ABSTRACT
Physical exercise and activity are generally viewed as having a preventative role in relation to both morbidity and premature death. Lifestyle prescriptions, or exhortations to be more active, are embedded in a range of social structures and processes that differentially favour the health benefits of particular individuals and social groups. Identifying with sport (even as a passive spectator) is a recurring aspect of experiencing well-being, ontological security, collective identity and social group belonging. This personal appropriation of sport is also shaped by social position and affinity to community and locale. We use the example of soccer to illustrate this point. Running and other forms of exercise structure the lives of those who participate and they are governed by aesthetics shaped by social context, situated opportunities and personal dispositions. Similarly, mobility later on in life is not available to all but is fundamental to social participation, accessing resources and undertaking valued activities.
