ABSTRACT
Physical culture comprises a variety of bodily practices. In so far as these practices share a number of cultural features, physical culture may be said to reflect an ideological regime.
The ideological regime distinctive of the Nordic countries is commonly referred to as the Nordic model. It has proved successful in providing a quality of life that ranks among the highest worldwide. Largely based on social democratic principles, the Nordic model ascribes equal rights and responsibilities to all citizens. Paradoxically, however, the redistributive policy and the extensive welfare services that characterize the Nordic model are not only intended to promote social equality, they also aim to emancipate and empower each individual citizen. Moreover, individualism increasingly challenges egalitarianism, and globalization increasingly challenges the Nordic model.
Still, social democratic policy exerts a considerable impact on our moving bodies and the ways we interact bodily. In the following 13 chapters, researchers from the five Nordic countries investigate this policy and concrete instances of the impact it exerts within three fields of physical culture: education, sports, and public space. In the Afterword, Nordic physical culture is discussed in a wider international context.
