In this paper, we present a case study illustrating how martial arts clubs can act as transcultural venues contributing to social integration. We identify taekwondo-dojangs (taekwondo clubs), which comprise practitioners of various ethnicities, religions, genders, and generations, as a ‘transcultural venue’ through which taekwondo practitioners can experience social integration. Interview data with practitioners in three clubs in Wales, UK, are combined with ethnographic contextual field notes from the clubs’ teacher in a thematic analysis. The data illustrate how as a transcultural venue, the taekwondo-dojang enables practitioners to experience a process of transculturation occurring between Korean culture, the practitioners’ cultures and the host culture. This process is enlivened by practices of diversity, inclusivity, and hybridity leading to a transcultural form of social integration. Our study offers an original theoretical development of the concept of the ‘transcultural venue’ and its utility in developing understandings of transculturation, transculturalism, and social integration.

In this conceptual article, we present the idea that the physical education (PE) teacher is, out of professional necessity, a scholar—practitioner. To substantiate and evolve this idea, we develop a Deweyian pragmatist view of the scholar—practitioner which also embraces criticality. This stance collapses the binary notion of theory and practice and instead embraces theory and practice as a duality. We add a critical dimension to this duality through recognising that scholar—practitioners (especially leaders) require criticality and cultural awareness to raise questions over knowledge conventions and the mitigations of contextual factors their learners may face. We then turn to the critical and practical sociology of Pierre Bourdieu to illustrate how the use of theory may help PE scholar—practitioners enhance their criticality and cultural awareness. More specifically, we draw on Bourdieu’s primary concepts of field, capital and habitus to show how the application of this theory can help PE scholar—practitioners position themselves in relation to their profession and how they might know their field; be aware of their, and their students’, capital worth in relation to that field; and know themselves (their personal—professional habitus). In conclusion, we suggest that for PE scholar—practitioners, theory-based learning and its applied use might be considered a form of professional learning and not be limited to Bourdieu’s theory but extended to include a range of other aspects of critical social theory. We finish by suggesting that this approach to the PE scholar—practitioner is even more pertinent due to the field of PE becoming increasingly a third space—something which requires additional research and analysis.

This article explores the footballing Twitter community and the abundance of tweets that use discriminatory humour to 'Other' minorities. With a 32% increase in instances of discrimination during the 2018/19 Premier League season, this qualitative study collected tweets containing some form of discriminatory language or slurs to be analysed. Two main concepts were identified, Othering and humour, where the Othering of minorities was often concealed by humour. It appears that discriminatory comments, no matter their inconspicuousness, have found a new home online as discrimination at games is now met with condemnation and punishment. Ultimately, this article highlights the justification of discriminatory language on football Twitter, whether stated outright or otherwise, when it is encompassed with humorous undertones. The conclusions reflect on how this understanding can be helpful for authorities and social media companies to use in identifying this form of abuse.

Sport is considered a positive, health enhancing lifestyle choice. However, there is considerable evidence that many athletes, particularly those at university, engage in harmful levels of alcohol use. Despite decades of research showing student athletes consume alcohol at high levels, there have been no substantial in-roads into reducing consumption. At present, there is a need to better understand the social, cultural, and personal factors that drive athletes to consume harmful levels of alcohol. This study aimed to address this gap in literature by investigating the group level dynamics which may be driving heavy alcohol use and jeopardising attempts to reduce drinking. Over the course of one academic year, male (n = 9) and female (n = 6) rugby union athletes were recruited to take part in semi-structured interviews. Three overarching themes were identified that best represented the research findings, these were 1) social hierarchy, where alcohol use was used to create and sustain a social hierarchy, 2) status, where alcohol use was used to gain a reputation, and 3) reciprocity, where experienced athletes felt novices needed to go through the same (often painful and degrading) experiences they had. This study suggests that past approaches to reduce alcohol use among student athletes have substantially over-simplified the relationship and have over-focussed on the psychological contributors to this complex phenomena.

