Ageing societies and physical activity

Abstract

Ageing societies and physical activity In March 2017, Eurostat, the statistical department of the European Union, released new statistics about the fertility rate in European countries (Eurostat, 2017a). The average fertility rate in EU countries of 1.46 in 2001 rose to 1.58 in 2015, and is expected to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Despite this development, the population of European countries is still aging. Given Eurostat's compilation of data on the expected demographic change in Europe, most European countries will face a drastic demographic change over the next 45 years (Eurostat, 2017b). Particularly, the proportion of people who are 64 years and older is expected to rise drastically. Apparently, the ageing of populations will only be slightly moderated by migration processes. To explain this by taking the example of Germany: Even though statisticians of the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis, 2017) expect a continuous net immigration rate of more than 200,000 people per year (what wouldif nothing changestotal up to around 9 Mio. immigrants until 2060), this will only have a slightly hindering effect on the ageing of Germany's society. Given Eurostat's prognoses, all age groups over 64 years in Germany will significantly grow proportionally over the next 40 years, the number of over 100 year olds will even increase from 17,474 in 2015 to 137,541 in 2060 (Eurostat, 2017b). Due to this development, the ratio between young and old will dramatically shift. According to calculations of Olaf Gersemann on the basis of Eurostat's data, for example, the amount of the over 64-year olds in Germany in relation to the 15-64-year-old population will increase from around 32% in 2015 to 55% in 2060 (Gersemann, 2017). The population development in Italy, Spain, and also in more slowly ageing countries such as the UK, will have a similar progression. Considering these numbers, it could be expected that the ageing of societies is a major topic in sociological research. However, while ageing in general and the elderly in particular have been topics of health research for a long time, they are comparably young objects of sociological research. In the sociology of sport and physical activity, research on ageing is still the exception. Since 2004, the European Journal for Sport and Society, for example, has published only a handful of articles that somehow address ageing or the elderly. Most of these articles deal with sport participation, and discuss age as one determinant among many others. Only once has demographic change been the explicit topic of an article; it dealt with the question of whether and 'to what extent sport participation in Germany depends on demographic and economic parameters' (Breuer & Wicker, 2008, 33). The obvious lack of interest of sport sociologists in the demographic change is surprising, at least if one thinks about the potential consequences of demographic ageing. In this regard, it has to be considered that Eurostat's picture about the 'age-burden' of European societies is no...

Using panopticism to theorize the social role of the body in competitive gaming and electronic sport

“…In traditional sports, participants have a certain control function towards each other, based on hegemonic normative values. For example, a player may act according to the rules of the game (enforced through the referee), stick to a strategy (made by the coach), exercise to become healthy (as advised by a physician), or pursue normative aesthetics (according to beauty standards) (Thiel et al, 2013). So, in traditional sports, deviance becomes visible and interventions are applied: The player who commits a rough foul is expelled, and the patient who skips rehab is exposed by his physician or is not recovering.…”

“…On top of a player's physical appearance and the physical fine motoric skills (like handeye coordination), two additional corporeal aspects can be observed: being interwoven with the digital avatar and the appearance of the avatar in the game (Ekdahl, 2021b;Ekdahl and Ravn, 2021;Ford, 2017;Riatti and Thiel, 2023). Compared to traditional sports where the athlete's body is the central aspect of each sport (Loy, 1991;Thiel et al, 2013), in esport, we see a shift from the physical towards the digital body (Ekdahl, 2022;Holt, 2016;Riatti and Thiel, 2023;Thiel and John, 2020). Particularly in non-professional competitive gaming or, for example, exclusively online competitions, players remain largely unidentifiable.…”

Gemeinschaftlich verschlungen – Anorexia nervosa als hyperinklusives Phänomen

“…Hyperinklusion heißt also, dass ein Mensch nicht mehr nur zeitweise an bestimmte Sozialsysteme gekoppelt ist, wie z. B. der Bankangestellte, der von morgens 8-16 Uhr Bankangestellter ist, danach Familienvater, Tennisspieler oder Vorsitzender eines Vereins, sondern dass sich alle Lebensbezüge nur um ein bestimmtes Sozialsystem drehen [4].…”

“…Obwohl es unterdessen unbestritten ist, dass es sich bei der Anorexia nervosa um eine bio-psycho-soziale Erkrankung handelt, sind gerade profunde Untersuchungen zu sozialen Determinanten der Entstehung und dem Verlauf der Erkrankung selten. Vielleicht könnte ergänzend das Phänomen der Hyperinklusion, das bislang insbesondere in der soziologisch ausgerichteten Spitzensportforschung untersucht wurde [4,5], hier eine Erweiterung des Erklärungsmodells liefern.…”

Programa de Intervención Multidominio Healthy-Age. Recomendaciones para un envejecimiento saludable: por la red Healthy-Age (Multidomain Healthy-Age Programme. Recomendations for Healthy Ageing: On Behalf of the Healthy-Age Network)

“…Según el departamento de estadística de la Unión Europea, Eurostat, la cifra media de la fecundidad de los países de la Unión Europea fue de 1,46 en 2001, y aumentó a 1,58 en 2015, y se espera que no se incremente en el futuro. Unido a ello, el incremento de la esperanza de vida repercute en la dinámica de envejecimiento exponencial de la población de los países más desarrollados (Thiel, Seiberth, & Mayer, 2017).…”