Sport, Outdoor Life and the Nordic World

Sport, Outdoor Life and the Nordic World explores the Nordic model of sport and outdoor life with respect to such issues as sport facilities, mountain guiding, women and ethnic minorities, urban planning, anti-doping, health, elite sport coaching and leadership, and the globalization of sport.

The aims of the volume are twofold. First, it advances knowledge of Nordic sport and outdoor life, as important fields of social activity in their own rights. Second, it enhances 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, the contributors 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.

Interdisciplinary in approach, Sport, Outdoor Life and the Nordic World is essential reading for those studying Nordic sports and societies, and will also appeal to students, academics and wider readers with interests in sport studies, sociology, social policy, cultural studies, anthropology and public health. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Nils Asle Bergsgard is Professor inSport Sociology at the University of South-Eastern Norway. He currently holds a position as Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty for Humanities, Sports and Educational Sciences. His main research interests are in sport policy and sport facility policy.

Solfrid Bratland-Sanda is Associate Professor in Sport Sciences at University of South-Eastern Norway. Her main research interests are physical activity, exercise, sports and health in adolescents and clinical populations.

Richard Giulianotti is Professor of Sociology at Loughborough University, and Professor II at the University of South-Eastern Norway. His main research interests are in sport, globalization, development, peace, youth and mega-events.

Jan Ove Tangen is Professor of Sport Sociology at the University of South-Eastern Norway. His main interest are in sociological systems theory as well as doing research on inclusion/exclusion processes in sport, the use of legal and illegal performance enhancing substances, and the politics behind the Norwegian sports model.