Sport as Social Policy: Midnight Football and the Governing of Society 1032124776, 9781032124773

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Routledge Critical Perspectives on Equality and Social Justice in Sport and Leisure

SPORT AS SOCIAL POLICY MIDNIGHT FOOTBALL AND THE GOVERNING OF SOCIETY David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt

Sport as Social Policy

This book analyses the increasing use of sport in European and Western welfare states as a tool of social policy and its promotion as a solution to social problems. Midnight Football is a sports-based intervention targeting social inclusion and crime prevention in young people aged 12–25 in Sweden. This book takes a close look at its organization, pedagogy and potential outcomes. Drawing on cuttingedge research into Midnight Football in Sweden, and exploring other community sport programmes including Midnight Basketball in the United States, this book shines new light on broader social transformations regarding urban segregation and social exclusion, social policy and the governing of welfare and social policy. This book also offers new perspectives on how sport and the lives of young people intersect with and shape broader shifts in welfare and social policy in Western states, shifts that are manifested in increased inequality, social polarization and profound changes in urban geographies. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the relationships between sport and wider society, or in sport development, sport policy, social policy, public policy or youth and social work.

David Ekholm is Associate Professor in social work at Linköping University, Sweden. Ekholm’s main research interests are in the sociology of social work and social policy. This research is characterized by critical and constructionist per­ spectives on contemporary social policy transformations. Magnus Dahlstedt is Professor of social work at Linköping University, Sweden. His research concerns the formation of citizenship in times of migration, welfare and social policy transformations. A particular focus is put on mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion, and the living conditions of young people in the context of a polarized urban landscape.

Routledge Critical Perspectives on Equality and Social Justice in Sport and Leisure Series editors: Kevin Hylton and Jonathan Long Leeds Beckett University, UK

This series presents important new critical studies that explore and explain issues relating to social justice and equality in sport and leisure. Addressing current debates and examining key concepts such as inclusion and exclusion, (anti)oppression, neoliberalism, resistance, merit(ocracy), and sport for all, the series aims to be a key lo­ cation for scholars, students and policymakers interested in these topics. Innovative and interrogative, the series will explore central themes and issues in critical sport and leisure studies, including: theory development, methodologies and intersectionality; policy and politics; “race”, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, dis­ ability; communities and migration; ethics and morals; and media and new technol­ ogies. Inclusive and transdisciplinary, it aims to showcase high-quality work from leading and emerging scholars working in sport and leisure studies, sport development, sport coaching and PE, policy, events and health studies, and areas of sport science that consider the same concerns. Available in this series: ‘Race’, Youth Sport, Physical Activity and Health Global Perspectives Edited by Symeon Dagkas, Laura Azzarito and Kevin Hylton ‘Race’, Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching Edited by Steven Bradbury, Jim Lusted and Jacco van Sterkenburg Families, Sport, Leisure and Social Justice From Protest to Progress Edited by Dawn E. Trussell and Ruth Jeanes Sport as Social Policy Midnight Football and the Governing of Society David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Critical-Perspectives-on-Equality-and-Social-Justice-in-Sport/bookseries/RCPESJSL

Sport as Social Policy

Midnight Football and the Governing of Society

David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt

First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt The right of David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ekholm, David, author. | Dahlstedt, Magnus, 1975- author. Title: Sport as social policy : midnight football and the governing of society / David Ekholm and Magnus Dahlstedt. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023 | Series: Routledge critical perspectives on equality and social justice in sport and leisure | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022028265 | ISBN 9781032124773 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032124797 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003224754 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Sports‐‐Social aspects. | Social policy. | Social isolation‐‐Prevention. | Crime prevention. | Sports and state. | Soccer‐‐Social aspects‐‐Sweden. | Sweden‐‐Social policy. | Social isolation‐‐Prevention‐‐Sweden. | Crime prevention‐‐Sweden. | Sports and state‐‐Sweden. Classification: LCC GV706.5 .E574 2023 | DDC 306.4/83‐‐dc23/eng/ 20220720 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028265 ISBN: 978-1-032-12477-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-12479-7 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-22475-4 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754 Typeset in Goudy by MPS Limited, Dehradun

Contents

Preface

vi

1 Introduction

1

2 Interventions

22

3 Midnight Football

40

4 Urban Periphery

57

5 Civil Society

72

6 Neo-Philanthropy

89

7 Social Control

105

8 Integration

120

9 Modelling

137

10 Discipline

152

11 Empowerment

167

12 Desire

182

13 Conclusion

196

Index

220

Preface

This book is the result of several years of research. Even though the book was written by the two of us, the thoughts, perspectives and understanding of sport as social policy presented in the book have been formed in collaboration with others, as an ever-changing flow of concepts, understandings and perspectives. To begin, we would like to thank our colleagues and fellow researchers Stefan Holmlid, Josef Fahlén, Cecilia Stenling and Julia Rönnbäck, who have worked together with us in various projects related to the exploration of Midnight Football, for their joint efforts and creative work. The different perspectives provided have had a fundamental impact on the analyses presented in this book. Manuscripts for the chapters of the book have been subject to colloquial scrutiny and review. In particular, the following colleagues and distinguished scholars have read and commented on the different chapters of the book, providing excellent support and thorough critical scrutiny: Kamila Biszczanik, Linnea Bodén, Erik Eriksson, Josef Fahlén, Andreas Fejes, Brita Hermelin, Magnus Hörnqvist, Kenneth Petersson, Gunilla Petersson, René Léon Rosales, Cecilia Stenling and Ulrika Wernesjö. Additionally, four anonymous reviewers of the synopsis contributed indispensable perspectives and support in the early stages of planning the book. Moreover, the critical suggestions of the editors and editorial team have supported in strengthening the rationality of the book. Furthermore, we want to acknowledge the important work of peer-reviewers, who have reviewed the series of articles previously published on which a few of the chapters in this book build upon. Thank you all. Moreover, results, analyses and conclusions from this book have been presented at the conference for the European Sociological Association, 2019, in Manchester, and the conference for the Swedish Political Science Association, 2019, in Norrköping, as well as multiple seminars within Linköping University and other Swedish universities. Comments and suggestions made at these occasions have influenced the work of completing the manuscript. The book, as such, its content and lines of argument, is formed in the relations, interactions and reflections between peers and colleagues in addition to those of coaches, managers, supporting agencies and participants of the activities explored.

Preface vii

Still the scientific discourse is also formed in (and formative of) relations and reflections set to work outside of the academic colloquium. The results, analyses and conclusions from this book have been presented in a variety of public contexts, nationally and internationally, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Swedish parliament and its Committee on Cultural Affairs, The Swedish Sport Confederation, local federations and associations, government agencies such as county administrative boards and the police, policymakers and administrative civil servants in municipalities, professional social workers, youth workers and librarians, through public presentations in libraries and in interviews in local and national newspapers and podcasts. The dialogues and interactions of these encounters create frames and structures for what and how things can be said, thought and communicated. In conducting the collection of empirical material, a few people more than us, the authors of this book, participated. James Frempong and Nedžad Mešić took part in on-site observations and conducted some of the interviews with the young people, and Catarina Lack, Senad Mutic, Anna Oksa, Bengt Tall, Johan Flemgård and Julia Schossner conducted a few of the interviews with managers, coaches and cooperating agencies. We would like to extend a special thank you for your support. Still, most importantly, we would like to thank all of you who have been leading, supporting or participated in the activities on which the book is based, who, among other things, helped us to make contacts and who generously took the time to be interviewed, who let us take part in and watch the games played. You all contribute based on your own conditions, often with limited resources, to create activities that are of great value and meaning to those who take part. With this book, we want to draw attention to this valuable work and at the same time contribute to a discussion about how the power of sport is esteemed and used, and how it can be used. This book has only been possible thanks to the commitment you have contributed with. Some of the chapters in this book build on analyses previously presented and published, while other chapters have been written solely for this book. •

The chapters 1, 2, 3 and 13 have been written solely for this book, still, some of the basic arguments and empirical analyses have been presented in different chapters in the book Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2021a), in the chapter “Critical reflections on youth, social work and sports-based interventions” (Ekholm & Dahlstedt, in press, a), in the chapter “Practice occludes diffusion: scaling sports-based social innovations”, published in the book Social Innovation in Sport (Holmlid et al. 2021) and in the article “Formalizing sports-based interventions in cross-sectoral cooperation: governing and infrastructuring practice, program and preconditions”, published in Journal of Sport for Development (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020).

viii Preface

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•

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•

•

•

•

•

Chapter 4 is based on the article “(Re)Forming the in-/outside: on place as a governable domain through sports-based interventions”, published in Social Inclusion (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2020b). Chapter 5 is based on the chapter “Mellan självständighet och kontroll: civilsamhället som samhällsbyggare genom idrott som socialpolitiskt verktyg”, published in the book Ett nytt kontrakt för samhällsbyggande? (Ekholm 2019). Chapter 6 is based on the article “Rationalities of good-will: on the promotion of philanthropy through sports-based interventions in Sweden”, published in Managing Sport and Leisure (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2018). Chapter 7 is based on the chapter “Midnight football as a site of surveillance: activities observed by the surrounding institutions of society”, accepted for publication in the book Sport, Physical Activity and Criminal Justice (Ekholm & Dahlstedt, in press, b). Chapter 8 is based on the chapter “Möten för integration”, published in the book Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2021b). Chapter 9 is based on the chapter “Förebildandets kraft”, published in the book Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2021). Chapter 10 is based on the article “A model of discipline: the rule(s) of midnight-football and the production of order in subjects and society”, published in Journal of Sport and Social Issues (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2020a). Chapter 11 is based on the article “Pedagogies of (de)liberation: salvation and social inclusion by means of Midnight Football”, published in Sport, Education and Society (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2019). Chapter 12 is based on the article “Conflicting rationalities of participation: constructing and resisting ‘Midnight football’ as an instrument of social policy”, published in Sport in Society (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2022).

This book provides something more than the publications mentioned. The book, in depth and length, provides new empirical accounts to the arguments and analyses, which deepens the analyses and gives new insights and knowledge. The book moves the theoretical depth of scrutiny much beyond the reporting of research findings provided in the single papers mentioned, producing knowledge about how sport makes social policy in a variety of aspects, all coming together to form new assemblages of activities, relations and movements of power and governing. The book places the different focal points in relation to each other and situates them progressively in relation to each other producing a new whole. We expect the book not to be read as a collection of papers or chapters, but as an integrated analysis of sport as social policy and of the governing of society. The book was made possible by research grants provided by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (1086/17), The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science (25/2016, P2017-0159, P2018-0079, D2021-0044, FO20220007) and the Centre for Local Government Studies at Linköping University.

Preface ix

The book is based on studies conducted with the support from these agencies and within these projects. 2022-06-08, Linköping/Norrköping, Sweden

References Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (eds.) (2021a). Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (2021b). Möten för integration. In: Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (eds.). Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en seg­ regerad stad (253–281). Lund: Studentlitteratur. Ekholm, D. (2019). Mellan självständighet och kontroll: civilsamhället som samhällsbyggare genom idrott som socialpolitiskt verktyg. In: Syssner, J. (ed.). Ett nytt kontrakt för samhällsbyggande? (125–150). Stockholm: Linnefors. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2018). Rationalities of good-will: on the promotion of philanthropy through sports-based interventions in Sweden. Managing Sport and Leisure 23(4–6), 336–349. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2019). Pedagogies of (de)liberation: salvation and social inclusion by means of midnight football. Sport, Education and Society 26(1), 58–71. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2020a). A model of discipline: the rule(s) of midnightfootball and the production of order in subjects and society. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 44(5), 450–475. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2020b). (Re)Forming the in-/outside: on place as a gov­ ernable domain through sports-based interventions. Social Inclusion 8(3), 177–186. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2021). Förebildandets kraft. In: Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (eds.). Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad (225–251). Lund: Studentlitteratur. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2022). Conflicting rationalities of participation: con­ structing and resisting ‘midnight football’ as an instrument of social policy. Sport in Society 25(6), 1142–1159. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (in press, a). Critical reflections on youth, social work and sports-based interventions. In: Spaaij, R. & Schulenkorf, N. (eds.). Handbook on sport and international development. Edward Elgar Publishers. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (in press, b). Midnight football as a site of surveillance: activities observed by the surrounding institutions of society. In: Parker, A. & Morgan, H. (eds.). Sport, physical activity and criminal justice. Routledge. Ekholm, D. & Holmlid, S. (2020). Formalizing sports-based interventions in crosssectoral cooperation: governing and infrastructuring practice, program and precondi­ tions. Journal of Sport for Development 8(14), 1–20. Holmlid, S., Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2021). Practice occludes diffusion: scaling sports-based social innovations. In: Tjønndal, A. (ed.). Social innovation in sport (55–77). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chapter 1

Introduction

This book covers a contemporary development throughout the world, where sport has increasingly been utilized for the government of social policy as a solution to social problems, following increased social inequality, segregation and exclusion. We argue that this development has more to do with transformations of the dispositions of welfare states than with sport in itself. Therefore, we investigate sport as a way to conduct social policy. By examining how sport is practiced, organized and experienced with respect to its instrumental utility, we explore how the reconfigurations of social policy and societies take form today. Such instrumentalization of sport applies especially to Sweden, where provision of sport has for more than a century been underpinned by sociopolitical objectives and as integrated in welfarist social policy, but it also applies more generally to modern societies where sport has emerged as an instrument to promote social objectives. In the book, we interrogate the recurring faith in the powers of sport as a solution to various social problems, highlighting how sport is utilized for, and interwoven in, the forms of social policy promoted. The aim of this book is to explore the emergence, arrangement and performance of activities where sport is used as an instrument to respond to societal challenges. Specifically, we analyse the governmental rationality of Midnight Football, a sport-based intervention carried out in the urban peripheries in Sweden. The analysis focuses on the problems constructed and targeted, the technologies utilized and the objectives promoted in the intervention. The activities consist of organized spontaneous five-a-side football games for young people, during late weekend evenings in places conceived of as socio-economically disadvantaged and at risk. The ambition of the book is to scrutinize the conditions under which the Midnight Football intervention is created, how it takes shape and how it, in turn, shapes social policy and society. On the basis of our examination, we discuss the provision of sport as a matter of social justice and rights. Accordingly, we explore and problematize sport activities as a productive force of governing and (trans)forming social policy. The contribution, in this sense, is to problematize the role of sport activities as an active and productive force in DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-1

2 Introduction

the machinery of social policy. For this purpose, on-site observations and interviews with people involved in the activities make up the empirical material.

Background and context In this book, we investigate some specific features of contemporary transformations and rationalities of governing social policy, by looking closely on the sportsbased intervention Midnight Football. We direct attention towards the potential ascribed to the power of sport to be utilized and integrated in the means of countering a variety of social problems following in the wake of advanced social segregation and exclusion. This notion – a social policy ambition manifested – can take many expressions. In this book, we look further into the details of this discourse, but begin with just a brief example: You make use of the great power of sports to achieve things … I believe in it … this has been our main ambition, to provide the best opportunities [for young people] to succeed … to do something else (Abraham). Abraham is the manager of Midnight Football in Österort, a residential area in the medium-sized Swedish city of East City. He is also a board member of Sumeria FC, a football club that operates in Österort, which also runs the Midnight Football intervention in the area. The football club is involved in organizing spontaneous football for young people in the residential area on late weekend evenings. When Abraham describes his own and the club’s ambitions, he does so by talking about the “power of sports”. The hope is that this power can be utilized as an instrument for the purpose of achieving specific objectives, to lead young people to a better future and in that sense create a better society. What is it, then, that makes sport into such a force? What does the power of sport consist of? How can it be used? And what is the rationality of utilizing sport as a means of responding to social problems? Such beliefs, that the power of sport can be used for all kinds of social purposes, are possible to see not only in our time. Similar discourse can be recognized in other times, in other contexts. Instrumentalization of sport policy If we begin by looking into how this discourse takes shape today, in an international context, we would like to direct attention to recent policy developments of the United Nations and the European Union. Notably, the discourse of sport as a means to promote social goals and to combat a variety of social problems is not limited to a specific national context, such as the Swedish. On a global level, the United Nations has recently alerted sports-based interventions for objectives such as social sustainability. According to the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC 2021), “sports is a tool for peace, tolerance and respect and supports the empowerment of individuals and communities”, with a potential to

Introduction

3

“foster physical, social and emotional health and encourage collaboration, understanding, tolerance and acceptance”. Principally, sport is presented “as a vehicle to increase young people’s resilience to crime and drug use” (UNODC 2021). We can here see how sport is attributed the potential of contributing to improved social relations and integration as well as preventing crime. It becomes a tool and a vehicle in discourse. On the level of the European Union, social inclusion by means of sport has repeatedly been highlighted in the last decade (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). Looking into the prospects of the European Union today, the European Commission suggests that sport has a certain potential in the context of social inclusion and integration, forming “opportunities for marginalized and underprivileged groups, such as migrants and people at risk of discrimination, to interact and integrate with other social groups” (European Commission 2021). Seeing how the agenda of the European Union has had a great influence on the social policy agenda in the European welfare states, such proclamations are not just random beliefs attributed to the power of sport. Spelled out, they are performative of how sport activities are seen as part of the assemblages of technologies potentially utilized to meet the challenges of our times – that is social exclusion. The tool (of sport) becomes directed towards underprivileged social groups, at risk, in discourse. These are just two examples in contemporary times. Similar discourse is recognized in social policy throughout welfare states and contemporary societies. Previous research has scrutinized such discourse at length (Agergaard 2018; Bailey 2005; Coakley 2011, 2015; Coalter 2007a, 2015; Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015; Ekholm 2016; Houlihan 1997; Morgan 2013; Spaaij 2011). For instance, Hartmann (2016, p. ix) concretely pointed out that “the notion that sport is an effective tool for risk prevention, intervention, and even social mobility for otherwise marginalized, disadvantaged young people – especially for boys and young men of color – abounds” and that such notions proclaimed all through society are underpinning “youth programs ranging from those at your local club or recreation department to multimillion dollar, multinational United Nations development initiatives”. Going into detail about this notion, Coakley (2011, p. 306f) further concluded that there is an “assumption that sport, unlike other activities, has a fundamentally positive and pure essence that transcends time and place so that positive changes befall individuals and groups that engage in or consume sport” and that “sport, therefore, is viewed as an effective activity for solving problems and improving quality of life for individuals and society alike”. If we continue by looking into how this discourse has taken shape in the past, we can note that such beliefs in the power of sport is not necessarily new. Rather, it reappears, in relation to specific social policy arrangements in specific times. A genealogy of sport as a technology of social work Let us now turn to how the lines of development of social work and you work align with sports-based interventions and how sport activities and athleticism

4 Introduction

have been understood in past times. For instance, Jane Addams of the Hull House movement expressed strong belief in the potential of sport activities as social work, guided by hopes of social reformation of young people: [T]he Saturday evening athletic contests have become a feature of the neighborhood. The Settlement strives for that type of gymnastics which is at least partly a matter of character, for that training which presupposes abstinence and the curbing of impulse, as well as for those athletic contests in which the mind of the contestant must be vigilant to keep the body closely to the rules of the game. (Addams 1910, p. 181) Accordingly, in the context of the segregated American metropolis in the early 1900s, sport could be talked about as a way to build character among the poor and marginalized, in order for them to abstain from certain risks and problematic conduct. The rationalities of social formation align with notions of philanthropic support predominant at the time. Directing attention to Sweden, such philanthropic rationality is recognized also in this context. In a handbook published by the Association for the Arrangement of Charity, philanthropist Agda Montelius (1912, p. 53) gives advice in the process of providing for the poor. According to her diagnosis “it is an excess of vitality that often creates what are called, rather foolishly, gang boys and gang girls”. To Montelius, “sporting activity, when not driven to the level of competitive rage, is of great significance, not least through the democratic basis on which it rests”. This philanthropic work was a precursor to the form of social work that eventually took shape under welfarism, primarily aimed at the particularly vulnerable segments of the population, not least young people who faced certain risks, and influence from destructive forces. Technologies of the welfare state, such as youth work and social work, adopted such philanthropist ideas during the 1900s (Villadsen 2004). In Sweden, sport has been supported on instrumental premises for the implicit benefits of public health, democracy, and integration, throughout the 1900s, embedded in the welfare state’s ambitious social policy (Norberg 2011). Sport was noted specifically as an instrument of social work, and a report on crime prevention from the early 1990s described how “sport can be a ‘vaccine’ to destructive gangs, crime and addiction”, providing “community, activity and engagement” (Holmberg 1993, p. 15f). As during the era of philanthropy, young people were here characterized as at risk of being affected by destructive forces. What sport was suggested to do, in this context, was to reach the young people and to offer them meaningful activities that can result in them developing selfconfidence, initiative and cooperation. Recently, the power of sport is alerted in discourses on civil society, in the name of integration of migrants. Demographic change, migration and an increasingly segregated urban landscape are brought to the fore in contemporary debates as a basis for all kinds of tensions and social problems (Ålund et al.

Introduction

5

2017). In this context, chairman of the Swedish Sports Confederation Björn Eriksson has described how “sport is a meeting place, not limited to borders between nations”, suggesting that “the language and rules of sport are universal”, and that “language is not only words, but also a feeling, a movement and an experience of community”. In relation to challenges of segregation and exclusion – referred to in Swedish policy discourse as “outsidership” (Davidsson & Petersson 2017) or “outsiderhood” (Bengtsson & Jacobsson 2018) – sport is once again seen as a force, as a universal language creating community and cohesion. Sport as an instrument of social policy In all these examples, from the histories of the past and the present, we can see how sport (re)appears in different shapes, as a power for the good, as potentially useful for various purposes and directed towards a variety of challenges in the present. The challenges may differ, as well as the objectives. Importantly though, different agencies, in different times, in different governing and international contexts, from different parts of society, interpret and make use of the power of sport to meet the challenges in the present. These challenges consist in different guises of young people, who are considered a danger or risk, located in the peripheries of society. When looking at sport in this regard, there seems to be a certain focus on football, when utilized as an instrument for achieving social development or responding to social problems (Schulenkorf et al. 2016). In this book, we examine Midnight Football – a case of a sports-based intervention with aims of social inclusion and crime prevention by means of providing football for young persons in the ages 12–25, carried out in disadvantaged urban peripheries in two Swedish cities. The analyses presented are based on interviews with managers, coaches, support providers, stakeholders and participants as well as on-site observations of the activities in Västerort and Österort, respectively. Nationally, the intervention, operating in a number of cities around the country, has received great attention as a pioneer of innovative social provision, garnering several awards. Similar activities are currently being performed and developed in many other parts in the country as well as in the rest of the world, illustrating how sports-based interventions are a more and more common feature in social policy, internationally. This makes the intervention of Midnight Football an interesting case for further exploration.

Outline of the book To analyse the governmental rationality of Midnight Football and explore the emergence, arrangement and performance of activities, this book is structured in 13 chapters, providing analytical insight into the formation of social policy as constructed in the activities, relations and movements constitutive of Midnight Football. Chapter 2 positions Midnight Football in relation to a variety of sports-based interventions, based on previous research on such arrangements.

6 Introduction

Chapter 3 goes into further detail about the problems, technologies, objectives and organizational structure of Midnight Football, providing close empirical descriptions of the activities carried out. Chapter 4 directs attention to the formation of the urban periphery, the places where the intervention takes form, scrutinizing how these constructions become part of rationalities of governing. Chapter 5 explores how civil society takes shape as a discursive formation, making a variety of activities and relations of power based on community possible. Chapter 6 furthers the analysis of community relations in relation to philanthropy and rationalities of support and provision enabled by inter-agency cooperation. Chapter 7 presents an analysis of how the variety of agencies involved in the intervention engage in measures of social control of the young people participating in the activities, within as well as beyond the site of intervention. Chapter 8 goes into detailed scrutiny of a discourse of integration, associated with cultural meetings and social relations formed as an objective of the intervention and how this discourse enables certain technologies of governing. Chapter 9 directs attention to the moral and pastoral relations of community formed within the spaces of the activities, making modelling the conduct of young people possible. Chapter 10 furthers the analysis of the activities and relations on site, looking specifically into the forms of discipline, regulating the conduct of participants by means of modelling and normalizing sanctions. Chapter 11 accounts for a rationality of empowerment, shaping the activities and relations formed, constituted by ideals of freedom and activation, underpinned by subtle forms of dialogue and guidance. Chapter 12 scrutinizes how the desire for football among the young people forms a premise for facilitating participation in the intervention. Chapter 13 provides a conclusion of the book by synthesizing the analyses presented, exploring how the rationalities of Midnight Football constitute a case of on-going social policy transformation, formed in tensions between de-socialization and mobilization of community relations. Each chapter is placed in different disciplinary traditions and research contexts, displaying the complexity of the activities analysed as well as the relevance for a range of disciplines in the social sciences. With their different empirical focus, the chapters together provide analytical insight into the formation of social policy as constructed in the activities, relations and movements constitutive of Midnight Football, highlighting the governmental rationalities of Midnight Football as articulated and performed.

Sport and social policy context When investigating the intervention of Midnight Football, we need to situate it in the context of on-going transformations of social policy and the governing of welfare, as shaped in the urban landscape in contemporary Sweden. Welfare states are today reforming and to some degree harmonizing, following similar lines of development (van Berkel et al. 2011), (re)forming into post-welfarist models (Dean 2010). The shift away from welfarism has been particularly

Introduction

7

intense in Sweden (Altermark & Dahlstedt 2022; Larsson et al. 2012). This transformation of social policy, from welfarist rationalities to something new, alongside increasingly advanced social inequality and segregation, and the tradition of faith attributed to the social potential of sport in Sweden, makes the Swedish context an interesting frame for a further examination of how sport activities (re)form social policy which is of interest also internationally. The social-democratic welfare regime, often described as the Swedish model, had its golden age in the decades after the Second World War. Provision of welfare was not mainly to be selective and target specific groups in need based on goodwill. Rather, welfare was to be guaranteed on a basis of equal rights, by reforms targeting the population at large, providing education, health care, leisure time activities compensating for unequal opportunities (EspingAndersen 1990). In this social policy discourse, charity and philanthropy was associated with arbitrary provision rather than equal rights, and with an ambiguous connotation, whereas welfare generally has a more positive undertone. From the 1970s, Swedish welfarism was also guided by explicitly multicultural ideals, with roughly equal rights irrespective of birth and origin (Ålund & Schierup 1991). However, in substantial terms, the welfare model was, already from the start, inclusive as well as exclusive (Pred 2000). Since the 1980s, the social-democratic model has undergone quite dramatic transformations, guided by austerity and budget discipline in the public sector (Hansen 2021). These transformations have resulted in increasingly conditional social rights as well as limited public responsibility for welfare, for instance in terms of housing, work, education, social security and health care (Altermark & Dahlstedt 2022). A range of market-oriented policies were introduced, in the name of freedom of choice, deregulation and privatization, as means to create efficiency, to stimulate citizens to make active choices and to take responsibility for their welfare (Larsson et al. 2012). Systems for competition of services and provision were additionally introduced, turning welfare sectors (such as the education system) into a quasi-market (Dahlstedt & Fejes 2019). Further, state responsibility for schools and social support was transferred from the state to municipalities. Also, cross-sector cooperation with market-based agencies as well as civil society actors was seen as a possibility to innovative the provision of welfare (Dahlstedt 2009). Parallel, there has been a dramatic shift where a politics of multiculturalism, with an emphasis on cultural diversity and equal social rights for migrants as well native Swedes, has gradually turned into a politics of monoculturalism. A more explicit focus on the responsibilities of racialized subjects to deserve their right to welfare and to adapt to the norms and values ascribed to the Swedish imagined community has resulted in a racialization of the welfare state (Ålund et al. 2017). Racialization and racialized subjects, here refer to the processes constructing differences on the basis of racial, ethno-cultural and/or religious categorizations (Miles & Brown 2003). The effects of these transformations are visible throughout Swedish society, not least in the form of a rapid increase of socio-economic inequalities

8 Introduction

(Therborn 2018), and enforced geographical polarization, visible in the countryside (Aurora-Jonsson 2017) as well as in the urban peripheries (Sernhede et al. 2016). Consequently, there is a concentration of households with limited economic resources, often with a migrant background, taking form in the urban peripheries. In these areas, the people have, compared to other areas of the cities, significantly lower levels of income, labour market participation, education, political participation (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019), subjective and objective health as well as shorter life expectancy (Therborn 2013), participation in sport, culture and leisure activities as well as in associations (Blomdahl et al. 2019; CIF 2019). Urban periphery, here, refers to urban areas marked by discursive distinctions between centre and periphery as well as both symbolic and material forms of exclusion, not necessarily located to the geographical outskirts of cities. The creation and discourse of such peripheries align with the formation of racialized spaces in the segregated urban landscapes (Molina 1997). In the wake of the increase in inequality and urban polarization in the last decades, there has been an intensified public debate on the challenges of criminality and insecurity (Schclarek Mulinari 2020). Here, a specific attention has been paid to young people in the urban peripheries, with a focus on the suggested risks and dangers associated with young people (Schierup & Ålund 2011). As mentioned, current conditions of inequality and segregation are highly recognizable in sport activities in the urban periphery. Sport associations have major challenges in conducting their activities, making them less durable than clubs in other areas, manifested in a notable decline in active associations in urban peripheries (CIF 2019). Further, young people in the urban peripheries participate in association sports to a much lower degree than young people living in more affluent areas (Blomdahl et al. 2019). In response, compensatory sports activities have been promoted, often in the form of organized spontaneous sport activities (Högman 2021; Stenling 2015), often performed in cooperation between municipalities, entrepreneurs, and associations (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020), conditioned upon instrumental ambitions to utilize the activities to deal with social problems among young people in the urban peripheries (Ekholm 2016; Stenling 2015). Sport associations have gained increased recognition as implementers of policy objectives (Fahlén 2017; Stenling 2015). Political expectations that sport should contribute to societal benefit have been formalized and gradually become increasingly explicit (Norberg 2011), particularly emphasizing integration (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2021), public health (Österlind & Wright 2014), democracy (Linderyd & Léon Rosales 2022), and crime prevention (Ekholm 2016). This trend is visible in Sweden but is part of a global development (Coalter 2007a). Sport activities are, for different purposes and in different ways, more and more integrated in social policy today, in turn (re)shaping the social policy of contemporary and future societies (Green 2012). Against this background, the empirical context for the book is both general and specific in terms of the sport and social policy transformations endured. Midnight Football, as a specific

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case of social policy targeting young people in the urban peripheries of Sweden, is one of the shapes these ongoing transformations take empirically. In that sense, the exploration of Midnight Football sheds light on the development of social policy in many different national and international contexts.

Research context Taking sports-based interventions and sport as a means of responding to social problems as a point of departure, underpinned by a discourse of instrumentality providing a language and frame for the social policy utilization of sport activities, means to spotlight the knowledges and rationalities of the activities explored. Just as there exists a language of reflection in a common-sensical meaning around the potential of sport, there exists a scientific discourse producing knowledge about the utility of sport. Scientific regimes of truth (Foucault 1980) legitimize and facilitate such operations, and moreover provide useful knowledge for the development of operations. The scientific literature, moreover, contains a variety of critical perspectives, with an emphasis on both the evidence base of sport as well as the performative effects produced by such regime of truth. Research on the social dimensions of sport spans across a range of disciplines in the social sciences (Darnell et al. 2018; Schulenkorf et al. 2016), with a great diversity of perspectives. In the following, we spotlight the tensions between instrumental and critical interests in research. Instrumental interests By instrumental interests and knowledge, we mean research with an interest in developing initiatives or facilitating the usage of sport as a means of responding to social problems. The discourse of instrumentality is, for instance, directed at international development work, where sport is used as a tool, with the aim of managing conflicts and creating peace (Beutler 2008) or preventing diseases (Kidd 2008). The focus is furthermore on relations between actors who engage in sports, organizational conditions for this work (Sherry et al. 2015), not least relations between the public sector and civil society (MacIntosh et al. 2016). Research additionally focuses on the management of sports activities (Welty Peachey et al. 2018) promoted collaboration, concerning how competence, finance and management can be developed efficiently (Ferkins & Shilbury 2012). Scientific interest is also devoted to those who lead sports activities and how their skills and abilities can be developed (Hartmann 2003; Richardson Jr. 2012), while research on learning and education through participation in sports sheds light on social processes that can promote inclusion in sports and society (Lawson 2005), as well as strategic pedagogical work in sports activities (Debognies et al. 2019). A recurring theme in such research is the question of how sport can be used as a tool for youth work and social work. In this context, team sports have been

10 Introduction

highlighted as activities that make it possible to conduct socio-pedagogical operations with a focus on conflict management and joint problem-solving (Brown et al. 2011; Moreau et al. 2018), in the form of community work in close relationship to people in the local community (Reynolds 2017). The interest in creating knowledge that is useful for developing sports-based interventions has shed light on the need for an increased understanding the evidence-base of mechanisms in sports that can be used for social purposes (Coalter 2011, 2012, 2017; Richards et al. 2013; Schulenkorf & Spaaij 2016). Particularly, sportsbased interventions have been noted as “ill-defined” (Coalter 2007b) and for generally lacking programme theory, defining the means used and ends expected (Coalter 2012). Researchers have sought to explore mechanisms of the “black box” of sport activities (Coalter 2021; Moreau et al. 2018; Spaaij & Schaillée 2021) and to develop theoretical underpinnings for securing high-quality practices (Welty Peachey et al. 2019). Critical interests Critical approaches take different shapes. Among others, Coalter (2007b, 2015) has pointed out how the notion of sport as a means of achieving social purposes is seldom empirically substantiated. Particularly, it has been noted that confidence in the potential of sport rests on unfounded assumptions (Houlihan et al. 2009; Morgan 2013), about the purity and goodness of sport (Coakley 2011) and that young people would automatically adopt certain virtues by participating in sport (Hartmann & Kwauk 2011). Such criticism is directed at an overly simplified assumption that the values and skills that can be acquired through participation in sports can automatically be transferred to contexts outside sport (Ekholm 2013). Belief in the power of sport has, moreover, been described as one-sided (Smith & Waddington 2004), and referred to as sports evangelism (Coakley 2011; Giulianotti 2004). Furthermore, critical approaches target the ideologies underpinning the faith in sport, and its function for sustaining exploitation, capitalism and neoliberalism (Coakley 2011; Hartmann 2016). Some researchers have argued that beliefs in the instrumentality of sport legitimize a neoliberal understanding of social problems as an individual concern (Green 2012; Hartmann & Kwauk 2011), creating false hopes among those who participate in sports activities, about social changes that can hardly be realized only through participation in sports (Riess 1980; Spaaij 2009). Objections have also been directed at the possibilities of sport in relation to integration and equality (Hylton 2011), for example, with a focus on how sporting ideals often maintain hierarchies and exclude young people on a basis of race and/or ethnicity (Long et al. 2014), or how it may obscure power relations (Spracklen et al. 2015). In this sense, sport is critically examined as a simplified tool to meet highly complex social problems (Coakley 2011; Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). At the same time, such critical interests can form a basis

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for an alternative understanding of how sport can be used as a tool for a critical pedagogy with ambitions for social change, resistance and emancipation (Luguetti et al. 2017; Nols et al. 2018; Spaaij & Jeanes 2013; Spaaij et al. 2016). Outlining a problematizing approach Research based on both instrumental and critical interests is often underpinned by causal explanations, describing sports either as a potential for positive developments, or as a negative result of exclusion, injustice and exploitation. The scientific literature on sport for development, characterized by an instrumental ambition, has provided imperative knowledge for carrying out and disseminating sports-based interventions. Accordingly, instrumental knowledge has a performative power by becoming integrated into the toolbox of social policy (Bailey 2005; Morgan 2013), enabling the growth of commercial industries where sport is used as a tool for conducting social initiatives (Hartmann 2016; Pitter & Andrews 1997). Instrumental approaches risk maintaining established understandings of the social problems faced. Problematizing causal knowledge can provide alternative ways of understanding the relationship between problems and solutions, without searching for hidden agendas and materially informed interests (Bacchi & Goodwin 2016; Foucault 2001, 2004). Problematization, then, refers to the analytical strategy of scrutinizing the premises and conditions enabling certain discourses, as well as the effects produced. Problematization, from this perspective, has a dual meaning, referring also to the problems constructed in discourse, embedded in specific rationalities of governing (Bacchi 2012). Accordingly, in this book, problematization is used both as a description of a particular methodological strategy and as an object of interrogation. The problematizing approach means that we want to investigate how the understanding of sport as a solution to social problems becomes possible, how it makes it possible to organize various initiatives and how this discourse and rationality actively produces forms of social policy, social work and society in a broader sense. What we investigate is how these practices and knowledges are shaped and what effects they make possible. In this regard, we follow the approach suggested by Hartmann (2012), stressing the need to study the productive force of racialization in sport and society. Thus, we argue about social policy, with Hartmann’s words, that “sport scholars must go beyond the sporting boundary and treating sport as a mere microcosm of race”, or social policy for that matter, “and instead (or, really, in addition) work to establish the power and particular roles of sport as a racial force” or force of social policy in general, “in the contemporary world” (Hartmann 2012, p. 1009). This makes an important contribution not only to contemporary literature on sport in society, but especially to literature on social work, youth work and community work as well as social policy more widely.

12 Introduction

Analytical framework On a basis of this understanding of the research literature presented, we want to problematize the instrumentality of sport without restricting the analysis to a simplified critique of existing power relations. The problematizing approach pursued in this book enables us to empirically scrutinize activities, relations and movements formative of and producing practices, which in turn assemble in policy. Although the empirical chapters in the book have slightly different conceptual basis, they all follow a constructionist epistemology, and specifically a governmentality (Foucault 1982; Rose 1999) and problematizing approach (Bacchi 2009; Bacchi & Goodwin 2016), as described. In the following, we go into detail about the conceptual and analytical framework and toolbox guiding the analyses presented. A genealogy of power Foucault (1982, 2003, 2009, 2010) conceptualizes the modern and liberal forms of power from the dispersion of centralized forms of rule of the sovereign and absolutist monarchies, transformed through constitutional reforms constitutive of the freedoms and rights of individuals. Accordingly, sovereign power means centralized and authoritarian, sometimes arbitrary, forms of domination (Foucault 2003), by means of repression and punishment (Foucault 1979). Such notion of power seems no longer pertinent to understand the complexity of modern rule; rather, Foucault (1982) outlined various forms of productive power of modern societies, not solely repressive, but primarily productive in shaping the behaviour of subjects and forming individuals and populations. Though, the disruption of sovereign power did not necessarily mean that the exercise of power was reduced, as such. Rather, the forms of government took other forms, more subtle and productive, that could be described in terms of discipline and governing (Foucault 1979). Key to the formation of productive power, discipline and governing was the development of scientific discourse. With the advent of modern social sciences and statistics, it was possible for authorities to acquire detailed knowledge about the population, for the purpose of risk assessment, enabling productive interventions targeting the population. Accordingly, risk could be estimated on the level of the population, and consequently, technologies to prevent (and spread) risk to protect the population were outlined (Foucault 2009, 2010). Still, risk could also be measured on the level of each individual in the population (Rose 1999). Risks are, thus, not real in the sense that they must constitute objective conditions in society. Rather, they are constructions of future problems, making them calculable and governable in the present (Dean 1998; Rose 1999). Scientific assessment of risk underpinned the development of disciplinary institutions. As certain risks could be located at certain times and places and thus prevented, delinquent conduct could be measured and reformed in such institutions (Foucault 1979). By locating certain activities to certain places and

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times, collective coordination could be enabled within controlled spaces of enclosure. From such organization, routines for surveillance, normalization and reformation of individuals or groups through regulations, threats of sanctions or monitoring could be outlined (Foucault 1979). Foucault (2009, 2010) points out how disciplinary technologies transformed in ways of managing risk and providing security for populations and individuals. It is in the dispersion of the closed disciplinary forms of power that modern and liberal forms of governing emerge. The basis for this new diagram of power is the “conduct of conduct”. In this sense, the word conduct has a specific and dual meaning. It refers both to activities performed “to lead, to direct or to guide” and to the target of such activities, that is “our behaviors, our actions” (Dean 2010, p. 17). Governing, then, means the productive activities forming certain behaviours and actions. That is “any activity that consists in governing people’s conduct” (Foucault 2010, p. 318). Governing targets the potential activity of other people – it “does not act directly and immediately on others” but, rather, “upon their actions: an action upon an action, on existing actions or on those which may arise in the present or the future” (Foucault 1982, p. 789). Such power can be traced in the Christian pastorate (as a pastoral power) but is also recognized in modern welfare states (Dean 2010). In this sense, governing has been scrutinized as a means to produce both freedom (Rose 1999) and control (Deleuze 1992), motivational wills and powers of the self (Cruikshank 1999), the future (Rose 1999) and life itself (Dean 2013). Thus, governing – conduct of conduct – emerges as the concept for how power and rule takes form in open, liberal, and democratic societies (Rose 1999). In each chapter of this book, we develop our analyses of how power operates in contemporary social policy in the name of freedom, openness and the management of risk. Looking at the Midnight Football intervention, we explore how they emerge as assemblages of governing rationalities and technologies, producing certain effects. Conceptualizations of power and governing rationality In this book, we approach Midnight Football as an assemblage of power that is relational, productive, decentralized and non-intentional (Foucault 1980, 1982). To analyse power as relational activities means that power is exercised in relationships between people, not in the form of a one-sided domination, but as dynamic flows, where acts of power and resistance are intertwined (Foucault 2003, 2009). Exercise of power takes place between active subjects, where both governing agencies and the subjects and populations governed play an active part in the governing of conduct (Foucault 1982). Such conceptualization of power means that the activities carried out have certain effects. Power is productive, in the sense that it is not primarily exercised by repression, but rather by facilitation, formation or encouraging certain ways of acting (Foucault 1982). Furthermore, governing activities operate throughout all capillaries of society,

14 Introduction

meaning that power is decentralized, exercised in all the parts of society, with no centre, in all social flows, relations and activities (Foucault 2003). Further, the exercise of power is non-intentional, meaning that possible intentions of the exercise of power are analytically subordinate to its expressions and effects. The intention or will of the subject is not the origin of power, but one of its effects. However, this does not mean that power operates arbitrarily. Rather, the exercise is structured by rationalities, formed in discourse (Rose 1999). Accordingly, when we explore the exercise of power, we look at the capillary flows of relations and activities where knowledge and subjects are produced. Consequently, all activities that involve facilitating and shaping people’s actions can be analysed as work of power (Foucault 2010). Accordingly, the work of power can be analysed with a focus on its governmental rationality (Gordon 1987, 1991; Rose 1999). The word rationality here means the relationship between problems, means (or technologies) and objectives – for instance how the discourse of sport as a solution to social problems constitutes a special understanding where problems, means and objectives are discursively interlinked and appear in a certain way (Dean 2010; Rose 1999). Governing interventions consist of activities, or “assemblages which may have a rationality, but this is not one of coherence or origin or singular essence” (Rose 1999, p. 276). The rationalities explored involve knowledges about the problematizations created, the technologies utilized, the institutionalization of activities formed, the domains mapped out, the objectives strived for and the subjects constructed. In relation, the term problematization means the discursive formation of a problem (Foucault 2001, 2004). Problematizations are explicitly or implicitly embedded in interventions, solutions and technologies. Thus, problems and solutions are formed in the same discourse (Bacchi 2009). Problems, as such, do not exist separate from the efforts directed at them, but they become problems precisely through these efforts (Bacchi 1999). Social policy, for instance, is constitutive of problematizations (Bacchi 1999, 2009). Social policy can be manifested in formal policy documents (Bacchi 2009) as well as in the activities and practices conducted to respond to various social problems (Bacchi & Bonham 2014). By technologies, we mean activities conducted for certain purposes, i.e., the “means of bringing power relations into being” (Foucault 1982, p. 792). Such technologies can be all kinds of activities shaping (conducting) the conduct of subjects and populations (Rose 1999). Such technologies can find their form in social work, in sport practices or in any other activity. One key point for the analysis of technologies concerns how they assemble and become institutionalized, in the form of institutionalizations (Foucault 1982). Importantly, such institutionalizations are formed as discursive effects. They are not there, a priori, but they become real as discursive effects (Bacchi 2009). In this book, we use the term domain to describe the spaces or discursive formations where problematizations and technologies of governing are located. Such

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domains can take the shape of geographical territories, institutions (Rose 1999) or any other abstraction for certain forms of governing. Considering that domains are discursive formations does not make them any less real than anything else. They become real because they are acted upon and thus formed as real. In relation to problematizations and technologies, objectives refer to the ends of governmental rationality (Rose 1999). Foucault (1982, p. 792) specifies how “the analysis of power relations demands” that “the types of objectives pursued by those who act upon the actions of others” is interrogated. The objectives of modern and liberal forms of governing concern the populations and the individuals – the subjects of power and governing. Accordingly, those who are to be governed, people, populations and individuals, are conceptualized as subjects. Subjects are both subjected to governing technologies, and at the same time active and self-reflective subjects of their own actions and conduct (Foucault 1982). Governing activities are exercised not necessarily against but through the will of subjects (Foucault 1982; Rose 1999). Notably, governing is relational and takes place between active subjects, where not least the governed play an active part in the reformation of their conduct (Foucault 1980, 1982). One way to conceptualize how the assemblages of rationalities, activities and power relations take form, transform and reform is to say that they “territorialize” in constantly new ways, always in becoming (Deleuze & Guattari 2004, 2007). An institutionalization of an intervention, such as Midnight Football, is the product of activities and relations of power (Villadsen 2019); though, tensions and struggles constantly disrupt the institutionalizations formed (“deterritorialization”), only to assemble in new forms through the activities and relations shaped (“reterritorialization”). The empirical events, relations and activities explored in this book take certain forms that are disrupted and reformed in new ways, meaning that Midnight Football is becoming, taking form as the product of problematizations, technologies, objectives and subject relations. Analysing discourse and rationality Based on the approach outlined, the ambition of the book is to analyse how various ways of rationalizing governing assemble in technologies constituting the institutionalized intervention of Midnight Football. In this book, we analyse the governmental rationality of Midnight Football, concerning the problems constructed, the constitutive technologies utilized and the objectives promoted, to understand how they are intertwined in discourse, forming a particular rationality of governing. Further, we analyse the contingency of this rationality, by scrutinizing the conditions that have made it possible to emerge. Moreover, we analyse the performativity of this rationality, what it enables and produces. To sum up, we ask the following questions: How is the rationality of governing, by means of Midnight Football, formed? How has this rationality of governing been made possible? What is made possible and even produced from this

16 Introduction

rationality of governing? In the different chapters of this book, we take these questions as our point of departure for the analyses, respectively, and answers to them on the basis of different empirical focus, making the governmental rationalities of Midnight Football visible.

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18 Introduction Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (2007). A thousand plateaus. Capitalism and schizophrenia. New York: Continuum. Ekholm, D. (2013). Sport and crime prevention: individuality and transferability in research. Journal of Sport for Development 1(2), 1–12. Ekholm, D. (2016). Sport as a means of responding to social problems: Rationales of governing, welfare and social change [PhD thesis]. Linköping: Linköping University. Ekholm, D. & Holmlid, S. (2020). Formalizing sports-based interventions in crosssectoral cooperation: governing and infrastructuring practice, program and preconditions. Journal of Sport for Development 8(14), 1–20. Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). Three worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge: Polity. European Commission (2021). Sport. For community cohesion and social inclusion. ( https://sport.ec.europa.eu/policies/sport-and-society/social-inclusion, 2022-03-29) Fahlén, J. (2017). The corporal dimension of sports-based interventions: understanding the role of embedded expectations and embodied knowledge in sport policy implementation. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 52(4), 497–517. Ferkins, L. & Shilbury, D. (2012). Good boards are strategic: what does that mean for sport governance? Journal of Sport Management 26(1), 67–80. Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books. Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge. Harlow: Harvester Press Limited. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Foucault, M. (2001). Fearless speech. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e). Foucault, M. (2003) Society must be defended. New York: Picador. Foucault, M. (2004). Polemics, politics, and problematizations: an interview with Michel Foucault. In: Rabinow, P. (ed.). The Foucault reader: An introduction to Foucault’s thought (381–390). London: Penguin Books. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics. New York: Picador. Giulianotti, R. (2004). Human rights, globalization and sentimental education: the case of sport. Sport in Society 7(3), 355–369. Gordon, C. (1987). The soul of the citizen: Max Weber and Michel Foucault on rationality and government. In: Lash, S. & Whimster, S. (eds.). Max Weber, rationality and modernity (293–316). London: Allen & Unwin. Gordon, C. (1991). Governmental rationality: an introduction. In: Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (eds.). The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (1–51). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Green, M. (2012). Advanced liberal government, sport policy, and “building the active citizen”. In: Andrews, D.L. & Silk, M.L. (eds.). Sport and neoliberalism: Politics, consumption, and culture (38–56). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Hansen, P. (2021). A modern migration theory: An alternative economic approach to failed EU policy. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing. Hartmann, D. (2003). Theorizing sport as social intervention: a view from the grassroots. Quest 55(2), 118–140. Hartmann, D. (2012). Beyond the sporting boundary: the racial significance of sport through midnight basketball. Ethnic and Racial Studies 35(6), 1007–1022. Hartmann, D. (2016). Midnight basketball. Race sports, and neoliberal social policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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Hartmann, D., & Kwauk, C. (2011). Sport and development: an overview, critique, and reconstruction. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 35(3), 284–305. Högman, J. (2021). Barn i rörelse. Om förutsättningar för utveckling i alternativa (?) idrottsaktiviteter [PhD thesis]. Karlstad: Karlstad University. Holmberg, B. (1993). Idrott och socialt arbete. In: Holmberg, B. & Liljegren, L. (eds.). Idrott och socialt arbete (2–19). Stockholm: Stockholms stad. Houlihan, B. (1997). Sport, policy and politics. London: Routledge. Houlihan, B., Bloyce, D. & Smith, A. (2009). Editorial: developing a research agenda in sport policy. International Journal of Sport Policy 1(1), 1–12. Hylton, K. (2011). Sport and social integration. In: Houlihan, B. & Green, M. (eds.). Routledge handbook of sports development (100–113). London: Routledge. Kidd, B. (2008). A new social movement: sport for development and peace. Sport in Society 11(4), 370–380. Larsson, B., Letell, M. & Thörn, H. (eds.). (2012). Transformations of the Swedish welfare state: From social engineering to governance? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Lawson, H.A. (2005). Empowering people, facilitating community development and contributing to sustainable development: The social work of sport, exercise and physical education programs. Sport, Education and Society, 10(1), 135–160. Linderyd, A. & Léon Rosales, R. (2022). Idrottsrörelsen som demokratiskola Interna och externa förväntningar i arbetet med inkludering och segregation. Stockholm: Riksidrottsförbundet. Long, J., Hylton, K. & Spracklen, K. (2014). Whiteness, blackness and settlement: leisure and integration of new migrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 40(11), 1779–1797. Luguetti, C., Oliver, K.L., Dantas, L.E.P.B.T. & Kirk, D. (2017). An activist approach to sport meets youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 88(1), 60–71. MacIntosh, E., Arellano, A. & Forneris, T. (2016). Exploring the community and external-agency partnership in sport-for-development programming. European Sport Management Quarterly 1(1), 38–57. Miles, R. & Brown, M. (2003). Racism. New York: Routledge. Molina, I. (1997). Stadens rasifiering: Etnisk boendesegregation i folkhemmet [PhD thesis]. Uppsala: Uppsala University. Montelius, A. (1912). Hjälpare: Råd och anvisningar för fattigvårdsintresserade. Stockholm: Norstedts. Moreau, N., Thibault Lévesque, J., Molgat, M., Jaimes, A., Parlavecchio, L., Chanteau, O. & Plante, C. (2018). Opening the black box of a sports-based programme for vulnerable youth: the crucial role of social bonds. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 10(3), 291–305. Morgan, H. (2013). Sport volunteering, active citizenship and social capital enhancement: what role in “Big Society”? International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 5(3), 381–395. Nols, Z., Haudenhuyse, R., Spaaij, R. & Theeboom, M. (2018). Social change through an urban sport for development initiative? Investigating critical pedagogy through the voices of young people. Sport, Education and Society 24(7), 727–741. Norberg, J.R. (2011). A contract reconsidered? Changes in the Swedish state’s relation to the sports movement. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 3(3), 311–325.

20 Introduction Österlind, M. & Wright, J. (2014). If sport’s the solution then what’s the problem? The social significance of sport in the moral governing of ‘good’ and ‘healthy’ citizens in Sweden, 1922–1998. Sport, Education and Society 19(8), 973–990. Pitter, R. & Andrews, D.L. (1997). Serving America’s underserved youth: reflections on sport and recreation in an emerging social problems industry. Quest 49(1), 85–99. Pred, A.P. (2000) Even in Sweden: Racisms, racialized spaces, and the popular geographical imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press. Reynolds, J. (2017). Jane Addams’ forgotten legacy: recreation and sport. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 11–18. (Special Issue). Richards, J., Kaufman, Z., Schulenkorf, N., Wolff, E., Gannett, K., Siefken, K. & Rodriguez, G. (2013). Advancing the evidence base of sport for development: a new open access, peer-reviewed journal. Journal of Sport for Development 1(1), 1–13. Richardson Jr., J.B. (2012). Beyond the playing field: coaches as social capital for innercity adolescent African-American males. Journal of African American Studies 16(2), 171–194. Riess, S.A. (1980). Sport and the American dream. Journal of Social History 14(2), 295–303. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schclarek Mulinari, L. (2020). Race and order: Critical perspectives on crime in Sweden [PhD thesis]. Stockholm: Stockholm University. Schierup, C.-U. & Ålund, A. (2011). The end of Swedish exceptionalism? Citizenship, neoliberalism and politics of exclusion. Race & Class 53(1), 45–64. Schulenkorf, N., Sherry, E. & Rowe, K. (2016). Sport for development: an integrated literature review. Journal of Sport Management 30(1), 22–39. Schulenkorf, N. & Spaaij, R. (2016). Commentary: reflections on theory building in sport for development and peace. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 16(1-2), 71–77. Sernhede, O., Thörn, C. & Thörn, H. (2016). The Stockholm uprising in context. In: Mayer, M., Thörn, C. & Thörn, H. (eds.). Urban uprisings (149–173). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Sherry, E., Schulenkorf, N. & Chalip, L. (2015). Managing sport for social change: the state of play. Sport Management Review 18(1), 1–5. Smith, A. & Waddington, I. (2004). Using “sport in the community schemes” to tackle crime and drug use among young people: some policy issues and problems. European Physical Education Review 10(3), 279–298. Spaaij, R. (2009). Sport as a vehicle for social mobility and regulation of disadvantaged urban youth: lessons from Rotterdam. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 44(2–3), 247–264. Spaaij, R. (2011). Sport and social mobility: Crossing boundaries. New York: Routledge. Spaaij, R. & Jeanes, R. (2013). Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 18(4), 442–457. Spaaij, R., Oxford, S. & Jeanes, R. (2016). Transforming communities through sport? Critical pedagogy and sport for development. Sport, Education and Society 21(4), 570–587. Spaaij, R. & Schaillée, H. (2021) Inside the black box: a micro-sociological analysis of sport for development. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 56(2), 151–169.

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Spracklen, K., Long, J. & Hylton, K. (2015). Leisure opportunities and new migrant communities: challenging the contribution of sport. Leisure Studies, 34(1), 114–129. Stenling, C. (2015). The drive for change: Putting the means and ends of sport at stake in the organizing of Swedish voluntary sport [PhD thesis]. Umeå: Umeå University. Therborn, G. (2013). The killing fields of inequality. Cambridge: Polity Press. Therborn, G. (2018). Kapitalet, överheten och alla vi andra: Klassamhället i Sverige – det rådande och det kommande. Lund: Arkiv. UNODC (2021). Line up, live up. Youth crime prevention through sports. ( https://www. unodc.org/documents/dohadeclaration/Sports/LULU/Flyer/LULU_flyer_EN.pdf, 202203-29) van Berkel, R., de Graaf, W. & Sirovátka, T. (eds.). (2011). The governance of active welfare states in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Villadsen, K. (2004). Det sociale arbejdes genealogi: Om kampen for at gøre fattige og udstødte til frie mennesker. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Villadsen, K. (2019). “The dispositive”: Foucault’s concept for organizational analysis? Organization Studies 42(3), 473–494. Welty Peachey, J., Schulenkorf, N. & Spaaij, R. (2019). Sport for social change: bridging the theory–practice divide. Journal of Sport Management 33(5), 361–365. Welty Peachey, J.W., Cohen, A., Shin, N., & Fusaro, B. (2018). Challenges and strategies of building and sustaining inter-organizational partnerships in sport for development and peace. Sport Management Review, 21(2), 160–175.

Chapter 2

Interventions

Introduction In this chapter, we present studies of six cases of sports-based interventions, scrutinizing their arrangements, formative problematizations, technologies and objectives. For this task, we take the scientific study of them as our point of departure, presenting the interventions as they have been explored and described by key scholars in the academic field. Based on results of these studies, we trace a variety of recurrent discourses of instrumentality set to work by means of sport activities responding to social problems. We explore how they all place the spotlight on particular groups of disadvantaged young people at risk. In this sense, we look into the discourse produced in these studies and use them in order to examine the discourse and rationality of governing social policy through Midnight Football. We use key writers to introduce interventions in different contexts to highlight discourses that are commonly identified and others that are overlooked. The discourses displayed introduce to further scrutiny the instrumentality of sport, with specific regards to Midnight Football. The rationality of sports-based interventions In this book, we use a broad definition of sports-based interventions, as institutionalized practices utilizing sport activities to achieve non-sport purposes. The point of departure is the rationality and instrumentality of sport. Categorizations between different activities of this kind are recurring in scientific literature, distinguishing, for instance, between SportPlus and PlusSport, pinpointing the degree to which sport is at the core of the activities outlined (Coalter 2007), contrasting diversionary aims to development ambitions, or between solving problems and providing developmental resources (Bruner et al. 2021). There seems to be a lack of theoretical underpinnings of interventions, and the void of established programme theory (Coalter 2012) makes it difficult to distinguish between different kinds of interventions. In this book, the aim is not to categorize Midnight Football, but rather to explore its empirical emergence, transcending such distinctions and categories. Following the approach DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-2

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outlined in the previous chapter, policy efforts are embedded in governmental rationalities with implicit (or explicit) problematizations related to technologies aiming for certain objectives of governing. The chapters following in this book will display how contrasting rationalities are transcended in practice and how clear-cut categorizations are contingent and thus providing little guidance for empirical explorations. Few reviews have been conducted evaluating the effects of sports-based interventions. However, several reviews and meta-analyses have examined the possible effects of sport participation and outcomes in terms of the positive development of young people, with conclusions suggesting beneficial potential among participants (Bruner et al. 2021). The overview of sports-based interventions presented in this chapter goes into further detail to explore the discourses and rationalities formative of the utility of sport for social objectives. The aim of this chapter, thus, is to direct attention to a few sports-based interventions, exploring the discourses and technologies formative of them, in order to provide a context of Midnight Football. The case(s) of examination This overview spotlights six cases of sports-based interventions conducted globally. We do this in order to point out some similarities and differences in terms of the arrangement of Midnight Football, to illustrate how this intervention, though unique in its own right, is part of a global development of instrumentalizing sport activities for socio-political purposes. Such efforts are carried out in a variety of ways, in different places, by means of various technologies. The cases spotlighted have been scientifically explored, which provides insights into the programmes, their theoretical underpinnings and how they can be reflected about. We do not suggest that these cases are representative of sports-based interventions in general. They are not presented in order to draw generalizable conclusions about such interventions. At the same time, the interventions outlined address a range of recurring discourses formative of many sports-based interventions, internationally. The cases presented have been selected because they all use sport for the purpose of wider social objectives, responding to some sort of social problem; they are open activities based on voluntary participation, and they have been thoroughly researched and thus provide good insight and reflection. The selected interventions provide geographical variation. All interventions, respectively, and in relation to each other, provide both context and reflection supporting the investigations pursued in this book, exploring Midnight Football in Sweden.