The role of the paramedic is diversifying, and universities need to respond by developing curriculums that support paramedic graduates to meet future workforce needs. Placements are key to our students developing the necessary competencies to become qualified paramedics and the pressure is on universities to offer a wide range of placements to reflect professional diversification. In addition, Health and Care Professions Council’s new standards of proficiency acknowledge that paramedics of the future are likely to consult patients in the virtual world [1]. As universities strive to meet this demand, they are often faced with placement capacity issues. Rising student numbers, staff retention issues and competition for placements from other healthcare students can make it extremely challenging to secure placements, especially in desirable areas such as primary care. The author, with the support from colleagues, was successful in obtaining funding from Health Education England to pilot a series of live virtual placement experiences, the first of which was successfully delivered on 20th April. On this date, 30 learners from our paramedic degree apprenticeship programme, in a classroom on our Lancaster campus, virtually attended a live clinic in a primary care setting in the south of England. The clinic was rigged with various cameras and microphones, with real patients consenting to being filmed. The experience comprised of 5 patients, with the lead clinician providing a brief to the learners before each patient arrived for their consultation. Afterwards, the clinician would complete their clinical documentation before engaging in a two-way conversation with our learners and academic staff via Microsoft teams. Following the clinic, our apprentices had the opportunity to consolidate their learning via case study driven seminars which linked to the mornings experience. Overall, student feedback was supportive, with the majority stating they found the experience enjoyable and engaging. The video stream of the placement was recorded for reuse in the programme’s curriculum, and we hope that future live virtual placements will see other professions, such as physiotherapy and nursing, take part. Eventually, we want to develop the model for other disciplines and placement settings The academic team are looking forward to the second of three experiences, in May, with the view to contributing to the growing evidence base in this area, to reflect the value that we believe ‘Live Virtual Placement’ experiences have in the development of our future workforce. Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.

In the UK, research has established that student athletes consume greater quantities of alcohol than their non-athlete peers. The published literature suggests the drinking culture in sport is a social phenomenon. At present, however, the evidence does not tell us what the precise mechanisms involved in the production and reproduction of the drinking culture are. To gain a deeper understanding of these mechanisms a case study methodology was used, where a researcher was heavily immersed within a male university rugby environment for a season. Data sources included observation, field-note taking, documentation, conversational interviews, and formal semi-structured interviews. These athletes faced a multitude of pressures encouraging them to drink, and often. Firstly, alcohol use was embedded within athletes’ weekly routine. Over time, drinking became a taken-for-granted ritual of sport. Secondly, specific roles and responsibilities, punishments, and events, were used to ensure athletes complied with the drinking ethos. Thirdly, athletes used alcohol to gain status and reputation. This, however, led to a culture where no behaviours were off limits and led to potentially harmful consequences. Fourthly, institutional factors (such as alcohol price, availability and sponsorship) may have normalised and legitimised a heavy drinking culture. There is a need to confront and challenge the alcohol ethos at this and other similar institutions with a pervasive drinking culture to reduce the potential harm to individual athletes.

Studies have highlighted the benefits of external knowledge building as a means of heightening a firm’s innovation activities. Simultaneously supply chain scholars have highlighted the lack of focus on social facets at the micro behavioral level, as well as the limited endeavors to build upon existing theories for new perspectives. Taking an exploratory approach to addressing literature gaps, the objectives of this research involve integrating constructs from social capital theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm to examine associations and interactions among network ties, social interactions, knowledge absorptive capacity, and knowledge acquisition in the development of new product innovations by US apparel and sewn products manufacturers (N=125). Quantitative data were collected via an online survey of both a national and state sample of small sized manufacturers. Findings regarding new product development indicated: positive associations for network ties, social interactions, knowledge absorptive capacity, and knowledge acquisition; network ties and knowledge acquisition; mediated relationships with social interaction and absorptive capacity; and moderated social interaction relationships with absorptive capacity and network ties­. These empirical insights highlight the importance of building external relationships for generating knowledge in amplifying innovation. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.

