ABSTRACT
When researchers refer to individuals as ‘chameleons’ (Simmons 2008), ‘paradoxical and fragmented’ (Firat and Venkatesh 1993) or as guided by a quest for eclecticism and hedonism (Hetzel 2002), they all emphasize the fact that behaviour has become less predictable and stable than in the past. Whether this is ‘consumer made’ (Cova 2008), or that is the consequence of consumerism, or the emergence of a ‘plural man’ (Lahire 2005), these writers observe transformations in the relations between society and individuals and the emergence of heterogeneous practices particularly in the field of leisure and sports. In this context, we can reflect upon the complex ways in which youth (from 3 to 24 years of age) articulate, adjust and regulate (or not) their behaviours in relation to sport and the contexts of its consumption. Hence, in France, one could investigate why the young are not active enough, especially girls. In other words, why they do not follow international guidelines that recommend the equivalent of one hour of physical activity every day. According to a summer 2009 study published by the Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments (French food standards agency): ‘exactly 43.2% of teenagers … reach a level of physical activity [that leads] to health benefits … more than six boys out of ten against fewer than one girl out of four [reach the recommended standard]’. But what does physical activity mean? The European Union working group ‘Sport and Health’ defines it as ‘any corporal movement associated with muscular contraction which increases the consumption of energy compared to levels observed at rest’1 and includes in that definition physical activities undertaken in an organized form (managed by a third party) or self-organized (done alone) at home, in public areas or specialist sports facilities and sites. Previously, a period of 20 minutes per day was recommended, then new Anglo-Saxon
studies recommended regular periods of activity of an average intensity. Health studies suggest that children are physically able to begin a sport at the age of six. Children under six need to move and expend their energy every day since this is necessary for the development of their motor abilities and coordination, but doing sports has been continually on the decrease over the past few decades. Today’s teenagers are 40 per cent less active than they were 30 years ago. According to French data from the international Health Behaviour among School-Aged Children survey (2008), ‘more than one out of two young people do not use an active form of transportation (by foot, bike or roller blade) to go to school’.2 Furthermore, the development of transportation and the arrival of digital technology – with its all-powerful screen (computers, game consoles,
cell phones, etc.) has increased sedentary habits which are accompanied by the development of obesity. On average, 3-17-year-old children spend roughly three hours a day in front of a screen, and this amount of time increases with age. Yet, according to The European Food Information Council: ‘physical or sports activity is a major determinant of the mental and physical state of health of individuals and populations at all ages of life’.3