Six cases of sports-based interventions In the following, we will direct our attention to Midnight Basketball in the United States, Positive Futures in the United Kingdom, Community Sport in

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Belgium, the Vencer programme in Brazil, DesÉquilibres in Canada and Drivein Sport in Sweden. We will briefly describe the socio-political context of each intervention, the agencies conducting the activities, the technologies used, the objectives, and outcomes expected, and the target group reached out to. We will also summarize the scientific reflections produced about the interventions, respectively. Midnight Basketball During the 1980s and 1990s, basketball activities were organized for young people deemed to be at risk for social problems, in the evening and at night, in many cities in the United States. The underpinning notion of the intervention was that high crime rates late at night in inner-city areas was caused by a lack of safe and meaningful activities for young men in poor inner-city areas (Hartmann 2012). It was suggested that a key to deal with social problems among these young men was to offer safe and meaningful leisure activities between 22:00 and 02:00 at night. Therefore, basketball tournaments were started during the time when violence and drug use could occur (Hartmann 2016). Midnight Basketball was part of and a forerunner of an emerging social problems industry during the last decades of the 1900s (Hartmann 2001; Pitter & Andrews 1997). Although the interventions took different forms locally, they were all basketball activities with crime prevention ambitions aimed at African American young men aged 16–25, in areas in the cities considered particularly vulnerable to crime, and which took place with (uniformed) police present (Hartmann 2001, 2012). Because basketball was considered an activity that would appeal to young African American men in vulnerable neighbourhoods, sport could be portrayed as a means to reach out to these young people and get them involved in the activities (Hartmann 2016). As sports leaders witnessed less and less public funding for sport activities, they realized that to continue with activities, they had to legitimize their activities. Thus, they began to emphasize, and develop activities with an explicit focus on crime prevention and dealing with social problems (Hartmann 2016). Following the intervention in Milwaukee, Farrell et al. (1996) describe its success in terms of reducing crime rates at up to 30 percent. These effects were explained by how the activities provided a socially supportive environment, guiding the energies of young people at risk in a positive direction, which affected educational achievements (Farrell et al. 1996). The claims that Midnight Basketball led to reduced crime rates were then thoroughly questioned and criticized (Hartmann 2016; Hartmann & Depro 2006). According to Hartmann (2016), the success of the intervention was not about the crime prevention effects as much as of the policy influence of the activities, promoting a new way of understanding problems and outlining solutions. He notes how the interventions were described in the media, paying unreserved – and empirically unfounded – tribute to the effects and potential of

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the operations. Midnight Basketball proved to have a tangible effect as it became an unsurpassed PR success: a “commercial for neoliberal social policy” (Hartmann 2016, p. 70). Notably, there was a recurring description of the target group of young African American men, associated with social problems such as crime, drug abuse, poverty, dependency on benefits and segregation. The problem that would be faced with sports-based interventions was not a social problem, but a specific part of the population: young African American men at risk. In discourses on Midnight Basketball, there was a dual conception of risk. First, risk was conceptualized in terms of young people as exposed to risk in terms of a higher probability of becoming unemployed and suffering from social problems. Second, risk was described in terms of young African Americans posing a risk to the surrounding society. Such understanding of risk is based on a racialized portrayal of young African American men as both inferior and dangerous, which was a key for gaining political support and funding (Wheelock & Hartmann 2007). Further, while the activities in media discourse were promoted mainly in terms of development, where young people were to be educated, develop their abilities to realize themselves and to take advantage of their opportunities in life, in practice they focused on controlling young people by separating them physically into supervised basketball courts where strict compliance would foster discipline (Hartmann 2016). Hartmann (2016) argues that such discourse legitimizes a neoliberal social policy development, where sport played a crucial role. Through public and private collaboration, Midnight Basketball constituted a precursor to a new way of organizing social activities. An important part of how Midnight Basketball was promoted, as part of a neoliberal social policy, concerns the financing models. In addition to the fact that the activities were much less costly than other social initiatives, they also constituted a way of involving sponsors, foundations, charities and actors from the private sector, civil society, and not least former athletes. Positive Futures Positive Futures was a policy programme outlined in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s. As a policy programme, it consists of a diverse collection of efforts promoting physical activity to combat drug abuse and delinquency (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015; Kelly 2012). The interventions performed were financed and initiated by governmental authorities (and later by a charity organization). Though, local agencies were engaged in carrying out the activities in alignment with centrally articulated policy objectives. In the collaborations, a wide range of agencies were involved, among others sports associations, youth centres, social services, schools, leisure centres and substance abuse care (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). Positive Futures was aimed in particular at residential areas considered the most vulnerable, and specifically young people, in the ages 10–19, deemed to be

26 Interventions

at risk (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). Activities were “open-access” (Kelly 2011, p. 130). Most participating young people lived in social housing estates and came from different minority groups. Socially and economically disadvantaged areas tend to have weak sports infrastructure, poor facilities and lower participation in sports among young people, and young people living in poverty participate less often in competitive sports. The programme was based on political ideologies with a focus on individual responsibility in the local communities, and a transfer of formal power to local authorities, with an overall goal of reducing public spending. A part of this was to facilitate associations to operate as alternative service providers (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). The ambitions of Positive Futures were not concerned with promoting sport as an end in itself, but rather as a means of achieving other objectives. Sport was seen as a means to engage young people in activities that could facilitate social reformation. The engagement of young people was not limited to its diversionary effects of keeping them away from places and activities of risk – the programme was all about social reformation and social development. For instance, guiding young people into sport activities and to cooperating sport associations was seen as a means to change the lifestyles of young people at risk and to reduce substance and drug abuse (Crabbe 2006). Football was one of the sports, but also other sports, fitness activities and dance, were part of the programme. In the activities, there was a strong focus on the social relations between young people at risk and coaches. Accordingly, sport coaches of the local community that could establish social relations were seen as key facilitators of social development, guiding the lifestyles of young people (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015; Crabbe 2006). Accordingly, it was assumed that “this approach is a commitment to a flexible, organic local development strategy and the role of community workers in establishing a platform of trust”, Crabbe (2006, p. 6) states. In the scientific literature about Positive Futures, a certain emphasis is placed on the limitations of realizing the change needed to combat the severe problems faced. The opportunities for Positive Futures to bring about social change are limited to individual change. However, structural inequality limits the opportunities for individual development and change. Kelly (2011, p. 145) argues that “targeted intervention programmes are clearly unable to significantly impact on many of the processes serving to ‘exclude’ young people in neoliberal, postindustrial societies; at best, they can alleviate some of the consequences for a minority”. Of particular concern, here, is the lack of public support for voluntary sports associations, which creates a need for sports-based interventions to provide sports. Though, sport activities whose legitimacy is primarily based on the presumed social benefits, and aimed at certain people on the basis of need, risk to construct the targeted subjects as problems (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015). Additionally, to mobilize funding for the activities, the agencies involved need to overemphasize the severity of social problems and the level of risk that the target group face or pose (Kelly 2012). Still, one of the key benefits of the

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programmes was to give access to sport activities for young people otherwise lacking such opportunities (Kelly 2011). Community Sport Community Sport (or Buurtsport in Flemish) in Flanders refers to a diverse set of sport activities underpinned by Sport-for-all ambitions, using sport as a means of promoting health, personal development, and social cohesion (Sabbe 2019; Sabbe et al. 2020). The different Community Sport practices had different networks of cooperation and implementation making them possible. Oftentimes municipal agencies acted in cooperation with sport associations, nongovernmental organizations, and even commercial agencies (Sabbe 2019). Community Sport was funded and coordinated by local authorities in cooperation with municipal agencies, carried out, for instance, by sport associations performing alternatively organized sports with the purpose of reaching out to marginalized young people (Sabbe 2019). However, there were similar patterns among the designs, targeting children and young people (up to 25 years old) residing in places underrepresented in sport associations (Sabbe 2019). Initially, Community Sport, emphasizing its Sport-for-all ambitions, was a way to facilitate sport associations to reach out to marginalized populations. Though, the support did not result in increased responsibility for reaching out among associations, and efforts did not result in increased involvement of marginalized people. This, however, created conditions for other (not least commercial) agencies to be involved (Theeboom et al. 2010). Community Sport has dual objectives, providing sport for all and especially targeting groups marginalized on a basis of socio-economic status or ethnicity, for instance (Theeboom et al. 2010), intertwined with the instrumental utility of sport participation presumed to lead to health, personal development, and social cohesion (Sabbe 2019). A recurring theme is the relation between participants and the sport coaches. Debognies et al. (2019, p. 906) pointed out the importance attributed to the “authenticity of practitioners”, to make relationships with young people. In relation, practitioners are not esteemed as experts on social problems but rather as experts on understanding problems from the point of view of participants, having shared some of the experiences of marginalization. In addition, practitionerparticipant relations needed to be non-hierarchical, non-judgmental and thus explicitly contrasted to teacher-student relations. Such relations were seen to form a motivational climate and foster personal development (Debognies et al. 2019). Though, Sabbe et al. (2021, p. 167) spotlight another role of practitioners as particularly important: that of “signalling”. Signalling means giving voice to participants’ marginalized positions, alerting municipalities, policymakers and partners of the barriers hindering participation or limiting the rights and opportunities of young people. Signalling, though, could be understood as a

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strategy of pointing out detriments and structural barriers outside sport, thus positioning Community Sport as a fair and open arena of participation. However, Sabbe et al. (2021) argue that the positioning of sport coaches as leaders sharing experiences and vulnerable positions, strategically aiming to signalling the participants’ needs, runs the risk of obscuring power relations within the activities. Consequently, the activities and relations scrutinized can be assessed with respect to relations formed, social development and social cohesion – and not least: power (Sabbe 2019). In one dimension, Sabbe et al. (2019a) were able to critically scrutinize how concepts such as integration, community and social cohesion were understood as objectives of sport practices. Oftentimes, understood primarily in socio-cultural and ethno-cultural terms, the analyses of Community Sport displayed the importance of a broader understanding of segregation and inequality. For instance, as Sabbe et al. (2019a, p. 284) argue, “the voices of participants shed light upon the (lack of) social involvement of participants within regular sports”. Further, Sabbe et al. (2019a, p. 284) claim “that limiting the notion of community to mere socio-cultural cohesion might reinforce an instrumental approach” of sports-based social interventions. In another dimension Sabbe et al. (2019b) interrogated the tensions between emancipation and control rationalities. Practitioners, for instance, experienced how policymakers publicly praised the activities for their emancipatory potential, but at the same time supported interventions on the basis of the presumed benefits of control. Sabbe et al. (2019b) mean that this shift in balance between emancipation and control can be understood in relation to increased commercial involvement, downplaying rationalities of emancipation in favour of neoliberal rationalities of repressive control. Still, Sabbe (2019) stresses the importance of not underestimating the ambitions of sport coaches and participants. She argues that there may be a potential for critical pedagogy within Community Sport not yet fully realized, where coaches and participants together can talk about how segregation and marginalization affect the lives and sport activities conducted. Vencer Vencer, referring to winning or succeeding in Portuguese, was a Brazilian sportsbased intervention, operating also in other countries in Latin America during the first decades of the 2000s (Spaaij 2013). The Vencer programme was managed by a non-governmental organization and financed by cooperative investment foundations and an international bank (Spaaij 2012, 2013). The context of the intervention was the high level of inequality in Brazil, limiting the chances of social mobility. In particular, the transition from school to work was challenging for young people with school failure. The Vencer programme targeted unemployment among young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, promoting education and social mobility (Spaaij 2013). Due to the palpable

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segregation of the urban landscape of Brazil, the disadvantaged areas were marked by unemployment, violence and widespread crime in the favelas, with difficulties for public authorities to maintain social order (Spaaij 2013). In addition, these urban localities suffered from stigmatizing media portrayal fronting the favelas as dangerous places with young people posing a threat to society (Spaaij 2012). In Rio de Janeiro, over a 1,000 young people from the disadvantaged localities were engaged in activities (Spaaij 2013). An overwhelming majority of participants had not completed secondary education (Spaaij 2012). Characteristic of life in the areas where the interventions took place was how young people were limited in their movement, with no substantial access to other parts of the city (Spaaij 2012). The ambition of the Vencer programme was to use team sport, especially football, as a means for getting young people motivated to engage in vocational training expected to result in increased employability. The skills supposedly attained in the educational setting were discipline, teamwork and cooperation, respectful conduct and communicative skills (Spaaij 2013). Further, labour market orientation and learning how to search for jobs were important parts of the programme (Spaaij 2013). Accordingly, football was a means to reach young people, but the objectives strived for were social reformation and employability, in particular. In this sense, football was a means to achieve certain social objectives, believed to reach out to certain groups of young people in disadvantaged urban areas, but also to create good learning environments. In practice, as much time was spent on the football fields as was spent in classrooms (Spaaij 2013). Estimating the effects of the intervention, Spaaij (2012, 2013) made the following conclusions: The programme provided a platform for meetings and social interaction, which contributed to the development of social capital, the focus on communication and teamwork facilitated social relations between peers and between participants and educators and participants from different parts of the cities could meet and broaden their social networks, learning to understand life in different contexts. Spaaij (2012, 2013) pointed out that the football games could provide training in cooperation and teamwork, resulting in increased discipline and a sense of responsibility and skills attained in football could be transferred to other educational settings. Though, as Spaaij (2012, p. 93) noted, “any consideration of the transferability of the acquired social and cultural capital should take into account the facilitating and inhibiting influences in the wider social context of participants’ lives and experience” and the “structural factors that can negatively affect the convertibility of social and cultural capital into economic capital”. Nonetheless, it was argued that the social networks formed could create links with people, which in the long run could result in increased opportunities for employment (Spaaij 2012). In this sense, the intervention could for certain individuals lead to social networks, resulting in occupational attainment making upward social mobility possible. However, for most young people, the barriers of exclusion and poverty limit

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the benefits of such expected objectives (Spaaij 2013). Spaaij (2013, p. 66) noted that “where social advancement does take place it is at an individual and relative level rather than at any collective or absolute level”, highlighting that “sport-based intervention programmes like Vencer are far more likely to stimulate personal change than effect any long-term structural change”. Though, the structural barriers limiting the effects of the interventions expected suggest that interventions as such are not successful, they just provide a context of immutable conditions, limiting, for instance, upward social mobility, Spaaij (2013) concluded. DesÉquilibres DesÉquilibres, meaning (im)balance in French, was a sports-based intervention in Canada during the first decades of the millennium. It was founded by a foundation of former athletes and educators aiming to use sport as a means to enhance civic participation (Moreau et al. 2018; Plante et al. 2016). The intervention provided sport activities that were presumed to contribute to social relations and bonds. According to the design of the programme, many of the social problems faced among young people were due to lacking social relations and bonds (Moreau et al. 2018). The intervention was based on voluntary participation, engaging young people between ages 14–16. Participants were recruited by school cooperation (Moreau et al. 2018) and at youth centres (Plante et al. 2016). A key for reaching out to and engaging young people was existing friendships with people involved. The desire to take part, expressed by participants, was the desire to socialize with other young people (Plante et al. 2016). A key part of the rationale of the programme was to facilitate social relations between young people with different backgrounds (Moreau et al. 2018). In dialogue with schools and social workers, particular young people seen as vulnerable were specifically targeted, and it was ensured that half of the young people participating were in a category of “needs, vulnerability and dropout risk as identified by on-site school practitioners” (Moreau et al. 2018, p. 293). This mix of young people was desired for the purpose of creating bridging relations, making social inclusion possible (Parlavecchio et al. 2021, p. 32). The aim of DesÉquilibres was to promote social relations and bonds through meeting and social interaction through sport challenges (Moreau et al. 2018). It was, consequently, not primarily about individual development or attainment of resources, or reformation of conduct, but about improving the relations and bonds (Moreau et al. 2014, 2018). Still, with a focus on social relationships, increased self-confidence, participation in sports, abilities of determination, responsibility, discipline, trust in others and team-work competencies could be observed as side effects (Moreau et al. 2014). The activities performed were “adventure-type challenges” (Moreau et al. 2018, p. 293), following a schedule lasting 12 weeks with three sessions a-week

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(Plante et al. 2016). As part of the activities, sport coaches and educators – referred to as “eductrainers” – played a crucial role (Moreau et al. 2014; Parlavecchio et al. 2021). The eductrainer “refer to the dual role of educator and coach” in the activities, “able to plan, develop, and facilitate training sessions to prepare young people for sporting challenges”, and at the same time guide and support “young people psychologically and socially as they encounter difficulties on the field” (Parlavecchio et al. 2021, p. 33). The challenging elements of activities were designed to underline the facilitating role of the eductrainer, supporting the young people to challenge themselves (Parlavecchio et al. 2021). In this way the eductrainer guided the development of young people shaping social relations and trust between them, facilitating social relations within the group. Parlavecchio et al. (2021, p. 44) claimed that “the physical involvement of the eductrainer in DesÉquilibres programme and its activities seemed to make the eductrainer a role model for young people”. For this role to be performed, the character, personality and charisma of the eductrainers were spotlighted. As Moreau et al. (2014, p. 95) stated: the eductrainers alternatively have a “genuine charismatic power” or a personality associated with disciplined conduct, engagement in the activities as well as a positive attitude. DesÉquilibres was evaluated by both researchers from academia and the foundation designing the programme, producing a discourse suggesting that the intervention had positive outcomes when it comes to supporting and facilitating social relations and bonds, creating a safe and yet challenging environment for participants, and that structured activities with clear rules as well as peer support and trustful relations with eductrainers were keys for these outcomes, as claimed by Moreau et al. (2018). In one evaluation, Lévesque et al. (2017, p. 230) even suggested that “this ‘ritualized’ sports intervention contributes to the participants’ coming of age into adulthood”. Drive-in Sport Drive-in Sport in Sweden were established in 2009. Initiated by the Swedish Sport Confederation (SSC), the ambition was primarily to open doors to sports targeting young people not active in sport associations (Elvhage & Linde 2012). The activities were planned to take place in urban areas deemed to be at risk, where the levels of association sports participation were low. The intervention was framed by the SSC as a response to what was referred to as, “youth weekend problems” (Elvhage & Linde 2012, p. 5). The activities targeted young people between 13 and 20 years of age in the areas and were constituted by sport activities during evenings and nights on Fridays and Saturdays (Elvhage & Linde 2012). Accordingly, the formal aim was firstly to create social inclusion in sport activities. Though, to contextualize this ambition, Stenling (2015) points out how Drive-in Sport continued a long tradition of utilizing association sport as a means of the welfare state to combat social problems. The activities could mainly be described as organized spontaneous sport activities, that is organized

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and structured activities with leaders performed at specific times and places, but with no registration or membership required. Oftentimes football was the sport promoted, but basketball and martial arts were also recurring among the sports provided (Elvhage & Linde 2012). The ambition of Drive-in Sport activities was to pay leaders in order to secure its quality. Remuneration was seen as a means to recruit leaders with social skills, rather than sport skills, and individuals that could act as role models for the young people reached out to (Stenling 2014a). Drive-in Sport was conducted in many places, by different organizations and associations. One key challenge for implementing associations was to mobilize resources for carrying out activities. Local associations needed to have the resources to evaluate the activities for the purposes of further applications for funding. Here, municipalities became important agencies for granting subsidies and providing venues and sports grounds. Also, municipal (public sector) housing corporations often helped to fund local organizations, as well as different national governmental authorities (Elvhage & Linde 2012). Many of the local organizations developed into hybrid organizations operating in partnerships between associations, entrepreneurs and municipalities (Elvhage & Linde 2012). Stenling (2014a) claims that inclusion in sport and solving social problems were integrated ambitions underpinning Drive-in Sport. These integrated problematizations focused on young people – males of migrant background – their suggested lack of meaningful activities and their norm-breaking conduct (caused by culture and character) posing a threat to social order (Stenling 2014a). Stenling (2014b, p. 63) analysed how “the emphasis of Drive-in Sport shifted”, and “went from being a ‘sports’ project […] with a crime-prevention twist, to a ‘crime-prevention’ […] albeit with the use of sports”. As many representatives of associations and practitioners claimed reduced crime in the areas of the interventions, the crime prevention ambitions were highlighted even more in communication and legitimizing activities, suggesting that Drive-in Sport was a successful means of crime prevention, Stenling (2014b) noted. The activities were free of charge and performed at times and at places where social problems were seen as likely to happen (Stenling 2015). In an evaluation of Drive-in Sport conducted by the SSC, it was concluded that most of the young people participated because it was an opportunity to meet friends and the young people stated it was fun, and that they wanted to train and play sports (Elvhage & Linde 2012). Different clubs had different approaches to the different ambitions of Drive-in Sport. Stenling and Fahlén (2016) highlight that some clubs developed instrumental approaches, considering drive-in activities as a means to get funding for competitive activities or to recruit talented young people to their competitive activities. Other more socially oriented clubs transformed, conceiving of the new activities as the core rationality of their associations, as Stenling (2013) pointed out. In this way, some of the associations taking part in Drive-in Sport were positioned as implementers of social policy objectives, Stenling and Fahlén (2016) concluded.

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Synthesizing investigation of the cases As a point of departure for this chapter, we described sports-based interventions as institutionalized practices utilizing sport activities to achieve various nonsport purposes. In this, we underlined the rationality and instrumentality of sport activities for different matters. In these senses, we concluded, sport becomes a technology for governing the conduct of people. After looking into six empirically and contextually specific cases of sport-based interventions, we note that even this point of departure has its limitations. Principally, in relation to the theoretical framework outlined, we want to stress that there are both explicit and implicit rationalities of the interventions. For instance, even when organizations in policy programmes explicitly frame them as sport-for-all or inclusion in sport programmes, the interventions investigated seem to be motivated by implicit notions of social change far beyond the realm of sport. To complicate things even further, the balances between explicit and implicit objectives seem to shift over time, between different stakeholders and involved agencies, and they can be quite deliberately balanced by providers or merely seen as analytical constructs by social scientists examining the practices. Social reality is indeed complex in many ways, and clear-cut definitions of complex and transforming activities, relations and movements are not always possible (or even desirable). Starting from a constructionist point of view, we are less concerned with categorizing or defining activities than exploring them. Accordingly, solving (and constructing) problems is, implicitly or explicitly, part of all forms of social relations and activities, and therefore the approach outlined, focusing on rationalities of governing, may help us understand these sets of activities, understood as sports-based interventions. From the presentation of six sports-based interventions, we want to look closer into seven recurring discourses formative of them: institutionalization, organizational cooperation, inclusion rationality, selective outreach, social reformation, coach relations, and policy production. Synthesizing some aspects of the investigation provides conceptualizations that are needed to situate the analyses presented in the following chapters of this book. Institutionalization The different programmes presented are institutionalized in different ways. To some extent, DesÉquilibres and the Vencer programme provide delimited and defined programmes of activities, following more or less pre-defined curriculum and designs. Positive Futures, Midnight Basketball and Drive-in Sport may rather be characterized as policy programmes providing institutional and political infrastructures to implement activities locally. In relation to these understandings of sports-based interventions, Community Sport could be conceived of more as a conceptual frame, quite loosely associating a range of activities to a common frame of understanding their rationalities. Importantly, the overview displays that there is no singular way of understanding the institutionalization of

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sports-based interventions. Also, a preliminary categorization between delimited programmes, policy programmes and conceptual frames is contingent and the interventions presented cannot be single-handedly placed in either one category. They transcend and transform between such ideal-type categorizations. Even, as with Drive-in Sport, implementing organizations become institutionalized in new ways when adopting new rationalities of operation, which underlines the contingency of institutionalization processes. Organizational cooperation A recurrent issue addressed in relation to the interventions explored, is how they are described to become institutionalized through multi-agency (and crosssector) cooperation. These forms of cooperation are underpinned by different motives, providing funding for local practitioners and implementing agencies, or for mobilizing capacities and resources associated with or attributed to different agencies. Midnight Basketball, Positive Futures, Community Sport and Drive-in Sport were all initiated by or supported by governmental agencies on national, regional or local levels, conducted by local agencies, such as social entrepreneurs or sport associations. Vencer and DesÉquilibres were initiated and supported primarily by non-governmental organizations, governing the interventions as promoted in the local settings. Notwithstanding the sector attributed to the actors arranging the activities, it is quite clear that the sports-based interventions presented in this chapter are enabled by cooperation between a range of agencies providing different resources, though practiced or implemented by local agencies operating close to the targeted populations. Inclusion rationality The intervention programmes presented emphasize inclusion, in different ways. Broadly speaking, Drive-in Sport and Community Sport explicitly underline inclusion in sport as an end in itself. Though, such ambitions are motivated, legitimized and underpinned by objectives beyond sport itself. Mainly, the conduct of young people, in marginalized segments of the populations, is defined as a problem, which could supposedly be reformed through sport activities. Positive Futures, Midnight Basketball, the Vencer programme and DesÉquilibres were organized more explicitly with an emphasis on sport as an instrument of responding to social policy problems. Though, importantly, our presentation shows that inclusion in sport or through sport is repeatedly transcended in the practices arranged in the interventions, and more importantly, in the understandings of the practices as made clear by participants, practitioners and researchers. Selective outreach All sports-based interventions investigated were open activities premised by voluntary participation. Still, all activities pinpointed groups of young people

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associated with various kinds of social problems. Accordingly, there are recurring tensions between general and selective outreach. Here, the selective outreach becomes premised by the increasingly clear lines of segregation and unequal living conditions of young people and associating social problems with particular (often racialized) young people and particular places. Selective outreach is associated with and underpinned by various notions of risk. Sport activities become a means of protecting young people from risk as well as protecting society from the risk that certain young people pose to society, in the form of unemployment, delinquency, drugs or crime. Interestingly, the selective outreach targeting groups of young people and places associated with risk seems to align with an assessment of these targets lacking sport opportunities. Still, provision of sport opportunities become conditioned upon the social benefits expected from interventions, rather than provision of sport as an end in itself. Even when sport as an end in itself is underlined, as with Community Sport and Drive-in Sport, inclusion in sport and sport for all ambitions seem to transform, towards a focus on the instrumentality of sport and especially utilizing sport as an instrument targeting certain groups of young people. Social reformation In the set-up of the activities investigated, there seems to be tensions between collective development goals and individual change. The Vencer programme as well as DesÉquilibres were oriented towards social bonds and relations, conceiving of networks formed as a means to facilitate social change within communities and for young people. Positive Futures, Midnight Basketball, Community Sport and Drive-in Sport, though varied in their operations, were more oriented towards the development and trajectories of individual participants. In all interventions, there is a strong faith in transferring skills and resources developed in sport to settings outside sport. None of the interventions were informed by structural approaches to change a current situation of social segregation or by critical pedagogy providing resistance to marginalization. Accordingly, all interventions outlined take the social order of segregation and inequality, and the challenges it causes, as a pre-given frame for the actions and reform promoted. The reformation aimed for is one of learning and development for adaptation and social development of individual or network capacities. Coach relations Repeatedly, sport coaches leading the activities of interventions are spotlighted as agents of change or role models facilitating change. Even though individual relation building capacities are often desired, there seems to be tensions between how sport capacities and social capacities are emphasized as important for building relations. Still, the character and personality of leaders is repeatedly emphasized as a potential when it comes to reaching out and to form social

36 Interventions

relations that may guide young people and connect them to resources desired. Here, the context of sport may provide a fertile ground for recruiting leaders equipped with such traits. It is repeatedly underscored that participant and coach relations should be non-hierarchical, emphasizing shared experiences. In all interventions investigated, except for Midnight Basketball, it is the leaders as facilitators of change that are attributed the powers to reform the conduct of young people. With Midnight Basketball, it is rather the supervision and control of the police that is underlined. The importance of leaders is pinpointed in a variety of capacities and positions attributed to them (community workers, eductrainers, role models, institutional agents and more) and the technologies they make use of. Policy production A few of the interventions scrutinized have become nationally and even globally recognized, not least in the media. This means that they are given meaning in ways not necessarily intended by practitioners or managers of the interventions. Activities of Drive-in Sport gained some attention for the presumed crime prevention benefits. Similarly, but much wider, Midnight Basketball accounted for crime and drug prevention contributions even beyond the national context. In this sense, the sports-based interventions become productive forces in the communication of policy operations in the media. In the research accounted for, other interventions were mainly seen to be influenced by different policy discourses (Positive Futures came to being through the policy discourse of small government, DesÉquilibres was formed through policy perspectives on the importance of social bonds, Drive-in Sport were certainly a product of policy mobilization of civil society in Sweden). However, there are no clear-cut distinctions between being influenced and formed by policy discourses and being formative of them. The ways in which sports-based interventions become communicated in mass-media and public debates constitute a productive and political force. Such communication and discourse may form a “neoliberal commercial”, as with Midnight Basketball, a tale of the power of civil society and of how crime can be defeated by means of this power, as with Drive-in Sport, or it could be productive of any other kind of discourse.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have directed attention to a few distinct sports-based interventions, exploring the discourses and rationalities formative of them, as a means to provide a broader context for Midnight Football, which we will examine further in the following chapters in the book. In the next and in the following chapters of the book, we take a variety of conceptual themes as a point of departure. From Midnight Basketball, we spotlight conceptualizations of risk, control of crime, racialization of targeted young people and the productive communication

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of social policy. From Positive Futures, we highlight individual reformation of young people, the selective outreach to marginalized communities, tensions between local implementers of activities and dependence on supporting agencies and authorities, subjecting to policy objectives as well as the context of financial austerity in later years. From Community Sport, we underline the Sport-for-all ambitions and how they are intertwined in the operations of social work, the roles and technologies of leaders and the power dynamics displayed in examinations of relations between leaders and young people as well as understanding segregation primarily in terms of socio-economic dimensions. From the Vencer programme, we recognize the context of so-called non-governmental organizations performing governing activities, the potential or limitations to social mobility and, not least, how sport can become a vehicle supporting the movement of young people in the urban landscapes. From DesÉquilibres, we underscore the desire among young people to engage in activities, the focus on social cohesion and community through sport as well as the roles of coaches, combining positions as trainers and educators, being role models supporting young people in their trajectories and challenges, and the traits attributed to them, in terms of charisma and personality. From Drive-in Sport, we pay attention to the role of civil society and the sport movement in Sweden, the intermesh between sport policy and social policy, the promotion of spontaneous organized sport in Sweden, the emphasis on providing fun activities and the experiences of young people that the activities are fun, as well as the elusiveness of the discourses of the objectives formed. These discourses are not generalized in the sense that they provide representative understandings of sports-based interventions in general; rather, they illustrate specific dimensions of particular cases that need to be understood in relation to their own context. Still, they are discourses opening for empirical explorations, making it possible to follow flows and transgressions in all possible directions. Considering these discourses together, and in relation to each other, they constitute assemblages of activities, relations and movements as well as problematizations, technologies and objectives that need to be empirically explored in each context where they emerge. In the following chapters, this is what we will do.

References Bruner, M.W., McLaren, C.D., Sutcliffe, J.T., Gardner, L.A., Lubans, D.R., Smith, J.J. & Vella, S.A. (2021). The effect of sport-based interventions on positive youth development: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 10.1080/1750984X.2021.1875496 Coalter, F. (2007). A wider social role for sport: Who’s keeping the score? London: Routledge. Coalter, F. (2012). ‘There is loads relationships here’: developing a programme theory for sport for change programmes. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 48(5), 594–612. Collins, M. & Haudenhuyse, R. (2015). Social exclusion and austerity policies in England: the role of sports in a new area of social polarisation and inequality? Social Inclusion 3(3), 5–18.

38 Interventions Crabbe, T. (2006). Knowing the score: Positive Futures final case study report. London: Home Office. Debognies, P., Schaillée, H., Haudenhuyse, R. & Theeboom, M. (2019). Personal development of disadvantaged youth through community sports: a theory-driven analysis of relational strategies. Sport in Society 22(6), 897–918. Elvhage, G. & Linde, S. (2012). Ungdomar och Drive in-idrott - en utvärdering av organiserad spontanidrott 2009-2011. Stockholm: Riksidrottsförbundet. Farrell, W.C., Johnson, J.H., Sapp, M., Pumphrey, R.M. & Freeman, S. (1996). Redirecting the lives of urban black males: an assessment of Milwaukee’s midnight basketball league. Journal of Community Practice 2(4), 91–107. Hartmann, D. (2001). Notes on Midnight basketball and the cultural politics of recreation, race, and at-risk urban youth. Journal of Sport & Social Issues 25(4), 339–371. Hartmann, D. (2012). Beyond the sporting boundary: the racial significance of sport through midnight basketball. Ethnic and Racial Studies 35(6), 1007–1022. Hartmann, D. (2016). Midnight basketball. Race sports, and neoliberal social policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Hartmann, D. & Depro, B. (2006). Rethinking sports-based community crime prevention: a preliminary analysis of the relationship between Midnight basketball and urban crime rates. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 30(2), 180–196. Kelly, L. (2011). “Social inclusion” through sports-based interventions?. Critical Social Policy 31(1), 126–150. Kelly, L. (2012). Sports-based interventions and the local governance of youth crime and antisocial behavior. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 37(3), 261–283. Lévesque, J.T., Molgat, M. & Moreau, N. (2017). L’intervention en contexte de sport auprès des jeunes: la place du rite de passage dans le programme DesÉquilibres [The intervention in sport’s context with young people: the place of the rite of passage in the DesÉquilibres program]. Canadian Social Work Review 34(2), 229–251. Moreau, N., Chanteau, O., Maryse Benoît, M., Dumas, M., Laurin-Iamothe, A., Parlavecchio, L. & Lester, C. (2014). Sports activities in a psychosocial perspective: preliminary analysis of adolescent participation in sports challenges. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 49(1), 85–101. Moreau, N., Lévesque, J.T., Molgat, M., Jaimes, A., Parlavecchio, L., Chanteau, O. & Plante, C. (2018). Opening the black box of a sports-based programme for vulnerable youth: the crucial role of social bonds. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 10(3), 291–305. 10.1080/2159676X.2018.1430060 Parlavecchio, L., Moreau, N., Favier-Ambrosini, B. & Gadais, T. (2021). Principles-ofaction used by an eductrainer to create social bonds through sport in a psychosocial intervention program. Journal of Sport for Development 9(2), 30–53. Pitter, R. & Andrews, D.L. (1997). Serving America’s underserved youth: reflections on sport and recreation in an emerging social problems industry. Quest 49(1), 85–99. Plante, C., Moreau, N., Jaimes, A. & Turbide, C. (2016). Motivational factors for youth recruitment in voluntary interventions: the case of a community sport program. Sport, Education and Society 21(7), 1071–1090. Sabbe, S. (2019). Community sport and social cohesion: A social work perspective [PhD thesis]. Ghent: University of Ghent.

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Sabbe, S., Bradt, L., Roets, G. & Roose, R. (2019a). Revisiting the notion of cohesion in community sport: a qualitative study on the lived experiences of participants. Leisure Studies 38(2), 274–287. Sabbe, S., Bradt, L., Spaaij, R. & Roose, R. (2021). ‘We’d like to eat bread too, not grass’: exploring the structural approaches of community sport practitioners in Flanders. European Journal of Social Work 24(1), 162–174. Sabbe, S., Roose, R. & Bradt, L. (2019b). Tipping the balance back towards emancipation: exploring the positions of Flemish community sport practitioners towards social control. Sport in Society 22(6), 950–965. Sabbe, S., Spaaij, R. & Roose, R. (2020). Community sport and social cohesion: in search of the practical understandings of community sport practitioners in Flanders. Community Development Journal 55(2), 258–276. Spaaij, R. (2012). Building social and cultural capital among young people in disadvantaged communities: lessons from a Brazilian sport-based intervention program. Sport, Education and Society 17(1), 77–95. Spaaij, R. (2013). Changing people’s lives for the better? Social mobility through sportbased intervention programmes: opportunities and constraints. European Journal for Sport and Society 10(1), 53–73. Stenling, C. (2013). The introduction of Drive-in sport in community sport organizations as an example of organizational non-change. Journal of Sport Management 27(6), 497–509. Stenling, C. (2014a). The emergence of a new logic? The theorizing of a new practice in the highly institutionalized context of Swedish voluntary sport. Sport Management Review 17(4), 507–519. Stenling, C. (2014b). Sport programme implementation as translation and organizational identity construction: the implementation of Drive-in sport in Swedish sports as an illustration. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 6(1), 55–69. Stenling, C. (2015). The drive for change: Putting the means and ends of sport at stake in the organizing of Swedish voluntary sport [PhD thesis]. Umeå: Umeå University. Stenling, C., & Fahlén, J. (2016). Same same, but different? Exploring the organizational identities of Swedish voluntary sports: possible implications of sports clubs’ selfidentification for their role as implementers of policy objectives. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 51(7), 867–883. Theeboom, M., Haudenhuyse, M. & DeKnop, P. (2010). Community sports development for socially deprived groups: a wider role for the commercial sports sector? A look at the Flemish situation. Sport in Society 13(9), 1392–1410. Wheelock, D. & Hartmann, D. (2007). Midnight basketball and the 1994 crime bill debates: the operation of a racial code. The Sociological Quarterly 48(2), 315–342.

Chapter 3

Midnight Football

Introduction In this chapter, we cover the problematizations, technologies and objectives of Midnight Football, and the arrangement of the activities as they are performed on site. We present close empirical accounts of how activities take form, providing insights in the relations and movements formed. The presentations enable further examinations of the governing rationalities – the kinds of social reform and formation of community – formative of and taking shape in the activities as performed, as well as the faith placed in the essence of sport for such purposes. Presenting the case and methodological reflections In this chapter, the sports-based intervention examined in the book is presented in more detail: Midnight Football. First, we present a brief overview of the intervention, its objectives and modes of operation. Second, we present some characteristics of the young people targeted by and participating in the intervention. Third, we make some remarks concerning the organizational context of the Midnight Football intervention, focusing on inter-agency cooperation and on how the organizational activities can be approached. Fourth, we turn our attention to the sport activities performed, providing an ethnographic dense description of how the activities are carried out. Fifth, we present the methodology of the case investigated, the empirical material explored in this book, how it has been collected and interpreted. Here, we also discuss some of the methodological and ethical considerations made during the research process. In this way, the chapter presents and situates the intervention of Midnight Football, with a focus on how it operates, takes form and who takes part, with the ambition to lay the groundwork for the analytical chapters following, exploring the governing rationality of the intervention.

Midnight Football: an overview Midnight Football was initiated by a national foundation, where various initiatives to use sports as a tool for social purposes were gathered and supported by DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-3

Midnight Football 41

corporations with ambitions of corporate social responsibility. The football activities conducted are initiated by the foundation and carried out by local sports associations, in urban peripheries in over 20 cities throughout Sweden. Formally, the foundation has presented the main objectives in terms of creating integration, promoting social inclusion and reducing social exclusion, fostering a sense of responsibility and participation in society among the participants. These objectives can, according to the discourse articulated, help increase employability and reduce crime. We have followed the interventions in two areas, Västerort in West City and Österort in East City. West City and East City are mid-sized cities, both among the 20 most populated municipalities in Sweden. In Västerort, operations are conducted together with Suburbia FC and in Österort together with the association Sumeria FC. In both locations, the activities have the support of the respective municipalities, with financial grants as well as access to sport arenas. The operations are also funded by sponsors and other actors (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020; Holmlid et al. 2021). Except for the relationship to the foundation and the common concept for how the activities are conducted there is no formal cooperation among the activities in each city. In Västerort, the intervention is run by a small number of leaders in Suburbia FC, where Martin and Mustafa have leading roles. There, the football association was started for the purpose of running the operations and the association has developed accordingly, with youth teams and a senior team in the lower divisions. In Västerort, the operations are weakly formalized with recurring challenges in terms of financing, recruitment of leaders and conducting regular activities (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020; Holmlid et al. 2021). In Österort, Sumeria FC has carried out football activities for many years, with numerous teams. The intervention in Österort is more formalized with regular activities, paid managers and long-term secured financing (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020; Holmlid et al. 2021). There, managers Abraham and Sulejman have particularly leading roles. During the time we followed the operations, special activities for newly arrived young people have been carried out and similar activities have also been started in other areas of the urban periphery in East City. The ambition has also been to start separate activities for girls only (Ekholm et al. 2019). The activities are conducted on Saturday evenings between eight (or nine) and midnight, for young people in the ages between 12 and 25. There are mainly boys who participate, although girls are also welcome, and sometimes participate (Ekholm et al. 2019). The activities are voluntary, and the participants do not have to be members of the associations or register in advance. The activities consist of indoor football games. Five-a-side teams, divided by coaches, play against each other, following a rotation schedule. The team that scores the first goal (or first two goals at times) wins, and the winning team remains on the playing field. Though, no matches can last more than five minutes. The activities are led by on-site coaches who are responsible for dividing into teams

42 Midnight Football

and for securing the structure of the games, and that rules are followed. The leaders also have a pedagogical role in leading the activities. The activities are popular among young people in the residential areas of the urban peripheries in Västerort and Österort. Sometimes there are over a 100 young people on site during a Saturday night of Midnight Football. Many are there to play, while others come to watch friends play and to hang out with friends or meet new people. In this sense, the activities provide a place where young people in the respective areas gather on Saturday nights. The participant young people: targets of intervention Throughout the book, we will scrutinize how the activities, relations and discourses that are institutionalized, form a group of participants reached out to. The intervention has a general outreach, in the sense that anyone who wants to participate is welcome to do so. Though, in practice the intervention can be understood on the premises of its selective outreach, conducted in the urban peripheries of larger Swedish cities, targeting a certain group of young people (for various reasons) seen as in need of specific activities. This means that the young people that take part in the intervention by no means are individually identified or indicated as “at risk” of social problems. Both Österort and Västerort have large proportions of residents suffering from socio-economic marginalization and social exclusion. The areas, as with other areas in the urban peripheries, suffer from territorial stigmatization (Backvall 2019) and have been termed as areas of exclusion and outsidership (Davidsson & Petersson 2017). The overwhelming majority of the young participants are boys from migrant backgrounds (or with parents from migrant backgrounds) living in these areas. Young people of the urban periphery have often been seen as in need of activities that can be used to promote social policy objectives (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019). One of the many ways that different agencies in society have sought to provide for the marginalized group of young people in the urban peripheries, when it comes to sport, has been to organize different kinds of compensatory sports activities in the form of organized spontaneous sports (Högman & Augustsson 2017; Stenling 2015). Organized spontaneous sports means that activities are conducted regularly, in specific places and times, with specific leaders, but where participation does not require pre-registration or membership (Högman 2021), and Midnight Football is one example of such an arrangement. When we have interviewed young people participating, they have described their life situation in general. They go to school or to work, some have left school, some are employed and some are unemployed. They do all sorts of other leisure time activities. A few of the young people express how they suffer from different social problems or vulnerable life situations. Most of the young people interviewed do not point out that they are in any form of need or exposed to social problems. All of them see Midnight Football as an activity of a certain social significance for themselves and for the places where they live.

Midnight Football 43

The institutionalization of Midnight Football When closing in on Midnight Football, we need to begin by briefly introducing the organizational context of the intervention. Midnight Football is, principally, an institutionalization of assemblages of activities and relations taking a certain form. The formative activities are conducted both on and off the playing field of football. To describe the organizational context of Midnight Football means to focus on inter-agency cooperation. The assemblages of cooperating agencies involved on the two sites of intervention consist of the people in the local management and sport associations, the national foundation, the municipal agencies and the financial sponsors. The variety of agencies take on different roles and provide a range of capacities. Without going into detail, we outline the variety of agencies and roles briefly. The national foundation provides the general intervention concept and supports the local management on each site. The director of the foundation, Stefan, describes his role: “I’m … so to speak a social entrepreneur [and] it was me who brought Midnight Football to Sweden … I brought the concept from England”. According to this presentation, given his entrepreneurial drive, the director was able to bring an established concept to a new place and introduce it in a new environment. Stefan describes the concept as a quite simple design. He “rearranged it to Midnight Football to be played at night and made sure that the gates and doors to sport centres and football fields were open after 21.30”. A key for the diffusion in Sweden was to establish forms of cooperation with local sports associations in places where a need of such an intervention can be assessed. In Stefan’s words, Midnight Football “is a really simple concept”, primarily described as “weekend games … in collaboration with the police, local youth, and football clubs”. Notably, Stefan describes the role of the foundation as “going into the areas with the most severe problems”. The foundation initiates the intervention, selects the place of intervention and introduces the practices locally. The local management provides the local organization capacities to perform the interventions. In Västerort, the intervention is run by Suburbia FC. One of the managers, Martin, describes the simplicity of the intervention concept in a similar fashion as Stefan, by saying that “it is not a matter of rocket science”, further stressing the strong social effect of the activities by means of providing open doors, opportunities and practices with a certain set of rules and “norms to be followed”. Like Abraham in Sumeria FC, the manager in Österort, suggests that “the foundation is the base … they were here to introduce […] but we are here in the area, and so it is easier for us to be credible” in conducting the activities. The municipal agencies are involved in different ways at respective sites. They provide subsidies and grants and the general social infrastructure, such as facilities, or engage in more formal relations and support. Further, there is a range of financial sponsors in the form of market-based corporations, municipal housing corporations and charity organizations and even philanthropists that provide financial support in various forms and contribute organizational capacities and extended networks.

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The relations between the variety of agencies involved in the intervention have been subject to previous scrutiny (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020; Holmlid et al. 2021). An initial remark concerning the organization of cooperation and networks is that they are neither formalized nor stable. Any cooperating agency can have a specific function at one time, while at another time contribute with other resources. Some have important and recurring functions, such as the municipal administrations and policymakers or some of the sponsors, while others contribute to the activities with more limited, specific contributions. Also, the relationships among the various actors are not necessarily long term. Rather, they often occur haphazardly when a particular form of support is needed. Moreover, the relations of cooperation are understood differently by different actors. It is not necessarily so that different actors share a common understanding of other actors’ role in the intervention organization or the objectives of the activities (Ekholm & Holmlid 2021). Organizing activities is a matter of doing and relations between cooperating agencies are constantly changing. In this book, it is important to emphasize the limited degree of formalized organization – that the interventions are becoming by means of the activities and technologies performed in the name of Midnight Football. Previously, we have identified three aspects of operation for establishing Midnight Football as a sports-based intervention: practice, programme and preconditions (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020; Holmlid et al. 2021). Practice involves the actual sports activities, that is the set-up of rules and organization of play, the organization of on-site coaches and leaders and the educational arrangement imbued in practices. The foundation provides an established design of the practices, involving five-a-side football and an educational arrangement in the activities and the roles of coaches and leaders. Both the management in Västerort and Österort describe themselves as implementers of the practice provided by the foundation. It is the practices carried out in the sport arenas that is in the scope of analysis in this book. Programme are, for instance, the management and recruitment of coaches, financial administration, strategies of cooperation and communication with involved partners, strategies for funding from supporters and allocating capacities to apply for funding. Preconditions are the local conditions concerning, for instance, existing sport associations and institutions or ambitions of municipal administrations and policymakers. In this book, we will primarily pay attention to the activities of the practices conducted, though understanding that practices take form in relation to the programme activities conducted and the preconditions acted upon.

The activities in practice When investigating the practice and activities, we direct our attention towards the sport arenas and what is going on there, on the court and in the arenas. To begin, we arrive in Västerort and in Österort, as the activities are about to begin.

Midnight Football 45

Arriving at the arena Before the Midnight Football activities begin on Saturday evenings in Västerort and Österort, the participating young people come to the arena, they wait outside or enter. When they enter the respective arenas, many things take place, as illustrated in the following field note. We arrive at the arena just before the set start time, at 20:00. It is already dark and about twenty young people, boys, are waiting outside. Some of the boys recognize us from last Saturday and say hello. Some other guys stroll in from the football field, of lighted artificial turf. Some girls are also there, but they do not stop but go on, towards the building next door, where there is some event. It’s a girl’s birthday, says one of the boys. The leader with the key is late and we wait for a while. A quarter of an hour later, the leader appears, somewhat rushed. A few of us follow and help to pick up vests and a ball. We come closer to the building where the party goes on, and some dressed up girls come out to get some air. “Oh, shit, she’s nice”, says one of the guys. […] The leaders bring the keys, vests, and a ball back to the sports hall. They unlock the doors and a few more guys who have now gathered outside come in to start the evening’s activities. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) The activities take place in a landscape of other social activities and things happening, such as birthday parties, as in one of the evenings when the fieldwork was carried out in Österort. The young people participating in Midnight Football know other people moving in the proximity of the sports arena. In Västerort, the activities start at 21:00. Before Midnight Football, the sports arena is occupied for an open basketball activity conducted in collaboration with the municipal youth work centre. Therefore, the front doors are open, and the young people enter the dressing rooms and corridors early. Many young people are involved in both activities, and they know each other. The sports arena in Västerort has an almost full-size handball and futsal court, but no stands. But there are two smaller spaces, holes in the wall at one long side where materials can be set up and stored. There are also a couple of benches that form a smaller grandstand-like arrangement. It is soon crowded with children and young people. Between the two spaces there is a small corridor to the dressing rooms where there is quite a lot of running between. There are also two corridors facing the street and the schoolyard. The doors to the schoolyard are open wide, all evening. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) The activities take place in a relatively distinct place, the sports arena in Västerort. However, the doors are always open which means that young people

46 Midnight Football

can come and go as they want. Many young people come to engage in the activities when they start, whereas others turn up as the evening progresses. Thus, the activities take place in an urban landscape where there exists a great variety of movement and social relations. Many young people come into the arena for a little while and then go on to do other things outside the venue, while others stay for the whole evening, play and/or watch the games. Starting the activities The activities always start with a gathering of the participants. In Västerort, the young people play around in the arena before they are gathered, playing basketball and/or football freely. The managers Martin and Mustafa gather the young people in the middle of the football pitch around 21:30. The clock is approaching 21.30 and Martin has prepared a couple of sets of vests in different colors to be distributed. […] Martin calls out to some of the guys who come and sit in front of him at the center of the court. As some of the guys have sat down, the rest of the activities on the court begin to end. After a few minutes, everyone who is to participate on the pitch sits in front of the leaders Martin, Mustafa and Kerar. Those who are in place but who are not going to play sit on the bench stands or along the front long side. A group of slightly older guys with a Somali background are sitting in one corner of the hall. It is Martin who gathered the participants. But there is still a lot of talk and shouting among them. When Mustafa steps forward, without saying anything or raising his voice, they begin to be silent. Some still talk a little, but Mustafa interrupts them in a low voice but with a clarity that testifies to a very special authority in the group. Mustafa hands out vests in seven teams, of five players in each. The rules are simple: two teams start. The first goal wins, while the winners remain on court. If there are no goals in four minutes, both teams must leave the court for new ones. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) In both Västerort and Österort, the same procedure applies, according to which the games start after the managers have gathered the participants and divided teams, handed out vests of different colors and made clear the rules. Before gathering, the young people move about freely and play different games in the arena. But as the managers step forward to initiate the activities, the contingent flows of actions and movements are ordered along a structure that is familiar: all young people who have arrived to play the games gather in a half-circle in the middle of the court, while the people who are there to watch gather at the benches along the walls. In Västerort, Mustafa divides into teams and makes the rules of the games clear. Even though teams are divided and a routine of rotation between losing teams coming back into play is set up, this order is always flexible, as new participants arrive, while others leave during the nights.

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Playing the game The rules and order are made clear, and teams are divided as well as handed vests. Such rituals display how order is made within the intervention located in time and space, following certain routines made possible by dividing practices. In Österort, all is set and the games can start. The team in yellow vests wins all matches in the beginning. One of the guys excels, scoring almost all goals. He shoots hard and with precision. The guys on the sideline are talking and making noise. […] The atmosphere is openhearted and unpretentious. […] The guy who excelled, says one of the leaders, plays for East City FC and is said to have played with the youth national team. That explains it. Next to the benches with the resting teams are some guys not playing. They pick up their phones, talk, check. […] The line-up changes during the evening. Some guys get dressed and leave the field when it’s time to go home or to leave somewhere else. The vacancies are filled with guys who show up a little later. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) Some of the participants are merited players excelling in the competitive elements while others who come to enjoy the activities prefer to sit around and hang out with friends. The constitution of teams is only temporally fixed, they transform and change as the evening progresses. The open intervention of Midnight Football means that the young people can come and go as they wish during the evening. Even though the games follow a pre-defined order, they develop differently. Sometimes, the games end quickly, as in the following sequence in Västerort, where a poor action from the goalkeeper causes a quick loss for one of the teams. The opposing team opens the match with a shot from long distance. It bounces towards the goal, quite slow. But the goalkeeper manages to misjudge the ball’s trajectory and the shot goes into goal. The goalkeeper, who is one of the youngest, walks off the field. Several of the older boys laugh, and an older guy comes up and jokingly comments on the goalkeeper’s mistake. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) Here, the unfortunate mistake by the goalkeeper leads to a sudden loss and end of the game. Mistakes are noticed, unpretentiously, but at the same time with a clear competitive element. It is evidently quite important to win and excel to stay on the court. During the observations, we sometimes take part in the games. I play as a goalkeeper in one match, but mostly I play as the right defender. Our previous goalkeeper leaves to go home and we become a player short.

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So, we borrow a guy from the yellow-vested team. He has the brand new, black goalkeeper gloves. He compares them to the gloves that the goalkeeper in the red team has, which are old and worn. “Are you hungry or? They are completely eaten”, he jokes with the owner of the worn gloves. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) As illustrated, the formation of teams is flexible and constantly changing. Even as highly competitive elements are ever-present, jokes constitute an important part of the interactions taking place. Though, there is often an element of seriousness in the jokes made. Looks and appearance are obviously important for the guys. Like last Saturday, one of the guys, in-between the matches, holds up his upper body at the bars on the sidewall, tenses his abdominal muscles and pulls up his knees. Another younger boy, wearing a red football shirt with the text Söderort on his back, experiences what the body ideal can look like, when a teammate pats him on the stomach, and tries to pull up the shirt saying: “You, man … you need to train!” The undertone is jokingly playful, in a heartfelt and ironic way. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) In this sense, the activities take form in a balance between competitive seriousness and the formation of a community that seems both relaxed and humorous. The games provide a clear structure for the activities, and within them relations, interactions and actions take form. In the relations and interactions shaped, certain norms come forth concerning football skills, style, and appearance. The style of play Some of the young people are skilled players active in youth and senior teams. Others are beginners. Consequently, the games are sometimes not very even. The blue team wins seven matches in a row. No one is complaining loudly yet. On the bench, some younger guys complain that it’s hard to play against the bigger guys. When I ask one of the boys in the blue team, where all are older, about 16 or 17, they say that the younger boys get to learn from the older guys. When the blue team finally loses in their eighth match, big cheers break out in the arena, which lasts for a long time. Almost everyone in the hall stands up, and hands are raised in the air. Some screams and jumps. One guy hits his palms loudly on the court floor. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) The competitive elements of the game are repeatedly emphasized. Even when the games are not very even, there is a pedagogical element in learning to play against

Midnight Football 49

participants who are older and sometimes more skilful. By taking part in such games, young people can learn not only how to play, but also how to take a loss. The team consists of players with very different abilities and experience. In one team, the yellow team, at least three players who are really good have ended up together. They win several matches in a row. […] They play in junior and senior teams in Västerort FC and in another top team in West City. They are between about 16–19 years old. In the blue team, three of the boys are at the age of twelve. They play in Suburbia FC’s boys’ team. […] The younger ones, in blue, from the boys’ team try to play with a passing game and a somewhat organized defensive line-up. It does not help when they meet one of the teams with older guys, in red vests, seemingly unschooled football-wise, who play without a specially developed style, though, easily creating chances by their physical advantage. The game is oriented towards scoring goals, with a lot of dribbling and individual challenges and breakthroughs. This is how the older guys, in the red team, get to goal chances. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) Accordingly, there are different styles of play. The more skilled players forming one of the teams have developed tactics and the skills to perform. The younger participants play an advanced passing game and disciplined defence but lacking physical strength. The older participants play a physical game, running fast in search of opportunities for individual breakthroughs, a style that does not seem to involve tactics to any larger extent. In Österort, a few of the coaches play regularly on a semi-professional level, with their senior teams. When necessary, they enter the court to play. Tonight, the coaches form a team. It does not happen that often, Sead says. The coaches’ team wins their matches effortlessly. They showboat and play out their whole register. They make elegant moves, juggle the ball, nutmegging. The people on benches look intently. Everyone playing really wants to win. Several of the guys in the opposing teams are noticeably tense, openly showing their frustration over losing the ball to the coaches, and over the fact that everything goes so smoothly for the coaches. The young people participating and playing against the coaches want to win, and at the same time they want to show off their technical abilities. The many technically difficult maneuvers lead to a lot of mistakes. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) The coaches, acting in the capacity of role models, display their skills to the young people present. They dominate the game so that the participants get to know that they are authorities. As illustrated, participants seem to be inspired by the prowess of the coaches, and they are eager to show their own skills and tricks, sometimes resulting in poor decisions, difficult moves, and mistakes.

