Ungdomarna och idrotten : tonåringars idrottande i fyra skilda miljöer

The main aim of the study is to generate increased knowledge about young people’s leisure time sporting habits in a contextual perspective. The intention is to highlight the circumstances in which young people pursue and participate in different activities, with a particular focus on sport in terms of one’s own life circumstances. An essential point of departure of the study is regarding sport as an important pedagogic environment of norms and values. The perspective of the study is mainly cultural-sociological. In the analyses, Pierre Bourdieu’s key concepts habitus and capital have been used as research tools together with gender. The data on which the thesis is based is collected from young people from school year 9 living in four different milieus and comes from three different collections, conducted in 1996, 2002 and 2007. In each data collection about 1200-1500 pupils replied to a questionnaire. Sport occupies a central position in young people’s life on the recreational field. The results show that sport culture can best be understood in the local perspective. Young people’s sporting habit development can be said to be a result of a complex interplay between personal preferences, the home environment, local traditions, what is on offer, living conditions and the prevailing laws of gender and status. For the group of teenagers as a whole the proportion of members, as well as those who pursue personal sports, increases with higher educational capital and higher economic capital. When it comes to organised sport outside the sports club milieu no such connection can be determined. The thesis has shown that sport is not accessible for all and opportunities for participation are curtailed for large groups of young people in our society. This is especially true for sport organised in sport clubs, i.e. sport mainly supported by public funds