In Scandinavia, esports can now be chosen as a top athlete sport at sport specialisation classes at high schools. There are a growing number of high schools that choose to offer this in line with other popular sports such as football, handball, skiing, and swimming. Whether we call esports sports or not, the phenomenon today is an important part of the curricula in the Scandinavian school system. Research on esports in a Scandinavian school context is almost completely absent and the study will discuss aspects that deal with the teaching situation, content, curriculum goals, and moral and ethical aspects of offering esports as a school subject in high school. Furthermore, the gender perspective and esports’ commercialisation in a school context will be discussed. Sociological and educational perspectives will provide the theoretical framework for the discussion. The study concentrates on Scandinavia. 

This article aims to explore the experiences of female sports journalists in Sweden from a gender perspective. The theoretical framework is inspired by Yvonne Hirdman’s understanding of gender in a binary system and R. W. Connell’s definition of hegemonic masculinity. Data consist of 10 semi-structured interviews with the most prominent female sports journalists in Sweden. The sports journalists in this study express that there has been a change in the media industry, resulting in a better understanding of women’s working conditions within the industry. Even so, the work is still grounded in a culture signified by hegemonic masculinity, where women need to find their own strategies to build a successful career, handle harassment, and cope with other gender-related challenges.

Syftet med den här artikeln är att kartlägga och analysera hur personer inom hästsporten i Sverige och Norge definierar hästsportens miljöutmaningar, samt att, enligt COM-B-modellen, identifiera förmågor, möjligheter och motivation för att utveckla en mer miljömässigt hållbar hästsektor. Undersökningen är baserad på en enkät som besvarats av 697 personer. Sammanfattningsvis kan vi konstatera att hästsektorn utvecklat ett starkare miljöengagemang än man hade för 15 år sedan (jämf Svala 2008). Samtidigt upplever många att de saknar möjlighet att påverka. En analys av svaren med hjälp av COM-B-modellen (jämf Mitchie et al, 2011; Mitchie et al., 2014) visar att förmåga (Capability) till förändring och kunskap finns (även om det finns personer som önskar mer kunskap). Men om vi studerar komponenten möjlighet (Opportunity), ser det ut att finnas högre hinder för förändring. Fysiska möjligheter såsom plats, resurser och tid framstår som svåra att påverka för den enskilda aktören. Även ekonomiska faktorer pekas ut som hinder för förändring. Möjligheterna handlar även om kulturella normer. Här kan finnas en lösning. Stall och stallbacken utmärker sig inte som en nedskräpad plats om man exempelvis jämför med städer eller vägrenar, men nedskräpning skulle kunna innebära ett slags allmän oordning. I stallet förväntas alla hålla ordning på sina saker och på gemensamma utrymmen. Även om den här ordningssamheten inte i första hand berör det vi i vanliga fall menar med ekologiska utmaningar kanske den kan vara något att bygga på när det gäller miljöarbetet. 

The purpose of this article is to map and analyze how people within equestrian sports in Sweden and Norway define the environmental challenges of the sport, as well as, with a starting point in the COM-B model, identify capabilities, opportunities, and motivation to develop a more environmentally sustainable horse sector. The study is based on a questionnaire answered by 697 people. In summary, the horse sector has developed a stronger environmental commitment than it had 15 years ago (cf. Svala 2008). At the same time, many of the informants feel that they lack the opportunity to influence. An analysis of the answers using the COM-B model (cf. Mitchie et al., 2011; Mitchie et al., 2014) shows that the capability (C) for change exists (even if there are people who wish for more knowledge). In relation to the opportunity (O) component, however, there appear to be higher barriers to change. Physical opportunities, such as location, resources and time appear to be difficult for the individual agent to influence and economic factors are also pointed out as obstacles. The opportunity component also includes cultural norms, which may be used to overcome some challenges. The stable does not stand out as a littered place if you compare, for example, with cities or roads, but littering could mean a kind of general disorder. In the stables, everyone is expected to keep their belongings and common areas in order. Even if this orderliness does not primarily concern what we usually mean by ecological challenges, perhaps it can be something to build on when it comes to environmental sustainability work in equestrian sports.

Sport has often had an important role in times of crisis, but the Covid-19 pandemic is another matter. Sport was heavily affected world-wide on all levels. In Sweden, gathering people for endurance events conflicted with the Covid-19 restrictions. Some events were cancelled, but many tried to adapt. What adaptation strategies to Covid-19 have Swedish event organizers used? What role have digital tools played in their adaptation? What economic impacts did these events experience? We argue that the challenges posed by Covid-19 have accelerated the digitization of endurance events and highlighted the tensions between commercial and non-commercial actors in sports due to the differences in financial structure and eligibility for economic support. We thereby contribute to the growing research on how sport events in general have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and specifically in the context of Sweden’s somewhat exceptional response to the pandemic.

