The meaning of social context: experiences of and educational outcomes of participation in two different sport contexts

Based on a general belief in society about the good outcome of sport, this article critically examines the meaning—that is both the personal experience of participation and the potential educational outcome—which is derived from participation in two sport contexts under the umbrella of the Sports City Program (SCP) in Norway. With a theoretical framework based on the field theory of Bourdieu, and a qualitative methodological approach, the article indicates that there are differences within the SCP, with one pole of the SCP close to conventional sport, and the other pole more distinctly different from conventional sport. In short, there are different meanings derived from pursuing different contexts of the subfield of the SCP. Different sport contexts attract different adolescents, produce different experiences, and facilitate different educational opportunities. Out of the two SCP contexts investigated, the context most similar to conventional sport is based on family socialization and facilitates reproduction, while the context most distinct from conventional sport attracts other adolescents and clears the ground for self governance and an ‘adolescent lifestyle’. Keywords: Participant experienceEducation through sportSocial contextSport fieldAdolescent Acknowledgements I am grateful to Bernard Enjolras and Sigmund Loland, and to Tor Solbakken and Thorsteinn Sigurjonsson for their fruitful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. I also acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers and the editor of SES for their helpful feedback.