Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Due to the progressing knowledge regarding long-term health effects of head trauma in certain contact sports, the question of regulation is likely to be raised. In the case of Sweden, sporting activities are still part of a large civic movement mainly financed through public resources. Explicitly justified through claims of health promotion as well as alleged effects on social capital, the Swedish state, and its municipalities spend a substantial amount of public resources in support of sports organizations each year. With numbers of active athletes as well as spectator numbers and public resources spent considered, ice hockey is arguably one of the biggest sports in Sweden. The legitimacy given to the sport through public funding and explicit recognition regarding positive societal effects is likely to be increasingly questioned due to the increasing amount of head injuries happening in the game as well as the aforementioned knowledge on the long term risks of such injuries. With this problem in mind, this PhD-thesis aims to advance the knowledge on the risk regulation regime associated with Swedish ice hockey through three empirical studies. First, a corpus-assisted discourse study of the media narrative related to the specific risk. Second, a quantitative content analysis of the information communicated by the Swedish ice hockey organization. Third, a network analysis intended to map the organizations involved in the regulatory regime and the dynamics between them.