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In this article, the rationality of a sport-based intervention in Sweden promoting social change and social inclusion is explored. By examining statements made by representatives of the intervention, the article outlines the domains where problems are located and where social change and governing is presumed to take place. Discursive formations such as 'the self', 'the family', 'the community' and 'the place' are problematized in distinct ways and consequently formed as domains of governing intervention. These domains are made particular from the rest of society based on a presumed lack of integration as well as articulations of otherness. These deviances are pointed out and remedied within the frames of the established social order – it is, according to the discourse, not society that should be reformed, it is the individuals, the families and communities that should reform or adapt. Within the frames of such a discourse, major social reforms are neither conceivable nor desired.

The Sport Programme, initiated by municipal administrators and managed by a social entrepreneur, is a Swedish sport-based intervention promoted as a response to social problems of crime and segregation in a targeted urban area. The article examines the manager and coaches' presentation of the programme with respect to how pedagogical governing techniques are assumed to promote social change and how desirable citizen subjects are constructed for social inclusion. A variety of statements are analysed from a governmentality perspective. It is concluded that, although problems are assumed to be caused by structural segregation, the intervention targets individual change and risk management. Presumably, subjects are provided with motivational powers that are shaped by role models and applied in 'choosing the right track', navigating among risks and averting problems and exclusion. By representing problems as risks, avoidance is formed as an individual opportunity. This technology of individual agency is aimed at shaping motivated, responsible and self-governing citizen subjects, thus representing subjects as being responsible for their own welfare and inclusion. With respect to sport as a means of responding to social problems, the article provides reflections on and empirical accounts of the conditions of welfare provision and social work under advanced liberalism.

This article focuses on the forms and conditions of welfare provision and social work in the transforming welfare state. The Sport Programme (SP) is a municipal sport-based social intervention launched in response to segregation causing tensions in society, crime, and social exclusion. The programme constitutes a case for examination. Sport activities for youths at risk in the SP are assumed to foster a sense of community and social cohesion. The article investigates how 'the community' is constructed as a space for social inclusion. A variety of statements articulated by policy makers and municipal administrators are analysed from a governmentality perspective. The analysis suggests that 'community' is formed by distinguishing the SP from public welfare and social work and by mobilising civil society in the intervention. Public welfare is problematised as bureaucratic and insufficient, whereas civil society is associated with the potency of voluntarism, authentic leadership, and personal relations based on common identity and shared experiences. By involving a social entrepreneur, the SP mobilises and activates civil society as a means of responding to social problems, forming 'community' as a space with a 'human touch'. Such a partnership re-distributes responsibility for responding to social problems to a variety of agencies. It is discussed how the SP enables role model identification as the primary governing rationale and how this incorporates elements of de-professionalisation in social work. Consideration is given to challenges for social work and to how activating 'community' illustrates tendencies and transformations in contemporary Swedish welfare provision.

