ABSTRACT
Studies from around the world point to inadequate participation in physical activity and sport, with direct consequences on population health as evidenced by the ‘growing obesity epidemic’ and the advent of ‘lifestyle diseases’. This chapter examines the appropriation of sport and physical activities from fun leisure time pursuits to obligated practices of good citizens for the sole purpose of increasing health. It explores, with the use of Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory, how physical activity participation has been hijacked by the imperative for health and the associated pursuit of ‘trim-ness’. The chapter highlights the growing links between elite sport and population physical activity participation, and how pervasive the notion of bodily movement for the purpose of health has become. It offers an overview of cultural discourses around health and physical activity and evidence of how they are played out in the everyday lives of young people.