50 Midnight Football

The participants all come from the urban peripheries. They have a varied footballing background. Even though the intensity on court is high, and some of the young people are wearing their football gear, others have come to play in their jeans and regular clothes. In Västerort, the outfits sometimes reflect how the young people come from a poor background. A 14-year-old boy is goalkeeping in one of the teams. He has jeans, sneakers, a thin jacket, and a cap put back-to-front. He can do what he wants with the ball – and with the opponents. No one can take the ball from his feet. He shoots well with both feet, and later in the evening dribbles me properly to the left before he steps past me to the right. The coach and manager Mustafa says that he does not play in a team, that he does not have parents who can fix things. […] Many participants are equipped with sports gear, shorts, and a tshirt, while others play in their everyday clothes, with jeans and a hoodie and with sneakers. However, some young people have no sports equipment at all, wearing their usual outerwear. […] It is autumn, October, and many therefore wear a quilted jacket. I ask a guy with a thick vest if it does not get hot to play dressed like that. He just laughed and played on. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) The intervention of Midnight Football provides a specific form, maintaining both order and structure of the activities arranged, which is filled with a quite heterogeneous content and group of participants. Among the young people participating, there are significant differences in terms of both skills and habits of play. There are different styles of play coming forth. There are different ways of gearing up for the activities. Still, most of the young people in the sports arena come from the localities of the urban peripheries where the interventions take place, with their specific challenges in terms of segregation and unequal living conditions. Late night and closing time As the night comes to an end, the strict order of the game becomes more flexible, and eventually dissolves with the participants leaving the sports arena. Even though there is a clear structure for the games, the order of the games is less and less followed as the night progresses. The structure and order of play is clear for the first hour, but gradually the order becomes more relaxed. The players in the losing team tend to linger. Some players exchange vests with each other. As the structure begins to dissolve, several of the older players stay on the field. At 23:00, there are still formally seven teams in rotation, but fewer players and some prominent older boys are now playing with more teams. Some children go home during the evening, but many stay until closing at 23:45. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort)

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On one occasion, in Västerort, none of the managers or coaches showed up for the activities. In Västerort, Suburbia FC had some difficulties in sustaining the operation of the activities on a regular basis. Still, on this evening the games were played with 19-year-old participant Said acting as referee and informal authority. At 23:30 Said shouts loudly that this is the last match. After the match, a new team runs onto the court and wants to start playing. But Said says it’s over. The guys get off the court. After five minutes, the arena is almost empty. […] There are a couple of guys checking through the hall and the corridors that no stuff is left. They make sure that lights are turned off in the hall, changing rooms and in the corridors. Said goes out into the parking lot outside the hall and soon returns with a stand for a badminton net that someone has taken outside. He puts it inside before closing the door. After a few minutes, two guys come and want to enter the arena again, but all the doors are closed and locked. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) On this evening, the activities followed the established order (yet, after some initial discussion among the young people), where the young people engaged in ordering the activities by themselves and making sure the arena was closed. Normally, though, Martin is the manager both starting and closing the activities in Västerort. At 23:30 the last game is played. Martin has said before the start of the match that this is the last match. When the game is decided and ended, the resting team with the youngest boys still runs onto the field and gets ready for more games. Martin agrees to play another match. […] The match ends quite quickly, and the children and young people leave the court. […] We collect some balls and make company outside. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) After the activities, the young people leave the sports arena to go home, stay outside of the arena to hang out with friends or do something else, elsewhere. It is closing time and midnight, after football, in the urban periphery.

Methodology When we draw attention towards this specific sports-based intervention to analyse the role attributed to sport activities for social policy objectives, we see Midnight Football as a case in particular. We analyse the governmental rationality of Midnight Football, its problematizations, technologies and objectives as well as the effects made possible by the intervention.

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Midnight Football as a case This book is based on a study of one specific case of a sports-based intervention, providing thick descriptions accessible for detailed examination through theoretically informed analysis (Flyvbjerg 2006). Midnight Football is widely noticed as a forerunner in Sweden, named a successful example of how sports can be used as a response to social problems. The interventions have received a great deal of media attention and won awards. In that sense, Midnight Football has a special significance as a case of examination. Accordingly, the detailed scrutiny and close descriptions of activities, discourse and rationality provide knowledge in its own right, not primarily to draw generalizable conclusions concerning sports-based interventions (Flyvbjerg 2006). The activities explored in this book constitute a particular case and we do not claim that the case is representative of other similar activities where sport is used as a tool to meet social problems. At the same time, we mean that they are not unique. In the book, we situate Midnight Football as a case in relation to other sports-based interventions and forms of governing constitutive of social policy and social work today. In addition to specific knowledge about this particular sports-based intervention, the case study approach enables deepened theoretical nuances that can call for further reflections on the potential of sport as an instrument of social policy, not only limited to these cases and the geographical contexts in which they take place. Empirical material The empirical material on which this book is based can be divided into two main categories: interviews and observations. In addition, we have constructed network maps (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020, 2021), collected newspaper articles, features in other (social) media, as well as political debates. Such empirical material has contributed to a broader social understanding of the activities, even though it is not part of the analysis presented in this book. Regarding Midnight Football, a total of 66 interviews were conducted for the operations in Västerort in West City and in Österort in East City. The respondents are representatives of the National Foundation (n = 4). Further, managers of the activities locally, in Västerort, representing Suburbia FC, and Österort, representing Sumeria FC (n = 4) were interviewed. The managers, who have had more central roles in their respective activities, have been interviewed on several occasions. Additionally, coaches leading the football activities on site in Västerort and Österort were interviewed (n = 8). Representatives of both West City and East City municipalities were interviewed, both civil servants and political decision-makers (n = 8). In addition, several sponsors and other contributors (n = 6) as well as other collaborating actors (n = 4) were interviewed. In addition to these, interviews have been conducted with various actors in the surrounding community, including representatives of schools, leisure centres, social services, police and

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sports federations (n = 11), with insight into Midnight Football. In addition, participants (n = 21), aged 15–26, were interviewed, 19 boys and two girls. All interviews have been low structured, where it has been important that the articulations of respondents have guided the discourse. Admittedly, the interview situation itself constitutes a context and mode of governing that in some sense always shapes the content of the articulations. It is therefore important for researchers to reflect on this when the statements of respondents are analysed as discourse (Cruickshank 2012). Nevertheless, the ambition to give respondents the opportunity to express their experiences in their words has been an important starting point. Therefore, it has been crucial as far as possible to try to do justice to their descriptions while at the same time, based on the theoretical framework on which the analyses are based, offer theoretically grounded interpretations. When we followed the activities on site, we contacted many of the young people participating. The young people interviewed were between 15 and 21 years old (except for one participant who is 26 years old). All those interviewed have a migrant background, i.e., they are either themselves or at least one of their parents born abroad. The empirical material also consists of observations of the activities in Västerort and Österort. A total of ten observations were carried out, five at each location (Ekholm and James Frempong in Västerort, Dahlstedt and Nedžad Mešić in Österort). The observations were open and participatory in the sense that the participants in Midnight Football were informed about our presence and the reason for our presence. As was described previously, we participated during the observations in the games, together with the young people. The observations were documented through field notes that formed the basis for a deeper understanding of the activities and have created a broader context to better understand the practices of the activities (McSweeney & van Luijk 2019). Interviews and observations, together, create empirical materials accounting for reflections of relations and activities (per)formed. We conceive of the relations and activities explored as relations and activities of power and governing. Accordingly, through the empirical material presented we explore the formation of rationalities and technologies of power, the problematizations embedded, the technologies outlined, the domains animated, the objective aimed at, and the subjects formed. Based on the empirical material, the analyses presented in the following chapters follow the discourse analysis and analysis of governing rationality further elaborated on in chapter 1. Research ethics Our methodological approach raises several ethical concerns. The study design adheres to ethical principles regarding information, consent, confidentiality and usage (Swedish Research Council 2017). Pseudonyms have been used for the names of respondents as well as names of places and institutions appearing, for confidentiality purposes.

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As illustrated in the previous section, our observations were based on active participation in the field, also on the court, in the game. The manager and coach, Mustafa, begins by saying a few words. He mentions that James and I are here and will be taking part tonight. I say a few words about our work at the university and that we are researching young people’s sports activities in forms other than traditional and competitive club sports. No questions from the participants. I’m in shorts and prepared to play, and I tell the participants that I will join in the matches. James says that he is injured but that he may be able to play another night. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) This brief field note illustrates how we as researchers have been active participants, actively involved in the processes taking place, rather than distanced observers, standing on the outside of the court. As researchers, we develop relations with people in the field, and in this sense, we are actively part of forming the reality under scrutiny, part of the relations of power taking place, on the court as well as outside. For instance, our presence became visible to us in the dialogues and interactions on site, not least during observations. On several occasions, in both Västerort and Österort, participants approached us with questions about our research and our position as researchers in the field. Considering the segregation and inequalities manifested in stigmatization and a feeling of exclusion among young people in the urban periphery, it happened that some of the questions posed to us as researchers came with an implicit tone of scepticism. On several occasions, our presence and visibility in the field was associated with the presence of representatives of other agencies on site with the aim of controlling the activities and the young people taking part in them. I recognize one of the guys from last week. He asks what we are doing here: “Are you out scouting the ghetto?” I answer: “No, we are not scouts, we work at the university, and we don’t surveil. We want to follow the football activities and see how it works”. “So, you want to see what we gangsters are doing?”, he says and laughs. “No, we want to see who is involved and how participants think about football”, I respond. He says something in Arabic to some of the other guys, turns around and looks towards the party in the next building where a couple of girls have gathered. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) The relation and interaction described shows how our presence becomes intertwined in the dynamics and reflections formed on site. Even though informing and making clear our presence in the field and purpose of us being there, not all participants had a clear picture of us. Though, with some ironic phrasing

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exploring our intentions and visions of control, considering them and their activities as an object of knowledge and investigation. The account illustrates that there are indeed expectations on us, as researchers, our position as adults, as living outside of the localities of the interventions, and as not leaders of the activities, as unfamiliar, in a variety of ways. Our position as (relatively speaking) older researchers, not being residents in the localities, certainly affect our social relation with the field, the people, and their movements, in a variety of ways that we cannot fully give account for in this chapter. This fact, in turn, calls for ethical as well as epistemological awareness and reflection. In this sense, we as researchers also participate in the social dynamics and relations of power taking form in the field, in the activities, in the relations and in the movements of young people. And the knowledge produced from our examinations are the discursive effects of these power relations. In this way, the production of scientific knowledge becomes integrated in (as well as enabled by) the power relations formed on and formative of the field, as well as beyond the field.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we introduced the Midnight Football intervention in detail. We described the preconditions of the intervention taking form, its programmatic underpinnings and organization as well as the arrangement of the practices performed. Focusing on the practices, we looked closely into how the activities are formed in practice. We described the outline of the rules and order of the games and investigated how some of the key relations between participants and managers or coaches emerge. While based on seemingly pre-defined and static rules, there seems to be a quite large amount of flexibility and diversity left in terms of those participating, dressing, and style of play. Against this background, we accounted for the interviews and observations conducted and how they are approached analytically as a case of examination and problematization of discourse and rationality of power. Based on the presentation of Midnight Football and introduction of analysing governing rationality, we will in the following chapters go into detailed exploration of a variety of dimensions of Midnight Football. In the next chapter, we start this scrutiny by analysing the significance of place for the interventions carried out. Although Midnight Football takes place in the urban peripheries, the urban peripheries need to be shaped as a place through discourse, acted upon as real and in a sense becoming real in its consequences. The production of place is one of the key dimensions for understanding how the intervention is taking form, for how its rationality of governing makes certain effects possible.

References Backvall, K. (2019). Constructing the suburb: Swedish discourses of spatial stigmatization [PhD thesis]. Uppsala: Uppsala University.

56 Midnight Football Cruickshank, J. (2012). The role of qualitative interviews in discourse theory. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines 6(1), 38–52. Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (2019). Social exclusion and multi-ethnic suburbs in Sweden. In: Hanlon, B. & Vicino, T.J. (eds.). The Routledge companion to the suburbs (63–172). New York: Routledge. Davidsson, T. & Petersson, F. (2017). Towards an actor-oriented approach to social exclusion: a critical review of contemporary exclusion research in a Swedish social work context. European Journal of Social Work 21(2), 167–180. Ekholm, D., Dahlstedt, M. & Rönnbäck, J. (2019). Problematizing the absent girl: sport as a means of emancipation and social inclusion. Sport in Society 22(6), 1043–1061. Ekholm, D. & Holmlid, S. (2020). Formalizing sports-based interventions in crosssectoral cooperation: governing and infrastructuring practice, program and preconditions. Journal of Sport for Development 8(14), 1–20. Ekholm, D. & Holmlid, S. (2021). Organisering och samverkan. In: Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (eds.). Idrottens kraft? ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad (117–148). Lund: Studentlitteratur. Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry 12(2), 219–245. Högman (2021). Barn i rörelse. Om förutsättningar för utveckling i alternativa (?) idrottsaktiviteter [PhD thesis]. Karlstad: Karlstad University. Högman, J. & Augustsson, C. (2017). To play or not to play, that’s the question: young people’s experiences of organized spontaneous sport. Sport in Society 20(9), 1134–1149. Holmlid, S., Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2021). Practice occludes diffusion: scaling sports-based social innovations. In: Tjønndal, A. (ed). Social innovation in sport (55–77). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. McSweeney, M. & van Luijk, N. (2019). Leaving the comfort zone: utilizing institutional ethnography in sport for development and peace research. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 11(4), 559–572. Stenling, C. (2015). The drive for change: Putting the means and ends of sport at stake in the organizing of Swedish voluntary sport [PhD thesis]. Umeå: Umeå University. Swedish Research Council (2017). Good research practice. Stockholm: Swedish Research Council.

Chapter 4

Urban Periphery

Introduction In this chapter, we examine the formation of the urban periphery, how space is constructed on material and symbolic grounds, produced in discourse. We show how borders and distinctions are made, though never fixed, positioning Västerort and Österort to the urban periphery, and how such positioning is key for governing the movement and relations of young people, as well as their sense of belonging. The spatial formations analysed, become integrated in, and enable a variety of activities, relations and movements, manifested in technologies of governing explored further. Space and social segregation Following the increase in segregation and exclusion in the urban landscape in Sweden, as in many other Western welfare states, the significance of space, or place, as a location for problems and interventions, has been prominent in contemporary policy discourse (Sernhede et al. 2016). Studies on the sportsbased interventions have paid close attention to the spaces where they are performed. Here, the urban peripheries have been seen as sites in need of social change, targeting those referred to as “at-risk youth” (Hartmann 2016). However, many studies have taken the conditions of exclusion and segregation as a pre-given frame for the interventions scrutinized. In such framing of a contextual background, the literature situates investigations to “social housing” areas (Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015) and “deprived areas” (Coalter et al. 2000), or specifically to “inner-city” areas in the United States (Bustad & Andrews 2017), “estates” in the United Kingdom (Morgan 2018), “disadvantaged communities” in Australia (Skinner et al. 2008), “ghetto areas” in Denmark (Agergaard & Kahr Sørensen 2009) and “areas of exclusion” in Sweden (Ekholm & Dahlstedt 2017) – terms that tend to mean deprived residential areas in the urban periphery. Such investigations have provided important and critical reflections on how processes of exclusion play out in the urban landscape and on the role that sport has had to play (Hartmann 2016). DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-4

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Even though space is a recurrent theme in studies on sports-based interventions, there seems to be little or no scrutiny of the formation of space and place and what such formations effectively mean and what they produce. Thus, there is great need to explore, in greater detail, the various meanings and symbolic forces producing spaces themselves. In this chapter, we take the literature on critical urban geography as a point of departure. In this literature, considerable attention has been paid to the meaning of space as something more than just a physical territory and landscape. Rather, the analytical focus spotlights the very production of space, illustrating how social processes in space, together with animations of space, produce places in specific ways (Lefebvre 1991). In this respect, the constructions of space have productive effects in terms of conditioning how processes of and boundaries between inclusion and exclusion are formed (Zukin 1995). Consequently, in line with Sibley (1995, p. 72), we argue that “in order to understand the problem of exclusion in modern society, we need a cultural reading of space, what we might term an ‘anthropology of space’ which emphasizes the rituals of spatial organization”. Such rituals refer, for instance, to the activities and articulations making boundaries and distinctions in space, attributing certain places certain meanings. To use the words of Massey (2010, p. 9), we conceptualize “space as always under construction [and] because space on this reading is a product of relations-between, relations which are necessarily embedded material practices which have to be carried out, it is always in the process of being made”. Consequently, space is approached as a relational formation (Jones 2020) and as activities (Massey 2010) of becoming (Deleuze & Guattari 2007). Based on this approach, we underscore how the productive role and performativity of space is necessary for exploring governing interventions as part of contemporary social policy. Space, then, becomes more than a location of problems and interventions. It becomes a force of policy and a crucial dimension in the technologies of governing. Instead of approaching the urban periphery simply as a location where sport-based interventions play out, we explore space by interrogating the very discursive formation in terms of their becoming of domains of governing (Rose 1999). The aim of this chapter is to explore how the urban areas where the interventions take place are formed as governable domains as part of broader social policy discourse. How is space formed as a governable domain? What discursive premises made this formation of space possible? How does this formation of space make certain governing technologies possible? Space as discursive formation To analyse the formation of space, as a governmental domain, we use the concept of discursive formation (Foucault 1972). Things talked about and acted upon become real as discursive formations. Thus, places become real as discursive formations, or “abstract spaces” (Rose 1999, p. 31). The production of

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such formations is a work of cartography, of animating spaces and things as visible and controllable to be acted upon (Rose 1999). Following this act of animation, problematizations and technologies of governing are located to certain domains of governing and become discursive effects (Bacchi 2009). Approached as discursive effects, space does not pre-exist the problematizations articulated or the technologies of governing outlined. Based on the problematization approach, outlined in chapter 1, the domains produced as discursive formations may be seen as containers of certain problematizations and ways of understanding risk, as well as locating technologies to deal with problems and risk. From a similar approach, focusing on governing and control, Deleuze and Guattari (2007, p. 524) describe an opposition between two kinds of spaces: “smooth space and striated space” (Deleuze & Guattari 2007, p. 524). Without going into further detail about their complex argument, distinguishing between the two forms of space can be helpful in examining how space is formed, with a focus on how movement is steered. Smooth space means territories that are open, flexible, enabling unrestricted movement, whereas striated spaces are partially fixed territories, marked and made known, navigable. The making of striated spaces is a work of territorialization, to produce territories, to order concepts, objects, and events with association to certain meanings of space and place (Deleuze & Guattari 2007). Accordingly, such cartographic work can be seen as a work of governing, to establish fixed points in the spatial environments to direct or to channel any kind of movement.

Forming the urban periphery In the analysis we investigate the urban geography and the significance attributed to the sport activities and sites in the localities. We analyse how a discourse is formed separating the residential areas of Västerort and Österort from the rest of cities and society. Furthermore, we look closer into how the spaces are problematized in various ways, populated by vulnerable residents and weak associations, pointed out as in need and as targets of intervention. In relation to the explicit problematization mentioned we also investigate how problems are conceived of as posing risk and danger. Lastly, attention is drawn to certain forms of resistance that are mobilized towards the attribution and discourses of risk. Altogether, the analysis displays the various ways through which the urban geography is formed as a discursive space located on the remote outskirts of the cities and demarcated as different and problematic. Centring the domain around the movements and sport arenas To begin, there seems to be a particular importance attributed to the sport activities in understanding how residential areas are formed as particular domains. Sport arenas are centrally located, and the movement of young people

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seems to centre around these. Sport becomes a concept and an event with a certain meaning that produces certain orders and striations in space. In modern societies, cities cannot be restricted solely by city walls; still the movement of people needs to be steered in certain ways, to control the “influx of the floating populations” (Foucault 2009, p. 18), such as people posing a threat to the security of society. Ordering space, then, is “a matter of organizing circulation, eliminating its dangerous elements, making a division between good and bad circulation, and maximizing the good circulation by diminishing the bad” (Foucault 2009, p. 18). Accordingly, space is organized for managing the movement of certain groups, for instance young people deemed to be the subjects of risk. In Västerort, the materiality of space, in terms of architecture and infrastructure, is arranged around the school, the sport arena and football grounds. The sports field and complex, including the main school building, are located in the park at the centre of the surrounding area. When asked in an interview if it would be possible to conduct the activities at another sports ground, Martin, the Midnight Football manager in Suburbia FC, responds, “never”, furthermore explaining that “the important thing is that it is so local … that it is close”, suggesting that “the kids should just get their bags and run out from school and be on the sports ground in two minutes”. In this way, he animates a domain where access to sport grounds is constitutive of the spaces and the movements enabled. Localizing sport activities in general, and the Midnight Football activities in particular, to the area around the central park in Västerort also has a certain importance for the young people in terms of how they move within the area. When 16-year-old participant Boban describes that he and his friends meet up “around the park … and play football and so on”. It is there that young people meet to attend the Midnight Football activities and hang around during the activities when they are not playing. The sport arena is also part of the local school in Österort, located centrally within the area. The location at the centre of the area gives young people from the area easy access to the activities. In relation to the central position of the arenas in the discourses articulated and domains formed, the movement within and beyond of young people is manifested. Respondents repeatedly describe how participants are reached out to in relation to where they live within the demarcated urban areas. The young people’s movements revolve around the sports venues in these areas. Turning to Västerort, almost all the young participants come from the local neighbourhood. There are some exceptions, for example those who live in other socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of West City. This is reaffirmed by 17-yearold participant Ali, who says that the young participants are “mainly from Västerort”, adding that “some might come from other parts”, mentioning other socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Here, it is important to note the primarily local reach of young people when they move around. When exceptions occur, they move from similar areas to the location of the activities. Looking at Österort, Sulejman, one of the managers there, reflects on how young people

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from Österort are agile in their movement. Accordingly, the local young people sometimes attend recreation centres and activities in other parts of the city. However, young people from more affluent residential areas rarely come to Österort and the Midnight Football activities held there: Kids from Västerort … go to the recreation centres in [two other areas]. There is a lot of movement nowadays. It’s incredible. They move … they are everywhere. Interviewer: Do kids from other areas come to Västerort? No, I don’t think so. Not into these areas. It’s usually the kids who live here. (Sulejman) According to this description, recreation centres and sports activities in the area are more or less exclusively attended by local young people. Local young people may move around the city, but young people from other areas do not come into the area. The perceived borders limit movements into the area, and in that sense reinforce the demarcations. The area of exclusion, discursively located in the periphery – the outside – of the city, forms its own logic of exclusion and inclusion. In this sense, it is the young people from areas and localities beyond the area of exclusion that do not enter it. The movement of young people constitutes a contrasting discourse of inclusion, re-forming the notions of inside and outside, as the area of exclusion (outside) is demarcated from the rest of the city, forming its own inside through the movement of young people. Material and symbolic differentiation and limitation The recurring discourse specifies the areas of Västerort and Österort as distinct from West and East City, respectively. The differentiations established are based both on reflections about material and symbolic boundaries in the urban geography. To make the areas distinct, they need to be animated as something else, compared to the rest of the cities and society at large. This discourse can be understood in two dimensions, pinpointing how material and symbolic dimensions of separation are articulated and intertwined. Here, the limitations of the movement of young people plays a particular role. When it comes to material differentiation, in West City, physical borders are marked in the territory and reflected upon. Västerort, is centred around the park, school and sports arena and is demarcated on the outside on three sides, bordering the rest of the city: on one side by the main railway tracks, on another side by large industrial sites, and on a third side by a busy motorway. These physical barriers, in turn, are surrounded by large bushes and fields. Demarcated in these directions, the apartment blocks that make up the area are surrounded by a circular road, encapsulating the area from the outside. As described by

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Martin in Suburbia FC, Västerort “has a geographical barrier” and is “geographically encapsulated”, concluding that “it’s not a prison, definitely not … but there is a very clear mental barrier”. Importantly, this way of reflecting upon the urban geography animates the contours of the domain in relation to the perceived barriers. Apartment blocks face the inside of the area where the park, school, sports arena and football fields are located. From Martin’s perspective, the material boundaries visible hold a symbolic power, creating a mental barrier. Demarcations to the outside allow for open spaces in the park and the centre of the urban area. Similar reflections are recurring with regards to the geography of Österort in East City. Not least, the motorway that separates Österort and close-by Söderort from more affluent neighbouring areas is described as a clear boundary. This physical barrier is not least a watershed between areas with different socioeconomic conditions. However, in Österort, the material borders may be invisible to the uninitiated visitor, although they are clear to the residents themselves. Neighbouring residential areas of rental apartment blocks seemingly blend into each other. Despite being demarcated by large motorways in two directions, there are generally more passages compared to Västerort. When asked about the border to Söderort, the neighbouring residential area of Österort with a similar socioeconomic character, manager Abraham in Sumeria FC says that the border “is not there, it’s not physically there”. He then explains which apartment blocks and buildings belong to which residential area, thereby producing borders in the landscape. He emphasizes that people who move between the areas recognize the boundaries, saying that there is a general notion that “if you live in Söderort, you go to Söderort school, you are a Söderort guy, then you don’t hang out in Österort” and “you shouldn’t be on the other side”. He says, “there is an invisible border in between. It has been there ever since”. The borders are manifested as a tradition, in the way that they have been experienced and estimated from before, reinforcing administrative divisions between municipal schools and other social institutions. They are “invisible” and “not physically there”, but they are still powerful in terms of steering the movement of young people, limiting the extent to which Midnight Football participants cross into other areas. Accordingly, the material dimensions of separation become meaningful and possible to be acted upon in their symbolic dimensions. The material borders are highly visible in Västerort but are primarily described in terms of their symbolic manifestation in Österort. Notwithstanding the degree to which borders are physical, they become symbolic barriers, bearing effects on how areas are demarcated and formed as domains of problematization and made ready for governing intervention. Problematizing the residents and forms of associations When separated from the rest of the cities, respectively, each locality has its own internal characteristics – though, following similar discourses of problematization.

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Residents are described in various ways as excluded, vulnerable and subjected to specific challenges located to and contained within the areas. The areas where the interventions take place are associated with socioeconomic vulnerability, creating difficult conditions for organizing sports practices within traditional associations. In Österort, Hans in East City FC expresses that “if you live in Västerort then you have poorer socio-economic conditions […] and you have a culture” associated with certain problems, which is purportedly “not the case for children with Swedish parents”. In this construction, socio-economic conditions are interwoven with ethno-cultural belonging. Similarly, Marika, who is chairman of the culture and leisure committee in West City municipality, describe that many of the residents in Västerort “live on social benefits and many of the kids have never seen their parents go to work”, suggesting that these socio-economic conditions have harmful effects for the residents as “you lose courage and hope when there are very many people in the same place who live so vulnerable … because then it spreads”. The spaces become problematized by proxy of the populations that inhabit them, making them symbolically distinct from the cities at large. Following such problematization, a discourse of need is attributed to and associated with the places of the intervention. The patterns of segregation reflected upon in each city, and the socio-economic deprivation in Västerort and Österort, are recognized in local policy and municipal administration. Therefore, Midnight Football has appeared on the local political agenda. Both Västerort and Österort, in their respective municipalities, are made objects of local social policy to combat crime and drugs. Support of Midnight Football is one of many forms of support provided. Sulejman reflects on the terms under which Österort is targeted by the benign forms of governing in the municipal administration: We were at a meeting with the municipality on how to change Österort, make Österort a better place. It’s the last time I will go to such a meeting. Even if there are good intentions … there is a constant focus on people being different, immigrants. What difference does it make? Why does Österort have to be different? Österort is as much a part of East City as [two affluent areas]! Just let it be a part of East City. There is too much focus on this stuff. Even if there are good intentions, there is always a focus on … people being immigrants. (Sulejman) Even though the support from the municipality is seen as benevolent, the discourse of support is underpinned by stigmatization and exclusion, as noted by Sulejman. In this case, the position from where the needs and challenges are articulated is described as coming from outside the area, animating and enforcing the distinction as an area of exclusion located on the outside of the city. Not least, these articulations are underpinned by a repeated emphasis on the

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migrant background of the residents. However, in a contrasting narrative, resistance towards this discourse can arise – and is something that we deal with later in this chapter. Lack of resources, weakness and need attributed to the places are repeatedly talked about with respect to the lack of well-functioning associations. Marika, for instance, acknowledges how the residents’ socio-economic vulnerability creates challenges for sport associations, recalling that “there were so many failures [and] difficulties in forming lasting associations”. Along these lines, Azad, who works as an integration coordinator with the district sports federation, describes how “associations out in these areas face severe difficulties … and they are weak in terms of resources”. It is on this basis that Bernt, secretary of the charitable gentlemen’s club, justifies the club’s charitable support for Midnight Football: “We could have given money to some team in [an affluent area], but they are too privileged”. There, “they have money, coaches, adults around who can provide support”, but “that’s not the case in Västerort”. These challenges are mirrored in East City and Österort, except for Sumeria FC, which functions quite well as a sports club, with a long tradition of providing sport activities. Furthermore, along these lines of reasoning, Sulejman from Sumeria FC believes that the activities of Midnight Football can be seen as a form of social work, responding to challenges of deprivation and exclusion. Accordingly, many young people “were excluded because they could not afford … membership fees”. But the open forms of Midnight Football “mean a form of integration”, which, for Sulejman, “is, in a sense, social work”. Notably, a variety of agencies direct their benign interest towards the delineated spaces constituting the areas as domains of governing. Following these ways of producing space by means of attributing certain weaknesses and needs, particular boundaries around Västerort and Österort are created, delineating them from mainstream society, constructing the areas as sites of need, support and intervention. Constructing the discourses and domains of risk and danger When the previous analysis spotlighted the need of supporting and safeguarding the populations and associations in the areas, there is simultaneously a will to protect society from the risk and danger posed by the excluded. In relation to the demarcations mentioned, two dimensions of articulating risk and danger visà-vis sport practices are constitutive of the domains demarcated, concerning how dangers are located in the spaces and how the discourse of risk and danger is resisted. In the following section, we focus on the first dimension, pinpointing how risk and dangers are attributed and formative of the domains constructed. Most notably, the situation of exclusion, the vulnerability and disadvantaged positions among the residents in Västerort and Österort is discursively associated with certain problems – especially among young people. There is talk about dangers being prevalent, for instance in the form of young people burning cars and throwing stones. According to Martin in Suburbia FC, kids “pick up stones,

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throw them at things”, “start fights”, while “older guys sit on benches selling bags of stuff”. Further, “all your friends are unemployed”, and “when you become part of this slum … you risk losing your grip”. The situation resonates well with how Darko in Sumeria FC, describes Österort as a place “with a lot of crime, burning cars and a lot of negative things”. Also Sead, another coach in Österort, says “if the Midnight Football wasn’t there, the kids would have learned from the older guys … hanging around outside the shopping mall … and believe me, there are no positive things happening there”. A similar rationality is embraced also by some of the young people participating in the activities. For instance, as in the words of Saman, a 15-year-old boy in Västerort: If there is nothing to do at home, there is Midnight Football. Young people go there and play football. When you don’t play, you sit down on the benches and just talk about whatever. You’re not entirely focused on football … People go there instead of doing bad things, like burning cars and stuff that happened a couple of weeks ago … like selling drugs. There are a lot of criminals in Västerort. Especially young people. (Saman) Here, the sports intervention appears as both a response and an alternative to the dangers in the area, in the form of burning cars and selling drugs. Such a discourse forms a strong imagery, recognizing that Västerort is a particular place. In the intersection between the resident young people problematized and the spaces attributed with problems, risk and danger are the communities of exclusion formed in the discourse. Within the framework of the communities of exclusion formed, there is also a risk that young people will encounter slightly older people in the community who may have a negative impact on them. As Sulejman in Sumeria FC puts it, young people in Österort are “close to the bad people … the bad role models”. Though, the community and its social relations are not only described as problematic. The tension between different kinds of role models is well illustrated by Sulejman, mentioning “the importance of providing positive role models, so that they [the young people] can choose another path in life”. In the discourse about the community of the areas, special emphasis is placed on the common identity that is created in relation to the place and the common experiences that exist of having grown up in the area. The community is based on similarity. People are imagined to be sharing experiences of living in the area, with the special conditions that apply there, but also a set of norms, values, or ways of behaving. It is the events and relations associated and attributed to the spaces, along the material and symbolic infrastructures noted, that constitute the striated spaces, establishing a landscape of meaning, reflection and navigation, for the young people to move within and beyond. These are just a few examples of many stories which form the area as dangerous and in need of intervention. The excerpts from interviews with managers

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and coaches of the intervention provide descriptions that may form a basis for legitimizing the operations. In this way, there may be reasons to emphasize certain problems that can potentially be addressed by the socio-pedagogical technologies promoted. Drugs, violence and crime are mentioned, while poverty is overshadowed. By underlining the concerns of moral conduct considering problems and risk, rather than material and structural disadvantages, the intervention promoting reformation of personal moral conduct is prepared. Such descriptions animate a landscape of risk, demarcating a domain where interventions need to take place. Resisting and countering the discourse of risk Following from the attributing of risk and danger, such discourse is also embedded in a particular discourse of resistance. Such resistance targets both what portrayals of the areas are true as well as the explanations of segregation and its effects. Intertwined with the various dangers attributed to the localities, there are counter-narratives, not least in the form of discursive battles with current media discourses. In these counter-narratives, the suburbs are described as not necessarily more dangerous than other areas in the cities. Accordingly, there can be a variety of understandings of the domain that come into conflict with each other. However, these are still articulated with respect to the perceived demarcations. With respect to the situation in Österort, Abraham focuses on the images and misinterpretations produced by the media. He says that “what is written in the media about fights and guns and stuff” is not about young people in the area. Therefore, “all these words … are misrepresentations from the media that don’t correspond to reality … From the outside, there is so much prejudice about crime and bad things … but that’s from people who haven’t set foot in this neighborhood”. Furthermore, looking at Västerort, even after animating the dangers previously, Martin in Suburbia FC says that “we never say that we have a problem in Västerort – because we don’t. Our problem is that other people have a problem with Västerort”. When reflecting on current discourses in the media, he says: Do they have to picture it that way? The only thing they want to tell the world is that Västerort is a scary place. Those who read the papers don’t live in the area, and the only information they get is about how bad Västerort is … We shouldn’t stigmatize these areas … Stop recounting examples in the media without explaining what lies behind the shootings … There is a structural problem. (Martin) Here, the construction of space is recognized and critically questioned. Accordingly, the media stigmatizes and portrays the place in an unjust way, and based on this construction, Martin provides a counter-narrative. Furthermore,

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Martin specifically highlights a repeated focus on danger in his dialogues with potential partners and supporters of the activities. When Klas, the factory owner supporting the activities in Västerort financially, recalls a recent visit, he says that other people, “from outside” Västerort, asked him where he would park his car, implying that he cannot park his car within the residential area. But Klas describes Västerort as “a very warm place … filled with people”, mentioning that “it is a very open space with the playgrounds and hills and a large green park” next to the sports arena and the football ground where the activities took place during his visit. In this way, he illustrates a stereotypical discourse and positions his own experiences as a counter-description, with a more positive emphasis. Moreover, from the point of view of the young people, the discourse of resistance comes forth in their ways of talking about the places where they live. Such descriptions often take shape more or less in direct relation, and sometimes opposition, to what is described as the stereotypical discourses from the outside. Österort and Västerort are different places, with their own contexts. Nevertheless, it is striking how similar the places are described by the participants. Ali mentions that “what is said and written about the area, Västerort, I don’t believe so much in it”. He says “of course, there are bad people here [and] stuff is happening that is not really good and so … but otherwise, I think it’s a great place to live”. On a similar note, Besar points out that “I don’t think it’s bad at all … it’s really quiet”, and “stuff happens from time to time, but when you were young you heard bad things about Österort all the time”. This discourse is articulated against the backdrop of a common, mainly negative description of the area, not least with a focus on violence and crime, primarily promoted by people positioned outside the area. Both statements, though, more or less directly distance themselves from overly simplified problem descriptions that they experience. Among the participants, Saladin in Västerort is one of those describing current conditions of segregation and vulnerability as the effects of structural causes. We have an upper class, middle class and underclass. […] Some areas that look like Västerort, or become like this because of the circumstances, that’s where crime is high, where exclusion is even higher, where those who have more resources choose to move away. (Saladin) He articulates Västerort as a place where people live under different conditions as compared to in more affluent parts of the city. Not least, Västerort is more distressed in socio-economic terms, than other parts of West City, which in turn has a range of negative effects. This way, he provides a discourse of resistance by underlining the material and structural causes and explanations of segregation and exclusion, without obscuring the presence of problems and risk in Västerort. The discourse about the situation in the area, as articulated from within,

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conflicts with the discourse from the outside. Contrasting these conflicting discourses makes the symbolic demarcations of the urban geography clear. Both discourses are constitutive of the demarcated domains. This formative discourse, attributing danger while simultaneously refusing such attribution of danger articulated from the outside, facilitates the formation of the domain and its striations, constituted by problematizations as well as by discourses about sport as a means of responding to such problematizations.

Concluding reflections In the analysis presented in this chapter, we have displayed how the spaces of Västerort and Österort take shape as discursive formations, animated as particular domains of problematization and made subject to governing intervention. We argue that the places of intervention are discursively disassociated and demarcated from the rest of society, in both material and symbolic dimensions. In this respect, social change is located to space portrayed as separate from and marked as being outside the city – demarcated from the city, and in that geographical and symbolical sense, from society at large. A key dimension of such animation is the creation of boundaries and differentiation between the inside and the outside of the domains separated, but also the order of events, relations and places, shaping the striated spaces within the areas, respectively. In the analysis presented, there is a discursive pattern reappearing where the spaces of problematization and intervention are differentiated in contrast to the discursive outside. To begin, space is differentiated by marking borders in the urban geography and ascribing certain meanings to them. Memories and local traditions, buildings, roads and not least sports arenas and halls become symbols of the places, marking borders in the material and symbolic urban geographies. Moreover, space is differentiated through the localization and containment of problems and by pointing out the specific conditions for establishing sport practices. Based on the above-mentioned acts of animation, the domains formed become containers of certain problematizations. They are characterized by problems, risk and dangers, and inhabited by people that are described as both vulnerable, marginalized and excluded as well as posing a risk and danger to society. Principally, such characterization forms a basis for assessment of need and governing intervention directed towards the residential areas, respectively. Space also becomes differentiated through the outreach of young people as well as the recruitment strategies for coaches in the intervention. Notably, the Midnight Football intervention involves primarily the young people of the residential areas of Västerort and Österort. In addition, coaches are recruited on the premise of them sharing a local background, common experience from growing up in the specific places pointed out as well as networks and social relations in the areas. In this sense, a particular community of people, relations and networks are located to and associated with the spaces demarcated. These

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notions of community and relations within the areas, contribute to forming the inward-bound constitution of space. Furthermore, certain significance is attributed to the directions of movements within and beyond the areas demarcated, not least in terms of limiting the movements of young people (in particular, the inward movement of young people from the demarcated outside) and preparing the striated infrastructures, symbolic and material, that direct and enable their movement. The movement of young people are directed towards the areas, respectively, towards the locations of the sports activities. They are sometimes directed towards other parts of the cities. But, rarely, movements of young people from more affluent parts of the cities are directed to Västerort or Österort. Additionally, space is differentiated by the dynamics between dangers attributed and dangers resisted. Interestingly, differentiations are made in the tensions between articulations from the discursive inside and from the discursive outside, against which counter-narratives may be formed, in turn underlining borders between inside and outside. It is in the tensions between the confronting discourses that the boundaries demarcating the domains are manifested. The production of space, its insides and outsides, is one of the ways in which governing takes form. The spatial environments where young people move needs to be ordered according to certain rationalities, to steer the movements of the young. What is produced, then, are spatial (material and symbolic) striations making certain movements (more or less) possible. The contingency of the urban landscape is ordered. Here, the urban periphery is explored as more than just a surface or a backdrop for specific interventions. The urban periphery, as animated in discourse, becomes a productive force on its own (Lefebvre 1991; Massey 2010). When space is explored as a discursive formation and domain, not only the formation of specific meanings attributed to space and how space is formed is spotlighted, but also how the political and governmental potential of space become intertwined in distinct technologies of intervention (Rose 1999). The discursive formation of space is an ongoing process, and continually articulated from a variety of actors with different positions. Our investigation is not unique in pinpointing how the urban periphery is demarcated as a site of governing intervention. In the wake of increased segregation and exclusion, such dynamics have been a recurring topic in social (and punitive) as well as urban policy in recent decades (Garland 2002). Though, we have investigated the complexity of how the formation is performed and how the formation becomes integral in certain (sports-based) practices of rule, making certain technologies of governing possible, not least in relation to community and pastoral relations between people from within the urban peripheries, but also when it comes to control of the movements possible. This formation, with its associated boundaries, events, relations and spaces, with its problematizations attributed, provides a premise and an underpinning for a variety of technologies to govern. In the following chapters of the book, we scrutinize how the rationalities and technologies of governing constitutive of

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the Midnight Football intervention form and legitimize selective social policy targeting particular risks, subjects of risk and places of risk. The intervention constitutes specific assemblages of technologies steering the movement and conduct of young people. What is made possible in terms of technologies of governing the young people participating in Midnight Football, following the analysis presented in this chapter, is a particular form of locally based community work: for the young people residing in the urban periphery, conducted by coaches and managers experienced and rooted in the urban periphery, provided by associations connected to the locations; supported by agencies from beyond and provided on the basis of needs assessed and underpinned by discourses articulated from the outside. In the next chapter, we dig deeper into the role of civil society in the spaces demarcated and how they are suggested to activate relations of community and autonomy in the governing of social policy.

References Agergaard, S. & Kahr Sørensen, J. (2009). The dream of social mobility: ethnic minority players in Danish football clubs. Soccer & Society 10(6), 766–780. Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenchs Forest: Pearson. Bustad, J.J. & Andrews, D.L. (2017). Policing the void: recreation, social inclusion and the Baltimore police athletic league. Social Inclusion 5(2), 241–249. Coalter, F., Allison, M., & Taylor, J. (2000). The role of sport in regenerating deprived areas. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press. Collins, M. & Haudenhuyse, R. (2015). Social exclusion and austerity policies in England: the role of sports in a new area of social polarisation and inequality? Social Inclusion 3(3), 5–18. Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (2007). A thousand plateaus. Capitalism and schizophrenia. New York: Continuum. Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2017). Football for inclusion: examining the pedagogic rationalities and the technologies of solidarity of a sports-based intervention in Sweden. Social Inclusion 5(2), 232–240. Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. London: Tavistock. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Garland, D. (2002). The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hartmann, D. (2016). Midnight basketball. Race sports, and neoliberal social policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Jones, M. (2020). Relationality. In: Kobayashi, A. (ed.). International encyclopedia of human geography. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Massey, D. (2010). For space. London: SAGE Publications. Morgan, H. (2018). Enhancing social mobility within marginalized youth: the accumulation of positive psychological capital through engagement with community sports clubs. Sport in Society 21(11), 1669–1685.

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Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sernhede, O., Thörn, C. & Thörn, H. (2016). The Stockholm uprising in context. In: Mayer, M., Thörn, C. & Thörn, H. (eds.). Urban uprisings (149–173). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Sibley, D. (1995). Geographies of exclusion: Society and difference in the West. London: Routledge. Skinner, J., Zakus, D. H., & Cowell, J. (2008). Development through sport: building social capital in disadvantaged communities. Sport Management Review 11, 253–275. Zukin, S. (1995). The culture of cities. Oxford: Blackwell.

Chapter 5

Civil Society

Introduction In this chapter, we explore how civil society is produced as a rationality of governing, at a distance from (though, intertwined in) the public sector produced through differentiation. Here, we analyse how a domain of autonomous relations and activities are produced in discourse and how this domain is mobilized for various governing purposes. From this point of view, we spotlight the significance of authentic relations, trust and community attributed to sport and civil society, making certain technologies of integration and social reformation possible. Civil society in context A recurring topic throughout the history of modern political thought is the relation between civil society and the state/the public sector (Cohen & Arato 1994; Foucault 2010). This topic is key to understanding the development of sport in contemporary social policy in Western countries. Recently, crosssectoral cooperation has become increasingly important for contemporary social policy, focusing, among other things, on societal challenges such as segregation and social exclusion (Herz 2016; Villadsen 2009). Currently, in an international context, sports-based interventions are often developed in collaboration between civil society associations and municipalities (Agergaard 2011; Hoekman et al. 2017; Rosso & McGrath 2017), where the role of civil society associations is particularly relevant (Ibsen & Levinsen 2019; Walker & Hayton 2018). Although sports policy in Sweden, in particular, has traditionally been primarily a responsibility of the state (Norberg 2011), and municipalities have been important actors in facilitating the development of sports activities for young people (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2021). Scandinavian studies have displayed how sports clubs generally welcome collaboration with public institutions. However, among clubs in general, there is a certain hesitancy to submit to social policy goals defined by political institutions (Ibsen & Levinsen 2019; Stenling & Fahlén 2016). Such a role for sport associations (Norberg 2011) has been actively reinforced by representatives of the sporting movement itself, DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-5

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advocating the suggested contributions of sports participation and associations to social objectives, as a quest for legitimacy and funding support (Stenling & Sam 2017, 2019). Such utilization of sports associations to achieve policy objectives, operating at the community level, has politically been spurred by widespread notions of the purity of civil society, considered a site of good experiences resulting in individual and community development (Skille 2014). However, sectors in society are often viewed as a pre-given, universal form of operation, rather than as constructs produced by governing (Villadsen 2008a). Foucault (2010, p. 297) goes into detail about this, saying “we should be very prudent regarding the degree of reality we accord to this civil society”, specifying that “it is not an historical-natural given which functions in some way as both the foundation of and source of opposition to the state or political institutions” but, rather, “something which forms part of modern governmental technology […] absolutely correlative to the form of governmental technology we call liberalism”. Thus, the discursive underpinnings of sectors and institutions need to be further investigated and problematized (Foucault 2010). The main part of existing research literature on the development of sports policy, merging with social policy, has focused on cross-sectoral collaborations from institutional perspectives (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020). This literature has scrutinized (re)negotiations among agencies located in the seemingly pre-existing sectors of state, civil society and market (Lindsey et al. 2020; MacIntosh et al. 2016). In contrast, the discursive approach adopted here provides us with concepts that make it possible to further explore how such differentiations between societal sectors are made in discourse and practice and how sectors relate to and are embedded in each other (Foucault 2010; Villadsen 2008a). The aim of this chapter is to investigate how civil society takes shape as a discursive formation and domain, as well as technology, of governing by means of Midnight Football. How is civil society constructed and formed in discourse and as a domain of governing? What discursive premises enable this formation of civil society? How is this formation made integral in the rationalities of governing promoted by means of Midnight Football? Civil society as governable domain In the previous chapter, we described how places were animated and acted upon as discursive formations. In this chapter, we will approach civil society in a similar way – as a discursive formation, created and utilized as a means of governing. To begin, civil society can only be made intelligible when examining its discursive premises, pinpointing its association with a particular notion of freedom and moral community, positioned at a distance from state power. Accordingly, civil society as a domain is formed as an effect of discourse and the technologies operating in relation to this discursive formation (Foucault 1980, 2010; Rose 1999). The notion of civil society emerged in modern and liberal society, as a way of separating the state from the domain of freedom and autonomy over which the

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exercise of state power must be limited (Foucault 2010). In the enlightenment tradition, the notion of individual freedom was located in this particular domain, beyond the reach of sovereigns, such as kings or governments (Foucault 2010). Civil society, as formed, became a solution to the problem of how to govern a population, consisting of individual subjects with individual rights and freedoms that must be safeguarded and protected (Burchell 1991; Foucault 2010). A key for exploring how civil society has been shaped in modern and liberal societies, is the notion of moral community beyond public government (Rose 1999), which draws attention to how people become moral subjects or subjects of virtue, rather than subjects of rights or self-interest (Ashenden 2015; Burchell 1991). In line with the enlightenment tradition, civil society has been conceptualized, and politically framed, as a domain where subjects (by their virtue and moral relations) can be part of authentic, voluntary and moral communities, where the moral relations are self-regulatory and seemingly autonomous from intervention by the state (Ashenden 2015; Rose 1999). Constitutive of civil society, particular technologies of governing based on notions of community, moral relations, freedom and autonomy have been assembled and institutionalized, operating to conduct the conduct of people (Foucault 1982). Accordingly, when exploring these formations, we must look beyond the institutions as such and interrogate the technologies formative of them, how they assemble and how they operate according to certain rationalities (Villadsen 2008a, 2019).

The construction of civil society In the analysis of this chapter, we analyse the ways in which Midnight Football, the organization and the activities carried out, are differentiated from the public sector and associated with civil society. We look closely into the situation in West City and Västerort, as well as the situation in East City and Österort, analysing the variety in constructions of the civil society. Conclusively, we analyse how these discursive formations of civil society are intertwined in certain technologies of governing by means of community. Productive discursive differentiations With the premise that civil society is constructed partly through differentiations between civil society and the public sector, we will focus on how these differentiations are made, acted and reflected upon. The discursive differentiations between civil society and the public sector are constructed, not least, when collaboration takes place and when this collaboration is talked about. To begin with, some recurring approaches to collaboration, and thus the construction of civil society as a domain of governing, should be highlighted. First, the different actors repeatedly spotlight the distinctions between civil society and the public sector. In different ways, these sectors are described as

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fundamentally different from each other. This difference is the basis for various characterizations about the values attributed to each domain; the inherent character of civil society and the municipality; and what actors in these respective sectors are capable of. Second, civil society is repeatedly associated with a certain potential, while the pedagogic and social work of the public sector is described as in various respects limited. Accordingly, the discursive differentiations mark out a normative relation between the civil society and the public sector, establishing a rationality where civil society needs to be involved in combating social problems of certain kinds, as the public sector lacks resources and is incapable or even making matters worse. Introducing how the collaborative activities are articulated and reflected upon in the two places where the activities are conducted, we initially direct attention to the words of Fredrik, who works for the foundation overseeing Midnight Football. He gives voice to a civil society discourse with respect to the expected and greeted transformation of the welfarist state and its social policy. Civil society is transforming and like a lot of social and peoples’ movements are changing. […] It has emerged more … kind of social entrepreneurship and that bit. […] To a certain extent Midnight Football is some kind of hybrid, as between maybe … to some extent, between public sector, civil society and corporations … where we may often get money from corporations, because they see some kind of value in this. […] And the public sector also has an interest in […] dealing with social problems. And then, the civil society … where there are people who want to get involved and believe in something and want to make some change. (Fredrik) Accordingly, civil society is differentiated from the public sector, and attributed a certain potential to contribute to dealing with social problems. By means of collaboration, civil society can be involved in the management of social policy. He also spells out that there is a social policy development going on, transforming the role of civil society, where social entrepreneurs push the initiatives of nonpublic sector agencies to be involved in carrying out certain services, situating his statements and reflection. In this sense, trends in society and new roles for civil society become a guide for understanding the various activities that the foundation is pushing for. He points out the game plan for this negotiation, while providing an understanding of what characterizes the public sector, civil society and business agencies (i.e., the market) in a way that is clearly linked to the notions of different sectors that have already been introduced. Magdalena, also working for the foundation, pinpoints what is at stake in the restructuring of welfare service provision. I think that we will see more and more that the resourceful actors want to expand what they do and not just manage Midnight Football. […] In the

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long term, I think these actors will take over things that may have previously been municipal responsibilities. What the municipality is to be responsible for … it will be smaller … and that there will be more of a grey zone. And it is linked to what association life should do and what municipalities should do. (Magdalena) Accordingly, as “strong” and resourceful agencies that are not associated with the public sector, want to expand their role in the provision of youth and social work, Midnight Football becomes one of the ways in which such services can be provided. Such discourse is based on the aforementioned differentiation between the public sector and civil society. As suggested, the relation between the disparate sectors and agencies can be regulated by cooperation. Though noteworthy, such cooperation between the local providers, that is the associations with the foundation and sponsors, and the respective municipalities have varied between West City and East City. According to Magdalena: “East City and West City are very interesting to compare … they are so similar, and yet very different”. Talking about the situation of cooperation, Magdalena says, “the local cooperation with the municipality is in place and Midnight Football works well in Österort”. But when it comes to Västerort, Magdalena points to the lack of financial and administrative support from the municipal administration and policymakers: “Where it works, Midnight Football functions very well, but when one lone actor performs the activities … it is quite heavy”. The foundation supports local associations in various ways (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020), but it is primarily how cooperation between associations and municipal government is organized in the local context that affects how the activities operate and are formalized (Holmlid et al. 2021). These brief remarks introduce how differentiation is formed in the two places of intervention, and how civil society is formed in different ways, although made separate from the suggested bureaucracy and limitations of the public sector. Governing between autonomy and control In the following, we dig deeper into how collaboration is articulated and reflected upon in West City, regarding Midnight Football in Västerort. In statements articulated by the representatives of Suburbia FC and the West City MF management, cooperation can be understood in terms of conflict and competition. The autonomy of civil society in relation to the municipality is articulated as a prerequisite for legitimacy, enabling these organizations to reach out to young people in the locality. Accordingly, civil society is formed as an autonomous domain, outside municipal control, associated with moral relations within the community. A key feature of this discourse concerns how conflicts between “heart” and professionalism are animated. In a variety of ways, the managers and coaches of

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Midnight Football are described as being voluntarily and morally engaged. In the words of the foundation manager, they use “the heart […] to take care of the youth”. In contrast, professional civil servants from the municipality working in local youth and recreation centres, are described as outsiders lacking legitimacy: “civil servants, working from eight to five in the area, because they have to … for their employment and for their pay”, as Martin of Suburbia FC puts it. In line with this discursive differentiation, descriptions of competition and the risk of public sector colonization occur. In the interviews, representatives of the national foundation and Suburbia FC repeatedly question why the municipality will not provide sufficient funding for Midnight Football. A starting point for the uniqueness of civil society is its suggested autonomy, its freedom from control and bureaucracy by the public sector. Maintaining autonomy in conducting activities appears particularly important for the West City management. In the following excerpt, Martin describes how the municipality might “take over” their practices, providing a clear illustration of how the colonization of civil society autonomy is described as a potential risk. They made an offer to take over our practice. So, we said: “Ok, absolutely … what does that mean?” Well … that we conduct the practice, but they decide how we run it. So, we said: “No, thanks”. […] That was a condition for supporting us. Then I said: “Never … in that case, we’d rather go without support”. (Martin) Here, formalized collaboration in terms of possible financial support is conditional upon the municipal agencies determining how the intervention is conducted. Autonomy, accordingly, constitutes a basis for local legitimacy and for the ability to provide social goods, such as integration, crime prevention and access to meaningful leisure time for young people in the area. In the discourse articulated by the representatives of the municipal culture and leisure committee and the associated administration in West City, the relative autonomy of civil society, within the realm of cooperation, generates a lack of control over the management, practices, and objectives of Midnight Football. According to this discourse, civil society is formed as a domain that may potentially be utilized for social objectives, although it needs to be steered. In the following excerpt, Viktor, who is a civil servant with responsibility for sport in the culture and leisure administration in West City describes how Midnight Football could be integrated within the organization of the youth and recreation centre. If an association comes into cooperation with us […] they’re supported financially. But then they’re under our umbrella, with our set of values, and we make sure to educate coaches. […] I told them that they’re very welcome to come to us and we can talk more about how the practices can

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fall under the municipal youth and recreation centre organization, to use our umbrella to conduct open activities. […] They haven’t pursued this. (Viktor) Thus, this civil servant explains how financial support can be granted if the activities are organized “under [the] umbrella” of the municipal youth and recreation centre, guided by their “set of values”. The striving for autonomy, presented above, serves as a backdrop for how representatives of the municipal administration fear a lack of insight into and control over the intervention. In order to guarantee financial support and more formalized support for the intervention, it needs to be more integrated into the existing efforts pursued by the municipality, in tune with the objectives outlined by the policymakers. This would mean, among other things, greater control of leaders and better conditions for quality assurance. Similarly, Marika, the chairperson of the West City culture and leisure committee, mentions her doubts in the potential that associations “can stand as a lone hero” or that “a single actor has solved the whole problem in one area”. The policymaker distances herself from naïve beliefs in voluntary efforts of civil society, and the term “hero” is used as a sarcastic expression of the faith in civil society that is widespread in contemporary social policy. Control in relation to civil society autonomy is also reflected upon in terms of professionalism, quality and long-term cooperation. Pia, a civil servant from the culture and leisure administration, who is also responsible for the youth and recreation centre, describes the relations with Suburbia FC by mentioning that “we want civil society … but in these areas, we also need to secure the quality of practices”. When associates submit to such cooperation “we can keep an eye on them, and it’s about quality control”. Accordingly, the civil servant explains the opportunities provided by closer and more formalized cooperation, whereby the existing youth and recreation centre becomes the organizational home for Midnight Football. According to this discourse, the professional organization ensures both high quality and sustainability of the activities. Governing at a distance In the following, we take a closer look into how collaboration has been articulated and reflected upon in East City, regarding Midnight Football in Österort. According to the discourse expressed by representatives of Sumeria FC, cooperation is characterized by a relative consensus between the association and the municipality. Autonomy in articulating objectives and defining the rationale of the intervention does not appear to be seen as a threat. Accordingly, autonomy is not particularly highlighted in this discourse. However, importantly, civil society is formed as a distinct domain characterized by a sense of community, thus imbuing a certain potential in terms of welfare provision. In East City, the forms of collaboration have developed from municipal subsidies and association grants provided for Midnight Football, to an assignment cooperation whereby the

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intervention is funded primarily by the municipality on the condition that it is aligned with the policy objectives of the municipality. Even though cooperation is formalized and agreements about the objectives and organization of the interventions have been reached, differentiations between civil society and the public sector underpin the discourse. In the following excerpt, Abraham, one of the managers of Midnight Football, outlines his understanding of non-profit engagement in opposition to the ways in which the municipal professionals and administration would have provided similar services. We’ll never give away control of our own activities. It’s our touch … and our initiative. It’s our effort, sweat and tears that were invested. It could never be the same if you put it into the hands of the municipality … and some administrator … and then it’s passed on to some other official and the next and so on. It’s not work for us. It’s not something we do for pay […] it’s a way to try and change society for the better. (Abraham) Abraham specifies the moral engagement and the motive for conducting the practices. To “change society for the better” is the core rationale of his morality and engagement. In line with this motive, he articulates that such engagement is not viable for profit or when someone is employed for the task as a civil servant. Nevertheless, this differentiation does not manifest itself in serious doubts about being able to perform the activities on their own terms, even when becoming involved in a formalized agreement about the assignment grant and being the provider of a policy-driven welfare service. Furthermore, when describing the actual procedures of cooperation, Abraham stresses that “we describe the objectives […] and spell out what we do”. Appropriating the objectives stipulated by the municipal policymakers seems to be a technical issue, which enables long-term and stable funding. In response to an explicit question about whether or how the established assignment and role as a provider of services meant any changes in terms of limited autonomy, Sulejman, in Österort, responds: “that is an interesting question … that the municipality comes in to govern”, continuing “I was here and ran the practices the whole time and didn’t notice any difference since we started, absolutely nothing”. Sulejman says that “we pushed this initiative so much on our own and really struggled to make it work, and so that they should come in now to govern … It’s not like that”. Using the word “govern”, the very starting point and backdrop of this reflection is the assignment that was agreed upon, guaranteeing funding on the condition that the intervention aligns itself with the goals of municipal social policy. In this way, a kind of governing can be discerned, which is neither direct nor formal, but is grounded in the negotiations of objectives and forms of operations. In the articulations and statements made by the representatives of the municipal culture and leisure committee and the associated administration in East

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City, consensus seems to prevail. Interestingly, it is not least the representatives of the municipality who want to safeguard the autonomy of civil society. Autonomy is utilized to govern by means of goal alignment. Accordingly, civil society is formed as a space of community that is potentially utilized to attain social objectives. This potential is granted by means of autonomy of civil society, which needs to be safeguarded, and simultaneously governed. Furthermore, the cooperative assignment means a calibration of goals and objectives between the municipality and the association providing the service. In short, according to the chairman of the East City culture and leisure committee, this means that “the municipality ultimately deems [that the intervention] contributes to the policy goals of the municipality” and that the management is “able to carry out an activity that is guided by the objectives of our activity plan, then we can commission assignments to an association to conduct a certain activity”. In a very concrete sense, such management by objectives means that political goals condition the intervention. These objectives either align with the existing ambitions of the civil society association, or they need to be appropriated, internalized and adopted, thus becoming the governing objective of local management. According to this discourse, it seems important to safeguard the autonomy of civil society, and not to subject it to municipal rule. At the same time, the political goal is that this autonomy and the potential it embodies can be utilized for policy purposes and to contribute to the objectives of municipal social policy. This may seem like a paradox: safeguarding the autonomy of civil society is underpinned by the firm belief that autonomy is the prerequisite for civil society to be able to contribute to achieving politically decided goals. In the following quote, Eva, who is the civil servant responsible for sport within the culture and leisure administration in East City, describes the importance of cooperation and governing through objectives. Before, we were more detailed about the practices performed […] much more steering. […] Now, we’ve given more responsibility and freedom to the associations that we want to have agreements with. […] We’ve granted them more freedom … than if we came with pointers. But … in a way, we’ve become stricter that they really reach and answer to the objectives outlined, but with more freedom in how that is done. (Eva) Such focus on objectives is symptomatic of this rationality. By attributing greater freedom to the civil society management, the association’s autonomy can be guaranteed. But, at the same time, the relationship is regulated by the fact that the association has made the municipality’s political goals its own, which can be understood as a sufficient basis for goal fulfilment. The value of autonomy and its importance for governing is also underscored by Roger, the chairperson of the East City culture and leisure committee, noting that “it’s

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important that there remains a profound freedom for the association to fashion its practices” and that “it’s all based on our free and autonomous associations”. On this basis “the association commits to carrying out the open activity of Midnight Football” accordingly. Most importantly, this notion of autonomy is precisely what creates opportunities for the association, in this case, and civil society, in a more general sense, to contribute to goal fulfilment. By making the objectives of municipal social policy accessible to the civil society association, and without imposing directly on the forms of organization of the practices conducted, the intervention managers are made participants in the employment of social policy, while maintaining that the practices are conducted and conditioned on their own terms, constituting a form of governing at a distance. Given that the objectives of Sumeria FC to conduct Midnight Football are rather elusive, the language formulating the objectives of the municipal social policy provides concepts that managers and coaches may use to promote the activities. This does not mean that policymakers rule or that civil society becomes a proxy for government. Rather, it means that a variety of agencies are intermeshed in the activities that calibrate the objectives of governing. Technologies of community Following the above scrutiny of the constructions of civil society, we need to elaborate further on what such discourse makes possible with respect to the governing of young people through the Midnight Football activities. Even though cooperation has been governed in different ways, more successful in Österort than in Västerort and municipal support has been greater in Österort than in Västerort resulting in different development (Ekholm & Holmlid 2020), what is important here is how civil society is estimated and constructed on the premises of community relations distinct from professional relations, and autonomy distinct from public sector government. Most precisely and importantly, it was made clear that civil society is articulated as a place for moral relations and community. It is the technologies of community (Rose 1999), based on moral relations and reciprocity, that are constitutive of the precise formations of civil society examined here. Morality, as presented earlier, needs to be pinpointed, because it was empirically associated with responsibility, willingness to do good, authentic relations, mutual relations within the community and the interpersonal bonds that are established based on voluntarism and commitment. All these things are outlined as characteristic features of the associations and of the relations with Midnight Football in the articulations given by the variety of agencies involved. The targeted youth are described as being addressed, ideally, as subjects of virtue and community (Ashenden 2015). By creating civil society in a particular way, specific forms, technologies and relations of governing become possible. These activities, technologies and relations are made distinct from professional youth work and social work. Here, we want to spotlight how relations enabled from this discourse and rationality are

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central for the socio-pedagogical governing technologies elaborated on in the following chapters of the book. It is the seemingly authentic relations between role models and young people that can be formed in civil society (beyond the impotent and bureaucratic relations between welfare professionals and youth) that enables reaching out. Furthermore, intertwined with the differentiation of civil society and community from public sector governing, the relations formed are centred on a culture of trust and silence. In further chapters, we will go into detail about the potential attributed to role models and the relations fostered in community. But for now, we expound the analysis on the culture of trust and silence. In the following excerpt, Martin in Suburbia FC, goes into detail about how the technologies and relations of role models and the culture of trust and silence are intertwined. The whole idea of Suburbia FC is to be the independent actor that people can rely on and trust. We say the same thing to the police. We will never provide information … if it’s not a murder. […] Our trust among the people here and the individuals is based on us being a neutral actor. Interviewer: What does it mean to be independent and neutral? A great deal. It’s the most important thing. […] We don’t answer to anyone. We have no obligations to anyone. […] That’s what it’s all about. How can we provide the youth with safety, respect, security, a second chance, a lifeline … if they know that everything they say will be passed on to school […] the social services or the police? […] The difference between the recreation worker and the football coach, here, is huge. […] The recreation worker is paid to do something […], the football coach, in contrast, is there for you and your friends … to play. […] Really, you build a different kind of trust than with a recreation worker. At least, that’s my understanding. (Martin) The discourse articulated here is based on sector-specific differentiation. Civil society, performing interventions, needs to be distinct from the public sector and acting autonomously. Principally, it is the responsibility of the municipality to prevent social problems. However, such prevention requires relations between those who work with interventions in the area and the young people. These relations cannot be created by professional recreation workers or civil servants. The Midnight Football coaches can be guides towards social inclusion because they are legitimate actors addressing the youth as subjects of virtue, embodying moral conduct, and establishing relations within the community. This mutual trust is based on relations kept within the local and moral community – the coaches do not represent agencies or authorities from the outside, such as the “school […] the social services” or “the police”. Agencies and

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authorities lack both legitimacy and ability to deal with social problems in the area. Sector differentiations have discursive effects, guiding how the intervention is organized, maintaining sector divisions and safeguarding the activities arranged from colonization and instrumentalization. If problems arise, Midnight Football representatives must maintain the distance towards public sector authorities in order to keep the trust within the young people participating. Forming this rationality and discourse, Stefan, who leads the foundation’s business, talks about Midnight Football as constituting an activity that can be part of the local community and thus providing a solution based on trust, confidence, and mutual respect. There is a kind of mutual respect, which I think is important. […] It also means that we do not report concerns to the social services or things like that either … which then we should actually do. But you cannot do that because then you burn bridges and diminish trust from people. […] For example, if someone is high [on drugs], then we should report it. But we do not always do that. […] Some leaders have made their own decisions and said that if you do not report yourself, I will do it. Then they put pressure. It’s not that they close their eyes or look away, but it’s still like […]. You must not destroy relationships. […] A year ago, there was a suspected drug trade in one of the places. So, the local managers brought in these guys. And they did not want to fuss with them. But there we have the keys. For example … like saying, “do you have a brother here?” “Yes, my cousin is here”, they might say. “Ok, but … you ruin it for them, you know”. (Stefan) Stefan describes how the problems faced need to be handled within this community – that it is the moral relations that can be mobilized and used to progress. In that situation, it is not always possible to make reports to the authorities about violations, as that would undermine the trustful relations needed to reach out to the young people. Associated with the differentiation of civil society in these examples, is a domain of relative enclosure. It is clearly made distinct from the municipality and public sector in general, to the outside. Accordingly, coaches and managers need to maintain trust by keeping silent at times. In chapter 7, we will go deeper into how this can be manifested in practice when the social service agencies come to visit and observe activities in Västerort. To the inside, the discourse articulated repeatedly concerns the mobilization of moral relations based on community that can be utilized for various purposes. The community mobilized through the activation of civil society is – to use the words of Rose (1999, p. 250) – “itself a means of government: its ties, bonds, forces and affiliations are to be celebrated, encouraged, nurtured, shaped and instrumentalized” for the purposes of the intervention.

