Tomas Peterson

Social Entrepreneurship in a Sport Policy Context.

Abstract This article investigates social entrepreneurship in relation to government state policies in Sweden and to the Swedish sports movement. Social entrepreneurship within sport comprises three elements that need to be qualified: the social element, entrepreneurship and sport. We wish to offer both a specific and a wider definition of social entrepreneurship in sport; specific in the sense that we try to define the concept theoretically, and wider in that we place the concept in a societal context where we relate it to different sectors in society. The method can be described as ethnographically inspired case studies. Four cases are presented. Previous research and the cases have helped us to formulate theses concerning ‘sport’ and ‘profit’ as means for social entrepreneurship, ‘social’ being normatively defined in the public sector, and entrepreneurial activities being understood as acts, crossing boundaries between the different sectors of society, leading to conflicts.

Landskrona BoIS as an Environment for Nurturing and Education

For several reasons, Landskrona BoIS is a suitable sports association to use as an example to discuss sport as a system for nurturing and education. Today, Landskrona BoIS belongs to the elite of Swedish football. At the same time the organization is largely based on voluntary work, especially within the youth training programme. Thus it constitutes an interesting area of research in order to study the increasing professionalization, capitalization and commercialization of a non‐profit organization, and in particular the role of education, its design and function in this process. This paper tests the supposition that the more professionalized a sports organization becomes, the more their youth training will resemble the public school system. The basis for this supposition is that every professional organization (inside as well as outside sport) strives for a formal, uniform and equivalent education with systematic knowledge of the subjects, a uniform pedagogy and professional teachers, as well as a uniform and consequent grading system.

Split visions: The introduction of the Svenglish model in Swedish football

This article examines the professionalization of Swedish football after the Second World War, and especially from 1967 — when the rules for amateurism were abolished — until 1990. In the middle of the 1970s, the football movement split in two groups, as a result of a long dispute about the future of the game as practiced both at club and at national level. The lines were drawn between a system introduced by two English coaches, Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson, and the ‘Swedish model’ which developed within the framework of the Swedish Football Association. The sociological relevance of this conflict lies in the relation between changes in the existing social conditions of the game and the manner of how the game was to be played.

Ethics in Researching Sport and Social Entrepreneurship

When researching sport and social entrepreneurship it is important to be aware of several ethical dilemmas. This chapter examines four sport-related cases, concluding that entrepreneurs may prefer not to be anonymous informants in research ventures; that they may become part of the brand and the branding process; and that researchers have to navigate different sectors of society and thus run the risk of being accused of becoming accomplices in the venture.

A Methodological Tool for Researching Sport and Social Entrepreneurship

The last chapter introduces a methodological tool for analysing social entrepreneurship in a sports policy context, built on a number of steps in relation to the five theses. This tool has become useful in the research process and is valuable for communicating the analysis. A comparison of the seven case studies is conducted in which both similarities and differences are identified and analysed.

A Definition of Sport and Social Entrepreneurship

In this chapter, five theses are formulated to frame the concept of social entrepreneurship and to make it fruitful in a sports policy context. The social element, entrepreneurship and sport are entities forming the point of departure for the analysis. The first thesis concerns the social good and the normative goals of democratic fostering. The second and third concern the issues of means and goals and how they are materialized in the voluntary sector. The last two theses concern the conflictual crossing of boundaries between different sectors in society. The theses are accompanied by a case study that contextualizes social entrepreneurship in a Swedish sports policy context.

Ethical considerations in researching sport and social entrepreneurship

Abstract The aim of this article is to discuss ethical dilemmas that occur in doing research on social entrepreneurial sport ventures. Three cases that highlight ethical dilemmas in research on social entrepreneurship and sport are presented and ethically reflected upon. The data comprise interviews with representatives, field notes from observations and analyses of documents concerning the ventures. Three things make research in this area extra problematic: first, ‘social good’ in social entrepreneurship and sport implies a normative perspective. It is permeated by ideology and ethics. Second, what is considered as ‘social good’ may differ between sectors of society as the entrepreneur crosses boundaries. What is valid as a resource and capital in one sector might not be so in another one, and what is legal within one sector may be illegal in another. Third, social entrepreneurs may have their own intentions with regard to participating in research, which may challenge our credibility as researchers. Therefore, we need, as professionals, to take a step back and be both critical of our work and make this criticism visible, which is to some extent what we are doing by writing this article.