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Idrottens kön : Genus, kropp och sexualitet i lagidrottens vardag

Andreasson, Jesper LU (2007)
Abstract
This dissertation analyses and describes how gender, the body and sexuality are constructed within Swedish team sports. The study is based on qualitative, ethnographic field work with the male handball team Kula HF and the female soccer team Solby IK. With the help of interviews and observations, the dissertation describes how the athletes perceive themselves, their physical bodies and the communal spirit of sports that they are a part of. The members of the two sporting collectives are studied in an every day context consisting of team practice, games, locker-room jargon, parties and road trips to tournaments.



The study reveals that the athletes? own understanding of team sports is essentially a construction created... (More)
This dissertation analyses and describes how gender, the body and sexuality are constructed within Swedish team sports. The study is based on qualitative, ethnographic field work with the male handball team Kula HF and the female soccer team Solby IK. With the help of interviews and observations, the dissertation describes how the athletes perceive themselves, their physical bodies and the communal spirit of sports that they are a part of. The members of the two sporting collectives are studied in an every day context consisting of team practice, games, locker-room jargon, parties and road trips to tournaments.



The study reveals that the athletes? own understanding of team sports is essentially a construction created within the frame-work of hegemonic masculinity. In their attempts at being a part of what is considered normal or desirable in sports, the members of the two sporting collectives adjust their behaviour according to this formation of masculine ideology. A consequence of this is that they contribute to a power structure that legitimises the different conditions that exist for men's and women's partaking in sports. However, the results also show that there is an ambiguity in the athletes? behaviours, and that they are able to, in different ways, transgress or oppose the social dynamics that dominate the two collectives. From this perspective, the athletes? negotiation of identity consists of a dialectical game between traditional assumptions regarding gender and individual actors? attempts at tearing down existing boundaries.



By studying different sporting practices, it is possible to acquire an understanding of the individual's understanding of himself or herself and of the social structures that contain this understanding. This study describes team sports as a social arena where gender identity is constructed through ambivalent and contradictory processes that both bring stability and change the current gender order. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Denna avhandling beskriver och analyserar hur kön, kropp och sexualitet konstrueras inom lagidrotten. Studien baseras på kvalitativt etnografiskt fältarbete med det manliga handbollslaget Kula HF och det kvinnliga damfotbollslaget Solby IK. Med hjälp av intervjuer och observationer beskrivs atleternas tankar om sig själva, sin kroppslighet och den idrottsliga gemenskap de är en del av. Medlemmarna av de båda idrottskollektiven studeras i en idrottslig vardag som består av matcher, träningar, omklädningsrumsjargong, gemensamma fester och turneringsresor.



Studien visar att atleternas förståelse för lagidrott huvudsakligen konstruerats och konstituerats inom ramen för en... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Denna avhandling beskriver och analyserar hur kön, kropp och sexualitet konstrueras inom lagidrotten. Studien baseras på kvalitativt etnografiskt fältarbete med det manliga handbollslaget Kula HF och det kvinnliga damfotbollslaget Solby IK. Med hjälp av intervjuer och observationer beskrivs atleternas tankar om sig själva, sin kroppslighet och den idrottsliga gemenskap de är en del av. Medlemmarna av de båda idrottskollektiven studeras i en idrottslig vardag som består av matcher, träningar, omklädningsrumsjargong, gemensamma fester och turneringsresor.



Studien visar att atleternas förståelse för lagidrott huvudsakligen konstruerats och konstituerats inom ramen för en hegemonisk maskulinitet. I sina försök att rymmas inom det som betraktas som normalt eller önskvärt på idrottsliga arenor rättar medlemmarna i de båda kollektiven sitt agerande efter denna maskulinitetsformation, vilket innebär att de bidrar till att reproducera en maktstruktur som legitimerar skilda förutsättningar för kvinnors och mäns idrottande. Resultaten visar emellertid också att det förekommer motstridigheter i atleternas sätt att agera, och att de på olika sätt kan överskrida eller opponera sig mot den sociala dynamik som dominerar i respektive gemenskap. Idrottsutövarnas identitetsskapande utförs i detta avseende i ett dialektiskt spel mellan traditionella föreställningar om kön och enskilda aktörers försök att spränga existerande gränser.



Genom att studera idrottsliga praktiker kan man både få kunskap om enskilda individers förståelse för sig själva och de sociala strukturer inom vilka en sådan förståelse tar form. Denna studie beskriver lagidrotten som en social arena där könsidentiteter konstrueras genom ambivalenta och motsägelsefulla sociala processer, som både bringar stabilitet och förändring i rådande genusordning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Fil dr. Fundberg, Jesper, Idrottsvetenskap, Lärarutbildningen, Malmö högskola
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Gender studies, ritual, Sociology, heteronormativitet, ritual, hegemoni, struktur, identitet, konstruktivism, kropp, sexualitet, genus, kollektiv, idrott, Sociologi, etnografi, Genusvetenskap
pages
259 pages
publisher
Department of Sociology, Lund University
defense location
Kulturens hörsal
defense date
2007-01-11 13:15:00
ISBN
978-91-628-7009-6
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
abd468de-f3b6-4bb1-83d3-55e21ece7b64 (old id 25949)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:26:08
date last changed
2021-11-26 17:24:16
@phdthesis{abd468de-f3b6-4bb1-83d3-55e21ece7b64,
  abstract     = {{This dissertation analyses and describes how gender, the body and sexuality are constructed within Swedish team sports. The study is based on qualitative, ethnographic field work with the male handball team Kula HF and the female soccer team Solby IK. With the help of interviews and observations, the dissertation describes how the athletes perceive themselves, their physical bodies and the communal spirit of sports that they are a part of. The members of the two sporting collectives are studied in an every day context consisting of team practice, games, locker-room jargon, parties and road trips to tournaments.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The study reveals that the athletes? own understanding of team sports is essentially a construction created within the frame-work of hegemonic masculinity. In their attempts at being a part of what is considered normal or desirable in sports, the members of the two sporting collectives adjust their behaviour according to this formation of masculine ideology. A consequence of this is that they contribute to a power structure that legitimises the different conditions that exist for men's and women's partaking in sports. However, the results also show that there is an ambiguity in the athletes? behaviours, and that they are able to, in different ways, transgress or oppose the social dynamics that dominate the two collectives. From this perspective, the athletes? negotiation of identity consists of a dialectical game between traditional assumptions regarding gender and individual actors? attempts at tearing down existing boundaries.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
By studying different sporting practices, it is possible to acquire an understanding of the individual's understanding of himself or herself and of the social structures that contain this understanding. This study describes team sports as a social arena where gender identity is constructed through ambivalent and contradictory processes that both bring stability and change the current gender order.}},
  author       = {{Andreasson, Jesper}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-628-7009-6}},
  keywords     = {{Gender studies; ritual; Sociology; heteronormativitet; ritual; hegemoni; struktur; identitet; konstruktivism; kropp; sexualitet; genus; kollektiv; idrott; Sociologi; etnografi; Genusvetenskap}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Sociology, Lund University}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Idrottens kön : Genus, kropp och sexualitet i lagidrottens vardag}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}