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Concluding reflections From the point of view of our analysis and approach, we see the formation of sector differentiation as a key for the rationalities of governing social policy performed. We have analysed how civil society is constructed, the premises for this construction as well as how this particular formation is intertwined in the rationalities of governing promoted by means of Midnight Football. Still, the sectors constructed are, so to speak, not the point of departure for the rule of society and social policy, but rather means constructed for specific ways to govern. The construction of civil society specifically, is intermeshed with certain ways of governing social policy and Midnight Football is but one way through which this is done. By means of activating and mobilizing – or rather constructing – civil society as a domain of governing intervention, where a variety of social policy and pedagogical efforts can be played out, social problems can be managed. The chapter has displayed this rationality of governing by analysing the ways in which civil society is constructed as a domain, discourse and technology of governing. Consequently, we must distance our analysis from institutional analyses where the public sector and the civil society are in direct opposition to each other. Rather, these sectors may be seen as discursive formations, contingent yet constructed within a particular discourse and rationality enabling certain technologies of social policy. This also means that the municipal and public sector agencies transform and are produced in these discursive processes, in relation to the formation of civil society. A key element of this rationality concerns the problematization of the municipality in particular and the public sector in general. To be able to locate certain shortcomings and limitations towards one certain domain, sector differentiations are needed. The differentiations repeatedly mark out how the public sector is distinct from or even opposed to civil society. In this relation, the public sector is assumed to be coercive and even colonizing the autonomous spaces of freedom in the shape of civil society. The municipal administration is often bureaucratic and unable to support and facilitate initiatives. According to such an anti-statist discourse (Dean & Villadsen 2016), civil servants are limited within this bureaucracy and professionals work mainly for their pay and during their hours rather than for the goodwill and benign interest of the young people in the residential area. In contrast to the values attributed to the public sector, the civil society is formed as an autonomous domain where human and moral relations flourish and where certain challenges and problems can be addressed. Accordingly, when the municipality and the public sector are formed and problematized, the potential solutions can be located to a domain separate and beyond. In line with such discourse, civil society is constructed as a domain of autonomous and independent activities, relations between authentic human beings sharing mutual interest and community. In this sense, moral fostering and community are promoted as responses to contemporary challenges following increased

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segregation and inequality, affecting not least youth in disadvantaged urban residential areas. Following the grandiose potential ascribed to civil society and the autonomous space of community relations, it seems perfectly reasonable to place high hopes in responding to social problems within the realm of such a domain. Still, the instrumentalization of autonomy may seem like a paradox. It is not. It is quite reasonable. Governing by means of mobilizing and utilizing a domain of autonomy at a distance from the public sector is not paradoxical at all. Rather, it is part of a rationality of cooperation, as it enables a variety of technologies for governing the conduct of young people, in the name of freedom and community. Sector differentiation is not there, a priori, but shaped for this specific purpose. Accordingly, these are the premises and the precise constitution of the rationality of governing examined in this chapter. But, not least important, this construction of civil society and rationality of governing has important effects in terms of the organization of interventions, relations between conductors and subjects and the objectives of social change strived for. The production of civil society, as formed, is performative. When it comes to the relations between conductors and subjects of intervention strived for, according to this particular discourse, they can be formed within the community of the residential area, between authentic people with similar backgrounds and experiences, based on trust, benign interest and moral community. Accordingly, the technologies of intervention and social change are premised on non-professional relations between seemingly more authentic human interaction taking place. When it comes to the objectives of change and the subjects addressed, technologies outlined in this domain targets the morality of the participating young people. They are addressed not least as subjects of virtue, whose conduct can be regulated by and within the community of moral relations (rather than as subjects of rights addressed by welfare state institutions). What is to be created through such endeavours, is a particular domain, that is the civil society. By means of this formation a particular sense of community can be formed and utilized. For “community is primarily not a geographical space or a space of services”, but “a moral field binding persons into durable relations” and “a space of emotional relationships through which individual identities are constructed through their bonds to micro-cultures of values and meanings” (Rose 1999, p. 172). The various forms and strategies of cooperation make possible the creation of civil society and community, which in turn introduces a particular moral element in the governing performed by means of Midnight Football. This moral element is evident even in the neo-philanthropic rationalities concerned in the following chapter. The socio-pedagogical work promoted by means of Midnight Football is formed by discourses and technologies of virtue and morality. The civil society and public sector nexus, then, is constructed as a state of virtue and moral government. Accordingly, the formation of civil society becomes a technology to govern by means of freedom, voluntary engagement and mobilization of community relations.

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The analysis presented in this chapter has highlighted how civil society is formed as a domain of governing, how sector divisions are discursively constructed, and how, by means of sports policy on a local level, civil society becomes part of a machinery of advanced liberal governing (Green 2012) – articulated, performed and shaped as a domain where technologies guiding the conduct of youth can be facilitated and acted out. When situating this development and rationality of governing in relation to contemporary transformations of social policy, we understand cooperation, in the cases explored, as part of a broader moralization or communitization of government, rather than a governmentalization of civil society. We are not primarily witnessing the withdrawal of public sector responsibility, municipal provision, or statist government (Larsson et al. 2012), but rather a reconfiguration of the governing rationalities and technologies (Villadsen 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2011, 2016), in the direction of a communitization of governing transcending seemingly pre-given sector boundaries. Such an analysis starts off by looking at the technologies primarily, exploring how they make discursive formations and institutionalizations such as the civil society intelligible, rather than the other way around. In this way, we get to see that what in an enlightenment tradition may seem like a paradox of governing autonomy is actually quite reasonable within the framework of a specific governmental rationality, moving discourse analysis beyond institutional perspectives (Villadsen 2008a, 2019). In the following chapter, we pursue the analysis of moral community and voluntary engagement in managing social problems. Even in our exploration of neo-philanthropic rationalities of governing and support, sector differentiation has a key role to play in producing social policy in the everyday lives of young people in the urban periphery.

References Agergaard, S. (2011). Development and appropriation of an integration policy for sport: how Danish sports clubs have become arenas for ethnic integration. International Journal of Sport Policy 3(3), 341–353. Ashenden, S. (2015). Foucault, Ferguson and civil society. Foucault Studies 20, 36–51. Burchell, G. (1991). Peculiar interests: civil society and governing ‘the system of natural liberty’. In: Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (eds.). The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (119–150). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cohen, J.L. & Arato, A. (1994). Civil society and political theory. Cambridge: MIT Press. Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (eds.) (2021). Idrottens kraft? Ungas livsvillkor och ojämlikhetens problem i en segregerad stad. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Dean, M. & Villadsen, K. (2016). State phobia and civil society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Ekholm, D. & Holmlid, S. (2020). Formalizing sports-based interventions in crosssectoral cooperation: governing and infrastructuring practice, program and preconditions. Journal of Sport for Development 8(14), 1–20. Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge. Harlow: Harvester Press Limited.

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Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics. New York: Picador. Green, M. (2012). Advanced liberal government, sport policy, and “building the active citizen”. In: Andrews, D.L. & Silk, M.L. (eds.). Sport and neoliberalism: Politics, consumption, and culture (38–56). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Herz, M. (2016). ‘Then we offer them a new project’— the production of projects in social work conducted by civil society in Sweden. Journal of Civil Society 12(4), 365–379. Hoekman, R., Breedveld, K. & Kraaykamp, G. (2017). Providing for the rich? The effect of public investments in sport on sport (club) participation of vulnerable youth and adults. European Journal for Sport and Society 14(4), 327–347. Holmlid, S., Ekholm, D. & Dahlstedt, M. (2021). Practice occludes diffusion: scaling sports-based social innovations. In: Tjønndal, A. (ed.). Social innovation in sport (55–77). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Ibsen, B. & Levinsen, K. (2019). Collaboration between sports clubs and public institutions. European Journal for Sport and Society 16(2), 187–204. Larsson, B., Letell, M. & Thörn, H. (eds.) (2012). Transformations of the Swedish welfare state: From social engineering to governance? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Lindsey, I., Chapman, T. & Dudfield, O. (2020). Configuring relationships between state and non-state actors: a new conceptual approach for sport and development. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 12(1), 127–146. MacIntosh, E., Arellano, A. & Forneris, T. (2016). Exploring the community and external-agency partnership in sport-for-development programming. European Sport Management Quarterly 1(1), 38–57. Norberg, J.R. (2011). A contract reconsidered? Changes in the Swedish state’s relation to the sports movement. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 3(3), 311–325. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rosso, E.G.F. & McGrath, R. (2017). Community engagement and sport? Building capacity to increase opportunities for community-based sport and physical activity. Annals of Leisure Research 20(3), 349–367. Skille, E. (2014). Community and sport in Norway: between state sport policy and local sport clubs. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 7(4), 505–518. Stenling, C., & Fahlén, J. (2016). Same same, but different? Exploring the organizational identities of Swedish voluntary sports: possible implications of sports clubs’ selfidentification for their role as implementers of policy objectives. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 51(7), 867–883. Stenling, C., & Sam, M. (2017). Tensions and contradictions in sport’s quest for legitimacy as a political actor. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 9(4), 691–705. Stenling, C. & Sam, M. (2019). From “passive custodian” to “active advocate”: tracing the emergence and sport-internal transformative effects of sport policy advocacy. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 11(3), 447–463. Villadsen, K. (2008a). Doing without state and civil society as universals: “Dispositifs” of care beyond the classic sector divide. Journal of Civil Society 4(3), 171–191. Villadsen, K. (2008b). Freedom as self-transgression: transformations in the “governmentality” of social work. European Journal of Social Work 11(2), 93–104.

88 Civil Society Villadsen, K. (2009). The “human” touch: voluntary organizations as rescuers of social policy? Public Management Review 11(2), 217–234. Villadsen, K. (2011). Modern welfare and “good old” philanthropy: a forgotten or a troubling trajectory? Public Management Review 13(8), 1057–1075. Villadsen, K. (2016). Michel Foucault and the forces of civil society. Theory, Culture and Society 33(3), 3–26. Villadsen, K. (2019). “The dispositive”: Foucault’s concept for organizational analysis? Organization Studies 42(3), 473–494. Walker, C.M. & Hayton, J.W. (2018). An analysis of third sector sport organisations in an era of ‘super-austerity’. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 10(1), 43–61.

Chapter 6

Neo-Philanthropy

Introduction In this chapter, we investigate the support of philanthropists, analysing how provision of resources is associated with certain technologies and objectives of governing, formative of a neo-philanthropic rationality. We analyse how discourses of making a difference in society are presented in moral terms, directed towards certain forms of social reformation of people in the urban periphery. Such de-politicizing rationality is interwoven with discourses of moral government, free will and community, forming a backdrop to the technologies of social reformation carried out in practices. Philanthropy in the history of the present Throughout the history of social policy questions of who is responsible for the provision of help and support, who is entitled to it and on what premises, as well as what the objectives of support provided might be, have been of particular concern. Considering sports-based interventions in relation to such concerns brings insights to how such practices emerge and what they produce. To begin, in modern and liberal societies, social support has been organized in a variety of ways. During the late 1800s and the early 1900s, philanthropic support emerged as an alternative to the coercive and authoritarian government of the poor and excluded, of the 1700s and 1800s (Villadsen 2004, 2007, 2008b). Philanthropic rationalities of governing had a clear focus on moral education based on the idea that the poor and vulnerable were potential subjects of change. Importantly, philanthropy was associated with pragmatism and seen as a strategic means to improve the living conditions of subjects, in contrast to religious charity, criticized for its conception of support as an end in itself (Donzelot 1979; Villadsen 2008a). The philanthropic rationality was based on goodwill rather than citizenship and equal rights, notably important for the development of support provided based on rights that was to be integrated in the modern welfare states (Villadsen 2004). However, as welfarism gained force in the early 1900s, support was no longer seen as conditioned by the donor’s goodwill but was guaranteed DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-6

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on the basis of equal rights (Villadsen 2008a). As philanthropy constantly reinvents itself, emerging in new shapes, researchers have considered contemporary forms of philanthropic rationalities of governing in terms of neo-philanthropy (Villadsen 2008a). Today, support directed towards the poor and excluded is the subject of reformation in Sweden and elsewhere. Civil society has been pinpointed as a key to address all sorts of problems following segregation and exclusion (oftentimes under a discourse of community) (Rose 1999). Nowadays, it is to a large extent “social entrepreneurs” that play the role of philanthropists, innovating new forms of social services in response to social problems. Not least, such innovations are developed by entrepreneurs and charitable contributors in the form of sports activities (Peterson & Schenker 2017). Scientific attention has been paid to how sports-based interventions emerge through inter-agency cooperation involving municipal agencies (Hoekman et al. 2017), sport federations and associations (Stenling & Fahlén 2016), social entrepreneurs (Peterson & Schenker 2017), sponsoring corporations and other non-governmental organizations (Sherry et al. 2015), community groups (Rosso & McGrath 2017) and charity organizations (Bunds 2017), considering for instance how sport may produce a sense of community (Daigo & Filo 2021). Such forms of inter-agency cooperation can be witnessed in sports-based interventions in many places. Providers of such support have been described as motivated by both a love of sport and the desire to make a difference in society (Welty Peachey et al. 2018) – often underpinned by evangelistic faith in the power of sport (Giulianotti 2004). This chapter is positioned in a research context where a focus is put on on social policy transformations in modern society. We outline the analysis within the framework of how philanthropy emerged as a response to certain understandings of social problems, and how it merged into the social policy of welfarism (Donzelot 1979; Villadsen 2004). We consider aid and support provided as prolific of the benign power institutionalized in social policy to provide for those in need. We underline the role of philanthropic support, enabling sportsbased interventions, which has so far received little attention in research. The aim of this chapter is to explore how neo-philanthropy and neophilanthropists produce social policy by means of inter-agency cooperation, with a focus on their articulations of help and support provided. How does a governing rationality of neo-philanthropy take shape within the frame of Midnight Football? What historical, institutional and discursive premises make such rationality possible? How does such rationality produce the forms of social policy technologies operating by means of Midnight Football? Rationalities of neo-philanthropy In the introduction of this book, we described how rationalities and institutionalizations are formed as discursive effects and technologies assembled

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(Foucault 1982; Rose 1999). When we examine rationalities of neophilanthropy, philanthropy is not limited to charitable support given by certain resourceful people in business or civil society organizations. Rather, it refers to a specific way of governing with a focus on moral community and moral refinement of categories of people considered in need of change. Such governing can be traced genealogically to institutional contexts designed by actors outside of the state or the public sector (Donzelot 1979). In this chapter, we refer to actors involved neither in activities performed on-site, providing various forms of support, nor in municipal governing administrations, as philanthropists (Villadsen 2007, 2008b). In the previous chapter, we introduced the construction of civil society and the notion of community, characterized by moral relations among people. In this chapter, we further elaborate on how morality takes shape in the provision of support and goodwill, conceptualized as a rationality of neo-philanthropy. The discourse of neo-philanthropy gravitates around certain objectives and ideals regarding educational efforts towards moral reformation, provision based on goodwill, and provision and support given between people within a moral community. The main objective of governing is the morality, responsibility and will power of individuals (Villadsen 2004), in other words empowerment (Cruikshank 1999). Consequently, aid and support should be directed to those deemed to have the ability to develop. Importantly, support is provided as helpto-self-help, aiming to create conditions for recipients to make themselves independent of help and support. In this regard, neo-philanthropy, like philanthropy, focuses on improving the moral qualities of the poor and excluded, and strengthening their community and moral relations, rather than resolving poverty and exclusion as such (Donzelot 1979). Key for understanding such rationality concerns how support is provided based on voluntarism rather than professionalism. Voluntarism is considered a possibility to reach out to human beings in authentic ways. Accordingly, various forms of philanthropy are associated with a normative anti-statism, conceiving of welfarist governmental rationality as in-authentic and impotent, as it is not provided based on voluntary engagement (Dean & Villadsen 2016; Villadsen 2008a, 2009) and as the social state imbues a potential to reform social inequalities (Donzelot 1979, 1988).

Technologies of goodwill In the analysis of this chapter, we describe the motives expressed by the charitable contributors and sponsors, spotlighting the benign interest and goodwill underpinning, pinpointing how the interest expressed is connected to the position from which such goodwill is articulated. We then go into detail about the pragmatist dimensions of (neo-)philanthropic rationalities situating the goodwill offered, specifying how the will to make a difference in the lives of young people constitutes a political rationality guided by certain political objectives.

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The motives of goodwill A recurring way of speaking among the actors we refer to as philantropists concerns the desire to contribute to society, to do good, above all by helping people who are exposed in different ways and assessed to need help and support. The will to do good is recurrently based on what is identified as a need. In the interviews, needs are described not least in terms of vulnerability specifically located in certain “weak” parts of the city. The will to do good is guided by ethical underpinnings, not least involving an assessment of need and a willingness to help the less fortunate. Yet, at the same time, help is articulated as a means of forming moral relations in the community. In the interviews, the relationship between the resourceful providers and the less fortunate is construed as a hierarchic form of goodwill, in two instances. It involves, first, assessing the “weak” areas and their challenges and, second, providing for the needs assessed. As Stefan, who is the manager of the foundation tells: “I work for a non-profit foundation, and we support and help get started … in various socio-economically weak areas”, underlining the ambition to create “meeting places for the youth, so that they can be in safe spaces and in secure places at sensitive times, on Friday and Saturday nights”. In Stefan’s words, certain areas are positioned as “weak”, thus distinguishing different areas in the city. Such discourse aligns with the analysis presented in Chapter 4, suggesting that the “weak” areas have certain needs for creating safe places where young people can meet on weekends, as an alternative to the surrounding risks prevalent in the residential area. Importantly, such articulations reinforce a distance between the representative of the foundation, positioned as provider, and those in need of support, positioned as recipients. However, this distance could be overcome through the support provided, establishing moral bonds in the community. For the local elite sports club, East City FC, supporting Midnight Football in Österort, forming such morality and community appears as a primary motivation for engagement in the activities. Here, the help provided becomes a means of establishing moral relations within the community. Hans in East City FC underscores the importance of playing an active part in the community, given the club’s prominent position in the city. The driving force is to always have social engagement. […] We have such a strong platform in this city, so we must be able to stand for more things than only during the 90 minutes of a football match […]. There are core values that our club stands for. […] There are connections to elite sports if we talk about integration. We have over fifty nationalities in our youth teams. If these are challenges that the city, that is society at large, confronts … well, then maybe it is something that East City FC should be dedicated to as well. […] So, we felt that we could reach a target group that we believe is really important to reach. That is youth […] in socio-economically vulnerable areas. (Hans)

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As described, East City FC supports Sumeria FC, operating in the “socioeconomically vulnerable areas”, to carry out Midnight Football as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives. The club considers challenges of social inclusion important, and something that needs to be dealt with, as these challenges face society at large. Hans emphasizes that there are certain “core values” that the club wants to be associated with, concerning engagement in health and social inclusion, where sport is seen as having a formative role to play. By reaching out to youth, particularly those of a racialized minority, concentrated in areas with challenges of social exclusion, East City FC can affirm their central position in the local community. Accordingly, young people in the urban periphery are positioned as in need of intervention and support, the foundation, and the elite sports club, among other agencies surrounding, have it in their interest to assess the situation and the need and to provide their immediate support. The position of goodwill The will to contribute, to do good and to help those in need are allowed to flourish within the realms of civil society engagement, as repeatedly articulated in interviews. Notably, statements concerning such motives are articulated from similar positions. Even though philanthropists represent a diverse group of actors from different agencies, they position themselves in similar ways regarding their contributions. For instance, respondents describe their background and experience as the primary motive for their contribution, as well as their social networks and social position as resources that can be used to provide support. Stefan, the foundation manager, underscores his background, characterized by exclusion and hardship, as a motive for his engagement, thinking back to how he “burned down a gymnasium, stopped doing sports and started hanging around punk rockers […] hooligans, skinhead gangs […] the far-right, and ended up among the Nazis … and like white-power and stuff”. These are experiences used to position himself as part of a particular community: “that is something I recognize so well among the kids out in the suburbs … It’s the same […] you kind of connect with that”. Even as the characteristic of the so-called exclusion differs greatly, from being involved in white-power hooliganism to suffering from socio-economic hardship, Stefan stresses the mutual experiences of exclusion. Thus, the mutual experience of feeling excluded provides a bond (“connect”), perceived as a particularly authentic bond, between the provider and recipient of social support. Accordingly, given the fact that he has now left his previous life behind him and reached another social position, he now has the resources to give something back. In other excerpts, community is emphasized, rather contrastingly, on experiences and the position as included and privileged. Even, in these cases, previous experiences form a basis for the contributions made. In the following excerpt, Bernt, who is part of the gentlemen’s club supporting the activities in Västerort, describes his position as both geographically and socially distant from

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the targeted youth. Moreover, he describes his networks as resourceful and ready to be mobilized. I am part of the gentlemen’s club, which is … yes, it is a male fellowship. […] We have such an amazing social network. […] When you are privileged as we are, even though we are not financially wealthy members, we have social networks, and we are well off enough to spend money on being in a fellowship … So, then you have a responsibility, a social responsibility. […] None of us live in Västerort. So, it was part of a discussion about giving money … there were thoughts about the challenge of inclusion. What can we do about this? We have our social networks, as we grew up in and live in a certain part of the city. But there is a different part of the city that we are not familiar with. About the visit there … really, it was like coming to another world. (Bernt) In the excerpt, the members of the club are described as privileged members of society. Though not necessarily rich in economic terms, the members are described as sufficiently well off to spend money and time on club membership. Further, none of the members reside in the urban periphery. As stated in the excerpt, the members do not even know much about these parts of the city – in this case Västerort, where Midnight Football is carried out in West City. When talking about his recent experience of visiting the area during the Midnight Football activities, he makes his own position distinctly different by describing it as visiting “another world”. Moreover, the geographic residence of the members is intertwined with their social connectedness and resourceful networks in civil society and among local businessmen. As described, having these resources and networks, the members have a responsibility to provide for the less fortunate. Accordingly, the sense of responsibility and the great importance of inclusion, provides motivation for engagement from the position of the fortunate. The social divisions in society are recognized as a problem. As connectedness and resourceful social networks are powers of the privileged, living in the privileged parts of the city, the provision of social support is directed from the “inside”, from those having the means of providing charitable contributions, to the excluded “outside”, those who are in need. Even though the respondents position themselves differently in terms of their previous experiences and geographic residence, they all express an explicit desire to provide for those deemed to be in need. Also, provision of support is articulated as a means to form community and moral recognition across the divisions, but not reforming the divisions as such. The form of support offered is based on a moral relationship between those who have these opportunities – those who give – and those to whom the support is directed. Accordingly, there are different positions that make the motives of goodwill possible. Though, importantly it is the networks, resources and opportunities

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today that call for moral reflection, creating a distance between those having the resources needed and those needing these resources. However, the rationality of goodwill and provision calls for some reflection about community and mutuality in this endeavour. Pragmatist philanthropy is not religious charity Although faith in goodwill seems to be firm in the statements analysed, ambiguous reflections on moral concerns with respect to goodwill recur. Bernt is one of those stressing the importance of pragmatism in the support provided. He says, reflecting on his privileged position, “it is a precious balance there […] we can’t donate football boots, that would be a bit ‘von oben’, […] they don’t want donations from us”. Bernt explicitly pinpoints that “we help with stuff, but not […] for us to ease our bad conscience”, continuing about how he has been “afraid that it would appear as if […] they would receive charity, and that we would appear […] like the white man helping out with money and donations to relieve his conscience”. Still, he concludes “in the end, it is charity … because we have the means to do this and they don’t”, though emphasizing that “we really put our effort into making a difference”. Here, making a difference is at the core of pragmatist ambitions, providing the primary motivation of engagement. But the tensions between pragmatism and charity “von oben” is a conflicted terrain. Bernt stresses that support should not be provided solely for a charitable contribution, neither to ease one’s conscience for having a privileged position or for making a good impression. Johan is the head of corporate social responsibility at a major insurance company. He points out that attention in mass media often focuses on the appearances of the provider, which means that charitable work risks becoming something suspicious. He says, “when you read about corporations […] as if they come in like some superheroes coming into the area saving these poor kids, from the suburbs out there”, making clear “that’s not the real purpose”. Reflecting on the unequal relations between provider and recipient, Johan adds, “it could be so wrong if they get to hear that way of talking about it … they don’t want our compassion”. Such reflections concern how charitable actions are underpinned by notions of compassion and feeling good as well as how these actions relate to segregation and inequality. Reflections also concern navigating between different rationalities of goodwill, where goal-oriented and pragmatic provisions of goods (according to a (neo-)philanthropic rationality) are repeatedly advocated, rather than charity (associated with a religious rationality of charity). Johan emphasizes that the insurance company’s support for Midnight Football in Västerort has nothing to do with financial interests and that any accusation suggesting that efforts are made to save vulnerable young people in the urban periphery are unfounded. Such reflections illustrate some of the difficult considerations that come with the will to do good, for example by supporting sportsbased initiatives in the urban periphery. There is a pragmatic interest, to do

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good and to make a difference, but not primarily in the self-interest of the providers. Still, the rationalities of support articulated may have connections to notions of religious charity. In the words of Klas, a factory owner and sponsor to Suburbia FC and Midnight Football in Västerort, the religious underpinnings of engagement are aligned with ambitions to support missionaries who, in turn, facilitate social change by on-site relations enabling social (re)formation. For Klas, it is in that sense the charitable provision can make a difference. We choose to call it our Good Force. It’s a bit pretentious, but that was from my grandfather starting the corporation. Based on his Christian belief, he was convinced that he should use his talent. […] It is not the case that we put a Christian label on our support, in any way, but it explains the history and the driving force. […] Without being pompous, but, on a very, very small scale, that is my driving force. If I happen to have money […] my job is to create conditions for these people. […] I’m not a missionary, but I can support the missionary with resources. […] I do not mean the missionary with a cross. More that they have a mission as well, and a task. […] Mustafa enjoys enormous respect in that group. And he also has high demands on the young people there. (Klas) The Christian motives are made explicit from this point of view, but not promoted as the primary rationality for support. Though, having the resources required to do good and the notion of charity articulated as a moral driving force creates certain opportunities. From this point of view, change can be facilitated by supporting a missionary such as Mustafa (who is one of the managers in Västerort) in his work of reaching out to young people. According to this rationality, Mustafa is ascribed resources such as respect and social relations, making it possible to influence, guide and lead young people. For this, Klas can support Mustafa’s work. The Christian discourse of how coaches, as part of the excluded, and thus hard to reach, community, guides and leads the flock is further analysed in Chapter 9, with a focus on the pastoral forms of power and benign care. Mustafa becomes the missionary and pastor, guiding the flock, empowered by the goodwill of the philanthropist. In the relation between pastor and the flock of young people guided, the notions of community enabled by the domain of civil society, beyond the realm of professional social work, is analysed in depth. Here, we draw attention to the rationality of support and provision facilitating such governing. Although the willingness to engage in charitable work is recurrent in the interviews, it is obvious that charity addresses a range of moral considerations. In particular, the importance is emphasized that the charitable efforts made are not guided by selfish motives, for example by appearing in a good way, but rather by caring for those in need. Accordingly, there is a pragmatist rationality appearing, distinct from notions of charity. The support provided is intended to do

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good and to facilitate social change in the lives of those in need. It is in this sense the discourse of provision enters in the discourses and rationalities of social policy and political wills. The political potential to make a difference Following the motives and positions of goodwill, as well as the pragmatism underpinning such goodwill, the ambition to make a difference is placed at centre stage. Accordingly, there seems to be a general recognition that certain aspects of how society functions, with respect to lack of resources and opportunities, segregation and exclusion, cause problems. And, consequently, some things need to be changed. From this point of view, Midnight Football can be the means of the change expected. However, it may still be unclear what the objectives of such social policy technologies really are. In the discourse and rationality of support and provision analysed, notions about social change come forth in terms of “making a difference”. Johan continues from his previous reflections about charity by underscoring how pragmatism is associated with need. He says that “Midnight Football is part of our social engagement”, stressing that he “believes in this power of sport”. Representing an insurance company, Johan specifies that they “want to be part of shaping meaningful activities for young people, especially in these areas where there are a lot of damages”. In the areas where there is “social turmoil” he wants to “invest money in new projects”, as “Midnight Football answers to a certain need”. Accordingly, a need is assessed and can be satisfied by means of the support provided. The power of sports can be a tool for combating social unrest directed towards specific areas assessed as in need. Accordingly, notions of goodwill imbue a political potential: to stifle social unrest and to prevent problems. Following pragmatist ideals, the potential to make a difference takes different forms – not least, to create good citizens for a good society. These are the objectives of governing formed, by means of the contributions provided. Notably, such will to make a difference manifests a political underpinning. In the following excerpt, Daniel who works for a sports gear corporation as their CSR representative, illustrates a pragmatic notion of making a difference, when describing the objectives and desired result of the charitable provision. In this way, he associates the will to do good and to make a difference with a political project. We aren’t so active in the political debate, unfortunately. But where we can make a difference, with local entrepreneurs, we are active. […] It comes from “the heart”, so to speak … because sport and exercise can change the world. […] There are different levels of philanthropy […] We make efforts for local entrepreneurship, to make sure that kids get the chance to be physically active at an early age, not vandalizing and making trouble on Fridays and Saturdays. If we can provide some money and contributions that would make a difference, then we should do that. […] I can see

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the need here. It becomes very clear. We can see and feel that we actually make a difference. I can come back to the office and give a report from real life, which is valued very highly in this corporation, that you are not only making donations, but that you were also engaged and have visited there. (Daniel) By taking an active role in promoting social change and being an active force in society, the technologies of provision promoted are indeed a way of engaging in a project to make a better society – described as another way to form society than by political debate. Supporting entrepreneurship within civil society is guided by certain objectives and becomes a way to empower and activate the local community. In an interesting passage, aligning with the pragmatist rationality, “see and feel” the difference by giving “a report from real life” positions the provision as authentic and formative of real moral relations binding provider and recipient together in a community. The contributions provided are associated with “heart” and a sense of generosity. However, the support provided is underpinned by a pragmatist and goal-oriented rationality – to facilitate change. These seemingly contradictory notions of charitable contributions illustrate how a good society, formed as a result of “making a difference”, is construed as characterized by personal and reciprocal relations between the provider and those in need (i.e., a moral – de-politicized – local community). Most importantly, such engagement is described not in terms of political involvement, but rather as underpinned by genuine ambitions to do good and to promote a better society. In this way, the political matter of making a difference and facilitating certain objectives of change is framed in a non-political way. Thus, we may discern a strategy of de-politicization of the support provided and objectives guided. To support and guide the rationalities of governing, the support needs to take shape in seemingly neutrally benign ways. The political objectives of goodwill The discourse and rationality of support and provision circle around certain norms and objectives – which imbue political meanings. Specifically, the political potential in the statements analysed takes two main expressions: the formation of the good citizen and the good society. Daniel, the sports gear CSR representative, emphasizes that a good society is built by good citizens. Thus, there is a need to shape good citizens. Daniel specifies that, when it comes to the support given, “we want to make sure that children and youth at risk of social exclusion are prioritized […] we want to create an active life for all”. He describes this as “our ambition, the great vision and mission”. The support provided and contributions made becomes a way of “taking part in forming good citizens in some way”. The young people targeted by Midnight Football are described as at risk of social exclusion, while the support provided is focused on enabling social inclusion and an active life. Thus,

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being active and included is articulated as a good way of being a citizen. Importantly, this notion of citizenship is embedded in the support provided and guiding the interventions, and the term “mission” illustrates a strong valuebased engagement in this endeavour. These technologies follow much of what has been sketched about various forms of philanthropy, concerning moral reformation through relations in community. For the sake of analysing how good citizens constitute a good society, we will further the analysis of how subject formation is facilitated by a seemingly non-political domain of moral relations at a distance from the public sector: the civil (good) society. The characteristics of the good society are detailed by Klas, the factory owner. For him, civil society is constructed as a domain with a certain potential – of community, authenticity, social relations, autonomy and genuine solidarity. We already analysed the formation of civil society as a political construct. For Klas, in contrast, the vitality of civil society, and the anti-statist sentiments imbued, is not described in terms of politics. I’m not a big fan of the state and the municipality and that they should run everything. […] I do not want to be political, but for me … when I say civil society, I mean what is not public sector financed. That is not state and municipality and authorities and all that. […] My beliefs are that if you integrate everything into the public sector, then you will not solve these problems. Because it must be from one human being to another. I mean civil society, that is individuals, associations, families, that’s all kinds of constellations based on voluntarism in some sense. […] The larger the state and the municipality becomes, the less commitment you get, because there is no room for individual human beings. A high-tax society where you sort of drain all profits and assets. Then there is nothing to do either and well … Now I will be political anyway. […] My role is to support that type of passion, to support people who have the passion to make a change. […] My contribution to them has always been to try not to be dependent on the municipality. Because the municipality … it’s tax money, it’s policymakers and it’s civil servants. And with all due respect, suddenly, they can change and decide … “no, now we do not like this … now we will invest in something else”. […] Municipal government … well, you cannot live without the municipal agencies in this country, but, please, make us at least economically independent from them. […] What I think is a little sad about where we are today … It’s like everything has to be locked into the public sector in order to legitimize and to glorify, and to confirm that we are a high-tax society. I mean, it’s incredibly paralyzing for people. […] Then it is passivization … and a forced solidarity. Solidarity in itself, I mean … the word as such means that you do things by the will of your heart. But I think that we lost that … when the state and municipality […] You take away the will power of individuals, a will power I believe is genuinely good. (Klas)

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In this endeavour of providing social support, the provision becomes a way to promote activities conceptualized in terms of civil society, its authenticity and powers of voluntarism, in contrast to the coercive powers of the municipality. Accordingly, social problems should be countered by genuine personal relations and community based on voluntarism, preferably without public intervention. The genuine form of solidarity between people, based on moral relationships, is symbolically described as driven by “the will of your heart”. According to such rationality, the forced solidarity formed by public intervention contributes to making people passive, deprived of their moral fabric. This reasoning is underpinned by a critique of how welfare policy has developed, where activities of support have gradually been integrated into a public bureaucracy, based on social rights. This development has stifled the opportunities of civil society to be a part of the social policy of the welfare state. In this respect, Midnight Football serves as a means to reform the provision of social support, to enact social change and to re-vitalize civil society. When it comes to de-politicization as a strategy, Klas explicitly points out that he wishes not to be political. Effectively, the excerpt provides a description of the present, the problems, the means and the objectives of change, and a vision of how the future can be shaped with notable political meaning. This vision is premised on a distinction between civil society and the public sector, where the merits and potential of civil society are put in relation to the shortcomings attributed to the state and the municipality. In accordance with such a political rationality, social problems are most appropriately managed through voluntary efforts, by “people to people” – the way in which Klas expects Midnight Football to work. The support given can be seen as a means to promote transformations of social policy. Midnight Football becomes a way of resisting an imaginary development where the public sector becomes even more dominant, at the expense of civil society. Conversely, the voluntary efforts of sport can contribute to forms of welfare that take civil society more as a starting point. In this respect, Midnight Football appears as a prototype for a type of welfare driven by civil society forces that Klas wants to support. Accordingly, the objective of the interventions is to form good citizens for a good society. The good citizen fostered is one that is an active agent in life, and in that sense includable in the good society formed. A good society is inhabited by authentic people, personal relations and community. The promotion of such norms and objectives are portrayed as non-political, which is at the core of the strategy of de-politicization underpinning the rationalities of philanthropy, in its various forms, as formed in this analysis.

Concluding reflections The analysis of how neo-philanthropists articulate the contributions to enable sports-based interventions underscores how the goodwill allows young people in the urban periphery to participate in football activities. The charitable

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contributions highlighted help providing opportunities for young people to participate in sport – that would probably not have been available otherwise. What does this will to do good then mean for the rationality guiding the support provided by means of Midnight Football? To begin, we need to address how segregation and exclusion provides both discursive and material premises for the support provided, forming a rationality of (neo-)philanthropy. The ways of talking about support analysed in this chapter take place only in a society characterized by inequality and segregation. A quite significant inequality in terms of living conditions is the very basis for both assessments of who needs help and support, and for the willingness, resources allocated and positions estimated for the moral responsibility to help. Some have resources while others have needs. In this respect, sport is described as a need attributed to young people affected by inequality and segregation. This need is assessed in terms of risk, and in this respect, participation in sports is understood as a means of dealing with risk and social problems. Thus, sport activities become an instrument of social policy. As these sport practices are conditioned by their anticipated social benefit, they become a means of social policy and welfare provision. The ways of talking about support and the technologies of social policy promoted form a political rationality based on goodwill (premised by inequality), rather than social rights (aiming to facilitate social equality). Inequalities are, according to this rationality, maintained but responded to by means of benign support by those with resources, to those in need – from the inside to the excluded people of the outside. In practice, this means that opportunities to participate in sports are conditioned by the goodwill of the resourceful in society. Such rationality is interwoven with some organizational innovative developments. The analysis presented concerns how neo-philanthropic rationalities influence social policy. By supporting a certain kind of activity, sports (generally associated with civil society) as a way of providing for social support, corporate and civil society actors can be involved in social interventions. Thus, sports-based interventions may become an opportunity for modern-day philanthropists to influence social work practices. Considering this rationality, one possible effect regards the potential attributed to community and relations between seemingly authentic human beings, as the main way to reach out and to make a difference. This notion of how to guide the young people is at the core of the socio-pedagogy of the interventions carried out. When it comes to the discourse and rationality of the moral community, within the activities performed and within the organizational relations facilitating them, de-politicization is at the core of the rationality. Social change is articulated in the form of support of the excluded, underpinned by ambitions to make a difference. Still, the difference aimed for is not structural reformation of the causes of segregation or exclusion, but rather reformation of the ways in which the consequences are handled. The discourse animates the kind of contributions provided as non-political and non-governmental acts of

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goodwill, community and provision of support for those in need – establishing the charitable contributors as part of the local community. Seemingly paradoxical, such discourse position provider and recipient distant from each other – on the “inside” and on the “outside” of society – yet, with underpinning notions of forming moral community (but, with maintained and non-articulated power relations). However, this discourse includes obvious political notions of social change as well as power relations between provider and recipient embedded in the social support provided. The kinds of personal engagement and contributions illustrated in the analysis recognize injustices in terms of poverty and exclusion. However, the form of intervention promoted does not address these problems or support collective actions and reform. Rather, the intervention utilizes these injustices to legitimize a certain kind of provision of support and a particular way of initiating social change. Involvement in sports-based interventions provides opportunities to realize certain visions of social change (albeit while maintaining these power relations) based on notions of a desired society. That, essentially, is a matter of politics and contestation over social policy transformation. In this way, several elements from the philanthropy of the 1800s recur in contemporary neo-philanthropy. It is about dealing with societal problems and at the same time maintaining a given social order, i.e., changing groups of individuals that are attributed different kinds of problems, rather than changing the causes of these problems. Such interventions are today done against the background of what appears as ethno-cultural or racial tensions and differences, more than against the background of poverty and social problems following industrialism and escalating class conflicts. At the same time, the answers to these problems, in terms of provision, pedagogy and moral education, are essentially the same. Though, today it is not primarily religion as such that provides the main basis of legitimating change for neo-philanthropy, but rather the individuals’ own responsibility to manage the risk of social exclusion. It is thus a matter of different forms of salvation – divine salvation or political and social inclusion. Donzelot (1979, p. 55) situates such concerns especially in relation to philanthropy: How was it possible to ensure the development of practices of preservation and formation of the population while at the same time detaching it from any directly political role and yet applying to it a mission of domination, pacification, and social integration? The answer: By means of philanthropy. Philanthropy in this case is not to be understood as a naïvely apolitical term signifying a private intervention in the sphere of so‐called social problems, but must be considered as a deliberately de‐politicizing strategy for establishing public services and facilities at a sensitive point midway between private initiative and the state. (Donzelot 1979, p. 55) The point made in this analysis of Midnight Football is not that the arrangement of philanthropist intervention, engagement, and cooperation by means of

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sports-based interventions makes possible an entrance for philanthropists into the scene of solving social problems. Rather, the point is that such arrangement has certain effects in terms of a rationality of guiding the conduct of young people, the moral re-formation promoted, performed as a de-politicized strategy to obscure segregation, exclusion, and conflict of interest. Such discourse is instrumental for setting up the technologies forming the conduct of young people and guiding social change based on notions of need, moral reform, and authentic goodwill – manifested in role-modelling relations and technologies of community, discipline and deliberation played out on the field of the activities. In accordance with this analysis of support and neo-philanthropic rationality presented, welfarist governmentality based on social rights is challenged. In following chapters, we will analyse in further detail how the socio-pedagogy of neophilanthropy takes different forms providing examples of how contemporary social policy is put into practice, not least based on community. The re-emergence of philanthropic rationalities in the operations of social policy and social work is not at all limited to practices initiated in the form of sports-based interventions. Rather, they are influential in a broad spectrum of activities and policy areas (Villadsen 2008b, 2011), essentially constituting a concurrent transformation of governing from the social point of view (Donzelot 1979; Rose 1999). We will further discuss these transformations in depth in the concluding chapter of this book. Continuing the book, the following chapters further the analysis of the kinds of governing made possible by the notions of civil society and neo-philanthropy formed. We look closer into how these rationalities assemble in technologies on-site in the activities. Here, it is important to bear in mind that institutionalizations are formed by the rationalities and technologies promoted, rather than decided by a pre-given logic belonging to a specific sector or institution. Discourses and rationalities of governing enable certain assemblages of activities and technologies formative of Midnight Football. But first, in the next chapter, we take the forms of organizational cooperation making the intervention possible as a point of departure. The variety of agencies involved in cooperation – beyond the neo-philanthropists – constitute an infrastructure of governing not limited to specific agencies or sectors in society. We will illustrate how the young people targeted are made the subjects of observation as well as part of a local community based on safety and trust. This community is formed by people and agencies in the locality, both attributed to positions of the public sector and the civil society.

References Bunds, K. (2017). Sport, politics and the charity industry. New York: Routledge. Cruikshank, B. (1999). The will to empower. New York: Cornell University Press. Daigo, E. & Filo, K. (2021). Exploring the value sponsors co-create at a charity sport event: a multiple stakeholder perspective of sport value. Sport Management Review. doi: 10.1080/14413523.2021.1975401

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Dean, M. & Villadsen, K. (2016). State phobia and civil society. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Donzelot, J. (1979). The policing of families. London: The John Hopkins University Press. Donzelot, J. (1988). The promotion of the social. Economy and Society 17(3), 395–427. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Giulianotti, R. (2004). Human rights, globalization and sentimental education: the case of sport. Sport in Society 7(3), 355–369. Hoekman, R., Breedveld, K. & Kraaykamp, G. (2017). Providing for the rich? The effect of public investments in sport on sport (club) participation of vulnerable youth and adults. European Journal for Sport and Society 14(4), 327–347. Peterson, T. & Schenker, K. (2017). Social entrepreneurship in a sport policy context. Sport in Society 21(3), 452–467. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rosso, E.G.F. & McGrath, R. (2017). Community engagement and sport? Building capacity to increase opportunities for community-based sport and physical activity. Annals of Leisure Research 20(3), 349–367. Sherry, E., Schulenkorf, N. & Chalip, L. (2015). Managing sport for social change: the state of play. Sport Management Review 18(1), 1–5. Stenling, C. & Fahlén, J. (2016). Same same, but different? Exploring the organizational identities of Swedish voluntary sports: possible implications of sports clubs’ selfidentification for their role as implementers of policy objectives. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 51(7), 867–883. Villadsen, K. (2004). Det sociale arbejdes genealogi: Om kampen for at gøre fattige og udstødte til frie mennesker. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Villadsen, K. (2007). The emergence of “neo-philanthropy”: a new discursive space in welfare policy? Acta Sociologica 50(3), 309–323. Villadsen, K. (2008a). Doing without state and civil society as universals: “Dispositifs” of care beyond the classic sector divide. Journal of Civil Society 4(3), 171–191. Villadsen, K. (2008b). Freedom as self-transgression: transformations in the “governmentality” of social work. European Journal of Social Work 11(2), 93–104. Villadsen, K. (2009). The “human” touch: voluntary organizations as rescuers of social policy? Public Management Review 11(2), 217–234. Villadsen, K. (2011). Modern welfare and “good old” philanthropy: a forgotten or a troubling trajectory? Public Management Review 13(8), 1057–1075. Welty Peachey, J.W., Cohen, A., Shin, N. & Fusaro, B. (2018). Challenges and strategies of building and sustaining inter-organizational partnerships in sport for development and peace. Sport Management Review 21(2), 160–175.

Chapter 7

Social Control

Introduction In this chapter, we explore how social control takes form in the open spaces where young people move, by disparate gazes from different social agencies, in both direct and indirect ways, creating a net of controlling surveillance. We show how such gazes are relational, underlining how being in the spotlight has implications for the conduct of young people as well as managers and coaches. By examining tensions between locating activities to partially confined spaces of intervention, and controlling the movement of young people beyond, we introduce how the conduct of conduct takes form in many places, in different relations and in activities in all capillaries of society. Social control in context Social control has been a recurrent concern in sociology and social sciences broadly, with a focus on how social order is maintained, how norms can be sustained and how deviancy is assessed and dealt with. For instance, transformations in the systems of social control have been noted from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft (Tönnies 2001) and from mechanical to organic solidarity (Durkheim 2014). Conflict-oriented approaches to social control in modern societies have highlighted how the state may uphold order by means of class domination (Jessop 2012). In line with such approaches, Foucault explored the development of systems of discipline (Foucault 1979) and how disciplinary technologies came to structure modern societies. In the last decades, focus has been directed to social control of the poor, at-risk (Garland 2002; Wacquant 2009) and surplus populations of segregated societies (Bauman 2011). Such technologies of control have been explored focusing on how they operate in the local community and everyday lives of people (Cohen 1985; Rose 1999) and take form in the open and post-institutional spaces of contemporary societies (Deleuze 1992). One way to conceptualize social control in social theory regards crime prevention (Cohen 1985). An explicit objective of Midnight Football is to prevent crime, by means of offering alternatives and creating sites of order and DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-7

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controlled leisure time. In this chapter, we analyse social control as articulated and performed in the name of crime prevention. Research on sport for crime prevention centres around diversion, from sites and times of risk to sport activities (Nichols 2007), and social reformation, supporting social relations to peers and to adult coaches (Hartmann 2003), learning objectives (Roe 2021) and pro-social competencies (Nichols 2007). As noted in previous research, sports-based interventions have been utilized for such purposes in a variety of ways and contexts (Bustad & Andrews 2017; Hartmann 2016; Meek 2013; Nichols 2007). Crime prevention, as with sports-based interventions deployed for purposes of social control, is often divided between primary, secondary and tertiary objectives (Nichols 2007). Primary prevention targets the general population, while secondary prevention targets specifically identified risk groups or individuals at specific places. Tertiary prevention is carried out in institutions, oftentimes targeting convicted persons. A great deal of research on sport as crime prevention has focused on operations carried out in prisons and other institutions (Meek 2013; Norman & Andrews 2019; Roe 2021). There is also extensive research with a focus on sport as crime prevention with broader social purposes (Ekholm 2013). In Sweden, sport has historically been used for broader social purposes, aimed at the entire population (Ekholm 2016), rather than targeted at-risk groups. However, in recent decades, there has been an increase in more targeted approaches focusing on disadvantaged areas in the urban peripheries, as has been the case in Sweden (Stenling 2015). Here, inter-agency cooperation involving, for instance, schools, social services, police (Forkby 2020) and sport associations (Ekholm 2016) has become more and more popular. In the following chapter, we lean on literature on social control as presented, providing concepts for understanding Midnight Football as part of machineries of discipline and control. Midnight Football is not based on formal cooperation with the criminal justice agencies, police, rescue services, social services, security guards or recreation centres, but these agencies operate near the activities. Operating as an open and voluntary effort targeting young people considered to be susceptible to risk, crime, drugs and delinquency, the arrangement of Midnight Football has elements of both primary and secondary crime prevention, providing a site where young people are visible and subjected to observation. These matters have important implications for the analysis presented in this chapter, as well as for the book more broadly. The arrangement of voluntary activities – through the utilization of sport – provides a case for exploring the open and decentred forms of surveillance, discipline and control growing in significance in today’s society. The aim of this chapter is to examine how Midnight Football becomes a site of social control in the name of crime prevention, with a focus on how surveillance and observation of the conduct and movement of young people is organized. How does social control take shape by means of Midnight Football? What are the conditions for these rationalities of social control to take shape? How does such rationality take shape in the form of governing technologies?

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Discipline and control In this chapter, we look closer into the tensions between how disciplinary technologies are confined in time and space and how technologies of control are dispersed in an institutionalization such as Midnight Football. Discipline is characterized by technologies of hierarchical observation and surveillance enabling normalization (Foucault 1979, 2009). Such technologies can be both repressive and productive. The assessment of risk is constitutive of disciplinary power, as subjects of risk are contained, in time and place, where reformation of the confined subjects takes place. Pinpointing the development towards control in open societies, Deleuze (1990, p. 4) notes that “we’re moving toward control societies that no longer operate by confining people but through continuous control”. According to Deleuze (1992), the closed institutions and disciplinary systems of surveillance have been succeeded by open arrangements, where subjects are not physically contained, but physically mobile. The open environments of modern societies, and constant fluidity of subjects in their movement, necessitate other forms of control. Rose (1999, p. 234) elaborated on this further, suggesting that control was something quite different from discipline: “Rather than being confined […] to a succession of [disciplinary] institutional sites, the control of conduct was now immanent to all places in which deviation could occur, inscribed into the dynamics of practices into which human beings are connected”. In that sense “control society is one of constant and never-ending modulation where the modulation occurs within flows and transactions between the forces and the capacities of the human subject and the practices in which he or she participates” (Rose 1999, p. 234). Furthermore, today it is not primarily the state that is the centre of the systems of social control, but control is dispersed and arranged by a variety of agencies, in the local community (Rose 1999). Here, civil society agencies, alongside the formal apparatus of the state or municipalities, are involved. Thus, control is exercised by a wide range of agencies and from multiple points of observation. Accordingly, the vision of observation can access information beyond specific institutions, in open spaces. Altogether, this exercise of control forms a machinery that constantly transforms and broadens its spectra (Deleuze 1992), enabling multi-perspective observations that can be even more powerful than centralized forms of surveillance (Cohen 1985).