Sport has been increasingly recognized in social policy as a means of steering social change and as a method for responding to diverse social problems. The present study examines how rationales of social change are formed through 'sport as a means of responding to social problems'. Four research questions are posed: (1) How is it that sport can be thought of and articulated as a means of responding to social problems? (2) How are sport practices assumed to operate as a means of responding to social problems? (3) How are social problems represented when sport is promoted as a means of response? (4) What conduct, subjectivity and citizen competences are shaped within this regime of practice? The study focuses on the government of subjects' conduct, the formation of community and delineation of domains subjected to social change. The gradual shifts in the governmental rationality of the Swedish welfare state provide a framework for the study. Two kinds of empirical material are investigated. Initially, scientific knowledge is analysed; after this, a sport-based intervention, conducted in cooperation between a social entrepreneur, municipality and local sport clubs, is examined. In relation to scientific discourse, research on sport for social objectives would benefit from more theoretically driven constructionist perspectives related to welfare state transformations. In scientific discourse, rationales of social change in sport are conceived of as individual attainment of skills, competences and powers that are presumably transferable to other social spheres. Such discourse represents problems as individual problems. With respect to the sport-based intervention, individual change is promoted by representatives of the social entrepreneur in terms of providing subjects with motivational powers, which are shaped by role models and applied in "choosing the right track". By representing problems as risks, avoidance is formed as an individual opportunity. This positions subjects as being responsible for their own welfare and inclusion. Municipal policy makers view the intervention as a way to form community and social cohesion in response to tensions in society. They present sport (and the social entrepreneur) as a way to mobilize and activate civil society – which is associated with the potency of voluntarism, authentic leadership and personal relations based on common identity. Consequently, responsibility for responding to social problems is spread and elements of de-professionalized social work are imposed. To conclude, sport is conceptualized as a means of responding to social problems because sport practices are associated with individual agency and with an active civil society and moral community. The technologies and rationality of social change point out 'the self', 'the community' and 'the place' as locations where social change is possible, rather than the whole of society. For instance, the technologies of social change are based on activation and responsibilization of 'the self' and of 'the community'. These rationales of social change are based on a critique of welfarist governmentality and of the idea of governing from 'the social' point of view. Arguably, such discourse obscures more profound social reform. The study provides some empirical explorations illustrating how a range of tendencies and mutations in the governmental rationality of the welfare state and of social work are manifested in 'sport as a means of responding to social problems'. ; De senaste åren har idrott alltmer kommit att betraktas som ett socialpolitiskt verktyg med förväntningar om att åstadkomma social förändring och bidra till att lösa sociala problem. I den här avhandlingen undersöks hur den sociala förändringens rationalitet formas i relation till idén om 'idrott som en lösning på sociala problem'. Detta görs genom fyra frågeställningar: (1) Hur har idrott blivit möjligt att betrakta som en lösning på sociala problem? (2) Hur förmodas idrott i praktiken fungera som en lösning på sociala problem? (3) Hur representeras sociala problem när idrott lyfts fram som en lösning? (4) Vilken typ av uppförande, subjektivitet och medborgerliga färdigheter fostras genom att använda idrott som en lösning på social problem? Särskilt fokuseras på styrning av individers uppförande, skapande av gemenskap och sammanhållning samt gränsskapande kring vilka domäner som kan utsättas för förändring. Undersökningarna relateras till mer övergripande förändringar i den svenska välfärdsstatens styrningsrationalitet. Två empiriska material har undersökts: dels den vetenskapliga diskursen, dels olika företrädares beskrivningar av en idrottsbaserad välfärdsintervention för unga i risk för problem och exkludering, en verksamhet som sker i samverkan mellan en social entreprenör, kommun och föreningsliv. Avhandlingen pekar på vikten av teoretiskt driven forskning med konstruktionistiska perspektiv relaterade till välfärdsstatens och socialpolitikens förändring. I den vetenskapliga diskursen lyfts social förändring fram med avseende på individuell förändring genom tillägnande av färdigheter som antas kunna användas även i andra sociala sammanhang. Denna förståelse iscensätter de adresserade problemen som individuella problem. I idrottsledarnas beskrivningar av den sociala interventionen kan ungdomar motiveras individuellt, bygga självförtroende och självkänsla, genom att identifiera sig med positiva förebilder och ledare. Detta blir viktigt för att kunna "välja rätt väg i livet". Genom att framställa problem som risker blir de möjliga för individen att undvika. Detta positionerar ungdomarna som själva ansvariga för sin välfärd och inkludering. I politikernas beskrivningar lyfts idrotten fram som ett sätt att skapa gemenskap och sammanhållning som ett svar på spänningar och oro. Genom idrotten (och den sociala entreprenören) kan man mobilisera civilsamhällets föreningsliv vilket associeras med frivillighet, autentiskt ledarskap samt personliga och moraliska band baserade på gemensam identitet. Därmed kan ansvaret för att hantera sociala problem spridas mellan olika aktörer, något som även kan bidra till informalisering och de-professionalisering av det sociala arbetet. Sammanfattningsvis kan idrott konceptualiseras som en lösning på sociala problem därför att dess praktiker associeras med individuell aktivering samt med ett aktivt civilsamhälle som bygger på moralisk fostran och gemenskap. Den sociala förändringens teknologier och rationalitet pekar ut 'självet', 'gemenskapen' och 'platsen' som de domäner där förändring bedöms vara möjlig. Den sociala förändringens rationalitet bygger på aktivering och ansvarsgörande av 'självet' och 'gemenskapen'. Styrningsrationaliteten bygger på en långtgående kritik av välfärdsstatens sätt att styra där samhället i sin helhet betraktas som målpunkt. Genom sådan diskurs skyms mer genomgående samhällsförändringar. Avhandlingen utforskar empiriskt och illustrerar hur en rad tendenser och mutationer i välfärdsstatens styrningsrationalitet och i det sociala arbetet kommer till uttryck genom 'idrott som en lösning på sociala problem'.

