Matthieu Delalandre

Physical Practices and Sportification: Between Institutionalisation and Standardisation. The Example of Three Activities in France

Many physical activities, from traditional games to emerging practices, have been and still are confronted with the ‘sportification’ process. Sports historians and sociologists have produced numerous isolated monographs to try and comprehend this development. Through the compared analysis of three activities – break-dancing, spelaeology and mixed martial arts – this study prolongs the modelling effort initiated by Renson to understand the fundamental elements which simultaneously encourage and slow down this process. It shows that this conflict crystallises around the degree of standardisation of a practice and its institutional recognition. To protect the original identity of these activities, their sportification process cannot be completed.

Forms and Modes of Apprehending Interdisciplinarity: A Socio-Computer Analysis of Sports Sciences

This article considers the interdisciplinary character of sports sciences, which holds a double challenge. On one hand, demonstrating how the analysis of a corpus of scientific texts contributes – without exhausting the magnitude of the scientific work – to a better knowledge of a field of interdisciplinary research: sports sciences. On the other hand, on a methodological level, tools and computer strategies have been developed in order to analyze textual data. This article reveals how interdisciplinarity explicitly appears in scientific papers, not only as a discussion topic, but also as an organizational watchword in sports sciences. Besides, the analysis of this corpus helps to finely characterize active forms of interdisciplinary work organized around hybrid disciplines or specific research subjects.

Le mixed martial arts et les ambigüités de sa sportification en France

Résumé Les mixed martial arts (MMA) sont le résultat de l’évolution technique et règlementaire des combats dits « sans règle », fortement médiatisés depuis les annéees 1990. Cet article s’intéresse au processus de sportification de cette discipline, à la fois fortement décriée et de plus en plus populaire en France. L’ambition des promoteurs des MMA de sportiviser leur pratique se heurte à deux grandes difficultés. D’une part, les MMA font l’objet d’un rejet de la part des pouvoirs publics du fait d’une image qui reste violente, et ce en dépit des efforts réalisés pour donner à voir une pratique respectable. D’autre part, l’organisation des MMA est divisée entre des institutions parfois concurrentes qui revendiquent leur encadrement et la définition légitime de leur pratique.

A Sociological Analysis of the Controversy over Electric Stimulation to Increase Muscle Strength in the Field of French Sport Science in the 1990s

This article presents a scientific controversy in the world of French sport science. It focuses on electric stimulation, a technique used to increase muscle strength by using a device that sends electric impulses into the muscle. This technique has been the subject of numerous scientific studies, but the results stemming from such research are contradictory and have thus created a typical controversy. The controversy involves several actors, which this article will identify; we shall also address the arguments developed by each to impose their point of view. Through the analysis of 50 scientific papers and 15 interviews with prominent researchers involved in the controversy, this article examines the social processes at work in the construction and resolution of the controversy. These processes engage various conceptions of scientific research and particularly enhance the conflict between fundamental and applied science. The controversy is also based on axiological positions and values, in particular various conceptions of competitive sport, and the relationship between research and the sport industry. In addition, this article argues that the conflict can be better understood if one considers the social stance of the researchers in the field of sport science and the interests associated with their stances.

Physical and sports activities, and healthy and active ageing: Establishing a frame of reference for public action:

Since the 1960s, there has been a change in the portrayal of older people. This change has resulted in the promotion of an active way of life that led, at the turn of the twenty-first century, to the development by international bodies of standard guidelines relating to active or healthy ageing. This article examines the place of guidelines on physical activity in the perception of ageing reflected in French public policies developed in accordance with international directives. After explaining how healthy and active ageing are defined in different international and national plans and official guidelines, the growing importance of physical activity is highlighted. From a very general invitation to remain active, precise instructions for physical activities were established addressing the detrimental effects of ageing. Finally, this study points out how the increasing focus on physical activity has contributed to the creation of a frame of reference in public policy that emphasizes the responsibility of each individual for their own health.

L’échec d’une discipline : Montée et déclin de la spéléologie en France (1888-1978)

L’histoire de la speleologie, presentee ici a travers deux periodes qui balayent le xxe siecle, incarne des problematiques fortes d’une histoire culturelle des sciences. D’abord, les questions de legitimite des acteurs en fonction de leur profession, scientifique ou non, sont au cœur des debats qui animent la discipline pendant sa phase de creation. Ensuite, l’opportunite d’une institutionnalisation au sein du Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) ne suffit pas a assurer la perennite de la speleologie, dont les objets se repandent a l’Universite avant d’etre absorbes par sa structuration disciplinaire.