ABSTRACT
The fourth theme in the Handbook focuses on the people who take part in physical activity and the places and spaces where they participate. The chapters on age, gender and disability examine selected aspects of the stratified character of societies and discuss the ways that difference and diversity are both reinforced and challenged in policy making and practice in the physical activity sector. Of vital importance to the discussions in these chapters is the idea that opportunities for and access to physical activity are characterised by wider social inequalities which shape patterns of engagement in and experiences of physical activity. The chapters on families, workplaces, schools and prisons recognise that physical activity takes place in different contexts and spaces. These chapters illustrate that people’s physically active identities are spatialised and shaped by their everyday relations in different and diverse contexts; something that needs to be recognised in physical activity policy making, promotion and practice.