The control of subjects and movement In the following analysis, we look closer into the activities on site and how young people present talk about drugs and crime. We, then, analyse how the rationalities of risk assessment and prevention are constructed, in turn underpinning technologies of control. Here, we interrogate the dynamics formed in the tensions between the controlling agencies and the subjects that are surveilled. We further explore how observing gazes are outlined to target the

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conduct, activities and movement of young persons, within and beyond the Midnight Football practices, how they can be coordinated and how the technologies of surveillance target the activities both directly and indirectly. What is created are totalizing assemblages of certain gazes and technologies of control. Young people in the open spaces and assessment of risk We begin the analysis by taking a closer look into the activities in Västerort. During the evenings and nights of our observations, we noticed young people participating and watching the activities. But we also observed young people who came to participate and to watch for a while moving in and out of the arenas. Of course, this is nothing out of the ordinary. There is constant movement among the young people. Some evenings more than a hundred young people are in place. All movement cannot be contained within the arenas where activities take place. Neither is this an ambition. The ambition, rather, is to provide a venue for activities where young people can gather, as this diverts from other sites of risk. Here, the tensions between Midnight Football as a confined institution, “the disciplinary sites of enclosure” (Deleuze 1992, p. 7), and life in the “open environment” (Deleuze 1992, p. 7) become central. As young people gather, the sites of the activities become a domain where a variety of relations can be formed. One night, when the activities had come to an end, a group of young people gathered outside of the sports hall in Västerort. Outside about 15 boys are gathered. […] They stand there for a while and then they go home and sleep, Martin says. Sure, one of them might smoke and sell drugs, he continued. But it is not them that he is worried about, but the people that left the arena earlier and who go into town during or after Midnight Football. It is among them that there are drugs. It’s mostly about smoking weed, but they can also meet heavier drugs (cocaine), Martin explains. Martin says that Midnight Football certainly might be a meeting place for young people. And some young people are involved with drugs. Dealings have certainly been settled there, but no one is doing or dealing drugs inside the hall, Martin describes. According to Martin, Mustafa once saw a guy who was rolling a joint inside the locker room. He then grabbed the guy and lifted him up and threw him out. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) This field note presents both the observations of the young people gathered and reporting of the coaches and managers present. Accordingly, we gain access to how managers and coaches reflect on the young people gathered at that specific time and place. In his reflection, Martin gives a particular meaning to the situation observed: the young people gathered constitute a potential danger to society. Following this account, the problem is constructed in a way that legitimizes the intervention promoted. The reflection builds on a distinction between different

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places, what happens outside and inside the hall and in the activities. This distinction creates boundaries between problems and order, where sports represent something positive: an established order with constructive norms. This distinction, in turn, makes movements gravitating around the activities possible to observe and surveille, into the sports arenas and outwards. Among the young people who participate in the activities, or move in and around the sports arena, and thus are in the gaze of observation, different risks are identified. Dheere, Yusra and Saman were three of the young people in Västerort talking about the young people moving around in the sports hall and outside in the surrounding park and school yard. Dheere says he has “friends who didn’t feel safe” in Midnight Football, because “some people don’t do normal stuff”, like “hanging outside … doing stuff that are no good […] drugs and so on”. He continues by describing how he “knows what these people do … in the park … that’s where it all happens”. Yusra is one of the girls who often comes to the activities. She says that she “heard of ‘drug dealers’ … but never met one”, thinking that they may come there “because it is easier to sell there […] when there are many people there”. A similar description is made by another participant, Saman, focusing on the potential of prevention in the activities. He says that “there are many criminals in Västerort … young people mainly”, and that they hang around “outside of Midnight Football … when they don’t play”. Although Saman does not have a completely clear picture of whether drug dealing takes place and if so, how, he talks about this as a risk. Still, he suggests that many young people “are more drawn to Midnight Football […] there is a decrease of cri … what is it called … criminality”, consequently. Accordingly, Midnight Football is seen as a gathering point for young people, but also a gathering of risk of crime, most notably in terms of drugs. Constructed as a gathering point, the activities constitute both a site of diversion from risk, and a site where risk can be located. In the following analysis, we will spotlight how these risks can be observed and how the subjects of risk can be surveilled and controlled. Controlling risk and the rationality of prevention The discourse of problems and risk underpins a rationality of prevention, promoted by people operating the intervention and shared by the agencies operating in the vicinity of Midnight Football. The assessment of risk and the rationality of prevention come forth as a key of the surveillance, manifested as a form of social control and of gaining knowledge about the young people and their suggested risk. The recurring discourse articulated by surrounding agencies, that forms the basis for their willingness to observe what is going on in the activities, concerns various problems located in Västerort and Österort, specifically in terms of risks of drugs and crime. These risks are not least assessed in relation to “burning of cars and throwing of stones at the rescue service”, as

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described by Mårten, who works at the rescue services. In the wake of the social unrest caused by such incidents in the area, he describes how the rescue service “is conducting outreach work in relation to various target groups … in socially vulnerable areas”. In his mind, the rescue service is more or less forced to conduct such work: “We have had to face this problem. That’s the way it is. We have been exposed to such situations”. Here, the rationality of assessing risk and preventing various problems is visualized, specifically located in the residential area of the urban periphery. It is against the backdrop of social unrest that the surrounding agencies justify the importance of knowledge about what is happening in the area. In this context, Midnight Football is in the spotlight, as many young people gather there at times of potential risk. Pia previously worked as a youth worker in Västerort but is now working for the administration of education in West City municipality, and she describes a visit to the Midnight Football activities. She reflects on how the activities and the participants are observed to estimate the potential risks, to consider possible ways to prevent them. Her own observations are based on professional competence and experience. What I reacted to, from the perspective of my profession … is … God, what is happening here? Behind the locker rooms. I see things you usually don’t see. […] Among other things, I discovered that there was some dealing going on … when we entered, where you cannot see exactly, in the locker rooms. […] It’s hard to keep an eye. […] It happens as soon as you don’t have your eyes when there are people inside. And then there is, drug trade is huge in Västerort. […] We can point them out as well and so on. […] I do not think that Midnight Football in any way promotes crime […] but it is easy to see that it can happen when there are so many young people who are gathered in the same place. (Pia) Pia describes how her professional view is aimed at what happens on site, in as well as outside the activities. Although the risks can be observed and assessed – located and prevented – they are ever-present. In the excerpt, Pia uses a variety of words for describing this observation and social control: to “see”, “discover”, “keep an eye” and “point out”. Based on what she gets to see, Pia expresses quite limited confidence in the potential of prevention in the activities, but still, the activities enable a certain gaze and vision into the lives of the young people in the urban periphery enabling the assessment of risk. When different views of surrounding actors, young people and coaches meet, there is a certain dynamic (and potential confrontation) emerging. The observations made, produce knowledge that young people as well as leaders confront (by alignment or confrontation). In any sense, the subjects of observation do recognize that they are observed and identified as subjects of risk.

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The dynamic relations of control The dynamic formed in the interactions and relations between the surveilling agencies and the subjects controlled occurs in practice during the evenings. Here, we draw particular attention towards certain occasions when agencies, such as the social services, come to look at what is going on at the Midnight Football practices. The visits of the social service’s fieldworkers illustrate tensions between discipline and control. The sports arena provides a site where young people in the area gather at a time and place associated with risk, where they can be watched. The activities provide a site for voluntary confinement of young people. However, the young people are not identified as subjects of risk more than they are residents, young people, mainly male and with a migrant background. They are not institutionalized or contained there, they move around in the area and the city and thus need to be controlled in certain ways. Accordingly, the fieldworkers can observe a group of young people in their movement. Understandably, the surveillance of the social service is selective, and problem-oriented as well as prevention-oriented in terms of assessing risk. However, the gaze creates distrust among the observed, who see themselves as observed. Accordingly, they and the managers and coaches feel subjected to control, which in turn breeds reinforced suspicion. During one observation, the social services’ team of fieldworkers visit the sports arena in Västerort. This visit creates an opportunity for eyes to meet. This specific occasion illustrates how the managers of Suburbia FC experience being monitored. Martin and Mustafa express reluctance for being in the gaze of the social services’ attention. Mustafa is clearly irritated, saying that he doesn’t understand why field assistants attend the activities to watch, wearing their clear-red jackets. According to Mustafa, they would rather be supported financially, so they could pay the coaches performing the activities, instead of being controlled by fieldworkers. Both managers describe themselves as being in the spotlight of the interest of the surrounding society and welfare agencies, and they approach this interest with great scepticism. Notably, both managers highlight the look of the visitors, especially their jackets, suggesting that such uniforms are marking a distance towards the local youth and the coaches present. The feeling of being watched comes forth as a sense of being suspected, in general terms. This feeling most clearly characterizes another situation with an unlocked door in the sports arena. The feeling of being monitored and distrusted is embodied by Martin. On one occasion Martin notices that a door in a nearby computer room of the school is left unlocked and he is worried that the young people will go there. If something is broken, he says, the managers will be blamed by the municipality. He is also reluctant to call the security guards, as he will then be invoiced for their response. His feeling of being opposed by the municipality and squeezed between two poor choices is palpable. The door unlocked is just one event making clear how suspicion and control is experienced. The situation calls for a self-imposed risk awareness and understanding that the suspicions of the

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agencies surrounding will be directed at the activities, the leaders and the participants. The security guards must be called there, which makes the activities the subject of yet another agency’s eyes, and potential distrust. Notably, even the participants identify that there are other eyes in the sports arena, watching the activities. The social service team of field workers, marked by their red jacket uniform, was also noted in the eyes of the young people. On one occasion, one of the older Somali boys asks us (Ekholm) who the persons with the red jackets are, and what “fieldworker”, printed on the jackets, means. After being informed (in Swedish) he tells the other Somali boys (in Somali). The visiting field workers are recognized, but the young people taking part in the activities do not know who they are. Here, an asymmetrical relation becomes clear: the social service team of fieldworkers has certain knowledge about what and who they observe, and why. The purpose for them being there is to assess risk, because the young people in the urban periphery constitute a group assessed to be at risk. The young people both notice and express that they are being watched, but they do not know why. The red jackets that the observers are wearing are perceived by both managers and coaches as well as the participant young people. They all note that the fieldworkers of the social services wear red jackets, identified as a uniform, which signifies that they are not part of the activities or the local community. Coordination of control Still, not only the fieldworkers of the social services and the education administration of the municipalities are engaged in visiting Midnight Football. Also, the police and the rescue services have come to visit activities in both Västerort and Österort. All these different gazes create certain possibilities to coordinate observation and control. One of the rescue service workers, Jonas, remembers one visit to Midnight Football in Österort, where he was familiar with some of the young people, saying he even “recognized someone who had actually committed crimes”. Such visits make it possible to observe the activities, which may produce knowledge, but also to participate together with the young people. Among the agencies, there are hopes that attending and participating will help to create relationships with the young people. Similar discussions have been held in Västerort. Bertil, a police officer in West City, describes how the rescue service is engaged in preventive work, providing an illustrative example where “one of the teams has a football in the vehicle”, which may be used when meeting young people. Bertil tellingly describes the rationality behind such an approach as: “you don’t throw stones on someone you have played football with”, here making clear the importance of trust, relations and community. In a similar way, Abraham describes one occasion in Österort when one of the rescue service men “brought one of the stones that had been thrown at them”, saying “I want to return the stone” – a move that helped to create trust.

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However, the presence of eyes watching the activities is not uncomplicated. Anders, a police officer in West City, describes that “there have been some problems with this organization, particularly in Västerort […] they didn’t want us or the social service’s fieldworkers to be there”, concluding “I think they wanted it to be their thing”. When describing the response of the management of the activities, he describes the managers and coaches as reluctant to have both the police and the social services present. Managers in both Västerort and Österort articulate being uncomfortable with the presence of other actors, especially under conditions over which they have little or no influence. As articulated by the managers, they do not want to be monitored. Rather, they want to be seen and recognized, on their own terms, without suspicion and prejudice – preferably from persons dressed without uniform. If the police come, they are very welcome to, but they are not allowed to come in wearing a uniform, as that can cause some … contradiction and irritation. And they came […] and so I see that there is a police bus, and they look quite determined when they get out of the car and go into the hall. […] So they go straight in, stand up there and watch, and the guys on the court just start laughing, throwing out comments and so on. So, the officer greets everyone like … this was a local policeman who had been in the area, who had a good relation to them. (Sulejman) Once again, we can notice a certain dynamic between the various actors who come from outside, with ambitions of observing and monitoring what is taking place, and how the actors who are there meet their presence. Accordingly, creating trust and community enables the police to enter the venue of the activities to observe and control from the inside. The many eyes surveilling is hoped to be coordinated between agencies, to create a more total vision out of the specific viewing points. In the descriptions, there is a recurrent emphasis of the importance of more cooperation between different agencies, to gain better knowledge of what is happening in the lives of young people, to deal with risk and prevent crime. For instance, representatives of the police particularly highlight the importance of collaboration with the municipal recreation centres as well as with the social services. Among other agencies, the police appear as an important force to cooperate with – which in turn suggests that the risks observed are a matter of policing. Thus, representatives of the rescue service and the police express both the need for and a willingness to coordinate the observations and interventions of the respective organization, to identify and prevent risks. In this respect, there is a need for different observations to be coordinated. As formulated by Mårten: “I guess we need to develop a more long-term plan based on dialogue with the police, so that we don’t counteract one another and think differently”.

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Control within and beyond the intervention The observing eyes of the social service and other agencies can be directed towards the activities, the leaders and the participants, the movements in the area. Such control takes place both directly, at the activities, and indirectly, at the leaders and young people in contexts beyond the activities. This means that the activities become a site of observation. But the surveillance does not need to be limited to the place of the activities; rather, the movement of young people can be followed from the sites to other parts of the cities. Zvonomir works as a youth worker at the social service in Västerort, though not in the same division as the fieldworkers mentioned above. He has contact with many young people who participate in Midnight Football or are visitors there. Zvonomir describes both the situation about dealing drugs in or in the proximity of the activities, and where the people involved in deviancy go after the Midnight Football activities have ended: Drugs do exist […] I would be surprised if it wouldn’t. It’s everywhere, also in Midnight Football. […] I know some that I work with, who attend Midnight Football. […] They have encountered the wrong people, dealing drugs and so. […] They go down-town afterwards. […] They come there, 01.00 to 02.00 […] I see the older come there quite late at night. […] Sometimes, they bring those who are younger. […] They have work to do. […] There is a hell of a lot of drug dealing taking place. Oftentimes drugs are sold to after-parties. […] I get to see more younger people at 02.30 to 03.00 than I do 21.00 to 22.00. I am there until 04.00 in the morning, so I do see. (Zvonomir) Zvonomir sees and assesses the risk of the young people he works with, spotlighting how the sites of Midnight Football may be one of risk. There are drugs there, and this has caused some previous alarms. But most importantly, the work of Zvonomir also involves keeping an eye on the young people in the city more broadly. As a youth worker he works in different parts of the city. He is mobile, working at different times of the day and night. Consequently, he can know the young people and see them in their movement between different spaces, moving from one point (Västerort and Midnight Football) to downtown West City at night, potentially involved in dealing drugs. In this sense, Zvonomir’s outlook is even more directed to the lives of the young people at places beyond the site of the intervention. He describes that the older participants gather at Midnight Football and then go into town. Identifying how young people are moving in the open landscape beyond Midnight Football, they are surveilled and controlled in a range of places, at various times, involved in different activities. In this regard, Midnight Football is an activity that makes it possible to map those who are on the spot (in the activities), even when they are in other places.

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However, the observation and knowledge formed is not centralized. Control emerges in the dynamics between the fieldworkers visiting the site of the activities and the youth worker of the social services observing the young people in their movements, as well as with the police and rescue services visiting the activities. In these various descriptions of observations beyond the site of Midnight Football, particular scopes of observations are lifted. Different actors get to see different things, on different sites. To add to this, control can be both direct and more in-direct. Direct and indirect control The technologies of control target the activities and young people within and beyond the activities. But social control is also noted both directly and indirectly towards the interventions, by for instance coaches and managers being observed by the variety of agencies in many different contexts. In the chapter, we have provided examples of how various agencies engage in direct observation of the activities in the sports arena and beyond. In addition, we look closer on how control can also be outlined indirectly by monitoring managers and coaches. Toni is a youth worker at the recreation centre in Västerort. He gets to see a lot of things going on in Västerort and knows of the managers and coaches of Midnight Football. He expresses great confidence in the local leaders. Toni describes, “outside of Midnight Football, there is drug dealing going on”, but “it never happens inside, because the leaders keep watch”. In his work, Toni watches the coaches keeping watch of the young people. Also, Bertil, the police officer in West City, highlights the cultural competence of the managers and coaches as of great importance. He says, “if anyone can detect dealing, it is them, because they are used to it and they are in that environment”. The police have knowledge of the managers and coaches and their ability to discover things in the activities and among the young people. However, the indirect gazes provide not only confident outlooks. Bertil’s colleague Anders talks about the leaders of Midnight Football in Västerort. In contrast to the above descriptions, Anders notes that there are leaders who move around in criminal environments, which creates concerns regarding the activity. We have seen … people from there in fact sentenced for drug crime. […] We have watched them … their cars … and it’s not appropriate to work and do this. […] You must take a step away from the other stuff, from contacts with the criminal world. […] If not, we can’t back this up, and say this is a good thing. […] It happened at some point … that drugs were found in the arena. […] Still, with open leisure activities … there were so many young people … boys. (Anders)

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When the police officer Anders makes his observation, he concludes that some of the leaders are associated with the “criminal world”. As the activities are formally “open leisure activities” and not institutionalized crime prevention, there are specific challenges in terms of controlling what is going on, who is there and in what capacity. Consequently, the police engage in indirect control by means of knowledge accessed about the managers and coaches working there, and in this way, they are informed of the activities carried out. Martin, the manager of the intervention in Västerort, confronts the knowledge of the police. His reflections concern also how he has understood that other actors, especially in the municipal administration in West City, have seen the leaders as “not serious”, because some of them may have had a background with crime or because one of them has friends among those who do drug dealing in the area. Martin expresses that “we work with young people doing crime and selling drugs”, however emphasizing that there are no coaches involved in that, but participants that they try to help. Though, he also describes how “the police oftentimes have concerns about the people in our circles … because we are sometimes in the grey-area […] providing a place where we build role models of those that are not quite done yet”, meaning people that may have relations with other people still involved in crime. Also, there are examples of coaches that have had to end their engagement in the intervention following convictions of crime. Still, to reach out to and to provide activities that can involve people, the intervention has to be open for people that are in between delinquency and law, it is seen. We will return to analysing the potential of role models providing relations that facilitate certain objectives.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have analysed how primary and secondary forms of social control, shaped as crime prevention, are initiated in the open and postinstitutional society of today, based on voluntary participation directed towards areas and subjects of risk. To understand how crime prevention comes forth through Midnight Football, we have paid a particular interest to the dynamics between discipline and control. The tension arises between how young people, classified as subjects of risk, can be surveilled in the open landscape through voluntary participation in the activities, and what role the partially enclosed institution of Midnight Football must play in this respect. Accordingly, Midnight Football provides a spatial setting, momentarily closed in time and space, with a set of disciplinary rules directing the movements of young people. In the following chapters, we will look closer into how the socio-pedagogical technologies of governing take shape within this setting. Still, it is important to note that the movements are voluntary, open to join and leave, which means that the activities need to make young people want to come. Accordingly, Midnight Football provides a site, where the movements of young people in the open spaces and in the urban periphery can be steered.

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Acting upon the desires of the young people to want to go there of their own free will is key. In that sense it makes surveillance as well as disciplinary measures possible, as the young people of the residential area go there and attend the activities. Further, the intervention provides a site from which the movements of young people can be followed to sites beyond the sport arena. To make the lives and conduct of the subjects of risk knowledgeable, coordination between the eyes of a variety of agencies is hoped and strived for. Control is thus exercised in a variety of places, by a range of watching eyes enabling multifaceted forms of knowledge and assessment of risk. The intervention, its location in time and space, enables the formation of a complex system of gazes that reaches even indirectly and beyond the activities of the intervention. In this sense, the intervention provides a technology of control that is flexible, “deformable and transformable” (Deleuze 1992, p. 6), adjusted to the free movements of the subjects surveilled, reaching beyond the partially enclosed domain of Midnight Football. Accordingly, Midnight Football enables surveillance and social control, though, rather loose and with unclear regulatory effects; still, providing structures for a complex web of gazes following the movement of young people from different angles. In the centre of the dynamics between discipline and control, are the relations between surveilling agencies and the subjects that are surveilled. The analysis illustrates how coaches and managers as well as young people are aware of the surveillance exercised. It also illustrates that the relations are asymmetrical, in the sense that coaches, managers and participants feel subjected to the gaze of observation directed at the activities. Though, representatives of the surveilling agencies express their interest mainly in terms of prevention of risks such as drugs and crime. In this gaze, these agencies are positioned as benign providers of care and welfare. At the same time, when surveilling agencies watch the activities for the assessment of risk, it creates a distance and even resistance among coaches, managers and participants. Accordingly, being watched on the premise of preventing risk further enforces feelings of exclusion. It is not the benign care of the surrounding agencies that is esteemed, but rather the feeling of illegitimate surveillance. Consequently, Midnight Football is formed as an arena where a variety of agencies can surveil and gain knowledge about the subjects of risk identified. This is one important dimension of the technologies of governing constitutive of the intervention carried out. Another important dimension is visible in the tension between discipline and control, between the spatial containment of the activities and the open society where they take place. Given that the activities provide possibilities for participation on a voluntary basis, targeting all young people in a residential area conceived of as at risk, the activities must be attractive and designed for young people to go there of their own free will. Therefore, the tension between the defined OR demarcated room with its rules, structures and socio-pedagogy, and the open society outside this room provides a frame for understanding some of the underpinning rationalities of the intervention.

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In the activity, young people can participate – voluntarily – in a sociopedagogical activity, where they may learn to behave in certain ways, which they can take with them into life outside the sports hall, out in the open society. Accordingly, the activities in the setting of Midnight Football form a disciplinary machinery where young people can be guided – governed – by means of socio-pedagogy and social reformation. If young people still do not conduct themselves in accordance with the desired ideals, then the fluidity of movements starting from the site of the activity can be monitored in a variety of directions, to different locations in the city. The movements outside cannot be disciplined but subjected to control. In this sense, Midnight Football enables discipline inside and control outside (the arena). In the words of Rose (1999, p. 238), such operation of governing means “a blurring of the boundaries between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of the systems of social control, and a widening of the net of control whose mesh simultaneously became finer and whose boundaries became more invisible as it spread”. Reconnecting the analysis to the development of systems of social control in modern societies, we can see how the rationalities of control promoted take as its object of surveillance the specific category of young people residing in the disadvantaged urban periphery. It is not, in that sense, formal surveillance of the underclass, but control of a specific category of young people located in the disadvantaged urban landscape, formally free in their movement in the open spaces, but constantly, wherever they move, made visible as objects of knowledge and risk-assessment (Foucault 1979). In this way, Midnight Football operates in the fashion of previously known modes of social control of the modern societies yet aligning its technologies and outreach in multiple forms, involving a great variety of agencies (Cohen 1985). Interestingly, such rationality of social control in the open spaces of contemporary societies (Rose 1999), targeting the risk and potential deviance of the disadvantaged underclass, seems to be based on the mobilization of social and moral relations associated with community and gemeinschaft. Social relations and moral conduct are to be reformed within the excluded communities. Underlining the tension between environments of confinement and the open spaces where the movement of young people can be observed and controlled, we will in the following chapters take a closer look into what is going on in the activities that young people participate in. Even though voluntary and open, they are constituted by a range of governing technologies forming relations and community, promoting social reformation between pedagogy and police. The relations formed and communities subjected to control take shape through a variety of interactions in the urban periphery. Such interactions – meetings – are made intelligible through a discourse of integration and social cohesion. In the following chapter, we will take a closer look at how the activities in Midnight Football constitute a meeting place attributed a potential (or not) as an arena for integration, as well as how the framework of integration makes possible certain technologies of governing.

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References Bauman, Z. (2011). Collateral damage: Social inequalities in a global age. Malden: Polity Press. Bustad, J.J. & Andrews, D.L. (2017). Policing the void: Recreation, social inclusion and the Baltimore police athletic league. Social Inclusion 5(2), 241–249. Cohen, S. (1985). Visions of social control. Cambridge: Polity Press. Deleuze, G. (1990). Control and becoming. Gilles deleuze in conversation with antonio negri. Futur Anterieur 1 (translation to English: https://www.uib.no/sites/w3.uib.no/ files/attachments/6._deleuze-control_and_becoming_0.pdf, 2022-03-29). Deleuze, G. (1992). Postscript on the societies of control. October 59, 3–7. Durkheim, E. (2014/1893). The division of labour in society. New York: Free Press. Ekholm, D. (2013). Sport and crime prevention: Individuality and transferability in research. Journal of Sport for Development 1(2), 1–12. Ekholm, D. (2016). Sport as a means of responding to social problems: Rationales of governing, welfare and social change [PhD-thesis]. Linköping: Linköping University. Forkby, T. (2020). Organizational exceptions as vehicles for change. European Journal of Social Work 23(4), 580–593. Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Garland, D. (2002). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hartmann, D. (2003). Theorizing sport as social intervention: A view from the grassroots. Quest 55(2), 118–140. Hartmann, D. (2016). Midnight basketball. Race sports, and neoliberal social policy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Jessop, B. (2012). Marxist approaches to power. In: Amenta, E., Nash, K. & Scott, A. (eds.). The Wiley‐Blackwell companion to political sociology (3–14). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Meek, R. (2013). Sport in prison: Exploring the role of physical activity in correctional settings. London: Routledge. Nichols, G. (2007). Sport and crime reduction: The role of sports in tackling youth crime. London: Routledge. Norman, M. & Andrews, G.J. (2019). The folding of sport space into carceral space: On the making of prisoners’ experiences and lives. The Canadian Geographer 63(3), 453–465. Roe, D. (2021). Pedagogies of sport in youth detention: Withholding, developing, or just “busying the youth”? Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 50(2), 261–288. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Stenling, C. (2015). The drive for change: Putting the means and ends of sport at stake in the organizing of Swedish voluntary sport [PhD-thesis]. Umeå: Umeå University. Tönnies, F. (2001). Community and society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wacquant, L. (2009). Punishing the poor. The neoliberal government of social insecurity. Durham: Duke University Press.

Chapter 8

Integration

Introduction In this chapter, we analyse the discourse of integration and how it becomes associated with cultural meetings between minorities and majority, and how such conceptualization in turn makes specific forms of governing possible. Certain meetings and relations are idealized, while others are problematized – not least, meetings within minorities are seen as exclusive bonding, but they can at the same time be mobilized and acted upon when it comes to meetings between coaches and participants of the same community. Acting upon such pastoral and community relations provides a starting point for outlining a variety of technologies of control, management and social reformation. Different forms of integration Just like social control, integration has been a central concern for the sociology of modern societies. Different forms and models of integration have marked modernity from pre-modern arrangements of social organization. Conceptually, integration most often concerns how society and its inhabitants are related to each other in some kind of system, where cohesion is emphasized with a focus on establishing relationships between people maintaining social order (Ritzer 2018). In sociological literature, and following the conceptualization of social control elaborated upon in the previous chapter, such cohesion has been described in terms of social relations, ties and bonds in communities, as Gemeinschaft (Tönnies 2001), in terms of interdependence between people by a division of labour in modern societies, as organic solidarity (Durkheim 2014), or in terms of social solidarity (Donzelot 1988, 1991) formed by reducing class hierarchies and conflicts in the population, or as matter of republican ideals about equality, rights and citizenship (Peters & Besley 2014), adopting a language of social inclusion (Levitas 1998). In a post-welfarist context, integration has particularly revolved around issues concerning migration and the possibilities of developing integration in a multicultural society in an era of international migration (Bauböck 2002; Pfeffer 2015; Modood 2017). DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-8

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While Sweden for decades was internationally recognized for its social and integration policies formed by multicultural ideals (Ålund & Schierup 1991), there has in the last decade been a quite drastic policy change in Sweden. In policy discourse, an increasing emphasis has been put on cultural homogeneity and the importance of migrants adapting to “Swedish values” (Ålund et al. 2017). Underpinned by a broader discourse of migration as a problem, and in the name of integration, a range of policy measures targeting people with a migrant background have been rolled out, particularly those living in the urban periphery (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019). These developments are part of a change that is taking place also in other countries, where an increasingly dominant problematization of a supposedly “failed integration” has emerged (Schinkel 2018). In line with such problematization, migration has been suggested as posing a challenge, or even a threat, to social cohesion and thus to integration (Hansen 2021). Such an understanding of integration often puts the focus on migrants as carriers of shortcomings of various kinds, and as giving rise to a range of problems regarding integration in the new countries of residence (Lithman 2010). In such understanding, integration becomes more or less synonymous with cultural adaptation, while conflicts and tensions in society in general, in terms of distribution of resources, tend to be overshadowed (Bauböck 2002). Here, most attention is given to the relationship between the majority and the minorities of the population, and not least the potential of meetings between majority and minority “cultures” (Ålund & Schierup 1991). In Sweden, Ålund and Schierup (1991, p. 14) concluded, “immigrants have […] too often become ‘social problems’ explained in terms of ‘cultural heritage’, ‘cultural distance’, ‘cultural conflicts’, ‘cultural confrontations’, or ‘cultural collisions’”. Supposedly, there was a need for “‘functional integration’ […] defined in terms of the immigrants’ adaptation to the institutions, norms and culture of the ‘majority society’”. Consequently, “‘culture’ functions as the loom of a delicate fabric of social control and management of social conflicts”. In line, meetings may on the one hand be seen as a problem, as migrants are described as posing a threat to the norms and values of the majority society (Koopmans 2013). But meetings can also be seen as potential in terms of creating opportunities to overcome boundaries between people, with hopes of tolerance and mutual respect developed as people learn to understand different cultures (Lorentz 2009). Though, integration in terms of cultural meetings can also be analysed from critical perspectives, where the drawing of boundaries between the majority and different minorities as imagined communities are problematized (Schinkel 2018), drawing attention to inequality and segregation as part of the drawing of such boundaries (Ålund & Schierup 1991). In literature on sport as a means to promote integration, a particular attention has been paid to the potential of creating meetings and relationships between people. Such research has focused on examining how participation in sport may contribute to relationships between people, which in turn may help establish a

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sense of community – a socio-cultural glue referred to as “social capital”, forming the basis of cohesion and integration (Nicholson & Hoye 2008). The arguments put forth here apply to notions of civil society as a particular domain for social relations on a voluntary basis. The creation of social capital in networks and relationships between people forms a community. In sport sociology, a distinction is repeatedly made between different types of meetings, relations and capital: bridging and bonding (Seippel 2006). Bridging capital, on the one hand, is described as created in relationships between people from different environments and backgrounds. Bonding capital, on the other hand, is defined as created in relationships between people from similar environments and backgrounds. Such relationships are sometimes described as exclusive, in the sense that they are described as strengthening existing bonds between people and thus creating exclusion from the rest of the population (i.e., the majority) (Coakley 2011). The aim of this chapter is to explore how integration is conceptualized as an objective of Midnight Football and to scrutinize how such conceptualization becomes a technology of governing the conduct of young people taking part in the activities. How is the concept of integration formed in discourse, as an objective of the intervention? What are the discursive premises making such formation possible? How is this formation, in turn, enabling certain technologies of rule, and with what effects? Conceptualizing integration For this chapter, we do not take a specific understanding of integration as a starting point, but instead examine how integration is conceptualized in discourse. In this respect, it is the talk of integration that is analysed, and with such a focus, we point to how this concept is acted upon, thereby becoming real. Through a discourse analytical approach, we analyse the meanings that are fixed in a certain way of speaking, and the meanings that are excluded (Foucault 1971). Exclusion, in this sense, means that certain things cannot be thought or talked about, that there are no words for or that cannot appear to be true or appear insane in relation to prevailing norms and truths (Foucault 1971). In addition, we analyse the productive effects that become possible when a certain meaning becomes fixed in a discourse (Foucault 1980). In this way, discourse becomes performative, producing real effects, making things happen (Bacchi 2009). In this respect, discourse is the order through which we can analyse what is possible to understand in terms of integration – for example how integration is associated with the community, social capital, interdependency in the division of labour, social equality and solidarity or meetings between people with different cultural backgrounds. A key for such a discursive approach is to scrutinize distinctions and the production of differences between people based on racial, ethnocultural or religious categorizations (Miles & Brown 2003). This means interrogating the ways in which different subjects are positioned in distinct categories, in terms of

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difference, as belonging to certain communities with specific meanings and values, inhabiting different spaces, taking part in specific activities, engaged in various relations, in turn making them governable and includable, according to specific rationalities. In this sense, we analyse, for instance, how the discourse of integration becomes formed in relation to bridging and bonding meetings, to diversity and unity as well as having effects in terms of racialization. Here, we will also analyse the discourse formative of civil society and community in relation to the integration discourse.

Integration as discourse and technology of governing In the following, we analyse the discursive connections made between meetings and integration in articulations and highlight how different kinds of meetings are understood as potential and threat in the name of integration. We, then, interrogate how the idealized bridging relations appear difficult to attain, while bonding relations within multicultural community seem possible to form. Conclusively, we underline how bonding meetings between coaches and participants are shaped as a premise of pastoral relations, care and community, making certain technologies of governing possible. The faith in social encounters and relations A general conclusion from interrogating how integration is talked about and formed as one of the main objectives of Midnight Football concerns how integration is associated with meetings, and that meetings have a consistently positive connotation. Niklas, who works for the foundation organizing Midnight Football, densely pinpoints the association between football and integration as a question of meetings. For me, sport is the best tool when it comes to fostering young people and integration. A meeting between people and making new friends … where you fight for something in common, in healthy relationships […] under the supervision of good leaders. And there is peer pressure to … yes, win and fight together, or to be the best teammate, make the best assist or score a goal … you know. While out on the street, it’s like … if you grew up in criminal networks, then the grouping becomes more … to sell most weapons, drugs or smash most bus stop shelters. (Niklas) Thus, football provides meetings, and the social relations formed in these meetings in turn mean integration. The relationships formed have a positive influence on the young people, in contrast to meetings taking place beyond the sports arena. Football is articulated as a place for integration, in contrast

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to a surrounding society that is increasingly characterized by escalating conflicts. Teamwork (in football) is contrasted to criminal networks (outside football). Niklas’ colleague at the foundation, Fredrik, explicitly associates such understanding of integration to the development of community and social capital in civil society. According to Fredrik, certain “activities are best carried out by civil society … having another driving force”, explaining that “it is social capital … that is established in these kinds of activities”. He continues: “you build trust reaching beyond … in society … a trust in other people”, emphasizing how “that’s integration for the local community … with 70 different nationalities”. According to Sead, a coach in Österort, the activities as such provide meetings with Swedish society. Speaking of the recent arrival of an increasing number of refugees to Sweden, he mentions that “you can come and join … for free … and meet other people, get to learn the language, and be included in society”. In this way, he means, “we succeeded in integrating them in society, and making them understand how things are in Sweden”. Thus, Midnight Football is constructed as a possibility to meet Swedish society and the football association. Again, football is characterized as a site of integration, while life in the urban periphery is described as marked by segregation. Shanzar, another coach in Österort, underlines that “if you come to Midnight Football, you become included in the group and in our activities … and it’s a rule that everyone is welcome”. According to Shanzar, “this leads to integration, as they [the participants] learn about Swedish society, how things work … and you learn the Swedish language”. Importantly, both Sead and Shanzar in these excerpts explicitly talk about young people who are newly arrived migrants; however, such ambitions of integration through meetings seem to have a wider reach. Abraham, the manager of Sumeria FC, accounts for a similar description using his own experiences of feeling not yet recognized as Swedish, as a frame for pointing out the importance of arranging and taking part in meetings. I feel like a Swede … like a proud Swede. […] But I have never been called Swedish by anyone else … and that is a big worry. If we can work with Midnight Football … that there are not so big differences between us … and if we can unite different ethnic groups, religions and more … then we do something huge, I think … for integration. There is no difference between us. We create this community and work with integration in such a simple way. We all unite through football. (Abraham) The discourse centres around football as a way of meeting other people and of becoming “Swedish”. Meetings can bridge boundaries between people, create community and unity transcending religion and division based on ethnicity, and in this sense making people feel that they are part of Sweden and feel “Swedish”.

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Meetings are generally important and something that can be mobilized through football. At the same time, some meetings can be understood as somehow better than others, while other kinds of meetings are seen as more problematic. Here, it becomes important to distinguish between discourses about bridging and bonding meetings and relations, and how these kinds of meetings are attributed potential to be inclusive and exclusive. Political idealizations of (bridging) meetings Accordingly, meetings are in general terms highly esteemed and discursively associated with integration. Still, some meetings are more idealized than others, while others are seen as more problematic. As meetings form integration, the kind of integration could be of an idealized bridging kind or of a more problematic and supposedly exclusive bonding kind. Particularly among collaborating agencies who support the activities, among politicians, officials and sponsors, the value of bridging relations and meetings between an imagined minority and an imagined majority is emphasized. Marika is a policy maker in West City and the chairperson of the municipal culture and leisure committee. She underlines the distinctions between different forms of meetings being realized in Midnight Football in Västerort. Because bridging meetings between different groups in society seems hard or not even possible to realize, the municipality is reluctant to increase its financial support. I think the important thing that associations can do for integration, is to get this mixture of people from different social or socio-economic situations, and people who have lived in Sweden all their lives and people who have not lived here for so long … get to meet and exchange experiences and … become friends, hopefully. I see that as an important part of integration. I can see the problem of not achieving this mix of people, which is necessary to form integration. […] We see it as a problem, having an activity that instead segregates people from society. Because you create a small group in an already vulnerable society, a group that has no contact into society in any other way. So, it becomes like a segregated group. And we do not think that is the solution. […] We don’t see that it helps to break segregation. (Marika) Importantly, Marika associates the integration potential with activities in civil society when participation results in meetings and fosters social relations. Though, for such meetings and relations to result in integration, there need to be mixed and bridging meetings between people from different socio-economic positions. But instead, accordingly, Midnight Football results in even more exclusive and segregating bonding relations between young people from the urban periphery. Such reasoning about meetings and integration clearly shapes a distinction between desirable meetings that are seen to contribute to integration and undesired

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meetings within the excluded community. The former are those that aim to “bring about this mixture of people”, where “mixture” is implicitly understood as between a minority and majority. Meetings within the minority are conversely considered exclusive and segregating. Following this rationality, such meetings form bonds and relations that reinforce segregation. Accordingly, the young people of the urban periphery can only be integrated by means of meeting and relations formed with a majority population that is not present in the peripheries of the urban landscape. In this discourse, society becomes contrasted to the exclusive bonding formed through Midnight Football. Accordingly, society is something to be included or integrated into, for those who are outside it, for instance in an excluded community in the urban periphery. Following such an argument, it is meetings and relations where young people of the urban peripheries can meet people from the inclusive Swedish majority culture that become associated with integration. Underpinning such reasoning are asymmetrical power relations, where minorities should reform, learn and adapt, to become integrated. Martin, the manager of Midnight Football in Västerort, accounts for such reasoning when saying, “if you come here and adapt, do the best you can … it is a sign that you want to be a part of society”. To do the best you can “is more than keeping away from drugs and stuff, but to really try and be part of society”. Notably, Martin uses the word assimilation when stressing “you become assimilated into society”, in a way that makes society appear as a pre-given social fact that young people of the urban periphery need to adapt to. Klas, the factory owner and sponsor of activities in Västerort, reasons along similar lines. He says: “the basics of integration is to adjust and adapt to the rules that apply in society”, stressing that Midnight Football “is about getting the kids off the street and not to go on a path of crime”. He continues, making the case that in Västerort “segregation goes deep” and people “are not part of a greater Swedish social context”. In such discourse, Midnight Football can provide the basic arrangements of integration, as “when it comes to integration, I’ve never seen anything close to the power of sport”, Klas says, mentioning “football in particular”. Even as bridging relations between the minority and majority are idealized, the people who are involved in the activities repeatedly note that such relations are quite difficult to realize. Considering these difficulties, Johan, who works at the insurance company that sponsors Midnight Football in both West City and East City, believes that integration is perhaps not the best concept to describe the objective of the intervention, as it does not actually contribute to “Swedes” and “immigrants” meeting. According to Johan, “Martin and Mustafa always talk about integration … but I don’t know if I agree that this is integration”, he adds, “for it to be integration there needs to be some sort of exchange … where people from different backgrounds meet and, in that sense, become integrated in each other’s lives”. At the same time, he notes that when “these areas are segregated within the area itself, it can be integrative between the different groups”. This tension between the bridging relations that are idealized and the

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bonding relations that are indeed realized, yet at the same time problematized, is repeated in the discourse. Such discourse is premised by a homogenous description of the young people participating in Midnight Football and living in the urban peripheries. Pia, a civil servant at the administration of education in West City, underlines: “what kind of integration are we talking about here?”, pointing out that “it’s not like people come in from other parts of the city, it’s not like that and it doesn’t work like that”. She continues: “sure … a few from Innerort and Närort, but no one else”, implying that visits from people from other urban peripheries in the city are not the kind of mixture that is desired. Looking at the culture and leisure administration in East City, the articulations of Eva, a civil servant there, aligns with such discourse. Good integration … how can this be good integration? It may have been a fairly closed group to create safe environments … for something. That you screen off. […] A purpose of Midnight Football has been to get a connection between Söderort and Österort. Integration between these areas has been a bit … there is a kind of wall in between them … and there are challenges … there is a pretty sharp line between the areas. […] But good integration … I mainly see it as a closed area. We’re in Österort and to some extent in Söderort … but that’s it. […] Meetings too … the benefit of this is youth coaches who have been able to come in and take responsibility. The activities can form role models and people can gain experience … growing up. I have seen it a lot, and if that is integration … it is still a way to be able to enter society. (Eva) In this excerpt, the idealization of bridging meetings as well as the threat of exclusive bonding is repeated. Importantly, though, it is mentioned how meetings within the bonding space of exclusion can occur, between young people from different urban peripheries and which become associated with integration. People can come from Söderort to Österort, overcoming borders and boundaries within the urban periphery. In addition, Pia spotlights how meetings between young people within the community can meet, that is coaches and participants, where coaches can act as role models. Such meetings can form a ground for integration, in the sense that role models can facilitate inclusion in society. Exclusive bonding, in different ways, becomes problematized on the basis of the distinctions made between “Swedes” and the racialized young people of the urban periphery (categorized as “immigrants”). Such distinctions between people based on racial, ethnocultural or religious categorizations, make certain governing measures more or less wanted and politically idealized. Thus, benign forms of racialization have productive effects, focusing on “immigrants” mixing with “Swedes”, becoming a dominant understanding of integration, making certain meetings wanted and others unwanted.

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To sum up, certain meetings are idealized while others are problematized on a basis of suspected and racialized exclusive bonding, reinforcing patterns of segregation. At the same time, there is a potential in these relationships and in this understanding of integration, one that can be acted upon. Bonding and multicultural bridging As bridging relations are idealized in a certain discourse, they appear to be difficult to realize. Instead, meetings between different young people, with different backgrounds, but living in similar multicultural and socio-economically disadvantaged urban peripheries, become possible. Such meetings can be of special value both to those who lead the activities and to those who participate in them. These meetings and the relations formed strengthen community relations inside the areas of the urban periphery, but at the same time they mark out borders with the discursive outside, analysed previously. Boban, who is 16 years old and lives in Västerort and takes part in the activities there, describes that Midnight Football is fun precisely because “like everyone, friends, gather in one place”. When asked if Boban has got to know any new friends through Midnight Football, he answers: “No, you kind of knew everyone, most at least, before”. The activities, as such, seem not to facilitate new – or what is idealized as bridging – relations. Tarik is another young boy in Västerort. When asked specifically where the participants in Västerort live, Tarik answers that they “live mostly in Västerort, but some live in Närort and Innerort”, two nearby areas where residents face similar socio-economic conditions. The participants repeatedly describe that young people from different parts of the city attend the activities, but mainly from other areas of the urban peripheries. Accordingly, young people move within the urban areas, while certain conditions seem to steer their movement to other locations in the urban periphery. Taisir, who quite recently moved from Söderort to Österort in East City, describes how important the Midnight Football activities have been for him to develop new friendships. He says, “you know, when teams meet, you greet one another. You’ll talk about everything, and then you’ll get to know each other … So, the next time you meet, you always say hello, you are friends”. Taisir accounts for how he went to the same school as some of the other young people, but that they became friends through Midnight Football: “some of us go to the same school. We never talked to each other, but then we started talking. We kind of became best friends”. Taisir even mentions how they hang out with each other outside school and football: “we used to go to the café together and everything”. In this way, Taisir makes clear that the social relations facilitated and created on the site can be sustained also in everyday life. The relations formed through meetings on site, though, are primarily between young people from the localities where Taisir lives and has lived before, in the neighbouring areas of the urban periphery.

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One of the coaches in Österort, Gabriel, takes the recognition of the potential meetings realized as a point of departure for articulating his view of integration. “When you integrate people”, he begins, if a “dark-skinned person … we have many from Somalia … come here, he is put into a team, and he will play with people he doesn’t know … and get to know them”. Gabriel points out that “99 percent of the participants are blattar [derogatory term for people of dark skin, here used ironically], there’s not many Swedes”, meaning “so, there is not so good integration into Swedish society […] when all the people speak Arabic”. Still, “Midnight Football can be a start […] forming relations that can lead to good social connections and a way to choose the right path in life”, Gabriel concludes. Such reasoning highlights the importance and highly esteemed significance of meetings between young people in the community – that is oftentimes described as characterized by diversity and multiculturalism. Hans has been involved in Midnight Football on behalf of East City FC, supporting the activities in various ways. He reflects on sport as a meeting place for integration, with a focus on creating networks and contacts, in the long term: “First you have to ask yourself, what is integration?” Rhetorically, he raises the question: “Is it just that people with a migrant background meet with people who … so to speak are descending Swedes?”, continuing, “I think the concept is wider than that … to work with networks, and if you join Midnight Football you become part of the football network and integrate through this as well”. Accordingly, networks and relations can be formed not only with the presumably included majority of “descending Swedes”, but also with other young people from a plethora of people of “migrant background”, and that could be integration too. The foundation manager, Stefan, puts words on the meetings of diversity and the conceptualization of integration emerging. In these areas, there are not many Swedes, but then some people assume that there should be integration between Swedes and migrants. The integration work out in these areas is mainly between the young people, and there are a lot of different nationalities and different ethnic groups that meet. So, integration is really the young people out in the area who meet each other. […] The integration work itself is probably more about integrating young people into the adult community but also locally with each other. (Stefan) In this discourse, it is meetings between different groups of young people with a migrant background, in the urban periphery, that are in focus. Stefan points to the urban periphery using the word “out” to describe its position in the urban landscape. Integration, accordingly, is not only about getting “Swedes” and “migrants” to meet, but integration is also created through meetings between different groups of young people who live “out” in the areas where Midnight Football is arranged. Martin, in Suburbia FC in Västerort, supports this notion, stating that “the best way to form integration, is to remove social barriers”,

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continuing that “I don’t believe that integration must be about a newly arrived meeting a Swede, or so … we kind of don’t have anyone here being Swedish one generation back”. Instead, the realization of meetings between young people with different backgrounds can be understood to transcend the contingent distinction between bridging and bonding. Meetings can be bridging between people of different backgrounds within the same presumed community, and thus bonding. The sponsor Daniel, representing the sport gear corporation, says “integration is when people from different backgrounds meet […], so of course there is integration”. He refers to a situation when “Somalis meet Turks, who never got together before”, seeing this as “a proof of integration in multicultural Sweden … it mustn’t always be Swedes and migrants”. The idea that sport offers different groups in these areas opportunities to meet is also expressed by Abraham in Sumeria FC, who leads Midnight Football in East City. He believes that there are “Muslim groups in the area and there are Christian groups who have been persecuted by Muslims for so long”, referring to a situation in the (so-called) Middle East. In addition, “there are Somali boys, who stand out in their own special way … and many bother them because they are the way they are”. In this context, the activity becomes a meeting place for all these young people, characterized by a “mixture, like nothing else”, in Abraham’s words. On one of the first nights of Midnight Football, he remembers, “there were gangs that belonged to different networks that … had a very hard time getting along … who ravaged each other out in the area”. He continues, “two young people, a few weeks earlier, had been in a real fight with each other inside the mall”. At Midnight Football, Abraham describes, “they ended up in the same team when they played and suddenly it was like ‘high five’ and they passed the ball to each other and all”. Once again, meetings are associated with integration and cohesion formed in football. Notwithstanding the kind of mixture of people in the urban periphery, integration is even associated with the social activities as such. Sulejman in Sumeria FC points out that being social means learning to work together and getting to know each other better. For me, integration is that everyone should be able to be integrated, no matter where you come from. It is much more migrant-dense in this area, but it is still integration, because you get people here, you get people to be social, to … get to know each other and work together. […] We don’t have as many Swedes as we would like to … but it is still integration … they learn to cooperate, to be social, empathetic, and emotional and all that. That kind of integration. (Sulejman) On the one hand, Sulejman states that it is difficult within the intervention to realize the kind of meetings that are the most desirable, those that bridge

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dividing lines in the city, not least between Swedes and migrants. But on the other hand, he emphasizes the value of the kind of meetings that, after all, do take place, between young people who live in the area where the activities are conducted. Through such meetings, young people can learn to work together, and thus develop valuable social and emotional abilities that might otherwise be difficult to attain. Bonding relations between young people can, accordingly, be viewed and valued as an end in itself. The kind of community formed by means of such bonds need not be perceived as exclusive bonding, but rather as integration with diversity. The discourse articulated, here, transcends distinctions between inclusive bridging and exclusive bonding. Relations can be bridging between people in a variety of ways, at the same time as they can be bonding and forming a strengthened community. Still, one specific kind of bonding relations within the activities seems to be particularly important as a means of subject formation and social reform: the pastoral relations formed between the coaches and the participants, the conductors and subjects. Pastoral meetings The bonds of community between people from the same or similar localities in the cities form a pivotal dimension of the technologies of governing promoted by means of Midnight Football, specifically when it comes to pastoral relations between coaches and participants. Integration, in this bonding sense, provides a framework through which the conduct of the young people can be guided and reformed. Here, community relations are based on emphasizing local bonds, common language and cultural codes as well as similar experiences of growing up under similar conditions, altogether conceived of as forming mutual recognition and moral bonds. Such meetings become articulated as relations between young people and formative role models, working through the relation and community between models and modelled participants. A recurrent discourse concerns how coaches be able to be positioned as role models share similar backgrounds and experiences with the young people, as part of the same community. Sulejman describes the importance of locally rooted coaches, contrasting the coaches from Sumeria FC with how it would (not) work if they recruited coaches from East City FC. Should East City FC come here to the area and do this, then it would not be as credible. If East City FC come here then they don’t have the same relationship with these young people. We’re an association, we are the largest association here in the area, and our role is that we are more … we are in place. (Sulejman)

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In this way, Sulejman underlines the importance of being rooted in the local community to be credible in the relations formed. Representing the (civil society) association, the coaches are “in place”. In contrast, other agencies (or clubs) cannot have the same bonding relations in place, to be acted upon. Coach Gabrie, sees his engagement as “a way to get to know more young people and to become a part of their lives, to see how they live and to become a role model”. He explains that “you meet them downtown and say ‘hello’ and they come up and talk, you create relations, become a role-model and they want contact”. Gabriel’s colleague Sead situates the relations within the local community of the urban periphery: I already had a good relationship with many young people because I grew up in Österort. […] I play football for the club … so, when I signed the contract, they also presented this project. I got stuck right away because I felt that it was the right thing for me. I am who I am … people recognize me both from the area and from football. […] Many of the children look up to me … and I recognize most of them … […] I have good communication with the young people. You know, I can kind of talk to them on their level. And they trust me … so they can talk to me, and I with them, without any difficulties. (Sead) In this discourse, relations within the community are already established, as Sead grew up in Österort and is already familiar with young people living there. As part of the football association (civil society), he has established relations, which can be acted upon through Midnight Football activities. Such pastoral relations of community are based on the kind of integration discourse that emphasizes bonding meetings and social relations. In this sense, it is bonding relations within the community that can be acted upon, making out a domain for modelling technologies. A key for such integrative relations to be formed is the authenticity of the coach, that can be mobilized through the domain of civil society and set to work in the community of the urban periphery. This form of community integration, moreover, introduces a certain tension between being part of the community and leading the community and its movements – a dynamic that will be investigated further in the following chapters. Consequently, it is the integration, of a bonding kind, that enables the forms of community considered so essential for the objectives of governing outlined. In this understanding of community, the coaches are positioned as role models, modelling, disciplining and empowering the participants, enabling reformed trajectories in life, inclusion and salvation.

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Concluding reflections In the analysis, we have explored how integration is conceptualized as an objective of the activities carried out. Integration is repeatedly associated with meetings between different people. Meetings between people are generally described with positive connotations. Especially, meetings between a discursively homogenized minority and the majority society (which also appears as a homogenous community, free of conflicts) become idealized. However, other meetings are problematized, not least by policymakers, civil servants and sponsors. These are meetings between young people from the urban periphery, which are recurrently seen as exclusive in its bonding ties, and in that respect contribute to segregation. Thus, managers, coaches and participants describe such meetings within a multicultural geographical domain as both bonding and bridging, contributing to community integration. Not least, the relations formed apply to meetings between coaches and participants, and such meetings can enable certain forms of governing. With respect to the problematization of culture, as expressed by Ålund and Schierup (1991), culture appears as both a problem of integration and a potential of bonding relations, in turn facilitating desired social reformation. Thus, such discourse of integration – underlining cultural meetings – is both subject to problematization and utilized for the purposes of governing. When it comes to the presumed risk of excluding bonds of the community relations of the young people in the urban periphery, there can be potential for integration in a variety of ways. Sport activities and the relationships formed can contribute to strengthening already established networks and communities (Theeboom et al. 2010), which appears as particularly important among disadvantaged groups of children and young people in society (Walseth 2016). In the research literature, bonding meetings are repeatedly noted as possible to create through participation in sports, while bridging meetings between people from different socio-economic groups are much more difficult to achieve, given inequality and segregation that shapes society and young people’s participation in sports (Spracklen et al. 2015). Such bonding relations can especially be important for identity formation among young people of minority groups to develop community and a sense of belonging (Vermeulen & Verweel 2009). Accordingly, integration becomes a matter of meetings, and more specifically cultural meetings. Such meetings are both threatening (of exclusive bonding) and conceived of as a potential of adaptation, social reformation and community. Integration, thus, in this sense, is not primarily about labour market integration (Durkheim 2014) or social equality, rights and solidarity (Donzelot 1988, 1991), citizenship inclusion (Levitas 1998), but rather about cultural adaptation to the norms and values ascribed to the majority society (Ålund & Schierup 1991). The path to integration is described here as a movement in a pre-given world, with definite boundaries between majority and minority, inside and outside, Swedishness and non-Swedishness. Conceptualized in such a way,

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integration is mainly about providing those who are located on the outside opportunities to adapt and thus to be part of the community of the majority, on the inside. When emphasizing meetings between people from different backgrounds and cultures alongside adaptation to cultural norms and conduct as the main ways towards integration, such rationality makes integration conceptually fixed in (and limited to) a primary concern of culture. The social conflicts that the early welfare state sought to deal with primarily concerned socio-economic inequality, where the aim was to level the playing field, compensate for inequality and thereby create cohesion (Donzelot 1988, 1991). Here, the creation of solidarity and integration was about reforming the socio-economic differences, through the creation of a social collective. Looking at the discourse and rationality of Midnight Football, and sports-based interventions more broadly, another rationality takes shape. The line of conflict to be governed through Midnight Football is formulated in terms of culture. Conflicts in society, and threats to cohesion and integration, are mainly described in ethnocultural or racial terms. The excluded, and exclusive, population of young people targeted are repeatedly described as culturally different from Swedes and Swedish society. Integration, however, is based on maintaining this distinction. The rationality is not about dissolving or reforming the boundaries between the urban periphery and migrants, on the one side, and Swedish society and Swedes, on the other. The aim of integration is rather about providing meetings of adaptation, to reform subjects, for them to become integrated in Swedish society, as socially reformed Swedes. The ambition is to change the young people of the urban periphery, with living conditions characterized by segregation and inequality, rather than reforming the conflicts and demarcations arising because of existing conditions of inequality and segregation. Our analysis of the discourse and rationality of integration become intertwined with analyses of urban periphery, civil society, social control and social reformation in a variety of ways. The integration mapped out presumes a segregated society, marking out the territories and populations deemed in need of adaptation and reformation. According to the discourse and rationality of integration promoted, such adaptation and reformation can ideally be achieved within civil society, providing entrances to Swedish society, where voluntary engagement gives access to meetings of various kinds. The relations enabled form a distinct community, which can be controlled individually and collectively, within and beyond the spaces of intervention. The relations of integrated communities provide bonding relations facilitating technologies of modelling, discipline, empowerment and more. Integration, associated with different kinds of meetings, is conceived of as a potential for the urban peripheries and the racialized subjects of young people living there. There, even meetings between different racialized groups of young people, transcending distinctions between bridging and bonding, can have a potential for integration, it is assumed. Most importantly, though, it is the meetings of community between young people

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participating and coaches leading the activities that can be utilized as a means of integration and social formation. Positioned within the (racialized) urban periphery, coaches become part of the community they are positioned to lead. They stand with one foot in the racialized community of the urban periphery, and one foot in the imagined community of the Swedish majority society – though fully part of the community and society. Racialization gives access to community, which is needed to govern the movements of subjects; their access to society provides a direction in this movement. Within civil society in the urban periphery, certain relations of community can be formed, effectively establishing a certain kind of integration that can be acted upon. Not least, such discourse of integration and community between coaches and participants constitutes a premise for technologies of social reformation in Midnight Football. Such relations may position coaches as role models engaged in modelling activities. Enabled by discourses of civil society relations and moral community, we will scrutinize in further detail the kind of social reformation taking shape in the Midnight Football activities.

