SPORT 1913 - 2013

countries belong to the Confederation and four countries more are candidate to be part of it. In other words, we can describe WSM both as a legacy of the European philosophy of social solidarity and as a point of reference for a globalised interaction of sports experi- ences. European roots and organizational de- Europeanization seem to live together and feed one other showing a stimulating socio- logical dialectics. Some Models of Analysis In order to offer a synoptic representation of the developments of WSM we can refer to an adaptation of the classic Rokkan’s (1969, 1970) model regarding the Nation building Age, the European modernization, the social mobiliza- tion and the phenomenon of organizational institutionalization. The outline is elaborated according to the paradigm of the political are- na. It can be usefully applied to the movement unifying the three periods included between the official foundation in 1913 and the 2 nd World War. The period between 1913-1939 is characterized by three main organizational dynamics: 1. the incorporation in the movement of dif- ferent experiences sharing a common political faith and locating themselves in a common fighting field. It implied the support to a democratic and socially in- clusive representation of physical prac- tices and it promoted sport related civic and health-oriented campaigns. In fact,

WSM represented one of the most coher- ent opponent to the nationalistic use of sport and its submission to political re- gimes. So the movement defended a democratic representation of sport against its degradation to a passive in- strument for a totalitarian control on the masses. 2. The mobilization of the new sport people as a component of a wider social sub- system referring to the working class. This means that it was firmly rooted in one of the crucial cleavages characteriz- ing – according to Rokkan – the European political modernization. More particu- larly, the one produced during the age of industrialization by the Working Class- Bourgeoisie opposition. From a cultural point of view, the third crucial character of the WSM between the two wars – namely in the late season of Nation building and in the so called ‘third wave’ of European sportization – to be un- derlined is its proud claim to represent a socially rooted alternative to the élite idea of Victorian sport as the system of the ‘lei- sure class activities’ (Veblen 1899). If we refer to the second post-war period (in- cluding the four organizational seasons de- scribed above) the main paradigms which could provide a graphic synopsis of the move- ment can be traced back to three conceptual models: popular sport, sport of the Welfare and Sport for all/for everybody. Table 1 3.

summarizes the distinctive characteristics of these three periods. It concerns the non-profit sport system at large, but can be helpful in or- der to better locate WSM’s pecuniary experi- ence too (See Table 1, page 77) . This kind of analysis is in line with the one suggested by Kikulis, Slack and Hinings (1992) and later by Slack (1997). It implies a twofold methodological approach (Porro 2001b). On the one hand, the statistical, legal and histori- cal profiles of WSM need to be reconstructed using quantitative sources (including survey results), empirical information about its membership and leadership and all kinds of data provided through a desk analysis proce- dure. On the other, researchers need to devel- op a qualitative strategy of inquiry mainly us- ing biographical tools, such as life-histories collected by organizational leaders, and fo- cused interviews. This theoretical framework refers both to the basic model of the political arena and to the recent developments of the debate concerning the organizational theo- ries. Table 2 (inspired by Zan 1989) summa- rizes the emerging perspectives influencing this analytical approach, criticizing the tradi- tional ones as illustrated in the first column of the table (See Table 2, page 79) . Only recently a suggestive and promising branch of research is being developed, moving from the new attention paid to the symbolic sphere. This kind of approach, initially in- spired by the classic studies of Lasswell and

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