Sport, Welfare and Social Policy in the European Union
Sport is often seen as an indicator of the civic maturity of a community, an aspect of the rights of citizens to health, education and social integration. This book examines the relationships between participation in sport and physical activity, and welfare policies across Europe.
It argues that the success of campaigns for the promotion of sport depend on the existence of dedicated welfare policies promoted by the European states and explores variations in cultural models and structures of governance across Europe. Addressing the function of supranational institutions such as the EU as well as voluntary networks, the book illuminates key issues in European societies such as migration, financial austerity and Brexit as they relate to sport policy.
This is important reading for scholars and students in the fields of European sport and physical activity, sociology, political science and organisational analysis, as well as operators and managers of the sport systems involved in advanced training programmes.
Nicola R. Porro is Full Professor in Sociology at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, and former President of EASS (European Association for the Sociology of Sport), Italy.
Stefano Martelli is Full Professor in the Sociology of Sport Communication at the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy.
Alberto Testa is Full Professor in Applied Criminology at Ealing Law School, University of West London, UK.
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Sport, Welfare and Social Policy in the European Union
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For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/sport/series/RRSCS
First published 2020
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Porro, Nicola, editor. | Martelli, Stefano, editor. | Testa, Alberto, editor.
Title: Sport, welfare and social policy in the European Union / edited by Nicola Rinaldo Porro, Stefano Martelli and Alberto Testa.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge research in sport, culture and society | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019055704 (print) | LCCN 2019055705 (ebook) | ISBN 9780815360513 (hardback) | ISBN 9781351118064 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Sports--Social aspects--European Union countries. | Exercise--Social aspects--European Union countries. | Well-being--European Union countries. | Social integration--European Union countries. | Sports and state--European Union countries.
Classification: LCC GV706.5 .S73884 2020 (print) | LCC GV706.5 (ebook) | DDC 796.094--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055704
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055705
ISBN: 978-0-8153-6051-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-11806-4 (ebk)
Mahfoud Amara, Qatar University
Nico Bortoletto, University of Teramo, Italy
Maurizio Esposito, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy
William Gasparini, University of Strasbourg, France
Nicola R. Porro, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy
Michel Koebel, University of Strasbourg, France
Simona Kustec, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Simon Lien, Washington State University, USA
Stefano Martelli, University of Bologna, Italy
Irene Masoni, University of Pisa, Italy
Alessandro Porrovecchio, University of Lille 2, France
Juan Antonio Simn Sanjurjo, European University of Madrid, Spain
Jeroen Scheerder, University of Leuven, Belgium
Alberto Testa, University of West London, UK
Ivan Waddington, Visiting Professor, University of Chester, UK
Nicola R. Porro, Stefano Martelli and Alberto Testa
On 20 June 2019, the day after the voting in the European Parliamentary elections, all European political leaders expressed their support for a politically ambitious relaunch of the so-called European model. A project to pursue without further postponements and hesitations. Brexit and the populist election advance of the previous May had highlighted its limits, delays and contradictions.
In the same days si parva licet componere magnis our transnational group was completing its research on the sport of rights and citizenship in Europe that we present in this volume. It is not a simple temporal coincidence. The boundaries of citizens sport contain, in fact, a complex and demanding system of opportunities. Sport for all and for everyone is also called a qualitative leap induced by cultural, social and demographic change in Europe at the end of the second decade of the 2000s. The sport of the citizens constitutes in itself a challenge to be fully integrated into the political, social and institutional scenarios of the European system. A system requiring not only a simple maintenance of its original project but a courageous transformation. Work and economic growth, acceptance and reciprocity, private security and collective safeguards question not only the governance of national sports systems, which are still very different. They also cross crucial issues regarding equal opportunities, social policies and environmental sustainability. Briefly: one cannot be a citizen of sport without first being a citizen of a democratic community, founded on a shared regime of rights, duties and opportunities. However, we are convinced that sport represents a strategic sensor for measuring the breadth and depth of the crisis. It also provides a valuable vantage point to capture a cultural and relational quality that cannot be reduced to statistical sequences or, on the contrary, to mere ideological declamations. Our work describes a varied but not inconsistent picture. It does not seek an anachronistic composition of cultural, institutional and organisational models. Rather, it seeks to provide elements of knowledge and reflection, venturing in some contributions to a wider range of interpretations of the phenomenon and its recent developments. As never before since the end of the short century, political tensions, financial crises, social conflicts and even institutional disputes over the destiny of European construction have in fact occurred.