"This book analyses the increasing use of sport in European and Western welfare states as a tool of social policy and its promotion as a solution to social problems. Drawing on cutting edge research into Midnight Football in Sweden and exploring other community sport programs including Midnight Basketball in the US, this book shines new light on broader social transformations regarding urban segregation and social exclusion, social policy and the governing of welfare and social policy. Midnight football is a sports-based intervention targeting social inclusion and crime prevention in young people aged 12 to 25 in Sweden. The book takes a close look at its organization, pedagogy and potential outcomes, drawing important conclusions for how sport can and should be used in social development. It also offers new perspectives on how sport and the lives of young people intersect with and shape broader shifts in welfare and social policy in Western states, shifts that are manifested in increased inequality, social polarization, and profound changes in urban geographies. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the relationships between sport and wider society, or in sport development, sport policy, social policy, public policy or youth and social work"--

This book analyses the increasing use of sport in European and Western welfare states as a tool of social policy and its promotion as a solution to social problems. Midnight Football is a sports-based intervention targeting social inclusion and crime prevention in young people aged 12-25 in Sweden. This book takes a close look at its organization, pedagogy and potential outcomes. Drawing on cutting-edge research into Midnight Football in Sweden, and exploring other community sport programmes including Midnight Basketball in the United States, this book shines new light on broader social transformations regarding urban segregation and social exclusion, social policy and the governing of welfare and social policy. This book also offers new perspectives on how sport and the lives of young people intersect with and shape broader shifts in welfare and social policy in Western states, shifts that are manifested in increased inequality, social polarization and profound changes in urban geographies. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the relationships between sport and wider society, or in sport development, sport policy, social policy, public policy or youth and social work.

This article explores the rationality of the Bookstart home-visiting programme in Gothenburg, Sweden, concerning its general ambition to provide social inclusion through mixing cultural- and welfare policy. Through the Bookstart programme, librarians visit families in their homes to inform and instruct parents about reading books for their children to enhance language learning. The areas of the city chosen for intervention were described as socially vulnerable, typically with a majority of citizens born outside Sweden. The analysis outlines the rationality and technologies formed in a philanthropist tradition, targeting the moral potential of parenting and creating the subjectivities of the reading parent and child. Different welfare professionals employ slightly different discourses but all base their legitimacy on the benign power of knowledge about what is best for children in the city. Through this analysis, we contribute to the knowledge of how cultural policy is integrated into social policy in the contemporary advanced liberal welfare state. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This article explores the rationalities of social change of a sports-based intervention, midnight football, carried out on two sites in the suburban landscape of Sweden. Based on interviews with coaches and managers and on-site observations, we examine how rationalities and technologies of social change are promoted, how technologies of social change are assumed to operate within the intervention, and how the intervention objectives are formed in relation to the technologies promoted. The analysis is guided by a Foucauldian perspective on disciplinary and pastoral power. It displays how various conceptualizations of risk underpin the intervention, and, in particular, technologies of spatial and temporal diversion. Youth are (dis)located to perceived sites of order and rule, as midnight football is portrayed as a regulated arena in opposition to outside sites of disorder. To form and visualize the rules of law, coaches, ascribed the position of role-models and law-makers, have a particularly important role to play, embodying law, rule, and conduct. In addition, disciplinary power operates through normalizing sanctions, stressing the corrective influence of coaches and readjustment of youth conduct. The technologies promoted are underpinned by goals to form a certain order of subjects, where ideals of conduct can be transferred and proliferated to the world outside, forming order and security in society. Those deemed at-risk and in need of social change, are addressed by means of discipline and control. Conclusively, the technologies promoted appear more as a symptom of existing patterns of inequalities and segregation than as a solution to the challenges confronted.

This article draws attention to two sports-based interventions carried out as part of the Midnight Football initiative and the places where they are conducted in two suburban areas in Sweden. Rather than approaching geographic place as simply a background and a context for sport-based interventions, we put place in the spotlight, scrutinising the very formation of place and its productive role in governing social policy. In line with a Foucauldian approach, and based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, the aim of the article is to explore how the specific localities where interventions take place are formed as governable domains. The analysis shows how place is constituted in association with sport sites, local youth outreach and recruiting coaches. These places are made distinct from the rest of the surrounding cities via material and symbolic borders, directing the movement of people within the urban geography. These differentiations underpin attributions of the areas in terms of otherness and exclusion from the rest of society, localising a variety of problematisations to the demarcated areas. Furthermore, the places are demarcated as being filled with danger, intertwined with narratives challenging such a discourse. In conclusion, the findings enable us not only to scrutinise how specific meanings are attributed to place and how place is formed, but also to explore the performative and governable potential of place.

