Pick up the ball and run : sport, civic engagement and young males

Abstract

Academic debate about the nature and value of sport for young males has often involved a dualistic argument of either defending its social benefits or decrying its deficiencies, particularly in relation to negative associations between sport and hegemonic masculinity. Similarly contending positions have also been voiced in the youth service sector. Furthermore, much academic analysis of sport has been targeted at the (inert) national elite rather than local, grass-roots level of sport participation. In order to transcend such simplistic dichotomies and to broaden the range of work on young males and sport, the theoretical framework for this research incorporates a range of approaches, including: (i) Primary Health Care, particularly an understanding of the social determinants of health; (ii) Sport Sociology, especially relating to an analysis of sport as a reflection, reinforcement or resistance of dominant culture; and (iii) Social Work/Youth Work, with particular reference to anti-oppressive approaches to research and practice with young people. These approaches were blended since, taken individually, none could capture a sufficiently comprehensive picture of the positive and negative relationships between sport, youth, masculinity, health and well-being, and social participation. This thesis explores the connections between sport and meaningful civic engagement by young males. In doing so, it focuses on young males' participation in grass-roots sport in the Western Sydney region of Australia. The thesis draws together interviews with young Australian males that, within a phenomenological framework, give voice to their lived experiences of sport and civic engagement. Thematic analysis of their narratives indicates an understanding of sport that emerges as a synthesis (rather than as a set of mutually exclusive factors) of fairness, respect, competitiveness, effort, aspiration and controlled aggression. This thematic nexus, on further examination, also reveals a gender identity that blends aspects of hegemonic and alternative masculinities and, at the same time, contributes to an emerging civic identity, where passion, altruism and determination are seen as integral to community contribution, potential political activism, and resistance to dominant ideologies associated with gender identity and sports club culture. It is the contention of this thesis that these significant roles of sport for young males have key implications for the ways in which they civically engage, and the ways in which human service workers and policy-makers engage with young males. The thesis uniquely contributes to the fields of youth research and sport research in the analysis of the complexity of the connections between local sport and meaningful civic engagement by young males, by finding that sport is both a source of, and a pathway into, such engagement. Finally, the thesis leads to distinct opportunities for further inquiry into the nature of sports club cultures, and an exploration of the broader range of engagement strategies, immediate and longitudinal, open to young males and, in fact, all young people.

Date of Award	2010
Original language	English