References Ålund, A. & Schierup, C-U. (1991). Paradoxes of multiculturalism. Avebury: Aldershot. Ålund, A. Schierup, C-U. & Neergard, A. (eds.) (2017). Reimagineering the nation: Essays on twenty-first-century Sweden. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenchs Forest: Pearson. Bauböck, R. (2002). Farewell to multiculturalism? Sharing values and identities in societies of immigration. Journal of International Migration and Integration 3(1), 1–16. Coakley, J. (2011). Youth sports: What counts as “positive development?”. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 35(3), 306–324. Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (2019). Social exclusion and multi-ethnic suburbs in Sweden. In: Hanlon, B. & Vicino, T.J. (eds.). The Routledge companion to the suburbs (63–172). New York: Routledge. Donzelot, J. (1988). The promotion of the social. Economy and Society 17(3), 395–427. Donzelot, J. (1991). The mobilization of society. In: Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (eds.). The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (169–180). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Durkheim, E. (2014/1893). The division of labour in society. New York: Free Press. Foucault, M. (1971). Orders of discourse. Social Science Information 10(2), 7–30. Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge. Harlow: Harvester Press Limited. Hansen, P. (2021). A modern migration theory: An alternative economic approach to failed EU policy. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing. Koopmans, R. (2013). Multiculturalism and immigration: A contested field in crossnational comparison. Annual Review of Sociology 39(1), 147–169. Levitas, R. (1998). The inclusive society? Social exclusion and the New Labour. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Lithman, Y. (2010). The holistic ambition: Social cohesion and the culturalization of citizenship. Ethnicities 10(4), 488–502.

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Lorentz, H. (2009). Skolan som mångkulturell mötesplats. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Miles, R. & Brown, M. (2003). Racism. New York: Routledge. Modood, T. (2017). Integration and multiculturalism in Western Europe. In: Kennett, P. & Lendvai-Banton, N. (eds.). Handbook of European social policy (xx). Northampton: Edward Elgar. Nicholson, M. & Hoye, R. (2008). Sport and social capital: An introduction. In: Nicholson, M. & Hoye, R. (eds.). Sport and social capital (1–20). London: Elsevier. Peters, M.A. & Besley, T.A.C. (2014). Social exclusion/inclusion: Foucault’s analytics of exclusion, the political ecology of social inclusion and the legitimation of inclusive education. Open Review of Educational Research 1(1), 99–115. Pfeffer, D. (2015). Group integration and multiculturalism: Theory, politics and practice. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Ritzer, G. (2018). Sociological theory. Los Angeles: SAGE. Schinkel, W. (2018). Against “immigrant integration”: For an end to neocolonial knowledge production. Comparative Migration Studies 6(31), 1–17. Seippel, Ø. (2006). Sport and social capital. Acta Sociologica 49(2), 169–183. Spracklen, K., Long, J. & Hylton, K. (2015). Leisure opportunities and new migrant communities: Challenging the contribution of sport. Leisure Studies, 34(1), 114–129. Theeboom, M., Haudenhuyse, M. & DeKnop, P. (2010). Community sports development for socially deprived groups: A wider role for the commercial sports sector? A look at the Flemish situation. Sport in Society 13(9), 1392–1410. Tönnies, F. (2001). Community and society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vermeulen, J. & Verweel, P. (2009). Participation in sport: Bonding and bridging as identity work. Sport in Society 12(9), 1206–1219. Walseth, K. (2016). Sport within Muslim organizations in Norway: Ethnic segregated activities as arena for integration. Leisure Studies 35(1), 78–99.

Chapter 9

Modelling

Introduction In this chapter, we explore the pastoral relations of community between coaches as conductors and participant subjects formed within the activities, enabling certain technologies for modelling the conduct of young people. Taking technologies of modelling as a point of departure, we analyse the position of role models, how it is formed by notions of authenticity and credibility, experiences and conversion. In addition, we analyse the technologies conveyed through the positioning formed, exploring how role models keep watch and guide subjects and community in their movement, towards salvation. Social relations and socio-pedagogy Considering the rationalities of controlling the movements of young people in the urban peripheries, we have pointed out the tensions between the open and confined spaces of these movements. Midnight Football is not a confined space of discipline. Rather, it provides a site of voluntary participation based on social reform. Within the communities governed certain interactions take place, where various social relations are formed, in the name of integration. Not least, such interactions make possible relations between managers and coaches acting in the capacity of role models, conducting work of guiding and shaping the conduct of young people. We now turn towards the intervention as a site of socio-pedagogy and social reformation, operating in the activities, by further exploring the social relations seen as instrumental. Accordingly, analysing Midnight Football and its expected social reformation means scrutinizing the interactions between conductors and subjects as well as the socio-pedagogical technologies constitutive of the operations performed. As with all institutionalizations of education it is important to interrogate the social formation that occurs, the premises imperative for the outcome and the outcomes produced. In this respect, we take a closer look, beginning with the leaders, the managers and coaches, and the roles attributed to them. Sociopedagogy is a constitutive dimension of social initiatives aiming to reform DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-9

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subjects and facilitate social change, to meet a variety of social problems (Philp 1979). Those who carry out such work can be both professional and nonprofessional, for example in the role of social workers, teachers, therapists or sports leaders. This means that such work appears in a variety of forms. These conductors become a mediating link between exclusion and inclusion, deviance and conduct (Philp 1979). In the literature on sport and socio-pedagogy, attention has been paid to how sports leaders can assume different roles to contribute to social change (Morgan & Bush 2016). The idea here is that sport can be a place where young people may develop relationships with, for example, professionals (Andrews & Andrews 2003), sports leaders (Hartmann 2003), parents and other adults (Fraser-Thomas et al. 2005), or other young people (Nichols 2007). In particular, leaders referred to as “role models” have been highlighted as important for sports-based social interventions to make social change and reformation possible (Haudenhuyse et al. 2012; Morgan & Bush 2016). For instance, Richardson Jr. (2012) studied young African American boys participating in sports-based social interventions in the United States, highlighting the importance of older leaders as role models due to their ability to act as mentors, leading and encouraging young people in life. Sports leaders acting as role models are described as a great potential to influence young people in a positive direction – appearing in the form of deputy parents (Martin et al. 2014; Morgan & Parker 2017). At the same time, the notion of role models has been problematized in research, stressing that sports leaders do not necessarily influence young people in a desired direction (Reid 2017). Also work with social reformation may require professional skills of leaders, which sport coaches often lack (Brown et al. 2011), and coaches do not primarily see themselves as facilitators of pedagogical objectives or social work (Haudenhuyse et al. 2012). Accordingly, this chapter draws on literature on socio-pedagogy with respect to sports-based interventions, particularly underlining the role of leaders as role models. With an interest in social reform, we direct our analytical focus on pastoral power as a key to understanding how social reformation is conceptualized in Midnight Football. In this sense, this chapter contributes by placing the governmentality of role models and the social reformation of young people in the spotlight of the institutionalization formed as a site of enjoyment and control, risk containment and inter-agency cooperation. The aim of this chapter is to explore the socio-pedagogical rationality of Midnight Football, with a specific attention paid to how role-modelling technologies facilitate certain objectives. How are the conduct and ways of thinking of subjects shaped and guided by coaches and managers within the intervention? What are the premises and conditions for the rationalities of role-modelling and technologies performed? How do such rationalities enable certain technologies of governing?

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Pastoral relations of community Analysing the rationalities of social reformation and the role of coaches and managers for this purpose, we will take a closer look at the concept of pastoral power. To begin, though, we must repeat a few remarks about the productive power referred to as conduct of conduct (Foucault 1982). Conduct means both the acts of leading, guiding, shaping or controlling, and the behaviours, actions, ways of thinking that are subject to such acts (Dean 2010). As subjects of governing, human beings are seen as both subject to the exercise of power (subjected to) and active, self-conscious, and participating (subjects of) in forming their conduct (Foucault 1982). Such power, then, is exercised not by coercion, but by guidance, facilitation and encouragement (Foucault 1982; Rose 1999). This is important for understanding the rationalities of pastoral power. Pastoral power refers to one form of power important for the emerging modes of modern and liberal government, not least welfare states (Foucault 1982, 2009). It was genealogically sketched out, by Foucault (2009), from the organization of the Christian pastorate, arranged around the relation between the shepherd and the flock (a metaphor for the relation between the pastor and his community), as presented in ancient texts. In short, pastoral power means the government of subjects, “not exercised over a territory but, by definition, over a flock, and more exactly, over the flock in its movement from one place to another” (Foucault 2009, p. 125). This governing takes the interests of the subjects as its primary task and has no particular purpose beyond the welfare and salvation of the flock and each sheep in the flock. The pastor and shepherd “is someone who keeps watch [and] he ‘keeps watch’ in the sense, of course, of keeping an eye out for possible evils”, and, moreover, “goes ahead and shows his people the direction they must follow” (Foucault 2009, p. 127). The pastor is also part of the flock, neither God nor Sovereign, representing something beyond the interests of the subjects. Leading the way is primarily done by examples: “The pastor’s example is fundamental”, Foucault (2009, p. 173) notes, “for the virtue, merit, and salvation of the flock”. When it comes to leading the way by setting examples, the character of the pastor who acts exemplary also has imperfections that can be remedied and displayed, to gain legitimacy. The pastor’s “weaknesses contribute to the edification of his sheep and are part of the movement, the process, of guiding them towards salvation” (Foucault 2009, p. 172).

Technologies of role-modelling In the following analysis, we pinpoint how the discourse of sport and role models intersect with a focus on how relations of community between conducting coaches and managers and young people participating is formed, as relations between pastors and subjects. Further, we investigate the conditions of qualification and legitimacy related to the discourse of role models, specifically underscoring the role of character and narratives of conversion and reflection. From there, we go into detail about how the modelling technology is articulated

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and reflected upon, based on a discourse of identification, observation and imitation providing a frame of modulation and social reformation. In this respect, leading and leaders are an important target for analysis, to understand the political rationality where governing by means of sport emerges. In this way, we analyse the conditions for how role models become important as conductors of social change and governing, i.e., how the conducting and modelling technology takes shape. Sport as a venue for role models Discourses on sport and role models repeatedly intersect when Midnight Football is talked about. Following certain preconceived ways to talk, relations in sport practices are associated with both formative and positive relations between conductors and subjects. Here, role models are associated with sport activities as such, but this discourse and rationality is also underpinned by certain notions of male and masculine relations of identification and community. Sport becomes a venue for male bonding and masculine identification. The socio-pedagogical rationalities of the activities focus on guiding the conduct of the young people participating. It is with this emphasis that role models are to be understood. This form of leading by example, or modelling the conduct of young people, is repeated in almost all interviews conducted when describing how Midnight Football becomes a way of social reformation. Modelling is such a recurring notion that it seems difficult to even imagine social change through sports without seeing role models as an integral part. The strong connection between role models and education is expressed, for example, by Niklas, who is the project manager for the foundation that organizes Midnight Football. He says that “in the sports movement, there are always good role models […] leaders that can guide you and help you develop into a man […] and to get good advice from”. In this way, role models are, so to speak, embedded in the understanding of what sport is and what it makes possible. In accordance with the notion of the pastor and the community, Niklas describes the role model as someone who leads, develops and gives good advice. In other words, a benign form of facilitative power is described, that aims to guide towards prosperity. In Niklas’ words, role models are “a little bit older” and more experienced, which makes it possible to guide the young people. Further, the masculine underpinnings of the progress strived for become visible. Similarly, Martin in Suburbia FC in Västerort relates to the masculinity of the role model as intimately part of the notion of sport when he describes the becoming of a role model. By talking about being popular in the eyes of girls, he describes the kind of people that should be popular in the local community. Here, a distinction between selling drugs and being a good-looking athlete (drawing the attention and attraction of girls) is visible. Martin says, “now the girls run after the guys that can give you something to smoke”, instead suggesting that “we want the girls to run after the coolest, fittest, most good-looking athletes”,

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concluding “we want to change role models”. Thus, good role models are marked by conducting themselves properly, not selling drugs. The formation promoted aims to form specific kinds of men. Such statements imply that the subjects addressed by the intervention are boys, and that it is their conduct that is to be formed through the reformative technologies of socio-pedagogy outlined (Ekholm et al., 2019). Even though this is not an explicit objective, the ways of articulating problems, means of reformation and the objectives of the intervention, imply a masculine target, guided to become a specific kind of man. When it comes to the presence of influential role models, Sulejman, one of the managers in Österort working for Sumeria FC, argues there is something particular about the culture in sport as such. Contrasting it to the local schools he says, “in sport, there is a quite different culture” and with these “coaches and players, so called role models […] the youth have another kind of respect”. In contrast to teachers and other professionals in the lives of the young people, the coaches acting as role models are animated as “credible messengers”, Sulejman concludes. There are many ways to qualify as a role model. Of great importance is to show athletic success and ability. For instance, Sulejman, now working as a manager, was once a professional player. Another of the coaches who played football at a high level is Darko. Martin describes Darko, who has been a coach for Midnight Football in both Österort and Västerort, as a “decent footballer […] who has lazed around a bit between the professional leagues … […] a guy who is not top notch, but still as people want to come forward and talk to”. Martin emphasizes the symbolic value of having such a leader, who in the activities can create exemplary relationships, who in turn can contribute to “creating a new maybe … [Darko]”. Darko describes himself as a role model: “what makes me a good leader, in this particular project, is partly that many people know who I am because I have played football at a very high level”, suggesting that “you are a role model already there, I think”. In this way, Darko’s life and football prowess visualize, in a broader sense, a different life. He says, “I am from an area where there is a lot of crime, a lot of drugs”, but he still “managed to get out of there, which in their eyes is impossible … [and] they see, that it is possible, as long as you want it enough”. Such a narrative makes possible both identification and guidance. Relations of community The social relations between coaches and managers and young people are central to the notion of role models. To form relationships between the conductor or role model and the subject, they both need to be conceived of as part of the same community. For Foucault (2009), the pastorate is marked by reciprocal relations between pastors and subjects. He describes the formation of a “community, of that complete and mass reciprocity of salvation and peace

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between sheep and pastor” (Foucault 2009, p. 172) for the purpose of governing the conduct of subjects. Community relations are based on underscoring local bonds, a common language and a set of cultural codes as well as masculine bonding, similar experiences that altogether are seen to create mutual recognition and moral bonds. Community relations are, to begin with, geographically located. They are formed in close relation to places considered different from society in general. Stefan, with the foundation, explains that “one of the keys of Midnight Football … it is to lead young people”, underlining that “when we go to the areas, we try to recruit local youth […] who have a good understanding of and are recognized among young people out there, in the local areas”. Stefan associates the local connection with experiences of delinquency: “if you grow up in these areas … there is a lot of trouble [and] among young people […] especially in these areas … there is a lot of crime … so, of course young people experience it and are aware of it”. Accordingly, there are certain experiences tied to the local community that are shared among young people that grew up there. It is precisely such experiences that can be utilized to reach out to the young people. Martin, in Suburbia FC, further emphasizes the significance of coaches who are recognized locally, when he reflects about them as part of the local community. He says, “we need people who are regular residents here, recognized, credited … actually being out there”, contrasting the role of the coaches with that of professional social workers, coming into the areas from the outside. Here, the potential attributed to relations formed by voluntary participation in civil society enables the social relations of the community that are strived for. The reasoning specifically revolves around Västerort, but has, as Martin notes, a more general meaning: “we talk about Västerort, but it applies to all suburban areas, we know that”. In the above excerpts, both Stefan and Martin describe the targeted places as out in the urban peripheries, making them both distinct and distant from the rest of the cities. Sead, one of the coaches in Österort, describes the code of the community, in terms of trust, confidence and silence: “what we talk about, stays between us […] that is how things work in places like Österort … trust and respect”. In this way, Sead also pinpoints the form of community ascribed to the urban peripheries. Additionally, there are certain closed relations animated from positions outside them, for instance by the philanthropists (in Chapter 6), described as enigmatic – and therefore local heroes need to be utilized. For instance, Daniel, who works for the sports gear corporation supporting the intervention, highlights “the benefits of having a local hero in place” who has gained his education by “learning things the hard way”, rather than through formal education. Accordingly, it is mainly through qualification in the community, and earned through personal experiences, that coaches and managers can attain the power to reach out to and guide the young people, leading them on their way in life.

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Legitimacy, authenticity and character A recurring pattern in the discourse about leadership is the notion of the role models as authentic and genuine in their presence, care and goodwill. Such authenticity is associated with certain human traits. The discourse is thus based on an essentialist humanist understanding of authenticity in the care and goodwill between humans. Roque, who is also a coach of Midnight Football in Österort, provides another account of this understanding by explaining that “I am quite genuine, empathic and attract the attention of young people … they believe in what I say”. Being an authentic person and benign in one’s interest for the subjects guided are thus qualities linked to the individual person’s experience and identity, situated within the community. Here, the essentialist notion of character is repeatedly underlined. Role models need to have a strong character, according to this discourse and rationality, to be credible in their guidance. When Abraham in Sumeria FC describes his colleague Sulejman, he particularly emphasizes that he has “character, he has been around for a while and … the boys recognize him”, which means “that he has a great respect” among the young people who participate in the activities organized. Sulejman himself was responsible for coach recruitment in Österort, and he mentions “you need to find the right people”, “strong characters, that can resist”. He says that these are the same traits wanted among criminal gangs, which underlines the need for character among the role models, “being able to stand up and make the right choices”. This way Sulejman reflects on certain intrinsic traits and character of the coaches and leaders of the activities. There might occur situations when people affected by drugs come to the activities, and then the coaches must be able to conduct themselves correctly. The disciplined conduct of the coaches is also noted by the participants. Taisir, a boy in Österort, describes how the current coaches in Österort do not behave badly, and how they prescribe correct behaviour. He contrasts them to coaches that led activities in a close-by location where he lived and participated earlier. In an interview, Taisir responds to a question about what he considers the best thing about Midnight Football, saying “the coaches are the best”. He continues, “the new coaches, they’re better … like this … they don’t do bad things”, comparing them to other coaches that used to quarrel with the young people and conduct themselves improperly. Accordingly, the coaches, “they don’t come at you, like this … hit you or something”, enforcing the importance of character. The actions of the coaches are appreciated as prescribing a certain norm of conduct. To lead, accordingly, presupposes a kind of goodwill evoked by voluntary commitment and engagement of young people in the community. This rationality is evident when Shanzar in Österort explains how being part of the community enables him to “be himself” and thus be a “role model”, stressing the authenticity of the traits presented.

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A role model is … a person who may have gone through a lot in their life and who has a lot of experiences … who also knows how to behave towards others. […] The most important thing is to be yourself and to not pretend to be someone else, just to be liked. […] What I have been through, and my experiences mean that I have something to say. And when I see that, they listen, I understand that they also look up to me. I’m like their role model. (Shanzar) Here, Shanzar emphasizes his personal experiences as the main trait. Accordingly, he was in a situation that the participants can recognize and identify with. He has reflected on his experiences and come to realize his potential as a model leading the young people, conducting their behaviour and ways of thinking. Abraham, who is Shanzar’s manager among the coaches active in Sumeria FC, underscores the same line of reasoning regarding how to qualify as a role model. He points out how different characteristics and qualities are fused when it comes to guiding the young people in life: “it is important to show your real self … the true self … and, really, to lead them on the right track”. To display the real person is described as a key to guide others on the right track, which is essentially the objective of the intervention. This notion of authenticity is instrumental for the work of the role model. Discussing differentiation and dualism, Deleuze (1994) points to the distinction between “model” and “copy”. Traditionally, models are seen as the authentic originals. Thus, copies become representations. Deleuze (1994) principally questions such dualist conception between model and copy, between authentic and non-authentic representation. Rather, models may be seen as composed by a variety of capacities, biographies and personalities. Authenticity is not an inherent quality found within persons. Rather, the shape of the role model is produced within specific contexts. Though, it needs to be visualized as authentic to gain legitimacy. The role model becomes, in the words of Foucault (1978, p. 58), “authenticated by the discourse of truth he was able or obliged to pronounce concerning himself” (Foucault 1978, p. 58). Though, the status of being authentic (or nonauthentic, or artificial) is not our main concern. What is important for our analysis is how authenticity operates in the pedagogies of modelling promoted through Midnight Football. What is it that authenticity does? It works by enabling certain technologies acting upon the actions of the subjects guided. Faith in the power of authenticity – associated with personal relations, community and goodwill – empowers the coaches to operate in their capacities as role models. To make them authentic, it becomes important that they are not professionals, working for any instrumental interests, such as pay, which we analysed previously. Authenticity makes role models credible in living what they preach, and this has important implications for the promotion of discipline and empowerment among other things.

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The legitimacy of conversion When it comes to discourses characterizing managers and coaches as role models, Sulejman (in Österort) and Mustafa (in Västerort) are repeatedly described as characteristic in their capacity as role models. They are both described as part of their respective local community, as recognized locally and as particularly well equipped with character and pondus. They have also proved themselves as qualified footballers on different levels: Sulejman as a professional player and Mustafa as a successful player in the local lower leagues. Furthermore, what is of great importance for being qualified as legitimate pastors of guidance is their conversion from delinquency to diligence and their repentance in accordance with this conversion. Highlighting the legitimacy granted among young people, Sulejman refers to his own experiences of delinquency: “unfortunately, I have a background and experiences that appeal to them … which grants respect … I was at the bottom and on top”, referring to a past of crime and drugs, as well as athletic successes. Nevertheless, this background enables legitimacy, granting him a position as a role model. Particularly important in his biography is how he managed to change tracks, from the path of drugs and crime to becoming a leader and role model. One day I stood there thinking to myself. […] I was so tired of football too. I did not want anything to do with football. […] But I realized that it is possible to build a relationship with these boys and girls … or the guys, that is, most of the time … They saw me as a role model, they listened to what I said and … it began to build something in me. […] I have a story to tell that can help others not end up where I ended up. […] I think I got that respect because of my experiences, that is … what I have been through. […] They look up to me … I am a role model for them … That’s what Midnight Football is about … providing meaningful activities, but also providing role models. […] I see myself as a good role model … being able to guide in the right direction when these young people face difficulties in their lives. […] I think that you can do a lot as a role model … good things for others who look up to you. (Sulejman) This narrative spotlights precisely the experience of repentance, conversion and moral reflection that creates credibility as a model. Sulejman has understood, reflected, distanced himself from his previous behaviour, and this reflection has channelled into a conversion manifested in everyday practices of obedience to the law and the social order. Again, the model is a masculine model, reaching out to and establishing community, with the boys participating. A similar rationality comes forth when Martin in Suburbia FC narrates the biography of Mustafa. Drawing attention to his potency and legitimacy, he describes how “Mustafa has made the journey … from […] doing things not socially

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and legally acceptable [and] being the heaviest criminal … to making the reverse move”. These experiences have equipped Mustafa with abilities and legitimacy that can be asserted in this specific context. Mustafa’s background gives him, as Martin puts it, the possibility to “sit down between the toughest guys and dismiss them, kind of, with a sigh”. According to Martin, such conversion “gives legitimacy” in the capacity of guiding the young people on the same life path. Importantly, the narrative of Mustafa’s conversion is also lifted by Klas, financial sponsor, factory owner and philanthropist. Previously, we described how Klas motivated his support by his will to make a difference. He spoke about how his support is based on facilitating a local mission into the urban peripheries. Much like Daniel (another philanthropist), who spoke about community and the importance of a “local hero”, Klas speaks about Mustafa. Mustafa here appears as such a missionary facilitating social reformation. Klas explains: Mustafa “chose to turn around, and to see he had got a chance and opportunity”. Klas continues by pointing out that this biography forms a more general narrative: “that story … I’ve heard it many times from people working in these areas, that they at one point came to a crossroad”. In this way, the story, in this case of Mustafa, is placed in a larger context, with a meaning not only linked to the specific leader. His narrative is created as a model to copy. Accordingly, it is the reflected imperfection and conversion that grants legitimacy as a leader. Even though “the pastor should be perfect as far as possible” it is imperative “for the pastor to have imperfections, to know them, and not to hide them hypocritically” (Foucault 2009, p. 172). Importantly, both when it comes to Sulejman and Mustafa, it is their acknowledged experiences, imperfections and conversion that creates legitimacy and underpin authority, facilitating the power of the model – the role model and model of discipline. Such legitimacy is granted based on identification and community, with respect to background, experiences and, not least, gender. Modelling as technology Relations of community provide a basis for the identification that is needed between conductors and subjects. The pedagogy and technology of rolemodelling is based on identification, observation and imitation. It has a specific form, loaded with special possibilities. Social reformation, in this sense, refers to the modulation and reformation of conduct in a very real sense. Foucault (2009, p. 165) specified how the pastorate and assemblage of pastoral technologies “gave rise to an art of conducting, directing, leading, guiding, taking in hand, and manipulating men, an art of monitoring them and urging them on step by step”. Leading, then, is a way of governing by reformation of conduct. The ways of bringing about change consist, mainly, in how young people identify with the role model, observe and imitate the conduct displayed by the role model. To model the conduct of young people, the conductors of the interventions must act correctly. This is done both by excelling in their performance on the

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pitch and by behaving righteously off the pitch – leading by example. Notably, often the coaches are involved on the pitch and participate in play. One of the coaches excels with a one-touch pass, sitting with one knee on the floor, he receives the ball with his back and passes by some of his opponents […]. The teammates and the opponents, and the guys on the bench, they all engage and laugh along. The leaders are truly exemplary. They show how football can be played. The younger guys are impressed, and they want to follow their example. […] It is clear that the leaders’ participation on field contributes to a special dramatization. It is only a game, but at the same time a serious game. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) This field note illustrates the operation of role-modelling, by identification, observation and imitation with and of the coaches, here, regarding the balance between play and seriousness. Modelling targets the on-field actions, but the role model is also more about conducting correctly in a broader sense. First, identification means that the role models appear as authentic persons that the young people can recognize and identify with. That is, the subject to be modelled sees in the role model something that can be recognized and identified with. Shanzar, in Sumeria FC, emphasizes that: “it’s about the guys knowing that I’ve been in their position … I had a choice to make, and I chose football before the destructive things”. Like the young people who participate in the activity, Shanzar describes how he “also has gone through a lot during my life […], I’ve also had a hard time and the guys are well aware of that”. The work of the role model is thus based on identification, where the role model is (or has been) in situations that young people can identify with and recognize in their own life. Second, observation means that the young people observe the role models and register their behaviour. Reflections about the force of observation recur in the discourse repeatedly. The young people “they look at how we do it”, says Roque in Sumeria FC. The “young people look up to me … I can feel it”, says Shanzar in Sumeria FC. Third, imitation means that the young people follow the role models in their ways of conduct. Gabriel concretely synthesizes identification, observation and imitation when describing himself as a role model, and pointing out how being looked up to, forms a potential to guide young people. He says, “a role model … is a person many people see up to [and] when you are a role model, people around you will try to do what you do”. Notably, Gabriel links being looked up to, to the productive power of imitation. He also stresses the importance, for the role model, to “do and act in a good way, so that other people act like you do, and become good people”. Abraham, similarly, draws attention to the intersection of observation and imitation when he talks about the importance of leaders leading by example: to “act as a role model is the hard part”, to conduct

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oneself because “there may be a young guy sitting and watching [and] also wanting to be like him”. In these words, as in several other examples, being looked up to becomes part of the reformative pedagogy of governing. Principally, the notion of role models is based on a dualism between model (the original) and subject (the copy) and a belief in transcendence between them, where the imperfect subject may become like the model, to be moulded into a better form. According to such rationality, modelling is premised on an idea of transformation of the imperfect into the perfection embodied by the role model. To conclude, we can see how identification, observation and imitation merge in a modelling pedagogy and technology, where the pastor is the model for his community of subjects. This form of governing is guided by benign care and goodwill and a pedagogy where relationships take shape based on a specific community that makes it possible to create these mutual bonds.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have examined how coaches take the form of role models, as a key dimension of the socio-pedagogy of the intervention. We have explored how leaders become qualified as role models, how role models take shape in practice and what competencies are valued in a role model when it comes to shaping young people’s conduct. There are almost endless ways to lead young people to social change and to shape their conduct. Though, related to the topics explored in this chapter, the conceptualization of power and governing as conduct of conduct can help us decipher the shaping of the behaviour and thinking of young people constitutive of the socio-pedagogy of Midnight Football. Principally, the conduct of conduct forms a central part of the pedagogical dimension of social work and youth work in general. Those who conduct work aiming at social reformation of any kind are facilitators guiding the conduct of subjects. In that sense, they constitute a link between exclusion and inclusion – guiding from exclusion to inclusion by means of reformation (Philp 1979). Leaders in social interventions – professional or non-professional – can thus be seen as conductors of social work and social inclusion. By means of conducting work in the form of socio-pedagogy aiming to guide and shape the thinking and behaviour of young people, our analysis has illustrated how role models become conductors of conduct. For the model and pastor (shepherd and conductor) to be able to take shape, relations of community, where both the conductor and the subjects are included, must be formed – where they share experiences and enjoy mutual recognition. An important part of how such relationships can be shaped concerns how they are associated with place. The places of Västerort and Österort are given a particular significance as domains of community, shared experiences, language and recognition, which can be the basis for recognition. In this context, the socio-economic conditions of the places are particularly important, with regards to how the young participants can recognize themselves in, and feel

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community with, older youth who have grown up under similar conditions. Just as place is of great importance, gendered dimensions of masculine bonds are repeated in the discourse of social relation, identification, pastoral guidance and modelling: in the activities it is young men appearing as role models, guiding young boys onto the right path in life. Qualifying as a legitimate conductor means being part of what is seen as an authentic community with those to be guided, to create relationships based on mutual identification and recognition. The power exercised cannot always be easily discerned as exercise of power or as governing the conduct of young people. Rather, the power exercised most often works in quite subtle and productive ways, by creating opportunities and facilitating for a specific conduct to take shape. In previous chapters, we have described how civil society emerges as a domain for voluntary and authentic relations. The relations in the domain of civil society, between coaches as role models and young participants, appear voluntary, genuine and reciprocal. Civil society is formed, consequently, as a domain where they can perform the technologies of modelling. Likewise, it is central that these locally rooted agencies can provide missionaries performing the pastoral care of young people that need to be guided in their movement (in the urban periphery as well as in their life trajectories). Facilitated by philanthropists, conducting such work is premised by local experiences, authenticity and moral community of civil society. Further, the role model takes the form of an authentic person with genuine goodwill – rather than carrying responsibilities linked to a certain role or function. Therefore, the recruitment of the right person, with the right character, qualities, traits, history and personal biography is of great importance. Experiences of conversion display authenticity, in the way that coaches can point to their own background and biography. Discourses on sport, gender, place, community, civil society and authenticity all intersect in the embodiment of the role model. They are – so to speak – the embodiment of the urban periphery, masculinity, civil society and the community. They are formed as authentic, able to connect to and develop genuine relations on the basis of goodwill and benign interest, and in that capacity, they appear as capable of shaping the conduct of young people deemed as subjects of risk. Accordingly, they are perfect for the task of conducting social policy based on freedom, in an open society. Sport discursively provides a domain where these conditions can be realized. As we have shown in this chapter, there are explicit notions on the natural connection between sports and positive role models as well as hopes for the potential of role models. Though such an assumption is far from self-evident (Jones 2011). Establishing positive forms of leadership or role-modelling is hardly something that happens automatically (Martin et al. 2014; Morgan & Parker 2017; Richardson Jr. 2012). The emphasis placed on the identity of conductors of social objectives in various forms of social work is not particularly unique for the case of Midnight Football. Throughout the field of social interventions, more and more attention is paid to such an emphasis on competencies of working with people deemed in

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need of reformation (Olsson et al. 2014). Modelling, based on these premises, constitutes a particular technology of subject formation. Even though characterized by pastoral care and guidance, subjects are still “inevitably and inescapably technologized” (Barry et al. 1996, p. 13), and the subject of governing. Accordingly, what is important to further investigate, and what is scrutinized in the following chapters, are the objectives and productive force of the technologies promoted. In the following two chapters, we will look closer into how the role models described and the technologies of modelling analysed, emerge following two different rationalities and with two different kinds of objectives. In one instance, they emerge as pastoral and disciplinary models providing a norm of conduct to mould the young people’s conduct according to the norms prescribed. The technologies promoted are underpinned by ambitions to form a certain order of subjects. The coaches become models of this specific order, prescribing a conduct aligned with the rules and structures of the disciplinary machinery that Midnight Football provides. Such technologies are posited within the confined spaces of the Midnight Football institution. In another instance, the role models come forth as pastoral and deliberative models guiding the movement of young people in the open spaces as well as in their life trajectories, thus prescribing the right ways of thinking, of making decisions and of conducting themselves. Role models prescribe responsibility and facilitate the powers of the self to be able to deal with the freedom that the subjects have and to make use of their powers in life. This has to do with facilitation of the freedom of subjects and their outward movement. Such a model empowers the young people in their actions and choices. In both senses, role-modelling comes forth as a key technology of governing providing forceful premises and structures ruling the conduct of the young people. This means that role models, as such, become integrated in assemblages of technologies, utilized as particular means for different objectives. It means, also, that the subjects addressed by these technologies are addressed in different ways appealing to the different and varying capacities and needs of the young people governed.

References Andrews, J.P. & Andrews, G.J. (2003). Life in a secure unit: The rehabilitation of young people through the use of sport. Social Science and Medicine 56(3), 531–550. Barry, A., Osborne, T. & Rose, N. (1996). Introduction. In: Barry, A., Osborne, T. & Rose, N. (eds.). Foucault and political reason: Liberalism, neo-Liberalism and rationalities of government (1–17). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brown, S., Garvey, T. & Haydn, T. (2011). A sporting chance: Exploring the connection between social work with groups and sports for at-risk urban youth. Groupwork 21(3), 62–77. Dean, M. (2010). Governmentality: Power and rule in the modern society. London: SAGE. Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and repetition. New York: Continuum.

Modelling 151 Ekholm, D., Dahlstedt, M. & Rönnbäck, J. (2019). Problematizing the absent girl: Sport as a means of emancipation and social inclusion. Sport in Society 22(6), 1043–1061. Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality. Volume 1. New York: Pantheon. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Fraser-Thomas, J., Côté, J. & Deakin, J. (2005). Youth sport programs: An avenue to foster positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 10(1), 19–40. Hartmann, D. (2003). Theorizing sport as social intervention: A view from the grassroots. Quest 55(2), 118–140. Haudenhuyse, R., Theebom, M. & Coalter, F. (2012). The potential of sports-based interventions for vulnerable youth: Implications for sport coaches and youth workers. Journal of Youth Studies 15(4), 437–454. Jones, C. (2011). Drunken role models: Rescuing our sporting exemplars. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 5(4), 414–432. Martin, E., Ewing, M.E. & Gould, D. (2014). Social agents’ influence on self-perceived good and bad behavior of American youth involved in sport: Developmental level, gender, and competitive level effects. Sport Psychologist 28(2), 111–123. Morgan, H. & Bush, A.J. (2016). Sports coach as transformative leader: Arresting school disengagement through community sport-based initiatives. Sport, Education and Society 21(5), 759–777. Morgan, H. & Parker, A. (2017). Generating recognition, acceptance and social inclusion in marginalised youth populations: The potential of sports-based interventions. Journal of Youth Studies 2(8), 1028–1043. Nichols, G. (2007). Sport and crime reduction: The role of sports in tackling youth crime. London: Routledge. Olsson, U., Petersson, K. & Krejsler, J.B. (2014). On community as a governmental technology: The example of teacher education. In: Pereyra, M.A. & Franklin, B.M. (eds.). Systems of reason and the politics of schooling (220–234). New York: Routledge. Philp, M. (1979). Notes on the form of knowledge in social work. The Sociological Review 27(1), 83–111. Reid, H. (2017). Athletes as heroes and role models: An ancient model. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 11(1), 40–51. Richardson Jr. J.B. (2012). Beyond the playing field: Coaches as social capital for innercity adolescent African-American males. Journal of African American Studies 16(2), 171–194. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 10

Discipline

Introduction In this chapter, we examine the rationalities and technologies of discipline constitutive of the activities. We present how the partial confinement in time and space, facilitating diversion of movement and attention of young people, becomes intertwined in formation of rules and structures of the games, as well as how normalizing sanctions trains and models the conduct, actions and bodies of young people. Such assemblage of disciplinary technologies is premised by social relations in community, formative of Midnight Football. Institutionalizations of reform In modern societies, social policy measures aiming to reform young people have centred around institutions of discipline, ranging from schools to prisons (Foucault 1979). Such institutions have been partially confined spaces where subjects may be contained during a limited period and subjected to social reformation. However, in the open society observed in this book, young people of the urban peripheries take part in Midnight Football on a voluntary basis. Accordingly, they need to be attracted to participate by their own free will and take part in the institutionalized technologies of social reformation promoted. Sports-based interventions often balance between (more or less) voluntary participation, as part of prison programs (Meek 2013) or situated in voluntary association sports (Agergaard 2011). Depending on the targeted group, the problems and risks assessed, and the objectives strived for, sports-based interventions can take different shapes. Today, sports-based interventions have become a common feature of social policy, promoting social change by measures targeting youth, particularly from a migrant background, in disadvantaged urban peripheries. In a Scandinavian context, sports directed at youth with a migrant background have been utilized as a means of “civilizing” young people (Agergaard et al. 2015, p. 200). According to the discourse underpinning such interventions, leisure time represents a risk that needs to be controlled and used productively, by means of DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-10

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social reformation. The increasing utilization of sport as a vehicle of social change has been described as part of a neoliberal trend in social policy (Andrews & Silk 2012; Hovden 2015), with a focus on control and surveillance (Hartmann 2016), as well as competition, individualization and responsibilization (Coakley 2011). Such policy development has facilitated two modes of governing: on the one hand a hard neoliberalism based on control and punitive measures targeting deprived residential areas, and on the other hand individual development of competences seen as useful for life in a competitive society (Bustad & Andrews 2017). Notably though, in the social reformation outlined, there is a certain hidden curriculum, utilized to maintain social order, to define normality and thus limiting possibilities for social deliberation (Bustad & Andrews 2017; Hartmann & Kwauk 2011). In sports-based interventions, the assessment and management of risk and populations deemed at-risk has been noted as a key dimension. Risk has been implied that young people are exposed to risk and at the same time they pose a risk to the surrounding society, not least in the form of violence or crime (Hartmann 2016). This chapter leans on literature drawing attention to socio-pedagogy as a means of social reformation in sports-based interventions. In line with this literature, we spotlight some analytical concepts suitable for exploring how such forms of governing take shape, with a specific focus on rationalities of risk and technologies of discipline. The aim of this chapter is to explore how governing takes shape by means of socio-pedagogy within the Midnight Football activities, focusing specifically on rationalities and technologies of discipline. How does social reformation by means of socio-pedagogy take shape through the Midnight Football activities? What discursive and institutional premises underpin the rationalities and technologies of discipline at work? How does such a form of social policy facilitate the production of certain conduct and guided by what objectives? Governing risk by means of discipline Knowledge about the future – its dangers and risks – is a prerequisite for governing society (Foucault 2009). The concept of risk, thus, makes it possible to articulate potential dangers, and make them governable in the present (Rose 1999). Thus, the rationality of risk is a way of problematizing places, times, individuals and populations, to make them governable by means of prevention (Rose 1999). Discipline is one way of dealing with risk. Disciplinary power operates in institutions set up to govern by means of normalization (Foucault 1979, 2009). Discipline involves the arrangement of time and space, locating certain activities to certain places and to certain times, where schedules enable the coordination of action as well as surveillance. Foucault (1979, p. 141) described how “discipline sometimes requires enclosure, the specification of a place heterogeneous to all others and closed in upon itself”, to train and reform the conduct of

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subjects. The activities of training and reformation performed within such spaces can be repressive, by preventing individuals from committing offences, as well as productive, by getting people to act in a certain way. Accordingly, “the chief function of the disciplinary power is to ‘train’”, what Foucault (1979, p. 170) coins “the moving, confused, useless multitudes of bodies and forces into a multiplicity of individual elements” (Foucault 1979, p. 170). In that sense, discipline is a form of productive power: “Discipline ‘makes’ individuals; it is the specific technique of a power that regards individuals both as objects and as instruments of its exercise” (Foucault 1979, p. 170). In different ways subjects are led into specific actions, forming “docile bodies” (Foucault, 1979, p. 135). Foucault (1979, p. 170) further concludes that “the success of disciplinary power derives no doubt from the use of simple instruments; hierarchical observation, normalizing judgement” and how various activities and relations combine into a model shaping the conduct of subjects. Accordingly, the partially enclosed spaces of reformation is shaped by different technologies, such as hierarchical observation, where social relations are designed in hierarchies enabling control. Together with normalizing sanctions that insert subjects into a normal behaviour, forms of control visualize the norm and discipline into alignment and social reformation. Disciplinary normalization is intimately associated with leading by examples, reformation in terms of modulation. Modulation can refer also to the machinery of normalizing technologies producing a form to which the conduct of subjects can be adapted. Accordingly, disciplinary power targets the bodies and movements of subjects, as well as their actions, future conduct and self-reflection. In this way, Foucault (2009) pinpoints the productive power of discipline by modulation, specifying the objectives strived for: to reform, produce and optimize subjects modelled by the norm prescribed. Although Foucault (1979) outlines the modern prison as the epitome of discipline, the technologies of discipline run throughout the whole social machinery, for instance in the school, industry, health care and military.

Models of discipline In the analysis following, we investigate how rationalities of risk underpin the objectives of discipline promoted, and we analyse how the risks assessed call for certain technologies of diversion. In relation, we explore how various disciplinary technologies assemble within the intervention, highlighting structures and rules as well as models embodying these rules and orders. We further scrutinize how discipline operates in relation to rules by means of normalizing sanctions, maintaining distinctions between right and wrong. To conclude, we sketch out the objectives of discipline targeting the order of the bodies and minds of individual subjects as well as, through the proliferation of discipline, the order of society. In this way, we outline one of the key rationalities of Midnight Football, mapping out its discursive premises of risk, its technologies of maintaining and visualizing rules, and its objectives of creating order in subjects and society.

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Spatial and temporal confinement of risk When it comes to articulating Midnight Football as a response to challenges of social segregation and exclusion, the concept of risk provides a recurrent discursive backdrop. It is the knowledge of potential dangers attributed to certain times, places and subjects that constitute the notions of risk. As the times, places and subjects can be – and are – known, risks can be assessed and countered by prevention. Here, the future is made knowledgeable in terms of risk, with primarily spatial and temporal dimensions. Young people are repeatedly characterized as exposed to risk in the residential area of intervention, particularly at the mall (spatial), and at specific hours at night, particularly at weekends (temporal). Importantly, the spatial and temporal elements also concern how young people are exposing society to risk, at specific sites and at particular hours. The residential areas provide a backdrop. But there are certain places that occur in descriptions intensely intertwined with the temporal dimension of risk. Importantly, it is both the residential areas in general (Västerort and Österort) that can be deemed at risk, and the specific locations within the areas respectively such as the commercial centres. It is the malls and shopping centres located in respective areas that become sites of risk on weekends and nights – the hours of young people’s leisure time. Shanzar, a coach in Österort, describes how risk means, “crime … to not end up in the wrong crowds and in the wrong places”. Therefore, Midnight Football is carried out “during Saturday nights, during hours when most of them are just out hanging around and maybe doing the wrong things”, he continues. Accordingly, directing the movement of young people means “that the boys are not doing the wrong things … but, instead, are with us and having fun”. In this respect, the bad things that may occur mean that the actions of youth pose a risk to society. In addition, it is the bad company of young people that is constructed as a problem. The spatial dimension of risk is intertwined with the temporal dimension (and furthermore with the risk of bad company). Risk is discursively constructed in terms of lack of order and control: “to end up in”. If the time and conduct is not ordered and controlled, the young people risk ending up in various kinds of dangers and problems. Accordingly, a response involves ordering the conditions of life in specific ways, and discipline does precisely that. Technologies of discipline arrange time, space and life, and it leaves nothing to chance. Abraham, in Sumeria FC, talks about the late weekend evenings around the shopping centre as a time and location of risk. The risks and delinquencies observed are spatially and temporally located to the mall, on weekend nights. Abraham mentions the viewpoint of the security guard, comparing this specific time and place to a marathon “where youth behave like pigs, throwing things and doing all they can to get the attention from the security guards”. The explanations provided for these behaviours are, from Abraham’s point of view, the restlessness, and lacking opportunities to do better things. Furthermore, what is displayed in Abrahams’ account is the dual meaning of risk, where the young

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people are both exposed to certain and eventual dangers in the localities, and at the same time exposing the localities to eventual dangers by means of their potential and delinquent actions. On this basis, they are discursively targeted as the objects of intervention: “this was when I knew that Midnight Football was needed”, in Abraham’s words. In the discourse and rationality articulated, the young people disrupt social order due to the suggested restlessness. Here, a dual conception of risk is displayed, where young people are both exposed to dangers in the localities and exposing the localities to dangers by means of their potential delinquency. Technologies of diversion The rationality of risk thus animates contrasts between sites of risk (the streets in the areas and the commercial centres), and the sports arenas where Midnight Football takes place. This animation provides the foundation for measures that seek to direct the bodies and movements of young people to the locations of order: the technologies of diversion. We have previously analysed the symbolic and material striations steering the movement of young people, providing a direction of diversion, how the movements are observed and controlled, how pastoral guidance works, and we will analyse how activities need to be fun and meaningful to attract the young people to go there of their own free will. All these dimensions of the analysis of movement of young people highlight certain forms of diversion, where movements are steered away from sites and times of risk to the partial confinement of the activities performed. This way of contrasting spaces of risk to the football arena aligns with how Bauman (2001, p. 1f) points out contrasts between spaces of danger and of community: “Out there, in the street, all sorts of dangers lie in ambush”, but “in here, in the community, we can relax – we are safe, there are no dangers looming in the dark”, as “in a community, we all understand each other well, we may trust what we hear, […] we are never strangers to each other”. When it comes to the specificities of diversion, Gabriel, a coach in Österort, describes that “Saturday nights is the time when you go out if you’re doing something bad”. He further says that “the lack of leisure activities leads to bad doings … and instead, we provide activities, so they gather with us during the time when they are most prone to do something bad”. According to such rationality, the effect of participation in Midnight Football can be assessed in terms of “when the Midnight Football closes by midnight … no one will still be out […] and in that way we have prevented quite a few crimes that could have occurred if they weren’t with us”. In this way, two modes of diversion are introduced: physical diversion and diversion of attention. When it comes to spatial and temporal dislocation from sites of risk and danger, it is primarily the bodies of young people that are dislocated – from the sites of risk and disorder to sites of order and meaningful activities. Sulejman in Österort pinpoints the temporal and spatial dimensions of physical diversion,

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describing how young people in the area “have no place to go … and when they don’t, they hang around the mall”. In Sulejman’s account, the provision of meaningful activities becomes a crucial means of risk prevention – underscoring being in “the wrong time, the wrong place and with the wrong crowd”. Accordingly, the targeted young people in the areas of the urban periphery are understood as “at-risk”. Sulejman notes that the activities provided should be tiring, which may divert energies and attention from going out, doing bad things: “they go home and have no energy to do other stuff”. Ayub, a young participant in Österort, says that “at night, if Midnight Football did not exist then you would be somewhere else … maybe going out and doing mischief”. Diversion of attention is often described in terms of guidance away from particular actions, by saying no to potential events – to keep away from and divert from risk. Sead, a coach in Österort, describes that “we want to show that what they do out at night is no good”. He explains that “we want to make them forget about hanging outside, [so] they don’t even think about hanging around outside … especially not outside the mall”. To respond, “we want them to come here and play football instead”, Sead concludes. Here, it is the diversion of attention that is crucial to note: they should “not even think” about doing bad things. The dislocation is not primarily of the bodies targeted, but of the minds and attention that otherwise could be directed towards delinquent actions. Providing structure and rules of thinking becomes a means of disciplining the participants’ ways of thinking and acting. In a general sense, diversion of interest and attention is facilitated by distinctions between right and wrong. Forming such distinctions and making them manifest within the intervention is yet one of the core rationalities of the activities: forming the rules. At the same time, it is the elements that make the activities fun and meaningful, that both facilitate diversion of attention away from delinquency and crime, and that make the activities fun and meaningful, so that the young people may want to go there and contain themselves within this disciplinary machinery by their own free will. A disciplinary assemblage As the technologies of diversion come forth, there is a range of means promoted to facilitate certain conduct among the participants. Through the technologies of diversion, young people are (dis)located to sites of order and rule. At least, Midnight Football is presented as sites of order and rules (of football). When it comes to forming rules and establishing the structure of play, we want to spotlight primarily how Midnight Football is animated as a regulated arena in opposition to outside disorder, and how the rules are contextually established. Midnight Football provides activities that follow a predefined structure. Coaches and managers are present and observe the activities. For instance, in both Västerort and Österort, the activities start by gathering participants so that coaches can divide them into teams. Taisir, a participant in Österort, describes

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this regulated procedure accordingly: “when they make teams, those who are going to play … they enter the field, the others who are not going to play, they should sit on the bench”, illustrating the order of space within the enclosed space of the sports arena. Those who play go to one place, while those who are there to watch go to another place. Then, the coaches “usually write on the board … kind of … the blue and green teams begin … and then you usually have rules like this”, Taisir explains. If we continue by looking into the arrangement of the practices as the games proceed, there is a structure constituting a machinery that creates order for actions and movements. Two teams take turns […]. The leaders watch the time. First to two goals applies, and the winning team remains on-court, while the losing team is replaced by the team on the left side of the benches. The team in yellow vests wins all matches in the beginning. One of the guys excels, scoring almost all goals. He dribbles back and forth. The ball is always close to his feet. He shoots hard and with precision. […] The atmosphere is openhearted and unpretentious. […] When someone falls and stays on the ground, the game is stopped, and one of the leaders enters the field. Teammates and opponents come on to see that everything is fine. It strikes me after a while that everyone is waiting, sitting and all is very calm. (Field note, Dahlstedt, Österort) The structure modulates the conduct of the participants. The participants follow the rules and align with the norms promoted. Such discipline is not about repression, but rather about creating a hospitable atmosphere where the actions of the participants can be facilitated. The game is only interrupted by a potential injury, where the coach interrupts with a benign and careful intervention, enabling the activity to proceed. In general terms, and according to the rationality articulated, distinctions are established between the inside and outside of sport. Outside, in the urban periphery, there is disorder and risk. Inside the Midnight Football activities, there are rules to follow. Roque, a coach in Österort, elaborates on this distinction between inside and outside, and how rules apply on the inside, reminiscing how on one occasion it was a bit “heated […] only some fuss”, calling for a response: “so, we talked it through and declared some rules … and if it doesn’t work out, then we need to behave … together, and sort this out”. Stressing the importance of upholding order within the intervention means upholding a distinction from life outside. In similar ways, reflecting on the structure of the activities, Sulejman in Sumeria FC, says that the participants, “know the routines, how the night progresses”, highlighting that “they want clarity and structure”, which the activities provide. Still, to maintain such order, coaches must intervene to curb norm-breaking actions. If rules are violated, sanctions are called for. Such rules and structure are associated with Swedish culture and described as particularly important for young people with specific cultural backgrounds. Along

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such lines of reasoning, Sulejman means that “considering the culture from where they come, the structure and concreteness can be even more esteemed”, talking specifically about newly arrived young people, who are seeking asylum in Sweden. He continues, “when they come to this fantastic and free Sweden, this can be a problem … and here, they get to know the routine, the schedule and so”. Here, freedom – repeatedly spoken of in positive terms as a desired condition – is characterized in other terms, as lack of structure and routines. For this category of young people, this means that freedom rather becomes a matter of disorder. For them, freedom becomes a threat, further stressing the need for rules, structure and order (presumably provided by Midnight Football). This illustrates tensions in the rationality of rule, concerning how freedom is utilized and strived for, or combated. Accordingly, the structure of the activities provides a form for rules to be upheld. Here, the coaches in their capacity of role models and rulers are critical as well as the sanctions used to promote normalization of conduct. Forming, embodying and modelling the rules of football A key element in the rationality of discipline and within the disciplinary machinery of rule and order are the role models, prescribing rules and embodying the rules and righteous conduct. The role models operating on these sites become rulers. They represent order by stating the rules and distinguishing between right and wrong, and by embodying the rules in doing the right things, prescribing the appropriate conduct. They become models of discipline. One of the crucial elements of modelling concerns the capacity to reach out to the subjects that are to be guided. When it comes to maintaining structure and order, the balance between subjecting the participants to pre-existing orders and negotiating about the practice of the rules has a particular significance. The importance of such balance is reflected upon by Sulejman, saying “they want clarity and structure, but then you need to be able to let loose”. In this respect, he means, “you need to have this sensitivity about when to draw the line”. Rules are not only to be enforced through repression and sanctions. The structures and rules, preferably, should be integrated into the minds of the subjects, by means of display: “In some way it’s like they don’t think about it consciously, but they know”. As suggested, rules and structure need to be manifested in the routines of the activities, visualized and displayed (rather than spoken) by the structure of operations and the coaches in their capacity of role models. According to the rationality promoted, the coaches are positioned as the embodiments of the rules and, thus, their conduct becomes the condition of the transfer of the order. One example of the influence of role models is provided by Saladin, who participates in Midnight Football in Västerort. He describes one of the leaders, Mustafa, saying that he knew him when he grew up and that “he was a strong and good role model already when he was young”. When he describes Mustafa as a leader, he emphasizes the importance of how he “disciplined us … like saying ‘come on, don’t put your energy on this and that, you’ll only waste your time … do

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it this way instead’”. In this sense, Mustafa becomes a model for diverting attention from delinquency to sport activities. The relationship between Saladin and Mustafa can be understood not only by Mustafa being a disciplinary model of conduct, but also as a kind of pastoral guidance where Mustafa leads Saladin further in his life. Forming and embodying the rules is in a general sense a prescriptive form of power modelling a certain conduct of youth, directing and enabling certain actions. Discipline consists of normalization formed by the threat of sanctions and by the modulation of the right conduct. Pastoral role models such as Sulejman and Mustafa embody a “prescriptive character of the norm”, meaning that “disciplinary normalization consists first of all in positing a model, an optimal model [and] in trying to get people, movements, and actions to conform to this model” (Foucault 2009, p. 57). Role-modelling technologies are enabled by a sense of community and identity, shared by coaches and young people. Embodying the rules and right conduct, they become models of discipline. In the same way that the machinery with its division into time and space with certain orders and structures to follow, the role models provide a model to follow, which facilitates a certain conduct. Beyond embodying the rules and modelling behaviour, the coaches are the representatives of the rules within the intervention, exercising normalizing sanctions. Normalizing sanctions Discipline helps enforce rules by means of normalizing sanctions, maintaining distinctions between right and wrong. Key to the intervention is obedience of the rules. If participants do not conduct themselves according to these, possible sanctions follow. When it comes to the discourse of the norms underpinning the activities, the word respect is repeatedly articulated: the youth should respect each other and also show the coaches respect. For instance, Abraham speaks of respect this way: “if you don’t respect each other and us as coaches, then we’ll shut the Midnight Football down”. If such respect is not shown, both individual and collective sanctions, even punishment, may occur. Abraham continues: “we shut it down a few times […] then they got more cautious and behaved better … started to show respect”. Along this line of thought, Roque in Österort highlights the importance that “the kids show each other respect, and then they show us coaches, the rules and our decisions respect […] they should show respect to other people … and that’s what this is about”. Very concrete and explicitly, here, power operates through the envisioning of sanctions, when “respect” is violated. The young people need to be aware of the potential sanctions following disruptions and violations of the rules. Sanctions become a potential tool of discipline when the rulers and sanction-makers are seen as legitimate conductors. Abraham talks about Sulejman in this regard: by means of his conduct, character and conversion, he has “deserved respect”, and “the boys recognize

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him”, so “when you hear his voice, everything is silenced”. The potential sanctions must be visible to discipline the behaviour of the young people. In the following excerpt, coach Gabriel highlights this dimension. They respect us, so they do as we tell them. Once, we closed it down and cancelled […]. It was mainly to show that this is not ok. Thereafter things changed, like … so, they understand that we won’t give them another chance … and so that’ll be it. So, they have adjusted and try not to go there again. So far everything has worked out. We are hard as a rock. But if they listen to us, they will have fun, and all will be good. […] It is mainly the rules … we want them to be conscious and to think of it all the time. Just don’t misbehave. Do good and we won’t do anything. (Gabriel) Here, the potential sanction helps to normalize the behaviour of the youth as they are made aware of the potential consequences of disruption. According to Gabriel, the corrective measures have worked successfully, as the young people have adapted to the rules promoted. Rules and sanctions are explicit. However, the main point is not that sanctions should force the conduct of participants. Rather, sanctions should make visible the norms, for young people to understand and internalize them. When Gabriel says that they “adjusted”, he pinpoints the work of discipline. The idea is that young people should regulate their conduct according to the standard of the norm. Importantly, sanctions only apply when the norm is broken. Therefore, breaking norms needs first to be proactively prevented by self-reflection, and second by reactive sanctions. Accordingly, the participants are made “conscious” about the rules and they “think of it all the time”. The normalizing sanctions come forth as a reactive (and possibly repressive) force, as the measures respond to misconduct rather than promoting a particular conduct. Accordingly, the conductors will not intervene (or “do anything”) if there is no misconduct. In this way, Gabriel illustrates how observation and normalizing sanctions operate. The coaches observe the participants and monitor violations, and if deemed necessary, cancelling the activities for the evening. Participants also seem to notice the order of the activities. The rules are prescribed, understood and accepted. Reflections of the participants illustrate how the relationships shaped are directed towards the participants, with a view to their change. Abdulkader, a participant, in Västerort emphasizes the coaches’ importance in creating order by describing how they “tell us off, when someone does wrong or something bad … like”. He refers to “if a person is fighting and doing stuff, then they will be suspended”, displaying how discipline can be formed. Taisir, additionally, describes how “the one who fights, gets kicked out right away”. In a moment of reflection, Taisir endorses the code of conduct: “to make trouble and all … it is only kids who do that … now we are like sixteen or fifteen years … so, you should not be like this”, displaying his consciousness of the norms of conduct. Effectively, the rules that are maintained mean that “you

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learn that you should not be so disturbing and all that … . so, the rules, I think they are good actually”. Accordingly, following rules is a matter of learning, targeting the mind of subjects. The authority of the leaders and rules are appreciated, not least because the rules help to guide the young people and shape their conduct. The participants adhere to the rules and become part of their own will – as a willingness to adapt. Even though the relations articulated are marked by community, identification and mutual understanding, they are clearly hierarchical. It is the managers and coaches that take the position as conductors, while the youth are positioned as the flock of subject participants. There is a certain form of subjection guiding the behaviour of the youth – to disciplinary rules, models of action and normalizing sanctions. This variety in forms of disciplinary techniques together epitomizes a rationality of rule, with (more or less) strategic objectives: to form order – of subjects as well as of society. The objectives of discipline There are two main objectives, pinpointing both the subject and society, giving meaning to the technologies and problematizations promoted. In one instance, the objective is the formation of normalized and docile subjects. In another instance, the objective is the order for society at large, in terms of security. Both objectives display how sport in general and Midnight Football in particular are formed as an alternative to disorder, risk and delinquency, representing order, discipline and security. In the words of Sulejman, Midnight Football “leads to us getting more good citizens of society … less crime”, illustrating the relation between the order of individual subjects and the order of society. The objectives of the intervention aimed for are clearly articulated by Abraham: “we want first of all to foster better citizens of society”. The means to achieve this objective “is quite simple”, Abraham describes, “we throw out a ball … put out five sensible coaches, equipped with certain standards and values … and one thing leads to the other”. The effect is made clear: “I can guarantee … they are totally different individuals”, Abraham concludes, specifying the objective of subject formation. When it comes to the formation of docile subjects, inclusion is enabled by normalized and docile conduct of the youth. Inclusion is thus conditional upon diligence and humility before the rules and the conductors of the intervention. In the following excerpt, Abraham expounds on the desired subjects formed by the disciplinary measures put into practice in the activities. We are kind of strict … within certain frames. […] If a team wins two or three games in a row … the coaches join another team and put this team down once and for all … takes them down to earth and out of the game for a while … so that they don’t walk around being cocky … and think they’re

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the best, biggest and most beautiful … but we take them down to earth. When they are with us, everyone is here on the same terms. They should be down to earth and bring that out in society. If you let in this cockiness that football may lead up to … it lives on in real life … out in the streets. But if, instead, we achieve this humility, it lives on … for real, out in the streets, and that’s what we’re after. For all kids, we can prevent them from doing drugs or crime, we provide a great service to society. (Abraham) A particular emphasis is put on keeping the participants down to earth. In a way, this becomes a metaphor for good character, in contrast to extrovert delinquency. While there may be a risk that football creates cockiness among the participants, certain measures need to be taken to inculcate subordination within the football activities. Still, transfers are seen also as a potential, as there are certain norms of conduct, which need to be transferred from the inside to the outside – “to get this out in society”. In this sense, the disciplinary technologies promoted are underpinned by ambitions to technologize a normalized subject, (re)creating a controlled social order. In particular, the suggested transfer is complemented by a notion of proliferation. To begin, Abraham says that “if they behave when they’re with us, they will behave out in the streets as well”. Abraham elaborates on the proliferation “out in the streets” by describing that “if we have a 17 year old […] he will bring his friends, and siblings, which, in turn, leads to him bringing a positive mood and attitude out in the streets”. Through such proliferation, according to Abraham, “we have fostered better persons … and therefore our older people do not need to be afraid to walk around the streets”, meaning a better society. According to Abraham, the proliferation of norms shows “it’s no longer okay to throw stones at the police and rescue workers”. From this point of view, as certain youth subjects are disciplined, they not only bring their disciplined behaviour to “the streets”, but they furthermore influence their peers and siblings so that their disciplined behaviour extends into the wider locality and community at large. In this way, norms are reconfigured within the community. Accordingly, the variety of transfers implied is assumed to form order in subjects as well as in society. In conclusion, with respect to how the activities constitute a disciplinary machine, the arrangement determines a spatial order for the activity by which participation is formed, and actions are facilitated. Coaches and managers observe and evaluate how the norms are followed and intervene to impose sanctions if needed. The participants understand the norms that apply and make them their own. In this sense, disciplinary operations of power seem to require both subjection and self-reflective self-discipline and self-governing by internalizing the rules. Such are the premises outlined for shaping subjects of discipline, expecting such conduct to be spread through society.

