The Politics of Physical Activity

Joe Piggin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000084733
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Sport & Exercise Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

Defining 'politics' as contests over ideas, values and visions about what a physically active society could be, this book uses critical analysis to challenge accepted truths about physical activity and therefore opens up a pathway to more effective, and more socially just, physical activity policy.

Critiquing global and national physical activity policies which are arguing for significant change to societies around the world, The Politics of Physical Activity presents empirical case studies to illustrate the political dimensions of advocating for physical activity promotion, including discussions of resourcing difficulties, conflicts of interest and opportunity costs. It explores physical activity as a multi-sectoral tool that is being applied to political ideas and policy goals as varied as education, sustainability and social cohesion, and asks what good physical activity really looks like.

This is important and provocative reading for any student, researcher, practitioner or policy maker with an interest in physical activity, public health or public policy.

1 Introduction

Physical activity is inherently political. Mixing empirical data, policy logic and ethical considerations, this book explores how physical activity is inherently political. The book includes:

• A theoretical conceptualisation of physical activity as a multidimensional, multisectoral tool which is being applied to political ideas and policy goals.

• Empirical case studies to illustrate the political dimensions of advocating for physical activity promotion, including discussions of resourcing difficulties, conflicts of interest and opportunity costs.

• Critique of global and national physical activity policies which are arguing for significant change to societies around the world.

Governments, corporations, schools and local councils around the world are increasingly considering physical activity more seriously for various reasons. Physical activity is multidimensional and multisectoral. The ideas which inform physical activity promotion, from health, education and sustainability, to commerce, transport and morality are always in a state of flux – sometimes prioritised, at other times marginalised. Which ideas gain prominence and are emphasised in eventual decisions? Which and whose ideas are marginalised and omitted from policy discussions? These questions are important, since policy decisions (and non-decisions) about physical activity contribute to the dignity, values and life chances of individuals and communities. By understanding more about the political dimensions of physical activity, there will be space to develop less exploitative outcomes for the people affected by policy makers’ decisions. There are opportunities to liberate populations to enjoy more active lives. However, to create such places and spaces, an understanding of the political dynamics that create physical structures and value systems about physical activity is required. This book examines a range of political elements which contribute to political thinking about physical activity and illuminates the forces which are using physical activity to achieve specific ends.

This book merges critical analysis with case studies to examine the politics inherent within the organisation, promotion and practice of physical activity. I take politics to involve contests over ideas, values and visions about what a physically active society could be.

Three factors make the politics of physical activity worthy of examination. First, the World Health Organisation’s launch of its global physical activity strategy in 2018 has continued to elevate physical activity as an important health issue. Second, data from around the world continue to highlight the detrimental effects of poor health, often stemming from deep-set inequalities. Physical activity is increasingly linked to issues of equity. Third, physical activity is a multidimensional, multisectoral practice, which is not comparable to a single health behaviour or disease. New insights into the politics which define, shape and influence physical activity is useful to the extent that it questions assumptions and strives to minimise unfair domination.

The text is structured as follows. Chapter 2, ‘Contested definitions, histories and futures of physical activity’, asks a range of questions about physical activity at a policy level. What values should be ascribed to physical activity? How much budget should be devoted to it? Who should benefit? At an individual level there are concerns about social justice, individual expression, liberty and surveillance. What physical activities are possible and permitted in a setting? What physical activities do people have a right to? How should people be judged with respect to the activities they partake in? This chapter situates the current concern about physical activity in its historical context and offers a variety of perspectives for critically analysing physical activity politics.

Chapter 3, ‘Towards a physical activity discourse’ argues that physical activity has developed into a specific political discourse. A model of the physical activity discourse is presented. This model examines how a variety of sub-discourses contribute to the political discourse through connections between essential, governing and sustaining discourses. A range of interest frames both feed into and are fed by the sustaining discourses of physical activity.

