden). By applying an Advocacy Coalition Framework, the purpose of the paper is to explore how the organisation of and possibilities to exercise Sami sport are affected by political coalitions, social structures and institutions. Drawing on data from policy documents and interviews with government and Sami Parliament representatives, results show how institutionalised relationships affect the general ambitions to provide sport for all and the more specific ambitions to reach under-represented groups. In both countries, dominant coalitions are made up by the institutionalised cooperation between the states’ Ministry of Culture and the umbrella sport organisations. Alternative and emerging coalitions are made up by the Sami sport organisations, the Sami Parliaments and the Sami policy units of the states. While the dominant coalition is stronger in Sweden, the alternative coalition is stronger in Norway. These differences are interpreted as being results of policy elements outside the policy subsystem of sport – the two countries’ different relationships to legal adoptions of indigenous rights. These findings suggest that approaching sport organisations outside dominant coalitions can be conducive in reaching sport for all ambitions.

Sport clubs in Sweden

Sweden is home to Upsala Simsallskap, founded in 1796, often mentioned as the oldest sport club in the world still competing in regular contests. Since then, Swedish voluntary and membership-based club sport has grown exponentially and come to embrace nearly a third of the Swedish population. This phenomenon is often credited in international comparisons of physical activity and civic engagement but also often claimed as an explanation for the success of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Annika Sorenstam, Bjorn Borg and Sarah Sjostrom. For many Swedes, sport is an integral part of everyday life as pastime, entertainment, physical exercise, competition or volunteer work. In this chapter, the background to and specifics of these features are outlined together with an analysis of current tensions in the landscape of Swedish club sport.