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Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have analysed how the rationalities and technologies of discipline are formative of the intervention. We have mapped out how certain problematizations of risk underpin strategies of diversion in time and space, diverting subjects, movements and attention towards the football activities. We have pinpointed how the sport activities are shaped to provide a structure of order and discipline as well as containing role models acting as models of discipline. We have explored how a discourse and rationality of order and discipline among subjects are expected to be proliferated in society. A dual conceptualization of risk conditions both the life of young people and the rationalities constitutive of the intervention. According to this conceptualization, young people in the residential areas are seen as exposed to social risk and themselves exposing society to risk and danger. Such a conceptualization means that the young people who are targeted are constructed as in need of governing, both in need of protection and of discipline. As young people are displaced from risk and disorder of the residential areas of the urban periphery and diverted to sites of order and rule, they can be subjected to a variety of disciplinary measures. In this sense, Midnight Football becomes a disciplinary institutionalization fixed in time and space. Here, the paradoxical tension between discipline and control, outlined previously in this book can be stressed again. Even though the technologies of discipline are institutionalized within the walls of the sports arenas, the participants cannot be directed to the institutions by means of coercion. They need to contain themselves there voluntarily and by their free will. The means of diversion, therefore, must operate by facilitation rather than force, by appealing to the desires and will of the young people. This means that the technologies of discipline promoted in the open society must integrate technologies of control, governing and facilitation, steering the subjects and the population to specific places of reformation, to conduct their movements and their wills. Rules and sanctions provide a model to obey, and to internalize. Thus, seemingly repressive forms of power, by means of sanctions, operate productively by facilitating order in subjects and society. Further, role models constitute embodied models of discipline conducting themselves appropriately. It is the embodiment and the obedience of the rules that conform with pastoral and disciplinary forms of rule. Importantly, the benign care and prescriptive conduct of the role model – the shepherd and pastor – and their embodiment of rule provide the model of conduct and discipline enabling formation of the conduct of youth. In the previous chapter, we described how the modelling technologies come forth in terms of identification, observation and imitation, and this is how the role model as a model of discipline is believed to operate. In all, this is a case of diversion from risk in the lives of the young people, and the erection of order, where a certain conduct can be reformed by means of modelling and discipline, then transmitted, transferred and extended.

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Disciplinary rationalities and technologies have taken different forms in different contexts and times. In this chapter, we have displayed one way that discipline takes form in the open spaces of contemporary advanced liberal societies, based on voluntary participation, targeting at-risk populations – not by force or coercion, but by active participation. In our analysis, notably, there are certain segments of the population, deemed as in need of social change, that are addressed by means of discipline and order. Relating to the general objective of the intervention to promote social inclusion, such focus of attention is of great importance. Discursively, social inclusion is associated with social reproduction and subordination – discipline and order. In this way, the need for social inclusion is specifically directed towards racialized young people in the urban periphery. These are the segments of the population who seem to lack and need discipline and order. Such rationality aligns with ambitions of social inclusion by means of civilization through discipline of racialized young people (Agergaard et al. 2015), preserving inequalities within and outside sport practices (Forde et al. 2015; Long et al. 2014). Today, in a context of an advanced social segregation and exclusion, located in the urban peripheries, rationalities of discipline and control appear as symptomatic of broader policy developments, not least in relation to austerity (Parnell et al. 2017). With its emphasis on discipline and control, the discourse and rationality of discipline explored in this chapter align well with the paradigm of hard neoliberalism (Hartmann 2016) outlined in an American context (Bustad & Andrews 2017), recognized in a range of contemporary welfare states (Wacquant 2009). Such rationality is intermeshed with an ongoing turn towards a politics of assimilationism with a focus on cultural homogeneity (Ålund et al. 2017), more punitive agendas on urban disorder (Thapar-Björkert et al. 2019) and fighting crime and insecurity in the urban peripheries (Schclarek Mulinari 2020). The emphasis on discipline, order and homogeneity as current features of neoliberal government has been observed and scrutinized, in a variety of settings and practices, besides those found in sports-based interventions, for instance in education and crime prevention (O’Malley 2012; Dahlstedt & Foultier 2021). To conclude, the rationality and technology of discipline provides one way to understand how Midnight Football takes form. Still, within the practices, relations and activities that make up the intervention, there are a range of tensions between different technologies, objectives, norms of subjectivity and conduct enacted. In the next chapter, we will look closer into how the modelling and pastoral forms of governing takes shape through a discourse of freedom, empowerment and deliberation, targeting the powers of subjects to take care of themselves and to make responsible choices in life, guided by models, resulting in salvation. Accordingly, discipline is one of the formative principles of the intervention, intertwined with that of empowerment and deliberation.

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Chapter 11

Empowerment

Introduction In this chapter, we examine the rationalities and technologies of empowerment taking form and forming the activities. In this examination, we look closely into the non-authoritative relations of community, investigating how the development of certain powers are facilitated, and how the activities and choices enabled by empowerment are guided through dialogue between coaches and participants. Here, the active engagement of subjects in the governing technologies needs to be formed through subtle guidance, based on the desire of participants. Accordingly, power works subtly by means of facilitation, responsibilization and production. The power of self-reflection and development Looking into the partially confined spaces established and technologies assembled in the form of Midnight Football, we have already explored the pastoral and disciplinary forms of power at work. In the assemblages of governing taking form in Midnight Football, there are also other rationalities and technologies in operation. In this chapter, we will specifically turn our attention to the pedagogy of empowerment at work, with a focus on the elements of pastoral guidance and disciplinary models of conduct involved in such pedagogy. Beyond simply diverting youth from being at risk, sports-based interventions have been seen to facilitate a range of social and individual benefits. Not least in the form of improved self-confidence and self-esteem (Fraser-Thomas et al. 2005), pro-social development (Nichols 2007) or personal development facilitated by social relations (Debognies et al. 2019). This aligns with expectations of sports-based empowerment of individuals and communities (Lawson 2005). The discourse and rationality of “empowerment” (Cruikshank 1999) has been noted as important, referring to the development of competencies that youth are assumed to need to function in society. Such hopes have been noted to align with neoliberal discourses underpinning interventions targeting segments of the populations deemed “at risk”, facilitating adaptation to a pre-given social order (Hartmann & Kwauk 2011). Empowerment has also been referred DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-11

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to the development of skills and competencies for countering inequalities, segregation and social exclusion, aligning with ambitions of critical pedagogy (Spaaij & Jeanes 2013) and with a focus on developing a certain counterconduct (Luguetti et al. 2017), by means of dialogue with leaders (Nols et al. 2018). Though, specific conditions are required for such ideals of empowerment to be realized (Meir & Fletcher 2019). Focusing on empowerment, scientific discourse on social reformation is repeatedly highlighting the minds and conduct of subjects, in the name of “diverting attention” (Nichols 2007), “prosocial development” (Nichols 2007), increased “self-esteem” (Fraser-Thomas et al. 2005), “emancipation” (Sabbe et al. 2019) and development of “life skills” (Turnnidge et al. 2014). Much attention has been paid to the expected outcomes of sports-based interventions guided by social objectives such as “good citizenship” (Parker et al. 2019). Even though interventions develop in a variety of forms, research on sports-based interventions is often underpinned by clearcut distinctions between emancipatory ideals of empowerment and subjugating control or discipline (Sabbe et al. 2019). In this chapter, we continue to lean on literature on social reform and educational objectives of sports-based interventions, placing the objectives of social reformation in a theoretical context highlighting the political implications and power relations underpinning such objectives. We argue that any distinction between emancipation and subjugation is arbitrarily constructed and can be overcome using a Foucauldian conceptualization of productive power, highlighting how development and control are intertwined in complex assemblages. To use the words of Cruikshank (1999, p. 70): “Critically examining the will to empower requires recognizing that despite the good, even radical intentions of those who seek to empower others, relations of empowerment are in fact relations of power in and of themselves”. In line with such approach, the chapter provides perspectives challenging established notions of empowerment of young people as clearly distinguished from exploitation. Rather, we display how freedom and empowerment is an effect and not an opposite of power and government. The aim of this chapter is to examine how rationalities and technologies of governing take form through the socio-pedagogy of Midnight Football activities, focusing specifically on empowerment and activation. How is social reformation formed by means of socio-pedagogy in the Midnight Football activities? What discursive and institutional premises enable the rationalities and technologies of empowerment and activation to take form? How do such rationalities and technologies facilitate certain forms of conduct? Governing by means of empowerment A key dimension of modern social policy is to, first, guide certain populations and subjects to management and responsibility of risk – in the name of activation and empowerment – and second, impose discipline and control on those seen as constituting a risk to social order (Rose 1999). Governing means

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activities guiding the behaviour and ways of thinking of subjects promoted through activities regulating the freedom of subjects (Foucault 1982, 2009, 2010). Such activities are carried out, not against the subject’s own will, but by steering the will of subjects. Governing, in this sense, presupposes the voluntary participation of those guided. At the same time, the objective of such guidance is to form active subjects empowered with resources to take responsibility for their lives. Technologies of empowerment, promoted by conductors, become intertwined with “technologies of the self”, through which subjects take active part in conducting and caring for themselves through moral self-reflection and self-control (Foucault 1988). Importantly, what needs to be facilitated are the powers of freedom, to empower subjects with resources and competencies to be free. Here, risk is intimately associated with technologies of governing that promote empowerment and activation. Risk, following such rationality, is seen as socially inevitable, but individually manageable by means of empowerment, activation and responsibilization (Rose 1999). Empowerment means activities to provide subjects with the powers and capabilities necessary for subjects’ own management of life and risk, and works by supporting self-esteem and selfconfidence, reforming subjectivities by shaping the will of subjects (Cruikshank 1999), with responsibilization meaning how subjects become active in taking responsibility for the consequences of their own choices. Contemporary technologies of social policy, it is said, have become less authoritarian and centralized, and operate “through the regulated choices of individual citizens, now constructed as subjects of choices” (Rose 1996, p. 41).

Mobilizing and directing powers of freedom In the following analysis, we investigate how coaches and participating young people form a sense of community in practice, exploring the non-authoritative relations articulated. On this basis, we analyse how governing is formed in facilitative motivational dialogues and guidance, scrutinizing how the key technology of dialogue is manifested in terms of choosing the right track. To conclude, we look deeper into the objectives of the art of choosing the right track. Altogether, the analysis illustrates a facilitative rationality and pedagogy of empowerment and salvation, made up by technologies aiming to provide subjects with the power to take care of themselves and to make the right choices in life. Seen in the light of the rationalities of control, modelling and discipline, the analysis of empowerment underlines the continual and prevalent tension in means and objectives forming the interventions as assemblages of disparate rationalities and technologies of governing. Moving with and within the community We have previously discussed how young people constitute a flock of subjects governed and controlled in their free movement. Accordingly, leading and

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guiding the flock means to move with the flock, to follow and steer its movements. According to the rationality of the intervention, the coaches acting as role models are granted legitimacy based on shared experiences, identity, masculinity and cultural attributes such as language. Importantly, both conductors and subjects need to qualify for the same community to create mutual relations. When we have observed the activities, the flock and community become visible in a variety of ways. The coaches and managers become part of the community, for instance by physically moving among the participants in the activities performed. Martin referees from the beginning of the evening. Sometimes Mustafa referees. […] Martin has a lot of things to fix, and he talks to people all the time. He is always on the move. […] Later in the evening, an older brother to one of the participants arrives. He is not a formal coach, but he is familiar with the activities. Sometimes he steps up and makes decisions regarding fouls and a free kick. The participants follow his decisions. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) Even as Martin and Mustafa, in Västerort, have a formal role of conducting the movement and conduct of youth, there are certain movements within the flock going on, and managers and coaches are not distant from the movement of the young people, rather, the movements are intertwined, acting upon the actions of others. Still, to lead, coaches must qualify as part of the community, at the same time as they mark out their realm of authority. Ali, participating in Västerort, talks about how the tight relations create a sense of acceptance and community. He says that “the coaches, they usually walk around and talk to people … talk, that is … they want to be as close as possible”. From his point of view, this has real effects: “you get there and so … you feel, you feel so accepted there”. These are words used to underline a sense of community and mutual recognition. The notion of community is visualized in its physical manifestation when the coaches move with the flock. Being accepted is emphasized by the coaches, as a means of gaining legitimacy among the young people, to become part of the community they are guiding. Gabriel is one of the coaches, working in Österort, who describes the importance of moving with the young people, talking to them and becoming part of the community. Gabriel mentions that “I take care of people in different ways … I adapt” and that “they respect me, and I respect them”. To take care is to govern on a basis of benign interest. These are words referring to the dynamic interplay of social relations and movement. Gabriel continues: “I’m on their level … talk a bit of ghetto slang, some jokes and so on”. This imperative levelling of hierarchies is concluded when Gabriel says, “I get to their level and talk like them … that’s how I earn their respect … I become one of them”. Forming relationships based on mutual trust enables the position of role model. Becoming one of the community and flock of subjects allows the coach to steer and guide the movement to salvation from a position within. Community is recurrently understood as established

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in the common language and codes existing on the site. Language and codes, as well as similar experiences and identification, are features attributed to the community. Thus, to be “one of them”, of the flock of young people, is the purpose and form of the community. The egalitarian ideals, however, imbue hierarchies. There are clear roles and relationships between the guides (models) and the guided (modelled). Described here is a form of non-authoritative conductor who leads the young people, and who has been granted legitimacy and credibility in the position as a role model and partner in dialogue on a basis of certain experiences, traits and identities, intimately rooted in the urban periphery. One important remark to be made about movement and leading concerns the duality in the movements talked about. In one instance, the targeted subjects are conceived of as in spatial motion. They move around the urban peripheries, between the shopping malls and the sports venue. Accordingly, their motion needs to be steered to the safe sites of order, structure and rule. In another instance, the targeted subjects are conceived of as moving in their life trajectories: from childhood to adulthood, towards social inclusion. Coaches are present and part of the flock and community both on site and in life. Governing the movements on site and in life is a key for the objectives of the intervention, transferring competencies to other spheres of life. Establishing non-authoritarian relations Seeing that coaches become qualified as part of the same community, a form of non-authoritarian ideal of benign care for the flock of young people can be formed. Hierarchies between coaches and participants are downplayed, creating a sense of mutual respect, reciprocity and community, while still suggesting that coaches have a pastor-like, as well as modelling, role in both taking care and leading the way. Coach Roque pinpoints this dimension of leading, stating that “I’m not an authoritarian leader … in Österort, we don’t have authoritarian leaders”. He stresses the importance of being on the same level with the young people. Like Roque, and Gabriel previously in this chapter, Shanzar in Österort pinpoints that “I’m close with the group”, which means that he is respected and seen as one of the boys in some ways. He describes how “my task is to be with the boys, lead them, be a part of them and play with them … but also to show that I’m the leader and the one who decides”. In this work, Shanzar underscores that “you need to find a balance … between being one of them, but also showing that I’m in charge”, underlining, “I won their respect […] I listen to what they have to say [and] they listen to me, and that shows they respect me, and I respect them”. The essential capacity highlighted here concerns being able to handle the balance between being part of the flock and being the authority who leads the way. One interesting aspect of such non-authoritative relations concerns male bonding. Reconnecting to how this was introduced as a key for the pastoral power of role models, male bonding is key to the guidance in life envisioned in

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dialogues. In such discourse facilitating the male relations and community, girls are positioned as objects in guiding the conduct of boys. Shanzar exemplifies how dialogues with young boys can take form, saying “we sit down and talk about everything … really everything … about home, parents, family … football teams … love … but, mainly, girls”. He goes into more detail: “I help the guys with how to write to a girl … how to get girls, and how to treat them [and] about what they’ve done wrong”. Accordingly, the conduct of boys is in the foreground of socio-pedagogy and social change. In such discourse, there is no mention of girls’ agency. There is a specific kind of masculinity appearing, with a focus on support, caring and dialogue. The more experienced role models guide the participants in life, for instance when it comes to family life and relationships with girls. Importantly, such guidance involves providing resources to navigate between right and wrong, right ways and wrong ways to treat girls. The subtle form of governing by leading the way is something that Sulejman reflects about in detail. Sulejman is the manager for the operations in Österort, and so is senior to Roque, Gabriel and Shanzar, among others. Sulejman contrasts the ideals of governing, saying “I try not to act like the police … I try to guide them, to counsel them and to give them advice”. In this way, “the police” is the term used for visualizing authoritarian relations. To lead means to guide in a non-authoritarian way. I tell our leaders that you are not a leader. That is, you are a leader of course, but there should be no one who perceives you as trying to be superior or that you are the one deciding everything. You’re not a leader in the sense that you decide and govern. But it should be a community. And you should be there on almost equal terms with them. It’s the best way to avoid conflicts, to avoid situations getting heated. They should feel … “oh, shit, he’s on my level, he understands me”. […] It has been a real challenge and as I said, it needs to grow. I am clear about that all the time. It should not be noticed … it should be a fine … not a clear line or so, but more like melting together in a way. […] Instead of treating young people with that … hostility, so instead of treating them that way, you treat them without … you are not their superior. (Sulejman) Sulejman points out what it means to lead: “you’re not a leader in the sense that you decide and govern”, but instead to lead “should not be noticed”. Community is articulated in terms of how conductors and subjects are blending together, or “melting together in a way”. He refers to leading as an act of nonauthoritative guidance. Seen in a broader light, though, it is the disciplinary diversion away from the streets that enables such guidance. This discourse of non-authoritative guidance is presented in a seemingly paradoxical way: the discourse of equality and community is a key that makes this subtle governing potent as well as less recognizable. It works not against the will of the subjects,

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but with the subjects, providing them with powers and guiding the use of the powers provided. Technologies of dialogue The relations analysed enable at least two discursive effects: first, certain powers and resources that the young people are deemed to need can be provided; second, they make it possible to steer the movement of the young people empowered, by means of guidance in the right direction. Supportive, or even motivational, dialogue is presented as a key principle for guiding the subjects in the movement and for facilitating self-reflection of this movement as well as voluntary participation. For this, role models are central as conductors, facilitators and models of the objectives strived for. Qualified as credible role models they are legitimate partners of motivational dialogue. In this sense, motivation becomes a way of providing the powers of freedom and resources for taking care of themselves. Shanzar previously articulated the importance of listening to the young participants. He elaborates on this: “we work through dialogue and support, to listen” and “we solve most things through dialogue”. The dialogue referred to is contrasted to authoritarian rule, he says: “we don’t believe in aggression or being physical to the boys when there’s a problem”. Shanzar then points out how to guide the young participants, so that they avoid problems: the rationality centres around “try to lead the youth on the right track through motivational talk … and yeah, we succeed”. The motivational talk means to empower the young people with certain resources. Guidance through motivational dialogue is illustrated by the coach Sead. In the following excerpt, he makes the rationality of leading, motivation and the art of choosing explicit. We lead the kids on the right path. We try to show the alternatives available … and what would happen if they were to go down the wrong path. Mainly, I think the coaches in football … make up a kind of fostering. You have a lot to show. […] If we lead the boys on the right track, and show what is right and what is wrong, then we may make way for a better future. […] Above all, it leads them to become better people in society. They will do well at school … get a job … and not end up in the dark world … with crime. (Sead) Sead articulates the key ambition of the guidance promoted: to lead and guide the subjects on the right trajectory in life. There seem to be clear alternatives animated: the “right” and the “wrong” alternative. The measures taken operate by non-authoritarian efforts to make the subjects choose one of these alternatives (preferably the right one). Reconsidering the pastoral forms of power, the empowerment made explicit here is a way to lead the community and its individuals in their movement in life. As a pastor, Sead points out the direction

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and leads the way. Such guidance is key for governing in the open society where the young people are not subjected to coercion or confinement, but subject to voluntary participation. Introducing the variety of alternative routes in life, Sead mentions the importance of making the consequences of following the right or wrong track visible (“we try to show the alternatives”). To activate the participant, the risks involved need to be made visible in the everyday lives of subjects. Returning to Sulejman, he elaborates on how changing ways of thinking means that the coaches can “create conditions and provide tools … but it is their choices, what they do with the key to the door that we gave them”. The “keys” provided need to be steered in the right direction, by means of choice. In this sense, there is an emphasis put on responsibility and moral reflection. Accordingly, role models can provide the instruments, but it is the subjects themselves that must make the choices and take responsibility for their lives. The rationality becomes an art of choosing the right track, which is premised by self-reflection and self-control. From this point of view, the disadvantages of growing up in the urban periphery can make no excuse for failing. Sulejman argues: “I’m very tough on one special thing”, referring to how young people make excuses for themselves, “when young people say ‘Yes, but I’m from Västerort, I cannot succeed’”. He continues: “you should never make yourself a victim […], it is by pushing and pushing yourself and others that you will succeed”, and “if you make yourself a victim, then prejudice has won and then you will never be included in society”. Coach Gabriel mentions how the dialogues allude to the young people’s selfreflection, speaking of how “you notice how the kids act in the wrong way”, but how he himself “tries to get them on to a better way in life”. The strategy deployed for this is, as Gabriel describes, to engage in dialogue: “we talk, and they regret what they have done and change their ways the next time they are in the same situation”. Such technologies of reflection are central in governing the self. Reflection is initiated by the conductors, but the work of reflection and of taking responsibility is a matter for each subject. This goal involves shaping subjects who feel a sense of inclusion, practise moral reflection, take responsibility and conduct themselves in an orderly manner. Essentially, as Gabriel concludes, “we coach them in what it means to be a good person and a citizen … how to live a good life”. Again, being a coach means leading the way in a certain direction, navigating between right and wrong. In that sense, the task is one of moral guidance and the future of the young people is framed as a moral concern. The moral scheme also manifests itself in the form of distinguished alternatives in life. The technologies of governing target reflection and choice: the capacities of the moral subject. In this sense “relations of empowerment are, in fact, akin to relations of government that both constitute and fundamentally transform the subject’s capacity to act; rather than merely increasing that capacity, empowerment alters and shapes it” as Cruikshank (1999, p. 71) describes the power and governing of empowerment.

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The art of choosing The forms of governing aiming at self-reflection are manifested in guiding young people at the crossroads between risk (delinquency) and sport (civil manners). In dialogue, the alternatives can be made clear. The pedagogies of motivational dialogue and of choosing the right track evidently target the young people’s ways of thinking, facilitating self-reflection. Underpinning the idea of choosing the right track is a problematization of risk and passivation attributed to the young people in the residential areas. Accordingly, to live and to grow up in the urban periphery, in areas marked by socio-economic vulnerability, presents the young people to a wide variety of risks. According to the rationality of empowerment, if young people are not equipped with the right resources, they might passively end up in crime, drugs or social exclusion. The word “to end up” in something or with someone (associated with risk) provides a powerful discourse in several ways. We already analysed how it becomes intertwined in notions of lack of control making discipline, control and order intelligible responses. Though, it also provides a discourse against which activation schemes become intelligible and reasonable. Darko, one of the leaders, who has worked both in Västerort and in Österort, says that he and other leaders want to do “all that is possible, so the kids don’t end up with the wrong people and in the wrong crowds”. In a similar fashion, Martin in Västerort justifies the need to offer young people meaningful leisure time by saying that “we can’t allow them to end up in a downward spiral”, suggesting delinquency, crime and drugs. According to such discourse, young people are presented to be less active: instead of choosing wrong, they end up wrong. The imperative about activation is strong: it is about choosing right so as not to end up wrong in life. This pedagogy of empowerment means that those who participate in the activities should realize that they are empowered with the means to change their lives. One of the risks confronted concerns crime, and thus crime prevention is one of the objectives of empowerment. Sulejman, in Sumeria FC, stresses that “most youth coming here are not criminals … but they are at a crossroads which can mean that they become involved in crime if they are not guided”. The risk rationality is very explicit and underpinning the efforts made. Accordingly, when young people do not do well at school “there are gangs [and] negative forces picking them up”. The risk of ending up in crime becomes attributed to the young people in the urban periphery, and accordingly, the need to be active in managing their risk by making the right choices is promoted as a response. In this sense, activation, empowerment and responsibilization provide a kind of control and order, by means of producing striations regulating the freedom of the young people. Here, role models prescribing the right choices are instrumental, and identification, observation and imitation enable empowering the young people with powers to choose the right track. Sulejman mentions that “in Österort there are

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many role models … but not all are positive, sadly, most of them are negative role models”. Therefore, he adds, “we believe it is important to provide positive role models so that they [the young people] can choose other ways in life”, and this requires “leaders that can influence the youth to make the right decisions […] to guide them in the right direction when they encounter difficulties and setbacks … there, they face a choice”. In the following excerpt, Sulejman further elaborates on making the right choices, by re-connecting to his own biography. The rougher my life became, the fewer people I had to turn to. So, I turned more and more to the other guys … and so I was at a crossroads. Should I continue with football, or should I go with these guys? It was tough. I got no help and had no one to help me choose the right track. […] I believe that many of the guys here are at this crossroads, and now they have me and my coaches here to help them make good decisions and choose the right track. I didn’t get that support … but I help them choose the right track. (Sulejman) The narrative is articulated in the context of Sulejman having been previously convicted, stressing the need for self-reflection and responsibility for the consequences of the choices made – that can be envisioned, displayed and imitated. The young people are constituted as moral subjects, confronted by the moral question of choosing between good and bad, right and wrong. Using his own background, Sulejman envisions the choices confronted by the young people, enabling identification and modelling of choices. Shanzar, similarly, provides a narrative where his own experience makes possible identification and imitation. Reconnecting to the issues of trust and community explored previously in this chapter, the relations formed with role models involve “letting the boys know that I’ve been in their situation […], I’ve had it rough, and the boys know that”, as Shanzar describes. Shanzar continues: “I had a choice, and I chose football over the negative things”. The path, presented, can be followed accordingly, away from bad things moving in the direction of football and orderly conduct. He underlines that “the kids coming here are at an age when they start to be involved in crime … going in the wrong direction and having a decision to make”. Again, the term decision, referring to the activity of the individual, becomes the objective strived for. However, the young people are not left alone to make their choices. There is a complex apparatus of guidance and reflection offered, carried out by role models in dialogue, constituting a pedagogy aiming to prepare the subject to reflect and to choose the right track. The objectives of deliberation and salvation Following on from the development in the art of choosing the right track in life, the objectives of intervention can be assessed. The formation of self-reflective

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subjects can be viewed as an end in itself. The pedagogy of empowerment is aimed at the minds and souls of young people, and how these can be shaped to lead the young people on the right path in life. In order for young people to be able to manage the risks they face they need to develop active approaches to the conditions that surround them. Roque, in Österort, distinctly addresses the objective of subject formation: “we want to achieve change … absolutely … we want to change their entire way of thinking”. The rationality of governing, then, means to activate subjects to make choices and to take responsibility for the consequences. The subjects should “dream their future as outcomes of choices made or choices still to make”, and view life “in terms of one’s success or failure in acquiring the skills and making the choices to actualize oneself” (Rose 1999, p. 87). Social reformation, in this sense, targets the subjectivities of the young people, through the means of football, but it is essential for the rationality of governing that the powers provided are utilized in certain ways beyond the sport activities. The art of choosing needs to be brought out in the street. Shanzar describes the interconnections between disciplinary diversion, pastoral guidance and technologies of the self, when describing how making the right choices should be transferred outside football. When they are here with us, we talk a lot about the things that make them choose the right track, and not ending up in crime and bad things. So, yeah … I really believe that we do a good thing for society […] Everyone likes football, right … and the kind of activity we have makes more and more young people want to come and play and listen to us and do good things. (Shanzar) The young people, accordingly, encounter coaches who explain alternative routes in life in dialogue, emphasizing that there are choices to be made, and are in turn extended “out in the street”, forming a more secure society. This form of social reformation, notably, is made possible because “everyone likes football”, and football is utilized for the purpose of attraction to the sites of intervention and voluntary participation. The suggested powers of football emerge in terms of the popularity of football, which makes it possible to reach out to young people and make them eligible for pedagogical intervention. To sum up, the technologies promoted involve establishing mutual relations in community, based on equality, utilized to lead through non-authoritative guidance, through motivational dialogue providing powers to choose and to reflect upon the consequences of the choices made. The subjectivities of participants become the objective of governing, to form new ways of thinking, assessed in relation to not ending up in crime or delinquency (or any other form of undesired path in life). Such individualizing exercise of power targets the salvation of subjects, empowered with resources to navigate in a society. Movement in the open spaces confronts subjects with imminent risk, and therefore they need to be aware of the risk they face. Pastoral guidance, then,

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provides lines to follow and new ways of thinking. Accordingly, what is at stake in the technologies of empowerment is salvation. To again use the words of Foucault (2009, p. 166f), pastoral governing “is connected to salvation, since its essential, fundamental objective is leading individuals, or at any rate allowing individuals to advance and progress on the path of salvation”.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have analysed how the rationalities and technologies of empowerment are formative of the Midnight Football intervention. We have mapped out how certain problematizations of risk and apathy attributed to the young people in the urban periphery, underpin strategies to activate, empower and responsibilize the young people. Disciplinary forms of spatial and temporal diversion from sites of risk to sites of order and football create a venue where pedagogies of empowerment can be played out. By means of moving with the flock, creating close relations that can be mobilized through motivational dialogues, the conduct of the young people can be guided. Empowered with resources to make choices, the young people are guided both through reflective dialogues and by means of following in the footsteps of role models. A key part of the rationality outlined concerns reforming the self of the young people guided. They are seen as subjects of change, in the sense that they both can and ought to change their life by making the right choices. This seemingly paradoxical relation between the freedom and imperative to choose means that subjects are not merely “free to choose” but rather “obliged to be free” (Rose 1999, p. 87), or at least to understand themselves as free and responsible subjects. Accordingly, the objective strived for is the creation of a reformed, activated, motivated, self-governing subject. From this point of view, efforts premised on a “will to empower is neither clearly liberatory nor clearly repressive; rather it is typical of the liberal arts of conduct and the political rationality of the welfare state” (Cruikshank 1999, p. 72). The analysis illustrates forms of governing subjects and society, where elements of discipline, pastoral power, technologies of empowerment and technologies of the self come together. Within the frameworks of the rationality of governing analysed, the power of making (the right) choices in life stands out, aligning with biblical notions of pastoral guidance and the shepherd’s care and efforts for the salvation of the flock. There are two alternative ways forward: one to passively end up in, and one to actively choose. To choose, then, is to refuse the predetermined fate of ending up in some sort of social problem. Ending up on the wrong track is represented by the threatening and risky future of crime, delinquency and severe social exclusion, in similar biblical language a “lake of fire” (Revelations 20:14), located in the geographies of the urban periphery, to be steered away from. The discourse presupposes active responsibility for managing risk, and risk therefore needs to be made visible, providing discursive routes to navigate among and away from. The right track, in contrast, is the heavenly reward for following the

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pastoral guidance and choosing salvation, accepting freedom of mind and soul, by means of taking active responsibility for one’s own trajectories in life (and possibly beyond). Though, the direction of the movement is not decided by divine or sovereign rule, or even by pastoral power, but by everyone’s own will and responsibility for making the right decisions in life. Furthermore, according to the discourse and rationality promoted, it is through the active choices of subjects that social order is to be proliferated. Still, the routes that are animated are situated in a specific landscape of segregation and exclusion. To situate the intervention, we must again underscore the selective outreach and target in the context of this particular landscape. It is noteworthy that the dialogues between coaches and participants described neither focus on raising awareness of socio-economic inequalities nor on the socio-political context of the intervention and of segregation among the young people in general (Meir & Fletcher 2019), premising the activities as such – something that could potentially underpin emancipatory counterconduct, empowering resistance (Luguetti et al. 2017) or facilitating critical pedagogy (Nols et al. 2018; Spaaij & Jeanes 2013). Rather, the focus is on how young people are to become empowered to manage a pre-given social order, to navigate among real problems and dangers, and take responsibility for their own choices in life (Hartmann & Kwauk 2011). Salvation (in terms of evading risk and choosing the right track), in this sense, becomes a question of working on the minds of the young people rather than changing current conditions of life. Incidentally, such rationality aligns finely with what was analysed as educational efforts towards improving the moral qualities of the poor and excluded, focusing on the morality, responsibility and will-power of individuals, stipulating that aid and support should be directed to those deemed to have the ability to be active and to develop, provided as help-to-self-help, aiming to create conditions for recipients to make themselves independent of help and support (Villadsen 2007, 2008). We analysed this rationality in terms of pragmatist philanthropy, provided on the premise of goodwill. From a discursive point of view, such a rationality produces certain discursive effects that contribute to naturalizing current conditions of segregation and inequality, rather than forming counter-consciousness and emancipatory forms of resistance (Hartmann & Kwauk 2011). The politics of empowerment, activation and responsibilization can be witnessed in a range of social policy fields in contemporary societies (van Berkel et al. 2011; Dahlstedt 2015). Welfare, in this sense, has increasingly become a question of individual responsibility, fundamentally transforming the discourse of social solidarity underpinning modern social policy (Bauman 2001). In addition, social reformation of the individual subject becomes approached in terms of learning, with individualized objectives, such as taking care of oneself, whereby society at large is turned into a domain of lifelong learning (Fejes & Dahlstedt 2013), not confined to schools or other institutions of reformation. To conclude, the rationalities and technologies interrogated take form in the open society premised by voluntary participation of young people. Accordingly,

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voluntariness needs to be formed and guided. Essentially, it is the will of the subjects participating that makes the intervention possible, which makes it important to scrutinize what it is that makes subjects themselves participate based on their own free will. The analysis has, this far, placed a certain weight on how the rationality of rule is articulated and promoted by managers, coaches and stakeholders, though the reasons of the young people participating have not yet been elaborated in full. To further our exploration of the rationality of the intervention, we turn to how participation is experienced, made intelligible and articulated by participants themselves. Principally, such examination could outline the experiences of subjugation as well as possibilities of resistance (Sabbe et al. 2019). Accordingly, in the next chapter, we scrutinize the conflicting rationalities of participation as articulated by the young people themselves, their desires and will to participate in football and in governing.

References Bauman, Z. (2001). The individualized society. Cambridge: Polity. Cruikshank, B. (1999). The will to empower. New York: Cornell University Press. Dahlstedt, M. (2015). Discourses of employment and inclusion in Sweden: Governing citizens, governing suburban peripheries. In: Righard, E., Johansson, M. & Salonen, T. (eds.). Transformation of Scandinavian cities: Nordic perspectives on urban marginalization and social sustainability (61–80). Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Debognies, P., Schaillée, H., Haudenhuyse, R. & Theeboom, M. (2019). Personal development of disadvantaged youth through community sports: A theory-driven analysis of relational strategies. Sport in Society 22(6), 897–918. Fejes, A. & Dahlstedt, M. (2013). The confessing society: Foucault, confession and practices of lifelong learning. London: Routledge. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the self. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Foucault, M. (2009). Security, territory, population. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Foucault, M. (2010). The birth of biopolitics. New York: Picador. Fraser-Thomas, J., Côté, J. & Deakin, J. (2005). Youth sport programs: An avenue to foster positive youth development. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 10(1), 19–40. Hartmann, D. & Kwauk, C. (2011). Sport and development: An overview, critique, and reconstruction. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 35(3), 284–305. Lawson, H.A. (2005). Empowering people, facilitating community development and contributing to sustainable development: The social work of sport, exercise and physical education programs. Sport, Education and Society 10(1), 135–160. Luguetti, C., Oliver, K.L., Dantas, L.E.P.B.T. & Kirk, D. (2017). An activist approach to sport meets youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 88(1), 60–71. Meir, D. & Fletcher, T. (2019). The transformative potential of using participatory community sport initiatives to promote social cohesion in divided community contexts. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 54(2), 218–238. Nichols, G. (2007). Sport and crime reduction: The role of sports in tackling youth crime. London: Routledge.

Empowerment 181 Nols, Z., Haudenhuyse, R., Spaaij, R. & Theeboom, M. (2018). Social change through an urban sport for development initiative? Investigating critical pedagogy through the voices of young people. Sport, Education and Society 24(7), 727–741. Parker, A., Morgan, H., Farooq, S., Moreland, B. & Pitchford, A. (2019). Sporting intervention and social change: Football, marginalised youth and citizenship development. Sport, Education and Society 24(3), 298–310. Revelations. In: English Standard Version Bible (2001). ( https://www.esv.org/, 2022-03-29) Rose, N. (1996). Governing “advanced” liberal democracies. In: Barry, A., Osborne, T. & Rose, N. (eds.). Foucault and political reason: Liberalism, neo-liberalism and rationalities of government (37–64). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sabbe, S., Roose, R. & Bradt, L. (2019). Tipping the balance back towards emancipation: Exploring the positions of Flemish community sport practitioners towards social control. Sport in Society 22(6), 950–965. Spaaij, R. & Jeanes, R. (2013). Education for social change? A Freirean critique of sport for development and peace. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 18(4), 442–457. Turnnidge, J., Côté, J. & Hancock, D.J. (2014). Positive youth development from sport to life: Explicit or implicit transfer? Quest 66(2), 203–217. van Berkel, R., de Graaf, W. & Sirovátka, T. (eds.) (2011) The governance of active welfare states in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Villadsen, K. (2007). The emergence of “neo-philanthropy”: A new discursive space in welfare policy? Acta Sociologica 50(3), 309–323. Villadsen, K. (2008). Freedom as self-transgression: Transformations in the “governmentality” of social work. European Journal of Social Work 11(2), 93–104.

Chapter 12

Desire

Introduction In this chapter, we explore how the desire for football and social relations set people, activities and relations in motion, enabling participation in the governing interventions. It is important that young people engage in and attend the activities of their own free will – essentially, this is the premise for carrying out the activities as arranged, functioning as units of production. In this sense, it is the desire for football and the rationality by which football is seen as an end in itself, that makes the instrumentality of sport possible to be utilized, transcending distinctions between football as an end or as a means. Sport participation among young people Approached as an assemblage of technologies (of philanthropy, control, integration, modelling, discipline and empowerment), Midnight Football comes forth as an activity where particular relations of power take form. These assemblages and forms of technologies, together with the conditions of the urban peripheries, form a space where young people may act and move. One of the formative dimensions of such actions and movements concerns the voluntariness regarding the participation of young people, how they take part in, experience and make meaning of the activities performed. Accordingly, exploring the desires of young people becomes crucial for understanding how the interventions take form, creating new assemblages of activities, relations and movement. The intervention has a general outreach seeking to attract a broad base of young people in the urban peripheries, seen as in need of some form of social reformation. The question of voluntary participation concerns the desire of subjects, how they come to desire the activities provided and how it becomes possible to involve the subject of governing in the technologies of governing outlined. Various dimensions of exclusion intersect and create unequal life conditions for young people in the urban peripheries, not least in limiting their faith in the future and feeling of being part of society. However, young people are reflective about such conditions and thinking of themselves and their lives in relation to DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-12

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these (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019). The cultural power of football is often noted in the lives of young people, as a means to negotiate with prevailing conditions and discourses, to form relations with others as well as providing potential to direct future dreams (León Rosales 2010). When it comes to research on how young people experience participation in sports-based interventions, there is a recurrent tension between how motivation to participate is premised on either young people’s own desire to engage in sports or the objectives of the sport activities. Studies have shown how open sportsbased interventions arranged as organized spontaneous sport may be experienced, by young people, as less demanding than traditional sports, enabling inclusion in activities (Högman 2021). Also, arrangements focusing less on competition may provide young people better opportunities to meet others, as compared to traditional sport club activities (Sabbe 2019). At the same time, young participants in sports-based interventions have experienced that participation can lead to more engaged citizenship and a sense of community, when they internalize the objectives of the interventions and experience development of social skills facilitated through sport participation (Parker et al. 2019) or contributing to the life trajectories and educational careers of young people (Cunningham et al. 2020). Utilized for such purposes, sport activities are sometimes described as a “hook” attracting the attention of young people, particularly reaching out to excluded groups, that would otherwise not be accessible for interventions aiming at social reformation (Crabbe 2007), not least because young people can have a sense that there are few other things to do (Açıkgöz et al. 2022). In this chapter, we utilize the distinctions between different kinds of motivation for participation observed in the literature and seek to explore how such distinctions can be understood. We do this by targeting the discourse of young people, analysing the experiences and discourses formative of them, to gain insight into their position as subjects in relation to the objectives of the intervention and their own desire for participation. We seek to analyse how the desire to participate in football is part of the governing rationality explored, i.e., how young people come to want to participate in interventions targeting social reformation based on their own free will. The aim of this chapter is to explore how the voluntary participation of young people becomes integrated in the governing technologies forming Midnight Football. How do the young people make sense of their participation in the intervention? How is the desire of subjects constructed and how does it enable the forms of governing that are being promoted? What social policy effects are produced in the rationalities of participation articulated? Governing (by) desires Starting from the point of view of governing as the conduct of conduct, and action upon actions, approached as a dynamic interplay, attention is drawn towards how the governed come to be part of the reformation of their own conduct (Foucault

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1982). Here, governing is examined not solely based on the ambitions of conductors, but also in relation to the subjects, whose conduct is to be governed. Subjects are discursive formations constructed, and constructing themselves, in accordance with the rationality of problematizations, technologies and objectives of governing, making certain conducts, actions and ways of thinking possible (Bacchi 2009). Thus, subjects are actively engaged in activities that form their conduct, actively reflecting upon these processes of subject formation (Foucault 1982). Considering the formation of subjectivity, we use the concept of desire as an analytical tool to explore how the voluntary participation of young people is formed and how it drives the relations and activities of Midnight Football, and in that sense takes part in the power dynamics constitutive of the intervention. We conceptualize desire as forces that drive actions and movements of subjects in the striated spaces described in this book, formed through assemblages of governing technologies productive of new actions and movements. Here, in the words of Deleuze and Guattari (2004, p. 28), “desire is the set of passive syntheses that engineer partial objects, flows, and bodies, and that function as units of production”. This means that desire is a productive force setting certain things, activities, relations in movement. Conceptualized in terms of production, the desire of subjects is produced in social formation, as a productive force. Desire as such is both an objective and a means of governing, with real effects – “producing certain effects, amenable to a certain use” (Deleuze & Guattari 2004, p. 119). What is produced as an effect, then, is subjectivity and the driving forces of individuals, their movements, choices in life, self-reflections and ways of thinking, their desire. This means also that there is no fixed position among subjects, in terms of an authentic desire, as subjectivity is contingent, in constant flux. For Deleuze and Guattari (2004), desire is associated with feelings of passion, pleasure and joy, understood as a productive force forming actions and conduct. One of the key questions explored by Deleuze and Guattari (2004), using this conceptualization of desire, concerns the rationality for how people come to want to participate in processes of subjection, in various forms of activities and social relations.

Desiring participation in football In the following analysis, we investigate how young people participating describe the activities as fun and as a social gathering point locally, in addition to how the activities are presented as a site of football development. In line, we investigate how dreams of football progress shape the understanding of young people’s life and future in the urban periphery. Seeing how the sport activities attract young people, we analyse how the rationalities (and instrumentality) of diversion and social reformation become integrated in the young people’s understanding of the activities and their participation in them. Following this point of departure, we analyse how young people rationalize and reflect upon the

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instrumental utility of football recognized. The analysis shows how young people rationalize their participation in relation to a variety of discourses and rationales, and how their desire to play football produces certain lines guiding movement towards the sites of the activities as well as in life. Football is fun and a social gathering point The young people describe the activities as fun and as a social gathering point locally. This is primarily what makes them want to participate. Saman’s motivation provides one example. He is 15 years old and participates in Midnight Football in Västerort and talks about Midnight Football: “I come there to have fun […], I really don’t care who is there or not … as long as we have fun”. Such articulations are repeated among the young people participating: they participate because they feel that it is fun to do so. One of the keys to understanding how the participants see the activities as fun concerns the significance of social relations. Midnight Football is repeatedly described as a venue for meeting others, mainly young people from the neighbourhood. When the young people talk about social relations, they talk about Midnight Football as an activity where they can meet friends they already know, as well as make new friends. When it comes to relations with young people that the participants already know, Tarik, 19 years old, says “usually, everybody comes”, when describing the activities in Västerort. He continues: “there are many people who don’t know how to play, but who are there anyway, playing and running … almost everyone, anyone”. Mahdi, 17 years old from Österort, says that he usually goes there himself, because “you always find someone that you know” when you are there. While participation makes it possible to hang out with friends, it also makes it possible to get to know new people, something that Habwir in Österort describes: “sometimes we play together, we don’t know each other, and we play on same team, then we know each other”. Notably, social relations seem to be important and associated with the activities considered fun, and there are different meetings occurring. Still, the meetings are mainly between people who already know each other and between other young people from the area and other parts of the urban peripheries. Although young people move within the urban areas, certain forces seem to direct their movement to the peripheral spaces of the urban geographies. Still, to conclude, the fact that young people locally describe the Midnight Football activities as a place to gather and make friends lays the ground for utilizing the activities as a place of diversion, directing the movement of young people in the urban periphery, making them go there of their own will. Social relations facilitated through football are desired by the young people, which provides a productive force guiding will, interests and movements. That, in turn, is what makes it possible to assemble technologies of social reformation, of discipline and empowerment, together with subjects and role models, on a

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specific site of intervention. Accordingly, the activities exert a certain allure on the young people. They are not forced to go there. For them to become subjects of diversion and social reformation, their movement needs to be steered there. Football development More than how sport is viewed as fun and as a social gathering point, the activities are presented as a site of development of football skills and as opportunities for (extra) training. For example, Tarik in Västerort emphasizes the significance of football when he states that Midnight Football is fun and that it is “probably for that reason I come there, and also because I enjoy football”. There is a widely shared desire for football. The young people not only want to play but to learn to play better. Taisir, 16 years old, living in Söderort, close to Österort, describes Midnight Football as an opportunity to see other, talented young people play football, and learn from them: When I cannot play, I use to go there and watch. Still, you get to learn something. How to play, and everything around. How people play the game. You develop just by going there. There are a lot of players who are better than you. Perhaps you can learn how they play, by looking and practicing. (Taisir) Football, as such, both when it comes to playing and watching, attracts the attention of the young people. Like many other participants, Taisir describes participation in Midnight Football as an opportunity to play football. When young people meet both on and off the field, they learn different things, as explicated for instance in the description of Taisir above. Boban in Västerort also takes note of the learning taking place, when he says that: “you develop more as a football player”, particularly emphasizing that those who participate learn to play football together with participants from different parts of the world: “there are usually five or six cultures present, so you get to learn how like Somalis play … or Bosnians”, associating different backgrounds with different styles of play. Some of the young people articulate high ambitions for playing football. Many of them play regularly in youth and senior amateur teams. Some even play in the youth academies of professional teams. For some of them, like Ali, 17 years old in Västerort, playing in a local lower league senior team, the extra football training is instrumental in making him go to the activities. Ali mentions the importance of the social relations enabled: “everybody is there … the mates, everybody, all the people you know … so, you definitely want to be there and play football”. Here, playing football becomes intertwined with the social relations formed. Football appears as a social activity. Ali continues by specifying the reason for him to join Midnight Football: “Football is the main reason, and then everything all around … the social. I enjoy talking to people”. The main priority for participation, though, is to get the chance to practise football,

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and develop as a player. When asked what football means to Ali, he answers: “I hope, and I train for … trying to have football as my occupation in the future […] as a professional”. He says, “I know it is difficult, but I’m going to give it a chance and try as hard as I can … train every day”. For Ali “Midnight Football is an extra chance … to get out there and train … to be a better player, to perform”. The extra opportunity should be seen in light of him having to play for a club in another part of the city, because there are no suitable teams for him in Västerort where he lives. Midnight Football comes forth, here, as a football activity like other football practices: an activity through which the dream of success and development can be realized. According to this discourse, football becomes an end in itself, not primarily a means of diversion, social reformation or any other social objective. Football, as such, becomes a hook that draws young people to the intervention, providing striations in the space where the young people move, steering both their desire and movement. But football is also what football is: namely football, a fun and alluring activity, which incidentally imbues certain forms of governing. Dreams of football Alongside the importance attributed to the actual football practice, football has a particular significance for many young people in the urban periphery, when it comes to attributing dreams of the future. There are certain dreams of progress in the world of football that shape the understanding of life among the young people. Like Ali mentioned above, several of the young people that play have already made their entrance on the local amateur football scenes. In Österort, at least one of the participants has even played at national youth level, while some of the others represent elite youth academies in the city. In Västerort, Saman has already at age 15 made appearances for a lower league club in West City. He says: “I am a person who wants to be serious and want to go places … be a better player, successful […] the dream to be a professional player”. When sitting on the bench one night in Västerort he describes his situation in the wider context of what football can mean for young people in Västerort. Saman is 15 years old and is one of the boys I recognize from last week. He, then, excelled on the court in what was the yellow team the previous Saturday. We talk a bit on one of the benches. He mentions different teams he played for. He changed teams from the local Västerort FC to another team in West City. He then had a friend from Västerort who started to play for Village FC, so he went along to that club. But his friend started doing drugs, says Saman. […] Saman says that there are many young people in Västerort doing drugs, and many good players quit because they start with things like that instead. […] Saman, though, has never been on drugs. He plays football instead, he says. This spring he made his debut in Village FC’s first team. He came on as a substitute in his first game and scored a goal, he says. […] Saman

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wants to be a good football player. At the same time, he talks several times about the fact that no one from the big teams comes to the hoods [swedish: orten] to scout for good players. He says that there are no scouts here and that it is not possible to be discovered if you are from Västerort. He says that he knows that he is good, but that it is difficult in any case. There are lots of good players here, but no one who becomes anything in football. A guy named Mehmet, he was good. Better than everyone. Big and strong and could do anything with the ball. He played in Västerort FC, says Saman. I ask what happened to him. He quit, says Saman. (Field note, Ekholm, Västerort) Saman describes his dreams of becoming a professional player, underscoring that he was only 15 when he came on from the bench and scored in a senior game. At the same time his description is hampered by the fact that he is from Västerort, where no people from the major teams come to watch. He may be a good player, but there are many good players in Västerort, and no one really makes it to the top level. Saman talks intensively about a boy, Mehmet, who was better than anyone else, suggesting that he could potentially have become a good player, even a professional. Mehmet used to play for Västerort FC, a club suffering a range of challenges to keep their operations running, severely affected by the increasing segregation and socio-economic vulnerability of the population in Västerort. Saman concludes that Mehmet stopped playing. Accordingly, the dreams of football are interpreted within the realms of the manifest conditions of segregation facing their active careers as potential footballers. Saman tells about how there are many young people doing drugs in Västerort and that a life in drugs is not compatible with football progress. In this way, football is contrasted with risks such as drugs, and a discourse where football provides diversion from the risks of society and the residential area is enabled. To realize the dreams that football enables, orderly conduct and management of these risks is needed. The desire for football intersects with a need to conduct. Accordingly, football is not only significant in the lives and leisure time of young people today. It also provides frames for understanding the future, guiding life trajectories towards progress and success. When the intervention is underpinned by an instrumental rationality, utilizing football to combat social problems, the participants articulate the rationality of participation in line with a discourse of football for the sake of football itself, and the dreams that can potentially be realized by participation. In this sense, there are potentially conflicting rationalities of participation present: on the premise of football for the sake of football, or for the sake of social objectives. The instrumentality of diversion By describing the activities as a meeting place for young people in the area, Midnight Football is formed as an alternative place to be on late weekend

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nights. In the rationalities of participation articulated, it is not only football for the sake of football (being fun and providing social relations) that is mentioned, even the instrumentality of diversion and social reformation is pointed out, providing a frame for understanding participation. In line with how Midnight Football is characterized as a meeting place, the young people describe this meeting place in contrast to how young people otherwise gather in the city centre, mall or just hang out in the areas. Different places appear in opposition to each other, with the sports arena contrasted to places outside. This dichotomy forms a basis for how sport is portrayed as a diversion from crime and disorder. On one side of the dichotomy, we find Midnight Football, positioned as a place for order and meaningful activity. On the other side we find life in the area, disorder, idleness and risk. Speaking of dichotomies between inside and outside at certain times, Ayub, who is 15 years old and lives in Österort, describes Midnight Football as a site of diversion, when talking about how it is fun to play football: So, it’s fun, really. It’s fun. You know … at night if Midnight Football didn’t exist then you would be somewhere else. Maybe going out and doing mischief. You understand? Now when Midnight Football is, you just come here and play. Also, you get to know many new people … all the time, and it’s fun. That’s good, really. (Ayub) Accordingly, being fun and being an instrument of diversion are two rationalities assembling in Ayub’s articulation. Ayub’s statement aligns with the discourse underpinning the rationality promoted by coaches and managers of the intervention, as a site of spatial diversion from risk. According to this rationality, the local surroundings provide opportunities to conduct delinquent behaviour, while the sports arena provides a very different place to reside during the hours of risk. But at the same time the description highlights how the activities are seen as fun and as providing a social gathering point. Obviously, these rationalities are not in conflict. When Tarik in Västerort talks about the activity as a meeting place, the contrast between Midnight Football (inside) and the area (outside) is repeated but adding a chronological dimension contrasting then with now. Tarik describes that Midnight Football “became like an arena for meetings […] all people came there … literally everyone”. He continues by describing that before the start of Midnight Football in the area: “before … perhaps we were out, just out in the city center … we hung out in the park and so”. A similar distinction is constitutive of the statement of Liban. He is 16 years old and lives in Söderort but participates in the activities organized in Österort. He says that “sometimes, there are some problems, burning cars and such”. He continues by describing: “since they arranged Midnight Football, the area is healthier […] it is not as much happening as it used to”. In these statements both spatial and temporal

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contrasts order the discourse. There is an inside (of order and activity) contrasted to the outside (of disorder and passivity), and there is then (disorder before the introduction of Midnight Football) contrasted to now (when there is order following from Midnight Football). The technologies of diversion are premised on football being fun and seen as a gathering point, steering the attention and movement of young people, making them want to participate voluntarily. Accordingly, the desire for diversion is formed within the discourse of football as meaningful and alluring, providing a hook to reach out to young people, directing their movements in the open spaces of the urban periphery. The young people seem to be quite well acquainted with such emphasis on the significance of the activity and in different ways they also relate to it. However, it is not explicitly such an instrumentality that motivates them to participate. Rather, the young people’s participation seems to have other grounds, where desire for football becomes more of an end in itself. The instrumentality of social reformation Articulated as a site and means of diversion from delinquency, the activities are furthermore associated with social reformation, reflected upon by the participants. According to the discourse articulated, the structure of play can enable social reformation, and, in the capacity of role models, the leaders are positioned as facilitators of social change – in line with the discourse promoted by coaches and managers sketched out in previous chapters. When Waleed, 15 years old, living in Österort, describes the learning he believes that participation makes possible, he emphasizes cooperation and respecting the rules of the activities: “you shouldn’t make fuss” and “you learn from each other”, resulting in “it becomes calm … so, kids shouldn’t be out and causing problems”. Again “out” is the discursive element signifying society in general, spatially located beyond the site of intervention, as the real world where the reformed conduct is to be manifested. Given that the participants learn from each other, Waleed believes that participation can contribute to it being calmer (out) in the urban periphery. But such learning requires efforts by the coaches and managers conducting the proper behaviour. Another related description concerns the form of the game of football itself. One of the participants describing the game of football as a means of making young people cooperate with each other is Dheere in Västerort. While he says that the team that loses and gets to rest can be disappointed and upset, the leaders still make sure that the games are performed “the same way: five minutes, first to score wins”, and “independent of if the losing side gets angry, they will come back … and all is fine”. The rotation between teams is part of the rules enforced by the leaders. Those who participate also learn, Dheere says, to respect both teammates and opponents. Yet another example of the learning potential of the game of football is provided by Taisir, when he describes the kind of respect facilitated in the

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games. “You learn a little respect from this”, he says, and elaborates further: “when someone misses a shot, like over the goal … then, others will laugh”. But coaches or other participants can say “everyone makes mistakes”, and so, “it is also respect, not to laugh at each other”. Here, not laughing if someone shoots and misses the goal becomes the equivalent of respect, an objective formed through the guidance of the conduct of the participants. In this way, the venue where activities are arranged is animated as a place for order and structure, and thus learning, where there are rules, leaders and certain values to follow. The instrumental utility of football for diversion and social reformation is articulated by the young people participating in the activities. Even though the desire for football comes forth as the primary rationality of participation, to a certain degree, the young people adhere to these instrumental objectives, and they do understand that such an instrumentality provides the premises of the practices they participate in. However, some of the young people are still quite sceptical about the very outcomes of the means and technologies promoted to make diversion and social reformation possible. Reflections on the instrumentality of football The analysis of how Midnight Football is described as a means of diversion and social reformation highlights a discourse of instrumentality, where sport is articulated as an instrument, for social change, fostering diversion and inclusion. Interestingly, some participants seem to be quite aware of such discourse and from which positions such discourse is articulated, making certain reflections and even reservations possible. Looking into the reflections of the utility and instrumentality of football, we return to Ali in Västerort. When he is asked, in an interview, if he considers Midnight Football to be an important activity for society, he speaks about how football is fun, yet he also answers the question by relating to how others talk about the instrumentality of the activity: Yeah … like they say, it has reduced crime … but … I don’t know. But instead of going out and stuff, they come into the venue, maybe have a chat or so … chilling out. […] Because when you are out there, they [young people] are just bored anyway, so maybe they just do something … whatever. But instead, they are in there. (Ali) Firstly, Ali’s description aligns with the discourse of spatial diversion, contrasting “out” to “in”, associated with doings of different kinds. In this sense, the instrumentality is recognized; there is a way to think about Midnight Football as a means of diversion having certain effects in terms of “reduced crime”. Secondly, the brief reflection “yeah … like they say, it has reduced crime … but … I don’t know” illustrates how the talk about the instrumental utility of football is

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articulated from a different position than Ali’s: “like they say”. In this articulation, different discourses appear, in relation or even opposition to each other, enabling new positions formed between the discourses available. In the tensions between these discourses certain positions take form. Ali’s account illustrates the interplay between different discourses and motives for participation. Here, it becomes clear how a discourse of instrumental utility constitutes a way of understanding the practices that young people confront and need to relate to. Even though there are doubts concerning the instrumental utility and benefits of football, young people do talk about Midnight Football in terms of diversion (from delinquency and risk), the instrumental importance of sport for this purpose, and sport as a means rather than an end. However, imagining sport as a means provides a particular way of talking, which is articulated by others in the various contexts where the young people live their lives. Such discourse may not primarily be articulated by young people themselves. Instead, such discourse and rationality is repeatedly enunciated by policymakers, philanthropists, managers and coaches. Previously, we have explored how some of the young people participating situated this discourse of instrumental use of football in the context of the urban periphery. There (in chapter 4), Saman reflected on the implications of inequalities in terms of class, while Besar reflected on how certain dangers become attributed to the place with little or no basis in the lived realities of the urban periphery. A discourse of social exclusion, segregation and inequality is integrated in critical reflections on how and why the instrumental utility of football as such becomes placed in and targeting Västerot and Österort in particular and the urban peripheries in general. Segregation and exclusion are recognized as key dimensions forming risk of drugs and crime, delinquency and a certain scepticism towards the omnipotence of football to combat these dimensions can be discerned. The interplay of different ways of understanding motives to participate and to resist certain forms of instrumentality resonates with the principal desire expressed (previously by Ali) to engage in football as a way to play football, develop as a player, to form social relations and a life in the future. Accordingly, it is in between such discourse that self-reflections and desire become a productive force, producing voluntary participation.

