Et Folks stærkeste løftestang. Sport og karakterstyrke

Resumé

Artiklen beskriver sportens værdi og karakteristika og diskuterer sportens betydning for karakterdannelse med bl.a. fairplay-idealet som eksempel.

A country’s strongest lever. Sport and character-building

Reasons given by sports organizations for playing sport seem to reflect the sense that sport is never motivated by its value qua sport – as a potentially amusing and diverting leisure activity or a exercise of skill – and look beyond the activity to find other reasons for the time spent in play. The idea of the social function of sport as an ideal educational and character-building activity must have origins which can help to explain the nature of sporting ideals and values. To find possible explanations for the emergence of the ideal of character in sport, this ideal is analysed as it developed alongside the introduction and consolidation of sports in Denmark from 1880 to 1920. The aim is to provide a picture of the emergence and development of discourse related to the educational and characterbuilding value of sport. The results show that sport is regarded by its pioneers as an agency for socializing participants. However, the picture is complicated by the duality which emerges as the middle class try both to educate and to distance itself from the working class. The same wish for distance can be seen between skilled and unskilled workers, between male and female practitioners and partly too between farmers and smallholders.