Nils Asle Bergsgard

Sport and Politics The Case of Norway

In recent decades welfare states have expanded into the areas of leisure and cultural life, and sport has become more involved with politics and policymaking. Consequently, sport managers and representatives of sport organizations have to take into account more seriously what happens in politics. The sport sector is frequently characterized as a mirror image of the modernization process in society at large, but is it really so? Is sport a forerunner, latecomer, or a deviant case as compared with general political developments? The article compares recent changes in Norwegian sport and sport policy with general developments in Norwegian politics. The study is based on a five-dimensional scheme of analysis including: concentration versus dispersion of private and public power, executive-legislative relations, corporatism versus lobbyism, and generalisation of interests and coalition building. The scheme of analysis may be fruitful for cross-national comparative analyses.

The legacy of Stavanger as Capital of Culture in Europe 2008: watershed or puff of wind?

When studying the impact of cultural mega events, researchers tend to scrutinise their economic benefits, cultural identity, competitive advantage in attracting the attention of important stakeholders or the effect on regional development and urban regeneration. The impact on the field of cultural production has received less attention. In this article, the authors highlight the latter. Stavanger, Norway, was the 2008 European Capital of Culture. We present an analysis of the impact of this mega event on the cultural sector in the Stavanger region. Using Bourdieu’s notions of social field and social capital, this article explores the interplay between this mega event and the structure of the local field of culture. The authors analyse (1) the impact on the field itself; and (2) how it affected different parts of the sector differently. The article concludes that the field was ‘lifted’. At the same time, the larger and most institutionalised producers – the core arts institutions – gained the most, especially by increasing their social capital.

Doping in Norwegian Gyms — A Big Problem?

At the end of 1993 there was carried out an investigation on the extent of doping in Norwegian gyms. The main results from the investigation are: Around 2% use or have used drugs and 20% reported knowledge of other using drugs at the gym. In this article we discuss the methodology that was used and the findings from the investigation in relation to other surveys, both Norwegian and foreign studies. The findings are also basis for a more sociological discussion on doping and modern sport. In this section we discuss how big problem doping in sport in reality is, and what type of problem issues drug use in sport raises.

National structures for building and managing sport facilities: a comparative analysis of the Nordic countries

Abstract Sport facilities are instrumental in keeping the population fit and healthy. Governments worldwide are thus engaged in devising policies, programs and projects for building such facilities, with the aim of providing citizens with opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. This feature is prominent in the Nordic countries, which have incorporated sport, leisure and physical activity into their universal welfare models. Understanding policies and politics for building sports facilities has therefore become a cornerstone in the understanding of conditions for sport and physical activity for all. In this paper, we investigate and compare the national structures for building and managing sports facilities in the Nordic countries, in order to add to the understanding of how policies and politics for building sport facilities can add to or hamper the sport-for-all ambitions salient in most of today’s western societies.

Outsiders? A sociological study of Norwegian artists with minority background.

Why are there relatively few successful artists from a migrant background in Norway? Based on a study of artists of known migrant backgrounds, we explore this question from the artists’ points of view. We analyze both their social and cultural background, and the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion at work in Norway’s art world, and especially the interaction between the two. We have concentrated on the dramatic arts: theater and dance. The article presents a theoretically informed analysis of the qualitative material using the sociology of art on the one hand and the sociology of migration and ethnic relations on the other. Further, the empirical analyses are in constant dialog with other Norwegian studies of the art field and the artists themselves. The article presents original findings on the relationship between barriers in young migrants’ backgrounds and impediments to entering and navigating at the field of dramatic arts.

Sport, outdoor life and the Nordic world: an introduction

This volume examines the interrelationships of sport, outdoor life and society across the ‘Nordic region’, which is made up of the sovereign nations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Our aims in putting together this volume are twofold. First, we seek to advance knowledge of Nordic sport and outdoor life, as important fields of social activity in their own rights. Second, we aim to enhance the understanding of the ‘Nordic model’ of society, and the ways in which this is constructed, explored and challenged within and through sport and outdoor life activities. In doing so, our 12 papers explore a range of key themes, notably: how modern Nordic sport and outdoor life activities emerged and are organized through specific social policies; how they may challenge or harbour forms of social exclusion, particularly in regard to gender or minority populations; how they are affected by, and respond to, deviant practices such as doping; how they may contribute to alleviating social problems; and how they confront major structural challenges and changes, such as the impacts of globalization and the continuing dominance of neoliberal economic policies. Our approach is concertedly interdisciplinary, and draws fully on the disciplines of anthropology, history, pedagogy, political science, psychology, social policy and sociology, as well as the diverse ‘studies’ fields of area, cultural, ethnic, gender and global studies. The volume is timely for both Nordic and international audiences in two main senses. First, there is significant interest across other regions in Nordic sport and outdoor life. This interest relates to the relative successes of elite-level Nordic athletes and teams (for example, the Icelandic national football team or Norwegian skiers); the strong grassroots sport and physical activity cultures within Nordic societies; and the distinctive cultures of outdoor life across much of the Nordic region. Second, there is a wider international interest in the Nordic ‘way of life’, ranging from the highly successful values of democracy, egalitarianism and work–life balance, through to popular cultural aspects such as in household design, ‘Nordic noir’ novels and television series, or broad cultural mentalities (such as Danish hygge, or feeling of cosiness). In turn, we seek also to contribute substantially to academic understandings of Nordic sport, outdoor life and societies, by moving to fill significant gaps in these research areas. Two prior collections of papers have focused on these areas, but in rather different ways. First, a special issue of Sport in Society (2010) examined sport in Scandinavia; as such, this