Concluding reflections In this chapter, we have analysed how the young people taking part in the activities experience and describe their participation. When the young people describe their participation, they primarily express that participation is fun, that it enables social relations, as well as the opportunity to play football and develop as football players. In this respect, football seems to have a particular social and cultural significance in the lives of young people. In this discourse, the football activities become an objective (in itself), and not primarily a means for certain policy objectives beyond just participation in sport. However, given that the

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activities are described as a gathering point for young people, it becomes possible for young people to conceive of the activities as a means of diversion and social reformation. It is in the tensions between these discourses – sport for the sake of sport and the discourse of sport for its instrumental utility – that young people form their own rationality of participation. It would be easy to conclude that these are conflicting discourses: that young people motivate their participation either in line with the former or latter discourse marked out. But what we have shown is that these rationalities intersect and condition one another. It is sport for the sake of sport that enables the instrumental utility of sport. It is the desire to play football and to meet friends, to develop as players and to be able to realize dreams of football, which can be acted upon by means of steering the movement of young people and guiding their conduct. The engagement and desire, thus, make young people want to participate in the activities promoted by their own free will. For like, Burchell (1991, p. 119) puts it, “to govern individuals is to get them to act and to align their particular wills with ends imposed on them through constraining and facilitating models of possible actions”, and that “government presupposes and requires the activity and freedom of the governed”. Football – in this form – provides the model that enables a certain conduct to be produced, a model assembled by a variety of relations, activities, technologies and objectives. In this sense, football is much more than a hook, attracting young people: football may be understood as the force that make governing technologies possible at all. The instrumental utility is premised on the notion that sport can be utilized, as a means, to realize certain policy objectives beyond participation in sport as such. Such a notion of the instrumental utility of the activities is, in turn, tightly interwoven with and enabled by the discourses of risk attributed to the residential areas and population of young people targeted. Notably, such discourse is primarily articulated from positions other than those of the young people, such as managers and coaches, but most notably philanthropists, policymakers and organizers. From the positions of the young people, participation is not primarily articulated as an instrument with any purpose other than participation itself. A range of subject positions are enabled, through which young people can navigate in relation to the interventionist approach to sport and the instrumental utility of sport. To voluntarily subject to governing intervention, pleasure and joy needs to be provided (Deleuze & Guattari 2004). Football evidently provides such pleasure, joy and desire. The young people participating desire football as something fun, as providing social relations and as having a cultural significance in their lives providing dreams of progress. Desire makes young people participate in governing intervention by means of their own free will, to voluntarily engage in the activities aiming to steer their movement, shape their conduct in certain ways. One important premise here is that the young people in the urban peripheries are often limited in access and opportunities to play football in clubs and

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associations. Midnight Football is not a club, engaged in competitive activities. Rather, it provides an arena where football is played, where young people can develop their skills. When the subjects of instrumental provision (provided with sport as a means of diversion or social reformation) are targeted on a basis of risk and need of reformation, assessment of need conditions access to sport. Thus, access to football becomes limited to certain needs-oriented activities such as Midnight Football. However, young people motivate their participation by their desire for football, rather than by their need for reformation. Midnight Football thus provides opportunities to engage in football, and the desire for football makes subjects want to make use of these opportunities, to go there, to take part, to be active. To sum up, it is the rationality of sport for sport’s own sake and desire for football that guides the movement of young people to the sites of the interventions. It is this rationality that makes the young people want to join and to take part in football, subject to intervention and participate through their own free will. Accordingly, the tensions and dynamics between discourses of instrumentality and sport for sport’s sake provide a premise for the intervention and the way it operates in the open society. For this, the productive force of desire makes certain movements happen. In addition, young people – as well as their managers and coaches alongside philanthropists, policymakers and more – understand the activities arranged as a benign form of provision, rather than as an exercise of power. This means that we problematize the opposition between the desire of subjects and the interests of organizers or supporters. In that sense, power is at work in the relations and activities formed, and in the desires shaped. Desire makes a subtle, yet forceful power. Following the analysis presented, and situated in relation to contemporary social policy, the voluntary participation and activity of people, by their own free will, is a recurring ambition. Not least the politics of activation and responsibilization (Cruikshank 1999; Rose 1999) spotlights the importance of making people active in taking part in the government of social problems. In this sense, the reflection of governing and the reflection of one’s own conduct and reformation is a crucial part of the social policy producing self-governing citizens, with a desire to participate in society. In different ways we have scrutinized the rationalities of governing of Midnight Football. We have sketched out the relations, activities, technologies and objectives of the intervention, as well as how the rationalities are articulated and experienced from a variety of positions making the intervention possible. What we have explored, principally, is the practice of social policy as assembled in a particular capillary of the social body, in the urban periphery, in the lives of those deemed at risk and of risk. We have pinpointed how a range of premises have made certain forms of power possible to assemble, and what they have made possible, in terms of discursive, subjectification and social policy effects. This chapter has elaborated on how the subjects themselves come to desire the social policy of football for certain objectives. In the next chapter, we

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turn towards synthesizing how the forms of governing explored in the book in its entirety can be assessed in terms of transforming the social of the policy of governing.

References Açıkgöz, S., Haudenhuyse, R. & Hacısoftaoğlu, İ. (2022). “There is nothing else to do!”: The impact of football-based sport for development programs in under-resourced areas. Sport in Society 25(2), 281–298. Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenchs Forest: Pearson. Burchell, G. (1991). Peculiar interests: Civil society and governing “the system of natural liberty”. In: Burchell, G., Gordon, C. & Miller, P. (eds.). The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (119–150). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Crabbe, T. (2007). Reaching the “hard to reach”: Engagement, relationship building and social control in sport based social inclusion work. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 2(1–2), 27–40. Cruikshank, B. (1999). The will to empower. New York: Cornell University Press. Cunningham, R., Bunde-Birouste, A., Rawstorne, P. & Nathan, S. (2020). Young people’s perceptions of the influence of a sport-for-social-change program on their life trajectories. Social Inclusion 8(3), 162–176. Dahlstedt, M. & Ekholm, D. (2019). Social exclusion and multi-ethnic suburbs in Sweden. In: Hanlon, B. & Vicino, T.J. (eds.). The Routledge companion to the suburbs (63–172). New York: Routledge. Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (2004). Anti-Oedipus. Capitalism and schizophrenia. New York: Continuum. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry 8(4), 777–795. Högman, J. (2021). Barn i rörelse. Om förutsättningar för utveckling i alternativa (?) idrottsaktiviteter [PhD-thesis]. Karlstad: Karlstad University. León Rosales, R. (2010). Vid framtidens hitersta gräns: Om maskulina elevpositioner i en multietnisk skola. Botkyrka: Mångkulturellt centrum. Parker, A., Morgan, H., Farooq, S., Moreland, B. & Pitchford, A. (2019). Sporting intervention and social change: Football, marginalised youth and citizenship development. Sport, Education and Society 24(3), 298–310. Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sabbe, S. (2019). Community sport and social cohesion: A social work perspective [PhDthesis]. Ghent: University of Ghent.

Chapter 13

Conclusion

Introduction In this chapter, we synthesize the analyses presented in previous chapters, highlighting how the different discourses and rationalities assemble in forms constitutive of Midnight Football. In this endeavour, we point out the social policy transformations, how they take form through assemblages of activities, relations and movements, with a specific focus on the de-socialization of governing and the mobilization of rationalities of community. To conclude the book, we discuss the transformations of policy in relation to concerns of social inequality, social justice and social rights (to football). Re-assessing the purpose and aim In the beginning of this book, we formulated our aim as being to explore the emergence, organization and performance of activities where sport is used as an instrument to respond to societal challenges, and to specifically analyse the governmental rationality of Midnight Football, with a focus on the problems constructed and targeted, the technologies utilized and the objectives promoted. From a perspective of problematization we have wished to scrutinize the conditions under which the Midnight Football intervention has been created, how it has taken shape and how it, in turn, has shaped social policy and society. We have done so by analysing the problematizations, technologies and objectives of governing, the discursive as well as historical, institutional and political conditions that have made this rationality possible to emerge, as well as the discursive, subjectification and social policy effects enabled. How is the rationality of governing formed? How has this rationality been made possible? What is, in turn, made possible from this rationality? Instrumentalizing sport, as such, is not at all a new idea. In fact, throughout history, in a variety of societies, sport has been attributed certain beliefs and utilized for a range of presumed benefits. In the beginning of this book, we illustrated how sport was noted for its presumed benefits by the United Nations and the European Union, informing social policy in practice, as well as for the DOI: 10.4324/9781003224754-13

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settlement movement of Jane Addams, the Swedish philanthropists, welfarist social engineers and representatives of the sport movement. These examples – there could have been more – draw attention to different problematizations underpinning objectives, and ways of utilizing sport as such. Still, they all spotlighted the instrumentality of sport – as a means and instrument: a technology of power. Accordingly, our ambition with the analysis presented in this book is not to simply conclude that sport is conceptualized and utilized as a means of social policy. Rather, the idea has been to analyse how such means are conceptualized in one specific empirical case of investigation, under specific historical, political and institutional conditions. Synthesizing the main findings We have taken on this task in the different chapters in this book, where we have explored a variety of rationalities, problematizations, technologies and objectives institutionalized as Midnight Football. All of these rationalities, relations formed and activities assemble and become Midnight Football. The formation of the urban periphery, civil society, philanthropy, social control, integration, modelling, discipline, empowerment and desire are neither single nor disparate discoveries found in the empirical material investigated, nor specific dimensions of an already existing form of operation. Rather, these formations are intersecting forces assembling and producing a certain formation, institutionalized in the form of Midnight Football. All forces are integrated and conditioning each other. Integration presumes the urban periphery, empowerment presumes neo-philanthropy, discipline presumes desire, modelling presumes civil society, social control presumes integration, and so on. The exercise of power and rationalities of governing emerges in the relations between different subjects’ (inter)actions, how they do and talk about things. In chapter 2, we investigated a variety of sports-based interventions, with a focus on how they have been formed and observed in research literature. We noted some key features of sports-based interventions, their instrumental utility to promote social policy and the targets of policy interventions. From this brief investigation, we mapped out the context and specific characteristics of Midnight Football, with its outreach and context of social policy in Sweden. In chapter 3, we went further to describe the problems, technologies, objectives and organizational structure of Midnight Football, providing some empirical explorations of how the activities are performed. Here, we accounted for the practices conducted and the participants performing the activities, as well as the empirical materials investigated. In chapter 4, we explored how the formation of the urban periphery as a place and domain is integrated in the rationalities of governing promoted through Midnight Football. Here, certain discourses of material and symbolic differentiation marked out the boundaries of the spaces where the problematized young people reached out to reside, located outside in the peripheries of the urban

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landscape, creating discursive striations in relation to which the movement of young people can be steered. The boundaries formed create a basis for placespecific community relations as well as a domain for problematization and governing measures, institutionalized in the Midnight Football activities. In chapter 5, we explored how civil society was produced as a discursive formation, integrally formed in relation to the urban periphery. It was the seemingly authentic relations of (local) community and voluntary actions associated with football that was to be mobilized and utilized, making certain ways to govern based on community possible (such as role-modelling, discipline and pastoral guidance). According to the discourse and rationality articulated, it was by means of personal trust and relations of community that problems could be dealt with, at a distance from social (state, municipal and public) authorities. In chapter 6, we further explored another dimension of the discourse of community, spotlighting how philanthropy and rationalities of a certain kind of support and provision guided the activities. Here, we draw attention to how moral goodwill underpinned support provided in inter-agency cooperation, from affluent positions in society to the poor and excluded, premised on notions of moral reformation. For such provision to be possible, the formation of the urban periphery (conceptualized as a domain of need) was fundamental. Provision, for instance, in the form of supporting missionaries (role models acting as disciplinary models as well as pastoral and empowering guides), operating in the peripheries shaping the moral reformation of young people was seen as a way to make a difference for the betterment of society and citizen subjects. In chapter 7, we analysed the forms of social control enabled by the engagement of a variety of agencies (state, municipal and civil society) surrounding the intervention. Here, multiple visions from different positions were investigated, with a focus on how they create surveillance both within and beyond the intervention site, directly as well as indirectly of the activities performed. The formation of the urban periphery became a starting point for the gazes, following the movement of the targeted group of young people in the open spaces of society. Accordingly, the movement, actions and conduct of participants as well as leaders could be traced and controlled in a variety of places, where both risk and dangers could be assessed and prevented. The rationality of control transcends the forms of governing beyond the sites of intervention (and arena of modelling, discipline and empowerment), making it possible to surveille and govern within and beyond the sites of the intervention. In chapter 8, we scrutinized the discourse of integration and how it enabled certain forms of governing. Integration takes conceptual form as meetings between people of different cultures, and such meetings can be seen both as a threat and as a potential. The exclusive bonding of community formation in the urban periphery can be seen as segregating from society and thus problematizing the racialized target group based on their ascribed culture, while at the same time providing integration and community (pastoral) relations between coaches and young people participating. Accordingly, certain meetings and cultural dynamics

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can be animated and mobilized for purposes of social reformation, discipline and guidance. In chapter 9, we investigated the socio-pedagogical routines of the activities carried out within the sport arenas, exploring how the relations of community and moral reformation become guided by pastoral technologies of modelling. It is relations of community (between seemingly authentic subjects, sharing experiences and language), formed in the urban peripheries in the domain of civil society, carried out by credible missionaries in their capacity of role models that become conductors of moral reformation. Such relations and identifications constructed make (models of) discipline as well as pastoral care and guidance, empowerment, possible to initiate. In addition, the benign relations of care, seemed to be vital for the young people to desire the activities and relations taking place on site. In chapter 10, we analysed how the modelling technologies were set to work in disciplinary strategies of reformation. Here, a machinery of discipline took form assembled by confinement in time and space, facilitating diversion of movement and attention of young people, by establishing certain rules and structures of the activities performed, and by sanctions made visible to normalize the conduct and actions of the participants. Such discipline could be performed on a basis of community relations, acted on in civil society, beyond the reach of professionals (of the state or municipality), and reciprocal relations between (modelling) coaches and (modelled) participants. A reformed way of conducting oneself was to be moulded and trained, preferably extended beyond the confines of football activities. In chapter 11, we explored the rationality of activation, responsibilization and empowerment formative of the socio-pedagogy of the intervention, premised on non-authoritative relations of community and pastoral guidance (acted out in the domain of civil society). Such governing takes shape by means of the sociopedagogy of football, by facilitative guidance through dialogues aiming to supply the guided with powers to manage their own risk by self-reflections of how to choose the right track, to approach their own freedom actively and to navigate towards prosperity and salvation. Accordingly, the technologies performed demand the active engagement, will and participation of subjects. The rationality is one of active self-reformation and refinement. The educative element promoted aligns, in this sense, with the philanthropist ideals of working on the will power of subjects. In chapter 12, we investigated the premises for the participation of the young people targeted by governing intervention and technologies of reformation. The voluntary intervention (that is the operation of civil society) and open arrangements need to allude to the will and desire of subjects to want to subject to modelling, discipline and empowerment. Here, we pinpointed how the desire for football among the young people set certain movement and action to work, making the young people targeted go to the interventions to voluntarily take part of their own free will. The intervention becomes associated with feelings of

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pleasure and are conceived of as any kind of football activity. It is, so to speak, participation in football for the sake of football that makes the instrumental utility of football possible to put to work. In all, we have scrutinized the explicit and implicit problematizations underpinning the formation of activities, the rationalities and technologies assembled and institutionalized in Midnight Football, the discursive, institutional, political premises of this formation as well as the effects made possible when it comes to the subjects governed and the social policy taking form. Here, we have explored how a particular group of young people become targeted when associated with risk, how their movement, conduct and actions are to be steered to prevent certain problems or to make way for desired life trajectories, how young people themselves need to be made voluntary participants in such tactics of governing, and, not least, how football has been formed as an instrument utilized for such objectives. We have analysed how the formation and striations of symbolic and material boundaries in the landscape guide the movement of young people, how civil society is formed as a place where seemingly authentic relations can be mobilized in community, how these relations are supported by philanthropists, favouring notions of moral refinement and pedagogies taking shape as control, modelling, discipline and empowerment, and how all of this is premised by the desire for football. From every angle of the kind of rule scrutinized, voluntary participation, freedom, movement in the open spaces sets the frame for complex strategies of governing, not by force, coercion or sovereign rule, but through subtle means of guidance and reformation, utilizing the self-reflection of subjects.

Synthesis and analytical discussion Moving our analysis beyond the empirical chapters, investigating how the rationality explored and the technologies assembled constitute social policy in practice, we will now re-assess the questions guiding the analysis from new angles and develop the following argument. The problem formed, through this rationality of rule, is not so much a problem as it is a target group, i.e., (racialized) young people (boys) in the urban peripheries. Midnight Football becomes an answer to the challenge of how this population can be governed in their movement and life trajectories. Such a rationality is conditioned by segregation and inequality – and racialization – in the urban landscape as well as institutional openness, pluralism and decentralization of rule. Moreover, the rationality formed produces a desocialized policy in practice, in a variety of ways problematizing governing from a social point of view. What, then, emerges is a rationality of community – seemingly – based on moral relations, voluntarism and freedom. The young people problematized: at and of risk Starting our synthesizing analysis of the form of social policy constituted through the activities performed under Midnight Football, we take a problematizing

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approach as a point of departure, posing the question: “what’s the problem represented to be?” (Bacchi 2009). To answer this question promptly: there is no particular problem presented. Principally, there is a void of a problem discourse explicitly specified. The discourse of problematization is, throughout the analyses presented in this book, both elusive and suggestive. The explicit problematizations are numerous and articulated in the names of exclusion, risk, danger, crime, drugs, disorder, delinquency, unemployment, ending up on the wrong track or in gangs and more. Thus, there is not one specific way of forming the problem structuring the discourse and rationality of Midnight Football. Rather, there are a range of problematization and ways of problematizing places, communities, people or even the future. When the activity is described with a focus on social change and reformation, such descriptions are based on a characterization of the current target group, its problems, and needs, as well as the problems and risks that the target group themselves constitute. Directing our analysis towards the implicit premises of this discourse, we see that associated with these elusive problem descriptions are a particular group of subjects: young people, boys of the racialized urban peripheries – characterized as both subjects at risk and subjects of risk. The young people are described as exposed to all kinds of risks, in terms of exclusion, drugs and crime – disorder. From this perspective, football appears as a protection. They are subjects at risk. They are supposedly the ones who risk ending up in gangs, whose vitality must be curbed or redirected, whose character needs to be trained, whose principal existence becomes a social policy problem. At the same time, the young people’s lifestyles, in the form of the undesired conduct that Midnight Football is promoted as an alternative to (such as crime and drugs), pose a potential risk to order, community and social cohesion. They are subjects of risk. There is a tension here between how the target group is described as both exposed to and exposing society to risk. When the target group is described in this way, they will be seen as in need of intervention – interventions that take shape in both compensatory provision of activities as well as measures of reformation and control, intermeshed. Discursively, the intervention becomes football at certain places, at certain hours. For this group of young people, it is thus the need for social reformation that conditions access to sport, more than anything else. The racialization of this particular group is not mainly a microcosm of inequalities in modern societies, but a productive force in animating the target group. In the words of Hartmann (2012, p. 1019), “sport is a powerful place for the ongoing production of race precisely because many of its multifaceted dynamics are clearly on display, and yet so many people fail to even see or apprehend what is right in front of their eyes”. However, the young people that are problematized do not exist in a vacuum. In our analysis, we want to spotlight three interrelated domains of problematization formative of this target group. Three specific discursive formations territorialize through this rationality, becoming targets of intervention and acted upon. Midnight Football targets the self, the community and the urban periphery,

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domains that are problematized in similar ways, as domains of problems, risk and exclusion. These domains are not separated from, but rather integrated in each other. To begin, the urban periphery is the geographical location where otherness and exclusion takes form. Certain conditions and discourses give life in the peripheries a certain shape that are not asserted in other parts of society. To continue, the community of relations taking shape in the urban peripheries and moral relations formed are problematized in terms of exclusion and risk, but also filled with opportunities, with agents, missionaries and conductors of communities reforming and guiding the subjects at and of risk towards salvation. To conclude, the self and the moral character of subjects are repeatedly pointed out as the subject of reformation. Still, the subjects are not only subjected to training, discipline or control, but also subject to self-reflection and moral refinement. Importantly, these domains, analytically made distinct, are not different objects, but different viewpoints of the same discursive formation: the formations of the urban periphery, the community, and the self, constitute each other. These constitutive domains make the governing rationality particular in its outreach, targeting the subjects, communities and peripheries located on the outside. The governing rationality selects the targets based on risk assessment and needs provision. What these domains need is support, control, discipline, empowerment, reformation and football, not least. The sport-based interventions, thus, delimits their outreach to certain domains, which are distinguished and separated from the whole of society (Ekholm 2018). These domains are sites of disorder in a society of relative order. They need to become ordered and reformed. That is how the intervention can be presented in terms of local development of the areas where activities take place, community work facilitating certain pro-social relations and socio-pedagogy targeting the conduct, actions and ways of thinking of the young people participating. Guiding young people in their movements Midnight Football does not primarily respond to a problem that is constructed; rather, it opens the way for new forms of governing in the open and free society. Midnight Football provides the technology for how the target group of young, racialized boys of the urban periphery may be governed in their spatial and temporal movement as well as in their life trajectories. Midnight Football, as a sports-based intervention, operates not by force or strict spatial confinement, but is open and spontaneous, based on voluntary participation. In the analyses presented, we have illustrated how everywhere, there is movement and flows, of bodies, actions, relations and technologies, taking and constantly changing form. The doors to the sports arenas where the activities are arranged are (mostly) open, which means that the young people come and go during the evenings. They constitute a multitude of individual subjects, and they constitute a flock of subjects in constant motion, governed as a community. The movement of the individual subjects and the community

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cannot be constrained. To guide the movement of the young people, the activities promoted need to appeal to their desire. Accordingly, one of the dimensions of scrutiny of this book has been to explore how it has become possible to steer a multitude of bodies and subjects, a population, in their movement from one place to another. It is a movement in both space and time, in the localities of the urban peripheries, from sites of risk to sites of football, as well as in life trajectories, from exclusion and risk to inclusion, self-control and order. A great variety of technologies and objectives strived for, are utilized by means of governing the movements of the targeted group of young people. Movement is shaped by control, discipline, modelling, guided by empowerment, facilitated by desire, directed towards subjection and order, by means of imitation, deliberation and salvation as well as participation. Of all the technological means scrutinized in this book, it is the movement of young people that is facilitated and directed in manifold ways, towards different ends – governed in the open society. Segregation and pluralism Outlining the rationality of governing, its targets and ways of operation, we now turn towards exploring the contingency and premises of its emergence. The kind of rationality explored is premised by both (discursive and) material conditions in the form of segregation and inequality in the urban landscape as well as political and institutional conditions such as openness and pluralism in society and decentralization of rule. The rationality of governing and technologies assembled is premised by notions that football can be utilized to address certain challenges in society. The rationalities and technologies promoted aimed at young people have a specific focus on the skills, choices and behaviour of young people, their way of thinking about themselves and their lives, their social and moral relations in community as well as the places in the urban periphery where Midnight Football takes shape. The problematizations embedded in this discourse, to which the intervention can become an answer, can only be understood as consequences of segregation, inequality and social exclusion. It is the processes of segregation, inequality and social exclusion that make young people in the urban peripheries particularly vulnerable to social problems, targeted at and of risk. The rationality explored locates social problems in domains, areas, communities and individuals, distinguished on the outside of society, in the peripheries. It is a measure aligned with current discourses on “outsidership” (Davidsson & Petersson 2017). In this sense, football can become a solution to the problems located to the excluded outside, but not to the problem of inequality, considering that the latter would need interventions aiming at structural reform rather than activities of compensation, control, discipline and empowerment, provided to young people in the (racialized) urban peripheries. Accordingly, the material and discursive premises cannot be made empirically distinct from each other. Segregation and inequality are made intelligible in a language of distinction and exclusion, and thus

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made peripheral or outside, containing subjects and communities at and of risk, whereby certain places are produced as in need of reformation. For this rationality of rule to be able to take form, there is also a need for yet more political and institutional distinctions to be made. The (re)production of distinctions between sectors – state and civil society – is based on a pluralist and decentralized way of governing modern and liberal societies. In constitutional democracies, there are always limits to the reach of power exercised by agencies. Governing through voluntary participation, by means of freedom, presupposes a domain of autonomy and voluntarism utilized for the purposes of intervention. Such political and institutional premises have made the construction of civil society possible to emerge. Contemporary debates about the strengthening of civil society concern, not least, recreating a presumed natural order and authentic freedom that is believed to exist outside the realm of the state, which the welfare state has supposedly limited and suppressed. Civil society is formed as a domain where subjects can be part of seemingly authentic, voluntary and moral communities, with moral relations that are self-regulatory and autonomous from intervention by the state (Ashenden 2015; Rose 1999; Villadsen 2016). And it is their moral capacity as subjects of virtue (mainly) that all activities arranged by means of Midnight Football addresses its subjects. The relations formed through Midnight Football are that of moral community: between role models and subjects, between philanthropists and managers. The sociopedagogy of Midnight Football means moral reflection and reformation. Midnight Football does not operate by means of coercion. Rather, it needs more forceful powers to guide and govern the (voluntary) movements of young people, and (autonomous) arrangements of civil society. In all, there is a strong appeal to the virtue and morality of subjects. The premises outlined, spotlight how the discourse and rationality of utilizing Midnight Football as a way of answering certain problematizations in society, separates the outside (its places, communities, and subjects) as sites of governing, and that such governing becomes that of a moral (rather than a social) kind. Consequently, it is the free and voluntary relations and bonds of community, potentially formed within the excluded populations of and at risk, which needs to be mobilized for the purposes of governing. De-socialization To specify the productive force of the assemblages of actions, relations and movements institutionalized in Midnight Football, and how they constitute social policy in practice, we will now look more closely on the discursive, subjectification and social policy effects produced. When it comes to subjectification effects, we have already discussed the formation of the targeted group of young people, how they are problematized as subjects at risk and of risk, posing a threat to the order of society, and in turn how this risk rationality

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makes possible a variety of technologies to rule (with) them. Such effects made possible from the specific ways of reasoning about Midnight Football, though, are intertwined in the discursive effects concerning how to understand social policy as such. In our analyses, we have repeatedly emphasized the formation, reformation and transformation of things, events, relations and activities. Rationalities and technologies assemble, forming institutionalizations of relations and activities – i.e., Midnight Football. When things, events, relations and activities intertwine, they “territorialize” (Deleuze & Guattari 2004, 2007), creating discursive formations emerging in a partially stable form. Still, subject to tensions and changes, such discursive formations constantly decompose or “deterritorialize”, just to assemble in new forms, “reterritorialize”. Accordingly, all empirical things, events, relations and activities scrutinized in this book take certain forms that are disrupted and reformed in new ways. We started this book by highlighting the role of sport in social policy, and our analyses have centred around concepts such as social problems, social reformation, social relations and social work. Here, it is the social as a frame for modern, liberal and welfarist ways of governing that has been our concern. Social rationalities of governing took form during the 1900s, where risks and problems were gradually socialized through reforms assembled in the form of welfare states (Donzelot 1988, 1991). From this point of view, emphasis was on the notion that people were interdependent in their exposure to risk and problems, and that problems of poverty, insecurity, exclusion and crime were more than problems of individual morality (or lack thereof), instead focusing on such problems as consequences of unequal power relations that could be reformed. Social reforms were promoted to target general sections of populations (Donzelot 1991). Social governing found a distinguished form in the Scandinavian welfare model (Esping-Andersen 1990). Though, as described in chapter 1, the social policy of welfarism has been subject to transformation during recent decades, resulting in advanced social segregation and increased problems of exclusion (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019). Interrogating the rationality of rule promoted through and underpinning Midnight Football, premised by selective outreach and moral government, the social policy rationality formed deterritorializes the social in (at least) two ways. First, its forms of government make up a dividing practice making the outside distinct as a domain of intervention, attributing risk and problematizations. The social domain becomes disintegrated in subjects outside, communities outside and places outside (peripheries). Second, such divisions posing a threat to social cohesion and integration cannot be met by social reforms, but integration can only be produced on a basis of voluntariness and moral reformation as well as adaptation of those on the outside to the norms and conditions to the supposedly homogenous inside of the “majority culture” (Ålund & Schierup 1991). It is a form of governing on moral grounds where the resourceful can support those in need, producing moral reformation.

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Social reformation Even though sport as such has no power to reform segregation and inequalities in society that cause problems and divisions, sport is repeatedly promoted as a response to manage problems caused by social segregation and inequality (Coakley 2011; Collins & Haudenhuyse 2015; Hartmann 2016). The faith in sport for this matter is not despite, but because of these limitations. It is because the rationalities explored in this book suggest that social problems are no longer conceived of as social but rather as individual and moral, or as matters for specific segments of the populations, their communities and places, and not for the population or society as a whole (Ekholm 2016, 2018). To manage the populations of exclusion, policy could of course target the processes of exclusion, as much as they target the distinct populations. The faith put in sports to combat social problems are, thus, a way to maintain “outsidership” (Davidsson & Petersson 2017) as the primary problem to be combatted, rather than outlining policy reforms combating problems of social inequality and segregation. We could even say that Midnight Football contributes to an ongoing deterritorialization of the social domain, with its selective outreach and provision. Accordingly, when we analyse “social reformation” in this book, it is not only the social reformation of young people that is our concern. Rather, it is the reformation of the social as a discourse and rationality of social policy, which is scrutinized. By establishing distinctions between inclusion and exclusion as well as between normality and otherness, and by attributing both problems and potential solutions to the urban peripheries, segregation and inequalities in society at large, are effectively naturalized. Following our analyses, then, it is not only – or merely – the subjects, communities and urban peripheries that are problematized, but principally the social domain and social rationality of rule, as such. To be very clear, the argument developed here goes beyond a focus on institutions. What we are discussing here is not limited to anti-statism or statephobia (Dean 2013; Dean & Villadsen 2016), underpinning a discursive challenge to the welfare state. Rather, it is a matter of de-social discourse, a de-social reconfiguration of a particular territory or frame for thinking. The social state, as such, is not the target of problematization. It is not as much the social state as it is the state of the social that undergoes reformation, when sport in the form of Midnight Football becomes a venue for managing social problems in the ways scrutinized in this book. Such work of social policy de-socializes the spaces, activities, relations and discourses where social problems become a concern for society at large. Brown even argues that “the existence of society and the idea of the social – its intelligibility, its harbouring of stratifying powers, and above all, its appropriateness as a site of justice and commonweal – is precisely what neoliberalism set out to destroy conceptually, normatively and practically” (Brown 2019, p. 28), because “the language of the social is what makes inequalities manifest; the domain of the social is where subjections, abjections, and exclusions are lived,

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identified, protested, and potentially rectified” (Brown 2019, p. 40). As Brown suggests, the attack on the social is part of a neoliberal repertoire of governing. With respect to sports-based interventions, Hartmann (2016) meritoriously showed how such governing comes in different forms, both as soft power facilitating individual activation and responsibilization and hard neoliberalism involving punitive measures targeting racialized populations in the confined spaces of intervention. Today, a key for the legitimacy of sport for social objectives is its elusiveness within a neoliberal continuum: it operates as a means of individual development as well as subjection and control (Hartmann 2016). Our analyses align with such an argument in the sense that the rationality of Midnight Football is quite elusive, contradictory and difficult to attach one single rationality. Still, there is something more to add to the tension between different forms of neoliberalism: the formation of community is reappearing in the analyses throughout the book. The reformation of the social, based on the analyses presented in this book, appears as communitizing rather than neoliberal in a strict sense (if such distinction is relevant at all). In welfare-states, civil society has always been mobilized as a domain of governing. Its (seemingly) paradoxical status as a natural rationality with moral subjects free (or at least at a distance) from power, makes it a great potential to realize political objectives of various kinds. The community rationality of civil society is making its way into the policy measures available in welfare states today. There, a domain of freedom, voluntariness and morality (in conduct and relations) is continuously reterritorialized – as subtle in its manifestations, as it is powerful in its operations. Following the case study approach deployed in this book, we have explored Midnight Football as a case in its own right, rather than as a representation of sports-based interventions in general. The rationalities of governing constitutive of Midnight Football are specific in their empirical emergence, though they take form in a social and sport policy context displaying a variety of similarities with other cases, in terms of selective outreach (the marginalized and racialized young people), instrumentality and the formation of community (chapter 2). Communitization The idea of the disintegration of the social is not new. The “death of the social” has been a phrase that has been around for decades (Baudrillard 1983; Rose 1996). Accordingly, the social has been deterritorializing for quite a while. Though importantly, when addressing the attacks on the social as a domain of government and a frame for understanding society, it is a key to highlight the way in which the notion of the social as such has been undermined, and that this in turn has made it possible to naturalize inequalities, social hierarchies and exploitation (Brown 2019). We do not argue that managers or sponsors, supporters and co-operators align with such a problematization of the social. But, positioned as subjects in a terrain where certain initiatives and interventions,

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such as Midnight Football, are promoted, they become points of articulation reinforcing such a post-social discourse. The question to be asked, though, is the following: if the social is deterritorializing, what is the character of the reterritorialization taking place when sport is utilized for social objectives (by means of Midnight Football)? Repeatedly, in the discourse and rationality explored, an elusive and sometimes enigmatic conceptualization of community becomes visible. The emergence of community is not a novel discovery. The concept has been scrutinized as a rationality of governing before (Bauman 2001; Cohen 1985; Levitas 1998; Rose 1999). It is a repeated objective in literature on sports-based interventions (Ekholm 2016) – as if the notion of “community has become virtually coextensive with the study of football”, as stated by Blackshaw (2008, p. 325). The concept has also been critically explored in sport literature, as a means of governing (Rich et al. 2021). Community, in the analyses presented, is associated with a variety of moral as well as personal bonds located in the urban peripheries, in civil society, which makes possible certain ways of conducting the conduct of young people in the targeted areas of intervention, both disciplinary and pastorally. However, as pointed out by Rich et al. (2021), the formation of community through promotion of sport initiatives not only concerns the local context and outcome of moral and mutual relations; it also concerns a particular form of regulation and social control – a technology of governing people as well as society. This means, following Rose (1999), that community becomes a technology of governing, whereby certain measures of governing are produced in the name of community, with certain ways of governing enabled by a discourse on community. Consequently, Rich et al. (2021, p. 9) suggests problematizing “how community structures may be constructing or contributing to inequities in our social environments”, rather than limit analyses to how arrangement of sport is utilized “as a way to address ‘problems’ in communities”. In this book, we have not discovered the rationality of community. Rather, we have explored its constitutive practices and arrangement, the mobilization of community in all empirical manifestations examined, and we have problematized its rationality of governing. So, what is meant by the elusive and ambiguous concept of community? The concept of community may be just as suggestive as the social, attributed hopes as well as perils. To quote Bauman (2001, p. 1): “Words have meanings: some words, however, also have a ‘feel’ [and] ‘community’ is one of them. It feels good: whatever the word ‘community’ may mean, it is good ‘to have a community’, ‘to be in a community’”. Looking, briefly, into the literature on the sociology of sport, it becomes clear that scholars have seen a potential in sport for creating social capital and community (Darnell et al. 2018; Ekholm 2019; Schulenkorf et al. 2016). Accordingly, a certain meaning attached to social capital and community has emerged within the field (Darnell et al. 2018), not least associated with relations formed in football (Blackshaw 2008). Sport sociologists have for long emphasized the suggested benefits of sport for building social

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capital (Höglund & Bruhn 2022) facilitating social relations and moral community (Lawson 2005) through bridging and bonding relations. Such affirmative discourse, though, tends to de-emphasize the power relations and conflicts embedded in sport and formative of its status in social policy (Blackshaw & Long 2005), turning cohesion into a question of cultural meetings and social relations rather than a matter of redistribution, rights and equality (Ekholm 2019). Importantly such social capital and community discourse has had a powerful impact on sport and social policy in the last decades (Ekholm 2019; Morgan 2013). Still, such conceptualization has a genealogy far beyond sport. Tönnies (2001) used the terms Gemeinschaft (community) contrasted to Gesellschaft (society), highlighting the alleged loss of authentic and reciprocal relations of modern society. Community, then, refers to “the social group brought into existence by this positive relationship, envisaged as functioning both inwardly and outwardly as a unified living entity”, which means “the relationship itself, and the social bond that stems from it”, and that is “all kinds of social co-existence that are familiar, comfortable and exclusive”, a domain where “we are united from the moment of our birth with our own folk” – conclusively, “community means genuine, enduring life together, whereas Society is a transient and superficial thing” (Tönnies 2001, pp. 17–19). Highlighted here is the significance of positive relations and collectivity of social bonds, seen as genuine and, thus, not an artefact of modernity. Similarly, Etzioni (2004, p. 20) refers to community as “a web of affect-laden relationships among a group of individuals, relationships that often crisscross and reinforce one another”, and as “a measure of commitment to a set of shared values, norms, and meanings, and a shared history and identity – in short, to a particular culture”. Here, we note especially the affections attributed to the relations and the significance of shared values, identity and culture. For Putnam, social capital refers to the bonds between people in community, the social glue shaping social cohesion (Putnam 1993). In this sense, social capital refers to “networks, norms, and trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit”, and “working together is easier in a community blessed with a substantial stock of social capital” (Putnam 1993, p. 35f). From this point of view, community is understood as formed by provision of relational resources such as trust and common norms, allocated in networks. In line with our problematizing approach, we explore the productive force of the political discourse of community (Olsson et al. 2014), rather than as particular forms of social relations. We do not suggest that the discourse and rationality of Midnight Football has been influenced by the works of the scholars mentioned. However, such a conceptualization of community can definitely provide frameworks to explore the rationalities, problematizations, technologies and objectives of Midnight Football. We can easily see how a discourse and rationality of social relations and social bonds, positive, natural and genuine as well as affect-laden, providing trust, shared values and identities and culture, allocated as relational resources in networks, align with how Midnight Football

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is presented and acted upon. By reading scholars such as Tönnies, Etzioni and Putnam, we can discern, not the re-emergence of community, but the promotion of new technologies of community, utilized for novel purposes of governing and control, shaping contemporary social policy. It is with reference to such discourses of the social sciences that we use the word community to point out what Midnight Football is about: governing through mobilization of community, shaping social policy, with an emphasis on cohesion rather than conflict, cultural adaptation rather than redistribution of material resources, moral reformation rather than social rights. Community as productive force From our point of departure, exploring power as a productive force operating throughout society, there is a great need to further interrogate the rationalities of power formed in the name of community. The mobilization of community takes shape in the relations of the urban periphery and the formation of symbolic borders marking out its territories. Community is the mark of voluntary relations, seemingly devoid of power relations mobilized for the purpose of governing through civil society. By means of neo-philanthropy and voluntary support, communities in need can be supported and paradoxically a sense of community between providers and recipients can be established. It is the individual young people and the community as a flock in movement that become subjected to social control and risk assessment at the variety of places where they move. Through a discourse of cultural meetings formative of integration, cohesive relations of community reinforce bonds between people, which can be acted upon for the purpose of social reformation. Community forms the basis for relations between role models and subjects, and the modelling technologies that are key for the social formation ambitions of Midnight Football. In this sense, community relations rather than confined institutions emerge as the structure by which discipline, and normalizing tactics can be conducted and modelled. Subtle empowerment of subjects and guidance of young people’s life trajectories takes form within the community of mutual respect and commitment. It is a desire to be part of and participate in social relations and football – a site of community – that premises voluntary participation and subjection. These are some of the ways in which mobilization of community takes form in the discourse and rationality scrutinized. Midnight Football, in this sense, becomes formative of the mobilization and rationality of community, producing a policy of community. The mobilization of community, though, is not about repairing or re-creating a lost Gemeinschaft, but rather about utilizing a new concept of community that can be acted upon, mobilized for governing and control in contemporary – open – societies. Governing by means of community is explicitly contrasted to statist expertise, coercion and confinement; but also, implicitly, contrasted to social rights, equality and social solidarity in society as a whole (Donzelot 1988; Rose 1999). Even, the pastoral community is not a reincarnation of pre-modern

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Christian care and guidance to salvation, they are contemporary technologies formed in a landscape of social segregation and exclusion, managing problems of order and conduct through voluntarism and moral reformation and responsibilization, without reforming society at large. The community of relations taking shape in the urban peripheries are problematized in terms of exclusion and risk, but also filled with opportunities, with conductors guiding subjects at and of risk towards salvation. What is produced, then, is a policy of dividing practices which exclude racialized young people at risk from the social domain, its rights and equality, positioned in a territory based on morality and community displaced in the periphery of society. Consequently, the discourse of community emerges in a manifold animation, constructed and acted upon in different ways. The symbolic construction of community by means of football activities (Blackshaw 2008) works through all activities, relations and movements that take place in Midnight Football. Performing, participating and talking about football is a matter of forming community, in its various dimensions, making it possible to be acted upon. In this sense, Midnight Football – as other sports-based interventions – constitutes one of many becomings of community work. The problematization, utilization and formation of community as an objective of governing, in the various shapes analysed in this book, suggest that the sports-based intervention concerned can be explored as a form of community work. Community work, though, comes in many variations (Popple 2015), and there is little need to categorize activities labelled social work, youth work or community work, to contrast them to one another (Ekholm & Dahlstedt, in press). They are part of a multitude of activities, relations and movements – technologies – assembling and institutionalizing, forming social policy in practice. Sports-based interventions need to be analysed as part of this plethora of governing activities. Needs or rights By utilizing community for the purpose of realizing social objectives and maintaining social order, football becomes an instrument and technology of power. Though, this may not be the only way to think about Midnight Football. Returning to the formation of the group of young people of the (racialized) urban periphery, and how they become shaped as subjects of risk and subjects at risk, we noted a discourse of risk becoming intertwined with a discourse of need. Here, football becomes a means to answer to this need (to steer their movement, conduct and actions). For these young people, it is principally the social need for reformation, by means of football, that comes to condition access to sports activities. As access to competitive sports are limited in the urban periphery, opportunities to participate in sports are limited to needs- and means-oriented activities. Here, the estimated and expected effects of social policy form the basis for how activities should be valued and supported – for the young people in the urban periphery. For other populations, though, sport can be understood as

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an objective in its own right. In other words, it is social inequalities, segregation and exclusion that constitute the premise for a discourse of need and instrumentality of sport to promote social reformation targeting the young people in the urban periphery. Social injustices in the provision of sport and unequal distribution of leisure activities, underpinned and legitimized differently, can hardly be displayed more clearly. But of course, other conceptualizations are possible. It would be both intelligible and reasonable to think that young people could be given equal conditions to participate in sports, in activities where sport is an end in itself, rather than an instrument of social reformation. Access to sports could be provided on a basis of equal rights, as a matter of social justice. Though, for sport to be realized as an equal right, performed and provided as an end in itself. It may be necessary that the current state of segregation, inequality and exclusion as such is met with governmental measures of a completely different kind as compared to those that sport activities has at its disposal, with the aim of reforming existing social inequalities. This is also something explicitly mentioned by managers, coaches and participants of the Midnight Football activities. The vast majority of those interviewed agree that an isolated intervention such as Midnight Football alone cannot solve all the problems created in the wake of segregation and inequality or remedy the social injustices of life in the urban periphery. At the same time, we can see that the activities examined in this book are repeatedly legitimized as a response to social problems that take shape in the urban periphery of contemporary Sweden, underlining the instrumentality of sport. It is important that we clearly state this, to spell out reasonable expectations of the power of sport. Looking at the expectations directed at sport from the perspective of risk, needs and the instrumental benefit of sport suggested, we must point out the limitations of the social change expected from sports-based interventions. Inequality, segregation and social exclusion are matters of structural conditions, material and symbolic forces. Governing interventions targeting the self, the community and the urban periphery are not designed to reform the unequal conditions that structure the lives of young people. To address problems of inequality and social exclusion means changing material living conditions of young people, in the form of economic resources, access to education, housing segregation, inequalities in terms of health and political participation (Dahlstedt & Ekholm 2019). To expect sports-based interventions to achieve ambitious policy objectives is to seriously overestimate the power of sport, and at the same time to underestimate the complexities of facilitating social change. Even activities that do contribute to improving the lives of young people by offering meaningful leisure may appear to be failing when they do not result in outcomes when expectations are too high. Midnight Football, as with other sports-based interventions, can be seen as arenas that provide meaningful activities for young people and in that respect, they may compensate for the inequalities that condition participation, in

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sport and society. The activities explored, still, create opportunities for young people, who are otherwise far from such opportunities, to participate in sports. Even, the compensatory significance of offering opportunities for sports participation is, as such, an important contribution to society. Importantly though, the body of sociological sport research has pointed out that the relations of community could potentially be used as a domain and rationality of resistance and critical pedagogy, highlighting conditions of segregation and exclusion (Luguetti et al. 2017; Nols et al. 2018; Spaaij & Jeanes 2013; Spaaij et al. 2016). When sports-based interventions are successful in creating community between subject participants, such relations could potentially be worked upon making power relations visible and pointing out the social inequalities, segregation and exclusion underpinning the very arrangements provided (Rich et al. 2021). However, when it comes to Midnight Football and our analyses, very little of such critical pedagogy is manifested in the work conducted.

Concluding reflections In this book, we have analysed the events, relations and activities assembled and institutionalized as Midnight Football forming certain rationalities of governing. This is an analysis of social policy, in practice. The production of social policy When we make the claim that the events, relations and activities explored, problematization, technologies and objectives form a rationality of social policy where football is utilized as a means for certain purposes, two things must be made clear. First, we make no dualist distinctions between the events explored and social policy. They are neither separate nor distinct entities. The development in sport and football does not illustrate, mirror or resemble social policy transformations. What we have empirically analysed is social policy transformations, in their empirical occurrences, in the urban geographies, in the relations of communities, in the minds of subjects. Second, though, the rationalities explored are specific to the context examined: Midnight Football and sportsbased interventions. Yet, similar ways of doing social policy have been promoted in a variety of locations, societies and fields such as education, social work and social inclusion. What we have provided, in this sense, is a conceptual framework for understanding how, for instance, the urban periphery, civil society, philanthropy, control, integration, modelling, discipline, empowerment and desire can be used to scrutinize transformations of social policy. Even, the activities taking place in seemingly separate settings, intersect and assemble into new institutionalizations of social policy. Sports-based interventions (as such) need to be explored from the point of view of creating new assemblages of activities and technologies, institutionalized as part of social policy transformations. Everywhere there is movement, flows and new connections.

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Insights provided The analyses provided make, in this sense, a variety of contributions. Without specifically outlining an instrumental interest of the knowledge produced, our explorations of the governmental rationality of sports-based interventions provide perspectives that can be used by practitioners and decision-makers when (re)developing sports-based programmes. Although we do not provide a to-do list, empirical examples accounted for may inspire practitioners in outlining new forms of activities, for the various purposes strived for. Though, more importantly, we provide perspectives on the operations of power relations and how they take subtle forms throughout all capillaries of society, alerting practitioners to pay close attention to the possible implications for the specific activities they are engaged in, in their specific contexts. Furthermore, our analytical approach has neither been outlined to question the empirical evidence of the impact of sport activities utilized for social objectives, nor to reassemble the programme theories of intervention to scrutinize their potential to provide the outcomes expected. Nonetheless, one could read our analyses from such a perspective, and we believe that the empirical materials accounted for provide fairly good insight into how the rationalities of programme theories become assembled and formed. One can, further, estimate the strategic potential of these when understanding the contingency of problematizations, technologies and objectives. Still, this has not been our main ambition, and importantly, we do not know whether the activities result in the outcomes expected, and if so in what way. Similarly, we did not seek to uncover any intended ideological functions of the discourse of sport promoted for social objectives, in terms of obscuring power relations and exploitation, sustaining capitalist order or mitigating resistance. Though, some of the empirical analyses presented obviously relate to such concerns. Rather, we have problematized the discourse and rationality of sportsbased interventions, Midnight Football specifically, looking into how it forms social policy in practice, scrutinized its contingency and interrogated its performativity. We have sketched out the rationality of rule, without limiting our analysis to the intentions or strategies of individual policy makers, widening the analysis for further interrogating the work of power operating in the activities and relations of subjects. We have problematized the problems implied, the means promoted and the objectives desired, turning our attention to the contingency of the rationality formed. We have situated a particular way of understanding and doing football in a political, historical and institutional context, problematized its premises and spotlighted its potential effects for subjects and for social policy formation. In this sense, we hope to have provided perspectives and new ways of conceptualizing sport in terms of social policy. Principally, such ambition means to situate contemporary activities in the lives of people in the genealogies of power and rule of modern and liberal societies, exploring how they assemble and institutionalize in society today.

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In the last decade, the literature on sport and social policy have rocketed. New empirical and theoretical insights have been provided to the scientific community and beyond. Scholars have raised the importance of developing new theoretical perspectives to further our understanding of sport and social policy (Porro et al. 2020). Still, additions to the theoretical frameworks too seldom reach beyond situating sport arrangements within the transformation of social policy. Informed by an analytical dualism and distinction between sport and social policy, such approaches rarely turn attention to the productive force of sport, intertwined in and formative of rationalities and technologies of governing assembled in social policy. We have sought to de-construct such dualism and problematize both separations and causal links between them. Our analysis displays similarities with other sports-based interventions, as presented in chapter 2. Similar discourses can be recognized from Midnight Basketball in the United States, Positive Futures in the United Kingdom, Community Sport in Belgium, the Vencer programme in Brazil, DesÉquilibres in Canada and Drive-in Sport in Sweden (and many more sports-based interventions), not least the selective outreach, governing of risk, the emphasis on social relations and social reformation. In that sense, the analyses presented in this book align with analyses presented in the literature. However, the special contribution is our approach to empirical topics and discourses known from previous research. Looking at the activities as different cases of policy in practice and as rationalities of governing, we have investigated how they become formative of contemporary social policy. Our contribution is, not least, the demonstration of how such problematizing analysis can be conveyed, with what methods, analytical approaches, concepts and frameworks. This is of importance for the sociology of sports as well as for broader analyses of welfare state transformations and the governing of people through social work, youth work and community work. The production of scientific knowledge Still, science is not only, or even primarily, produced in books, reports and scientific articles. It is produced in complex webs of reflection and communication. Modern societies are characterized by their faith in scientific research (Foucault 1980). But research is formed in relation to the surrounding society and has no fixed status over time and in different societies. Scientific truth is constantly subject to great debate (Lyotard 1984). Still, there is a performative dimension in the production of scientific truth, which means that research takes form within the political, institutional entanglements where research is not only produced, but also communicated and acted upon (Latour 1987). Research as such becomes an activity of reflection and communication acted out in virtually all capillaries of society. During the years of conducting research on Midnight Football, we have published books, reports and articles that have gained some recognition within and beyond the scientific community. For instance, research

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and knowledge produced about Midnight Football has been communicated and discussed with representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Swedish parliament and its Committee on Cultural Affairs, The Swedish Sport Confederation, local federations and associations, government agencies such as county administrative boards and the police authorities, policymakers and administrative civil servants in municipalities, professional social workers, youth workers, teachers and librarians, through public presentations in libraries and in interviews in major newspapers and podcasts. In all these contexts we have above all aimed at presenting research results based on an approach problematizing the instrumental utility and the rationalities of embedded power. Accordingly, knowledge becomes institutionalized through the media and political interest, integrating the research produced in systems of reflection and production. However, among those taking part in these settings, there is not only a general desire for knowledge and reflection, but specifically a strong will to know what works and what does not work (understanding sport as an instrument). In all the encounters and relations where knowledge takes form, certain understandings become acted upon (while others are not acted upon), in turn guiding new ways to work with sport and to work with countering social problems, developing social policy, managing young people. In these interactions, such knowledge produced is utilized in games of legitimacy for the utilization of sport for various social objectives. Such instrumental discourse seems to be the basis for great political and public interest, which is not at all strange, since this is how the activities are promoted and forced to be promoted. This is how organizers can receive funding, by stressing the needs responded to and the instrumental utility for these purposes. It may even be the instrumental interest in our research that has facilitated generous research funding. Even though we deploy a problematizing approach, our research in one way or another contributes to establishing a discourse that we wish to problematize, spotlighting the urban peripheries as a site of particular interest, directing attention towards the young people living in this site, deemed to be at or of risk, talking to them and observing their activities, and highlighting sport as a means of realizing social policy objectives. In all of these ways, particular dimensions of our approach make up a productive force of knowledge becoming institutionalized and utilized, having real effects. Thus, the production of research, knowledge – scientific truth – has performative implications, which calls for a range of ethical and methodological considerations, as elaborated previously in this book. The productive side and awareness further mean that knowledge can benefit in creating novel frames for thought and new conceptualizations as well as forms of resistance concerning the role of sport in relation to the problem of inequality.

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Index

authenticity 27, 72–74, 81–85, 91, 93, 98, 100–101, 103, 132, 137, 143–146, 184, 198–200, 204, 209 borders 61–62, 68–69 civil society 36–37, 72–74, 84–86, 90–91, 94–101, 122–123, 134–135, 149, 198 community (incl. communitization) 81–86, 90, 94–96, 98–103, 105, 118, 120, 122–123, 131–135, 139, 142, 156, 169–171, 207–211 control (incl. social control) 105–107, 116–118, 156, 164–165, 198 conversion 145–146, 149, 161 cooperation 34, 40–44, 72, 76–81, 85–86, 90, 106, 113 crime 63, 65–66, 105–106, 115–117, 155–156 desire 182–184, 199 de-politicization 98, 100–103 de-socialization 204–206 discipline 105–107, 116–118, 143–146, 152–154, 164–165, 199 discourse analysis 15–16 empowerment 150, 167–169, 178–179, 198–200 governing 13–16, 78–81, 148–150 integration 77, 120–123, 198–199 institutionalization 14, 33, 43–44, 152–154

instrumentality of sport 2–5, 9, 22–23, 33, 83–85, 190–192 movement 59–62, 69–70, 106–109, 154–156, 202–203 pastoral power 13, 96, 131–132, 138–139, 160, 164–165, 171–173 philanthropy (incl. neo-philanthropy) 4, 89–91, 100–103, 142, 146, 198 pluralism 203–204 power 12–15 problematization 10–13, 200–202, 204–209, 213–215 racialization 7, 11, 25, 35, 93, 127, 134–135, 200 responsibilization 169, 175, 179, 194 rights 74, 85, 89–90, 103, 211–213 risk 2–5, 12–13, 35, 64–70, 98, 101, 155–157, 168–169, 200–202 role model (incl. role modelling) 36, 65, 82, 103, 131–132, 137–138, 148–150, 159–160, 164–165, 169–176, 190, 199 salvation 102, 139, 176–179 segregation 4–9, 121, 125–126, 203–204 social exclusion 8, 11 social reformation 4, 15, 35, 89–91, 137–139, 152–154, 168–169, 177–179, 190–194, 206–207 social work 3–4, 37, 75–76, 96, 101, 103, 205, 211, 213, 215 space 57–59 sports-based interventions 22–23

Index 221 territorialization 15, 59, 205 urban periphery 8, 41–42, 57–59, 93–95, 121, 133–135, 193–194, 197, 210–213, 216

Voluntariness 91, 99–100, 142–143, 149, 182–184 welfare (incl. welfarism) 4–9, 75, 78–79, 82, 100–103, 134, 179