Young Australians using local sport for local transformation

Neil Hall, D. H. Jutting, B. Schulze, U. Muller

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[This paper reports on doctoral research undertaken by the author that set out to examine the possible connections between sports and meaningful civic engagement by young males. The research was a phenomenological study of the experiences of sports participation and civic engagement as related by twelve young males' aged seventeen to twenty-three. It was informed by an eclectic range of sociological approaches such as functionalism, interactionism, and critical social theories including Gramscian thought. The study utilized semi-structured interviews conducted with the young men together with thematic analysis on the data in a constant comparison approach. There were some clear indications that for these young men, participation in local sports presented opportunities for developing a sense of belonging to community and a sense of contribution to community. Furthermore, this participation and immersion opened a pathway for engaging in social change and resistance. One of the valuable contributions of this research was that it demonstrates these processes to be occurring not just at the elite levels of sport. Even at the local level, known in Australia as "grass-roots", sports are providing opportunities for key dimensions of social transformation.]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationLocal Sport in Europe: Published Proceedings of the 4th EASS Conference, held in Münster, Germany, 31st May-3rd June, 2007
    PublisherWaxmann
    Number of pages9
    ISBN (Print)9783830920151
    Publication statusPublished - 2008
    EventEuropean Association for Sociology of Sport. Conference -
    Duration: 1 Jan 2018 → …

    Conference

    ConferenceEuropean Association for Sociology of Sport. Conference
    Period1/01/18 → …

    Keywords

    • youth
    • sports
    • social change
    • sociology, urban
    • Australia

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