Chapter 4, ‘Physical activity and the politics of knowledge’ offers a critical analysis of a Lancet series on physical activity, which included the framing of physical inactivity as a ‘pandemic’. Given the purported scale and significance of physical inactivity around the world, this chapter examines how the pandemic is rhetorically constructed and how various solutions are proposed. A governmentality lens is used to examine the continuity, coherence and appropriateness of ideas about physical activity. The analysis demonstrates that within The Lancet, there is disunity about what is known about physical activity, problematic claims of ‘abnormality’ and contradictions in the proposed deployment of a systems approach to solve the problem.

Chapter 5, ‘Physical activity and the politics of societal change’, critically examines how we (people and communities) are encouraged to be physically active. How should our cities be organised? Which activities should be prescribed and encouraged? This chapter explores how archetypal thinking can influence physical activity policies. Through the analysis I argue that processes of homogenisation should not be understated. Physical activity promoters must tread carefully when elevating certain structures as ideal and certain activities as preferred or desired. Caution is warranted not only to avoid accusations of practices being imposed on a community and potential for marginalising traditional customs and practices within a local context, but also because some policy changes might be simply unachievable, and therefore inappropriate. To illustrate these points, there is an examination of how an apparently successful country’s template (Finland) was attempted to be transposed onto another inactive country (the United Kingdom). Following this, a recent case study of the World Health Organisation’s physical activity strategy is used to explore some of the values that inform international advocacy for physical activity promotion.

Chapter 6, ‘Physical activity and the politics of junk food’ moves the debate from state interventions to corporate involvement in physical activity promotion. Due to perceptions of a growing obesity issue, budgetary pressures and limited intervention effects, corporations have increasingly been framed as ‘partners’ in public health, working alongside government, councils and sports governing bodies. This chapter critically considers some of the ideas which dominate both the promotion of commercial partnerships in sport and physical activity promotion and resistance to them.

Chapter 7, ‘Physical activity and the politics of corporate health promotion’, continues the theme of corporate involvement, though this time with a case study of the Nike company, and its attempt to become involved in physical activity promotion (beyond selling shoes and clothes). This chapter examines three aspects of Nike’s involvement in the global and UK conversation about physical activity. First, it examines Nike’s involvement in building a theory about physical activity. Second, it considers Nike’s alliance with a variety of state, civil society and professional organisations in the process of constructing the ‘Designed To Move’ lobby document. Third, the chapter examines Nike’s attempted construction of a global physical activity ‘movement’ through the UK Physical Activity Commission. By interrogating the political activities of the Nike corporation, we can see how physical activity is deployed to meet specific economic ends.

Chapter 8, ‘Physical activity and the politics of risk’ invokes a case study of recent and ongoing debate over the safety of collision sports such as rugby union. Rugby union is a popular sport in UK schools, and like countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, is often claimed to be the national sport. However, it has recently come under scrutiny for being too dangerous for children to play. England Rugby, the national governing body has been reluctant to remove the tackle element from the sport in schools. Instead, England Rugby emphasise the positive aspects that come from the sport. This chapter uses interactions between the author advocating for policy change and organisational responses to examine the political machinations of corporate entities promoting activities which are ‘riskier’ than others to children who may not be informed of the risks they are being exposed to.

Chapter 9, ‘Conclusion: people, power and possibilities’, concludes by considering the analysis within the text and looking to future political contests over physical activity. The various case studies presented here offer insight into one level of the politics of physical activity, yet it is clear there is a multitude of swirling conflicts about people’s opportunities to be active, their understandings of what physical activity can and should include, and contests over resource allocation, from funding for everything from local bike lockers to cycle superhighways, students’ options in physical education classes and expectations about what types of physical activities are socially acceptable, culturally appropriate, or even desired. This short chapter offers thoughts on what future political contests might arise about physical activity promotion, and how citizens and groups might organise to reject exploitative outcomes.

