Women`s artistic gymnastics in Australia and New Zealand: A foucauldian examination of the relationship between sport governance and consumption

This article relates the Australian and New Zealand women`s artistic gymnastics governance systems to the micro-level conduct of coaches, gymnasts, and parents. Two ethnographic studies conducted in these countries examined how gymnasts, parents, and coaches reacted to and produced training realities. We employ a Foucauldian perspective of consumption to analyze the data. The results demonstrate different types of consumer mentalities. In Australia, where governance is driven by pressure to return investment, coaches, gymnasts, and parents disciplined their selves and consumption to fulfill prescribed expectations. In New Zealand, where gymnastics does not receive financial support and thus the National Sporting Organisation cannot prescribe particular performance results, gymnasts and parents negotiated their consumption.
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Bibliographic Details
Subjects:
Notations:sport history and sport politics technical sports
Published in:Journal of Sport and Social Issues
Language:English
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1177/0193723514558930
Volume:39
Issue:5
Pages:396-411
Document types:article
Level:advanced