Palestre popolari (‘people’s gyms’) are flourishing in contemporary Italy. These gyms are run by leftist grassroots organizations (ANTIFA), which promote an alternative boxing style: boxe popolare (‘people’s boxing’). Drawing on a three-year ethnography, this article focuses on body usages in boxe popolare. Connecting Mauss with Bourdieu, the study elucidates that the ways in which bodies are deployed in boxe popolare shape a scheme of dispositions – mutualism, combat, engagement and conviviality – forming an antifascist pugilistic habitus. A leftist physicality is hence incorporated as an interpolation of political dispositions with virtues of prowess, self-control and toughness, instilled in boxe popolare bodies regardless of their gender identity. This emergent leftist physicality becomes bodily hexis as soon as it is displayed publicly by the fighters, both men and women, as the legitimate representation of the political community to which they belong. The study ends highlighting implications for research about political somatics.

ABSTRACT This paper provides a critical analysis of the Chartered Institute for Management of Sport and Physical Activity's (CIMSPA) transformative aspirations for UK Higher Education (HE) based Sport and Physical Activity Vocational Education and Training (SPAVET) provision. In doing so, we apply selected elements of Giddens’ Structuration theory to offer an analysis of CIMSPA’s structural properties (as rules and resources) and dimensions (signification, domination and legitimation). Illustration of CIMSPA’s structural properties and dimensions was developed through adopting an institutional analysis strategy alongside a document analysis method. Publicly available strategic documents and web-based resources (N = 18) were selected and analysed using open-coding techniques. Our analysis shows how continued state-sanctioned decentralisation of the UK HE sector has led to CIMSPA becoming an increasingly influential transformative structure; attempting to use its structural dimensions and resources as a medium to gain and exercise power, to promote (signification) – market-orientated discourses, practices and pedagogies in HEI provision, (domination) – in an attempt to significantly influence regulatory control over UK SPAVET provision and (Legitimation) – create partnerships which normalise its position and message within selected UK HEIs. We conclude that whilst the transformative aspirations of CIMSPA offer a number of possibilities for the HE SPAVET sector, they also raise critical questions. The central issue requiring debate is how these aspirations shift dialectical control towards vocationally focused, market-orientated principles and away from the liberal educational, research-led principles of some current UK HE SPAVET provision.

Findings – The chapter argues that in some situations there are good and perhaps compelling moral reasons for researchers to take action when they observe certain problematic drinking behaviour. Researchers who fail to notice and/or act may be morally blameworthy and culpable in other ways, e.g. in breach of contract or code of conduct.

This paper builds on a growing body of literature on the promise of practice theory in understanding and promoting behavior change in society and develops upon Blue (2017) and Spotswood et al.’s (2019) rationale for evolving theories of practice into the domain of contemporary physical activity research. We begin by considering the intersectional nature of the problem. Statistics reveal that physical activity gradients exist based on gender, as well as socio-economic position. Women, girls, and disadvantaged populations report lower levels of activity than more affluent males and females. More problematic still is what StreetGames (2017) call the “double jeopardy”, where these characteristics intersect, intensifying the negative gradient. Our argument then comprises three parts. First, we provide a critical discussion of intervention studies seeking to transform exercise behavior amongst these populations. The issue we identify is that studies typically rely on behavior change models, such as the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and the ABC framework. However, these models tend to take insufficient account of the practical and social aspects of behavior change in physical activity, and thus their subjects often succumb to value-action gaps (Shove, 2010). Second, in contrast, we propose that practice theory provides a promising alternative theoretical lens for promoting behavior change in disadvantaged and often resistant populations. Third, the paper highlights a range of conceptual considerations for exploring the relationship between young, disadvantaged women and physical activity, as well as the development of tangible solutions to improve participation.