This article draws attention to two sports-based interventions carried out as part of the Midnight Football initiative and theplaces where they are conducted in two suburban areas in Sweden. Rather than approaching geographic place as simplya background and a context for sport-based interventions, we put place in the spotlight, scrutinising the very formationof place and its productive role in governing social policy. In line with a Foucauldian approach, and based on interviewsand ethnographic fieldwork, the aim of the article is to explore how the specific localities where interventions take placeare formed as governable domains. The analysis shows how place is constituted in association with sport sites, local youthoutreach and recruiting coaches. These places are made distinct from the rest of the surrounding cities via material andsymbolic borders, directing the movement of people within the urban geography. These differentiations underpin attributionsof the areas in terms of otherness and exclusion from the rest of society, localising a variety of problematisations tothe demarcated areas. Furthermore, the places are demarcated as being filled with danger, intertwined with narrativeschallenging such a discourse. In conclusion, the findings enable us not only to scrutinise how specific meanings are attributedto place and how place is formed, but also to explore the performative and governable potential of place.

This article draws attention to two sports-based interventions carried out as part of the Midnight Football initiative and the places where they are conducted in two suburban areas in Sweden. Rather than approaching geographic place as simply a background and a context for sport-based interventions, we put place in the spotlight, scrutinising the very formation of place and its productive role in governing social policy. In line with a Foucauldian approach, and based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, the aim of the article is to explore how the specific localities where interventions take place are formed as governable domains. The analysis shows how place is constituted in association with sport sites, local youth outreach and recruiting coaches. These places are made distinct from the rest of the surrounding cities via material and symbolic borders, directing the movement of people within the urban geography. These differentiations underpin attributions of the areas in terms of otherness and exclusion from the rest of society, localising a variety of problematisations to the demarcated areas. Furthermore, the places are demarcated as being filled with danger, intertwined with narratives challenging such a discourse. In conclusion, the findings enable us not only to scrutinise how specific meanings are attributed to place and how place is formed, but also to explore the performative and governable potential of place.

This article concern how sport is conceptualised as a response to challenges of segregation, exclusion and conflict. We examine a sports-based social intervention and analyse how an association-like organization is set up as a means of promoting social inclusion and community. The examinations are based on statements made by representatives of the intervention and analysed from a governmentality perspective. In discourse, it is articulated that self-generating social exclusion reinforces patterns of ethno-cultural segregation. In response, the sports-based intervention provides an association-like arena, where role-models can reach out to youths, enact proper conduct and Swedish-ness, introduce to Swedish civil society associations and promote social inclusion. The association-like organisation alerts how traditional sector divides are contingent, and that the welfare state and civil society are entangled. Consequently, we need to look beyond this divide in order to focus on how social problems are countered in contemporary society.

In this article, we explore the pedagogies of (de)liberation promoted in the sports-based intervention Midnight Football (MF), carried out in a suburban and socio-economically disadvantaged residential area in Sweden. Based on interviews with coaches and managers and on-site observations, we examine how socio-pedagogical rationalities and technologies are articulated in discourse and assumed to operate within the intervention, and how certain ideals of conduct and social inclusion are represented in discourse. The analysis is guided by a Foucauldian perspective on a variety of forms of power. It displays how disciplinary forms of spatial and temporal diversion and dislocation of youth from sites of risk and danger to sites of order and football are formed within MF, where non-authoritative relations between coaches and youth can be facilitated, underpinned by a pastoral form of benign care and guidance. This, in turn, according to the rationality, enables pedagogies of sublime guidance and governing through deliberative and motivational dialogues, supporting youth to conduct themselves and, within the frames of football, choose the right track in life, away from gangs and crime. Making active and responsible choices means not only opportunities for individual deliberation, salvation and social inclusion, but moreover, security in and for the locality, community and society. The analysis illustrates how discipline, pastoral power and technologies of empowerment and of the self are intertwined and constitutive of the government promoted. Notably, dialogues between coaches and participants do not focus on the socio-economic inequalities or the socio-political context of segregation among the youth; instead, salvation becomes a question of the mindset of the youth, legitimizing a pre-given socio-economic and socio-political order of social exclusion. Still, there is unfulfilled potential for critical pedagogy and (de)liberative dialogues for articulating the conditions for participation in sport and in society on the terms of the participating youth. ; Funding agencies: Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society [1086/17]; Swedish Research Council for Sport Science [25/2016]