2 Contested definitions, histories
and futures of physical activity

Concerns about physical activity are affecting many aspects of human life. Whether in homes, at schools, workplaces, in local communities, and in cities and countries, physical activity is becoming more intensely focused upon as a policy issue. In recent years there has been an escalating sense of urgency around improving population health through physical activity interventions. Various physical health outcomes such as the prevention of premature death are used to justify many interventions. However, physical activity and its adversary physical inactivity are complex phenomena. A range of other policy outcomes related to education, the economy, social cohesion and cultural development are also being linked with population-wide physical activity.

Physical activity has become a legitimate policy issue for which there are serious implications. At a population level, policy battles over scarce resources inevitably evoke concerns about equity, efficiency, sustainability, welfare and productivity. What values should be ascribed to physical activity? How much budget should be devoted to it? Who should benefit? At an individual level there are concerns about social justice, identity expression, liberty and surveillance. What physical activities are possible and permitted in a setting? What physical activities do people have a right to?

Physical activity is inherently political. Despite its growing association with ‘health’, physical activity is laden with a multitude of other values, including hierarchy, status and power, and contests and framing about inclusion and exclusion. So the promotion and provision of physical activity opportunities, and the ways that physical activity is embodied and manifested by participants, means it is never free from politics. These politics exist at various levels, from macro-politics – the dominant cultural values and priorities of a place, meso-level politics, its formal decision-making structures and processes, to micro-politics, involving those interpersonal relationships between people and their expectations, desires and values. Simultaneously there is both synergy and conflict within and between these layers. For example, take a seemingly apolitical solitary walk around an urban neighbourhood. It would be influenced by feelings of safety or danger, the perceived threat of air pollution, and the social un/acceptability of someone walking alone. Rural spaces are just as political. A hike in the mountains is affected by a walker’s existing resources to reach such a destination, and a region’s government permitting such behaviour on rural land.

Most of the time the politics of physical activity is normalised. Physical environments tend not to become more inviting quickly or easily. A mixture of political values, limited resources, and the slow movement of the policy process means that hopes of everyone achieving physical activity guidelines are likely to be unachievably utopian. However, that should not stop us from trying to educate, facilitate and promote physical activity to populations. The plethora of quantified benefits associated with physical activity make for persuasive reading, and the humanistic values of freedom of movement (beyond immediate spaces as well as beyond borders) are important if humans are to flourish, find joy, and be free from unfair domination in their lives. Understanding more about the politics of physical activity, particularly in the ways it influences policy decisions, is an important consideration. It is the aim of this book to shed light onto often taken-for-granted and unquestioned political and policy dimensions of physical activity.

It is certainly the case that there is “strong evidence demonstrating the direct and indirect pathways by which physical activity prevents many of the major noncommunicable diseases (NCD) responsible for premature death and disability” (Bull and Bauman, 2011, p. 13). It is certainly true that “political changes, changes in government direction, and changing opportunities to profile active lifestyles” (Milton and Bauman, 2015, p. 1) are challenging for the up-scaling of physical activity policies and programmes. And it is true that “there has been an overall failure to scale up effective interventions at the population level” (Das and Horton, 2016, p. 1). While promoting physical activity can definitely be good to do (see Biddle and Mutrie, 2001), there are machinations beyond the success or failure of lobbying and programme development which are worth investigating. Critiques of why and how interventions are promoted can illuminate the interests that inform them. As will be seen in some of the case studies in this book, these interests are not always altruistic. Questions are also worth asking about archetypes of physical activity. Is there a best way to be physically active? What activities should people be encouraged to do? These answers might c...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Contested definitions, histories and futures of physical activity
• 3 Towards a physical activity discourse
• 4 Physical activity and the politics of knowledge
• 5 Physical activity and the politics of societal change
• 6 Physical activity and the politics of junk food
• 7 Physical activity and the politics of corporate health promotion
• 8 Physical activity and the politics of risk
• 9 Conclusion: people, power and possibilities
• Index