Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study examines youth participation patterns in various forms of physical activity, i.e. movement culture, ranging from club sports and gym workouts to self-organised physical activities across four sociogeographic contexts in Sweden: rural, mid-size city, inner city, and suburbs. Building on earlier research, which began in 1996 and was conducted in the same contexts, this study provides a contemporary and partly historical account of how gender, migration background, and the composition of economic and cultural capital influence participation and non-participation. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concepts of social space and capital, the analysis uses survey data from 945 ninth-grade students (aged 15–16) and applies binary and multinomial logistic regression. The historical comparison of club sport participation from 1996 to 2024 shows both stability over the years and recent declines, especially in girls’ participation. Overall, the findings reveal that youth participation in movement culture is structured through the combined effect of gender, capital, and place (context). While cultural capital facilitates engagement across all settings, economic resources and local contexts influence how, and for whom, participation becomes accessible and meaningful.
Authors: Daniel Buller, Joakim Åkesson, Karin Redelius
Institution: Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Vetenskapsrådet
Award: G4085063633
OpenAlex ID: W7128902605