Todays' online media landscape facilitates communication on how sports practitioners can develop in their sport. Hence, sports and educational institutions need to recognize the increased role of the individual as “a facilitator of knowledge” through information and communications technology (ICT). For sport organizations and educational institutions to effectively reach out with knowledge and research, they need to know how individuals assess, value, and trust information sources. This article aims to increase the knowledge and understanding of how the traditional culture in equestrianism meets the contemporary media user. It is based on a study that uses a mixed methods design, containing a questionnaire with 1,655 respondents and 28 focus group interviews with Swedish and Norwegian equestrians, to investigate how equestrians create their own repertoires of horse-knowledge online and what sources of knowledge they trust and prioritize. The results show that accessibility, agency, and trust are key terms when mapping equestrians' preferred knowledge platforms, and that equestrians are generally not satisfied with the availability and the quality of horse-related online content. Horse experience is the most important positional factor influencing online repertoires in the equestrian community. Riders with less experience turn to Social Network Sites (SNS) to a higher extent than riders with more experience. Further, equestrians find the ability to assess information as an important yet challenging task. This article shows that the term (online) learning repertoires is appropriate when discussing the relationship (or clash) between the traditional culture in equestrian sports and the contemporary media user. On the one hand, many equestrians clearly express that they would rather stay away from obtaining information about horses and riding on ICTs. On the other hand, the data, together with previous research, indicates that many equestrians see ICTs as important platforms for discussing and exchanging information about horses and riding.

The study analyses female fandom in Sweden, focusing on female football supporters' self-presentation on social media. We found social media to function as a forum for empowerment, where the female football fans construct and express solidarity between girls and women and challenge hegemonic notions of femininity. Female football supporters are actively involved in formulating and shaping their own agenda and self-presentation and are drawn to the supporter culture for many of the same reasons as their male peers: group community, thrill and excitement, and the love for their team. The contribution of the study is two-fold: it fills a knowledge gap regarding Swedish female fans, while also making a conceptual intervention in the study of female fandoms more broadly, demonstrating the usefulness of critical theorization on femininities and indicating how social media enables female football supporters to 'play' with different conceptions of femininity to create space within the supporter milieu.

I kapitlet studeras fankulturer på Internet ur ett genusperspektiv.

The historical, economic, sociological, cultural, and psychological importance of football fandom has been explored and analyzed in research since the 1960s. Nearly all studies have been based on the premise that the supporter is male, and that supporter culture as a whole is a male phenomenon (Armstrong, 1998; Giulianotti, 2002). Supporter culture has also been perceived as thoroughly embedded in a hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1995). There is a distinct lack of research on female supporters, both nationally and internationally (Hynes, 2012). The chapter will focus on women’s experiences as football supporters, their relationship with football and fandom, and how these relationships are defined and interpreted. The study will focus on interaction through social media. The body, physical location, and geographic belonging are dissolved in online interaction. While in the stands one is represented by one’s sex, being either male or female, one’s “digital identity” can be chosen freely. The analysis of female fandom will be enhanced by sociologist Erving Goffman’s theories of social interaction, the dramaturgical perspective, stigma, onstage and backstage, as well as through Judith Butler’s theories on performative gender. This study is based on media analysis and interviews. Online chat forums (Svenska Fans, MFF Support, Ultra Tifos, and Bajen Fans (Hammarby, Stockholm)) and interviews with female supporters who are active participants in these forums are analyzed.

In recent years, questions about horse-keeping and the welfare of horses have been debated in social media. Voices of researchers, elite and leisure riders are heard and different ideas about horse-keeping meet, clash and are discussed. The purpose of this study is to analyze stable cultures in cyberspace in Sweden and Norway. Horse riders’ communication in social media in relation to horse-keeping will be focused. The results will increase the knowledge of how thoughts, ideas, scientific research and proven experience about horses are shared and discussed in social media for different age groups and in different countries. The project will also lead to suggestions about how communication tools can be improved and developed. For equestrian stakeholders, it is important to understand what knowledge is granted value (and why) of riders and horse owners, so that digital communication tools can be improved. For the welfare of horses, it is important to bridge the gap between research and practice.