This thesis aimed to explore which organizational ideal type dominated the Swedish Sports Confederation's central governing documents and how this could potentially construct the athletes involved. The chosen ideal types were "associative fostering" and "competitive fostering" (Peterson 2002). To identify these ideal types within the documents, a coding scheme was used to concretize the ideal types' inherent goals and logic. Subsequently, the theory of social entrepreneurship was chosen as it could connect the ideal types with overarching ideological currents in society which affect the organization of elite sports initiatives. The theory of governmentality, operationalized through rationality and technology and subject formation, was employed. This theory was used partly to identify the various rationalities and technologies produced by neoliberalism, and to place the athlete within this context to examine the potential impact on the individual. By identifying neoliberal technologies, it was observed that goal management and economization significantly influence sports, primarily in favor of competitive fostering. Beyond this ideal type, the Swedish Sports Confederation has been fragmented in some aspects through projectification. Despite external pressures, the federation remains committed to its nonprofit roots and continuously applies educational programs internally on how to relate to what they describe as Sweden's largest popular movement. The method used to analyze the source material was an idea-critical analysis with an actor focus on the Swedish Sports Confederation. The goal was to find ideological currents in the text that could provide answers as to whether there was a predominant ideal type that had gained more prominence in the organizational directions, without necessarily conducting interviews or observing multiple training sessions across different sports. In summary, the findings indicate a significant neoliberal influence on Swedish sports governance, emphasizing competitive fostering through goal management and economic rationalities. The analysis highlights the federation's efforts to balance these pressures while maintaining its nonprofit roots and fostering associative education. This complex interplay between external neoliberal forces and internal organizational ideals reveals the nuanced construction of athletes within the Swedish sports system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68105 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Aldabag, Rewing |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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