Mellan masskonsumtion och folkrörelse
Idrottens kommersialisering under mellankrigstidenav
Nils-Olof Zethrin
Akademisk avhandling
Avhandling för filosofie doktorsexamen i historia, som kommer att försvaras offentligt
torsdag den 28 maj 2015 kl. 13,15 Långhuset, HSL2, Örebro universitet
Opponent: professor Mats Greiff Malmö högskola
Malmö
Örebro universitet
Institutionen för Humaniora, Utbildnings- och Samhällsvetenskap
Abstract
Nils-Olof Zethrin (2015) Between mass consumption and popular movement. The commercialization of sport in the interwar period. Örebro Studies in History 17.
This dissertation deals with the commercialization that parts of Swedish sport underwent during the interwar period. It analyses agents both withinand outside of the sports movement, operating in a context con-sisting of organizers of high-profile competitions communicated through mass media.
The sub-studies examine the football club AIK, the athletics club IK Göta, and a number of figures involved in in professional boxing. Sports journals as well as sport in cinema, theatre, and music are also examined as a background for the commercialization of sport.
The focus is on sporting phenomena that developed in the tension be-tween mass consumption culture and the non-profit, popular movement sphere. The main question is: what were the consequences of commer-cialization for some major organizers of sports events within and outside of the sport movement, and for their sports activities? Two commerciali-zation processes are targeted: the commercialicommerciali-zation of sport, that is, how agents within the market utilized sport; and sport’s commercializa-tion, meaning how sport was affected.
My studies show that, and how, sport was part of the consumption market by being sold through media products or as spectator events. The studies highlight and analyze the three processes of marketization, spor-tification, and identity processes. Each respective process is linked to a logic: market logic, competitive logic, and cultural logic.
The studies highlight the scientific problem that the logic of the mar-ket, the sportification logic of sport, and the cultural logics could partly represent both conflicting and partly collaborative forces.
Keywords: sports, mass culture, popular movement, commercialization, interwar period.
Nils-Olof Zethrin, School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden, nozethrin@gmail.com
