Lone Friis Thing

• Frydendal, Stine & Thing, Lone Friis (2023). PE as resonance? The role of physical education in an accelerated education system. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2022.2161502. Show summary

  This paper explores how students understand physical education (PE) as a subject in the Danish upper secondary school (USS) and discusses the role of the subject after the Danish USS reform of 2017. The paper presents a 6 months’ field study of PE lessons in 2 Danish upper secondary schools. Both schools were located in the Danish capital area. A total of 42 Lessons in 4 PE-classes [N = 240] were observed throughout the 6 months and 8 focus group interviews were conducted with students [N = 54] at the end of the field study. We are inspired by the theoretical contribution of Hartmut Rosa to analyse how students understand physical education (PE) and critically discuss and reflect upon the how this understanding relates to the structure of PE as a USS subject in the light of the political development in the Danish upper secondary schools for the past decades. The study has shown that most students value the subject because it represents a place of resonance during an otherwise accelerated everyday life. At the same time, the USS reform of 2017 gives PE a smaller role in the overall curriculum. However, PE is now, for the first time, an exam subject after the third year of USS. Therefore, the article contributes to a debate regarding the consequences the increased focus on achievement may have on the subject as a place of resonance.

• Jensen, Andorra L. & Thing, Lone Friis (2022). Performing Gender in Recreational Pole Dancing: Enabling and Constraining Factors. Sociological Focus. ISSN 0038-0237. 55(3), p. 254–270. doi: 10.1080/00380237.2022.2066589. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Many people consider pole dancing to be a feminine leisure activity and a female dominated space, but it has recently gained observer status in the Global Association of International Sports Federation (GAISF), thus entering into the field of sport where hegemonic masculinity has historically prevailed. The strong connections between gender, body, and sport and the gender inequalities that permeate the sports culture make it interesting to explore the enabling and constraining factors of performing gender in recreational (i.e., nonoccupational) pole dancing, which is the aim of this article. The methodical approach is qualitative and inspired by ethnography. The article is based on a field study done in Copenhagen, Denmark, including observation, participation, and interviews. The theoretical perspective takes its point of departure in Judith Butler’s theory in Gender Trouble. First, the authors found that the body ideal in pole dance includes both feminine and masculine qualities. The analysis also shows that the different styles of pole dancing (i.e., “sportified” or “sexualized”) and the context in which pole dancing is practiced (i.e., women only or mixed sex) makes a difference regarding what enables and constrains men and women when it comes to performing gender. Inspired by Butler, the authors also discuss which possibilities pole dancing holds for performing gender in new ways, thus challenging oppressive gender norms. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of pole dance becoming a sport in relation to the possibilities of performing gender.

• Hybholt, Maria Gliemann; Ottesen, Laila Susanne & Thing, Lone Friis (2021). Exercise in the time bind of work and family : Emotion management of personal leisure time among middle-aged Danish women. Leisure Studies. ISSN 0261-4367. doi: 10.1080/02614367.2021.1975801. Show summary

  The aim of the present study was to illuminate how middle-aged women in Denmark manage, practically and emotionally, exercise in personal leisure time within the constraints of an ongoing time bind related to the societal obligations of work and family. The study was inspired by the micro sociological perspective of Arlie Hochschild, and findings are based on empirical material from focus groups of middle-aged Danish women who completed a three months research based exercise intervention (N = 51), and individual follow-up interviews (N = 21). We elucidate how the societal obligations of being successful at work, being a good mother, and being physically active creates a time bind in the everyday life of middle-aged women. Instead of having more leisure time, middle-aged women experience continuous time demands of work flexibility and performance, as well as new time demanding care duties linked to their children, parents, or grandchildren. We conclude that the personal leisure time of Danish women, exemplified by participation in an exercise intervention, is highly constrained by the time bind of market culture. Furthermore, prioritisation of personal leisure time involves considerable emotion management as a consequence of being unable to fulfil the societal obligations of their usual roles.

• Frydendal, Stine; Kremmer Pedersen, Line; Ottesen, Laila Susanne & Thing, Lone Friis (2021). Football Fitness - a figurational study of a new type of leisure football as a meaningful activity for men. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. ISSN 1012-6902. doi: 10.1177/10126902211039765. Show summary

  This article offers a nuanced exploration of Football Fitness (FF), a newer ‘sport for all’ concept carried out in associative sport clubs in Denmark. The aim of the study was to examine FF as a meaningful leisure activity for men. Seven focus group interviews were conducted with 26 heterogeneous male FF players aged 24 to 76. Data were analysed by means of thematic network analysis within the interpretive tradition. Drawing on figurational sociology, more specifically Elias and Dunning’s perspective on leisure sport as a quest for excitement, and Connell’s theory of masculinities, we present three elements of the empirical material all highlighting the social significance of the FF concept. 1: The men’s fight for recognition in the club, 2: Competition as a play element and 3: Social bonding and sport as a male preserve. The findings of the study demonstrate a hegemony of multiple masculinities in football clubs. The play-pleasure values associated with the FF concept does not receive much recognition compared to traditional competitive football. Consequently, the FF players feel like the strange newcomers, experiencing being regarded as outsiders compared to the established players in the clubs. Our study indicates that organisational change do not automatically generate cultural change when implementing health-promotion initiatives such as FF.

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• Hjelseth, Arve; Thing, Lone Friis & Tjønndal, Anne (2024). Idrettssosiologi. Fagbokforlaget. ISBN 9788245046083. 280 p.

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• Thing, Lone Friis & Frydendal, Stine (2023). “Sport on the Warpath”: An Figurational Reflection on the Role of Sport in an Interdependent World.
• Thing, Lone Friis (2022). Idrætten på krigsstien. In Skjeldal, Gudmund & Grønkjær, Allan B. (Ed.), Fred og krig : festskrift til Matti Goksøyr. Norges idrettshøgskole. ISSN 9788250206076. p. 80–94.
• Frydendal, Stine & Thing, Lone Friis (2022). Myth and realities in the paradoxical situation of physical education – a sociological analysis of processes of recognition and status.
• Frydendal, Stine & Thing, Lone Friis (2022). “Lots of parents misinterpret it…” A study of the construction of body image in young people’s use of social media.
• Thing, Lone Friis; Frydendal, Stine & Ottesen, Laila (2022). Sociology of Sport as a diverse and inclusive community.

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