This article explores coaching in boxe popolare (people's boxing) - a style of boxing codified by leftist grassroots groups in contemporary Italy. The paper presents a micro-sociological analysis of data collected during a three-year multi-sited participant observation focusing on Patrick (pseudonym), who is the leading coach of a boxe popolare team. It examines the micropolitics of reproduction via the under-researched notion of 'sociability'. To contextualise this, a Bourdieusian framework, drawing on the concepts of ' field', 'capital', 'habitus', 'doxa' and 'symbolic violence', is employed. Findings highlight how boxe popolare is infused with far-left militant culture. Patrick uses sociability strategically, (a) to reproduce an embodied ethics of this specific boxing style; (b) to strengthen the collective values inherent within boxe popolare political milieu; (c) to perform the boxe popolare network; and finally, (d) to legitimise his own authority in the coaching structure. In conclusion, we highlight the importance of sociability for understanding micropolitical influence in coaching practice and consider the emergent idea of hybrid field as a way to better explore the interplay between coaching pedagogy, the political field and beyond.

Special edition of Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, edited and introduction by David Brown, George Jennings, Lorenzo Pedrini

The increasing prevalence of eating disorders has motivated a burgeoning of research from narrative methods to illuminate the cultural and social aspects of disordered eating habits. A seemingly new eating disorder, Orthorexia Nervosa, has gained visibility through the internet sphere and popular media, though scholarly attention has been scarce. This study develops qualitative understandings of the fixation with 'clean eating' through narrative inquiry by employing an Internet ethnographic approach. Data were analysed using a thematic narrative analysis, focusing on parallels and divergences across narratives presented online. This article presents 30 male and female voices, illustrating how these individuals understand their eating habits through narratives of pursuit, resistance and recovery, which are largely motivated by the desire for physical, emotional and social change. Crucially, this study illuminates a range of cultural elements enabling eating disorders in response to the transmission of cultural values online set within the broader context and processes of reflexive-modernisation.

This study examined university gym use by staff and students using mixed methods: participant observation and an e-survey. Research in three UK universities entailed 16 observation sessions and an e-survey that reached 3396 students and staff. The research focused on gym use, the gym environment, the presentation of the self, and social interaction within gym spaces. The gyms were found to have a difficult role to play in providing functionality for some, while helping others to be active and minimize feelings of isolation and lack of control. This led to these gyms developing spaces of exercise rather than therapeutic spaces, and divisions in use of space, with some areas rarely used and often highly gendered, resulting in contested meanings produced within Healthy University discourses and physical activities.

This paper reports on a qualitative ethnographic study undertaken on a small rural village community in Cornwall, UK with a significant population of local surfers. It focuses on these local surfers' interactions with the wider rural community they co-exist with, and in which ways this group might contribute to the formation, maintenance and identity of that broader rural community. The analysis presented draws together a range of broadly agreed conceptual notions of community with Victor Turner's (1969) notion of spontaneous, normative and ideological communitas as dynamic emergent elements in what Whol (2015) refers to as a process of developing community sense through experiencing and communicating aesthetic judgments. Findings illustrate that notions of community were not restricted to a static and bounded geographical location. Rather, the village focused upon in this study was seen as a hub of a close and a wider de-territorialised community. Despite their obvious differences, there was a strong sense of communitas, community sense and aesthetic judgement between surfing locals and non-surfing locals, expressed through the sharing of experience of the inspired feelings of native place configured around relationships with the sea, the local beach, surf break and village life.

Recent evidence has highlighted intrasexual competition as a potential influence on anabolic-androgenic steroid use; however, the potential impact on other substance use behaviors has yet to be explored. This study examined the potential role of intrasexual competition on alcohol consumption at a university, an environment where excessive consumption is the socially desirable norm. In total, N = 223 university students were recruited from a single university in Wales, United Kingdom, and a 2-way between-subjects Analysis of variance was run to determine the relationship between alcohol consumption (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and intrasexual competition (Intrasexual Competition Scale). There was a significant positive association between self-reported alcohol use and levels of intrasexual competition. Further analysis identified this relationship was exclusive to those who did not participate in university sport. The findings of the current study provide further evidence for intrasexual competition as a potential influence on substance use behaviors and highlights that sports participation may be protective against this relationship.