In this chapter, five theses are formulated to frame the concept of social entrepreneurship and to make it fruitful in a sport policy context. The social element, entrepreneurship, and sport are entities forming the point of departure of the analysis. The first thesis concerns the social good and the normative goals of democratic fostering. The second and third theses concern the issue of means and goals, and how this is materialized in the voluntary sector. The last two theses concern the conflictual crossing of boundaries between different sectors in society. The theses are accompanied by a case which contextualizes social entrepreneurship in a Swedish sport policy context.

The last chapter introduces a methodological tool for analyzing social entrepreneurship in a sport policy context, built on a number of steps in relation to the five theses. This tool has become useful in the research process as well as being valuable when communicating the analysis. On the basis of the seven cases, a comparison is conducted in which similarities but also differences between the cases are identified and analyzed.

I detta kapitel beskrivs bestämningar av det vi kallar idrott och socialt entreprenörskap.

The aim of this article is to discuss ethical dilemmas that occur in doing research on social entrepreneurial sport ventures. Three cases that highlight ethical dilemmas in research on social entrepreneurship and sport are presented and ethically reflected upon. The data comprise interviews with representatives, field notes from observations and analyses of documents concerning the ventures. Three things make research in this area extra problematic: first, ‘social good’ in social entrepreneurship and sport implies a normative perspective. It is permeated by ideology and ethics. Second, what is considered as ‘social good’ may differ between sectors of society as the entrepreneur crosses boundaries. What is valid as a resource and capital in one sector might not be so in another one, and what is legal within one sector may be illegal in another. Third, social entrepreneurs may have their own intentions with regard to participating in research, which may challenge our credibility as researchers. Therefore, we need, as professionals, to take a step back and be both critical of our work and make this criticism visible, which is to some extent what we are doing by writing this article.

When researching sport and social entrepreneurship, several ethical dilemmas may arise. The authors highlight the importance of being aware of these. By examining four sport-related cases, this chapter explores some of the ethical dilemmas that researchers might face. The authors conclude that the entrepreneurs may prefer not to be anonymous informants in research ventures, that they may become part of the brand and the branding process, and that the researchers, on their part, have to navigate in different sectors of society and thus run the risk of being accused of becoming accomplices in the venture.

There is a general lack both of knowledge of social entrepreneurship related to sports and of policies for the aim of social entrepreneurship. The authors of this anthology have studied and evaluated highly different forms of sporting activities. On the basis of a large number of cases they have formulated theses relevant for the understanding of social entrepreneurship in a Swedish context. The editors introduce the structure of the anthology, present the authors and the content of each chapter.

This article investigates social entrepreneurship in relation to government state policies in Sweden and to the Swedish sports movement. Social entrepreneurship within sport comprises three elements that need to be qualified: the social element, entrepreneurship and sport. We wish to offer both a specific and a wider definition of social entrepreneurship in sport; specific in the sense that we try to define the concept theoretically, and wider in that we place the concept in a societal context where we relate it to different sectors in society. The method can be described as ethnographically inspired case studies. Four cases are presented. Previous research and the cases have helped us to formulate theses concerning ‘sport’ and ‘profit’ as means for social entrepreneurship, ‘social’ being normatively defined in the public sector, and entrepreneurial activities being understood as acts, crossing boundaries between the different sectors of society, leading to conflicts.

Throughout the anthology, a number of cases illustrating the authors’ understanding of social entrepreneurship are used. The reason for choosing these particular cases is that they are heterogeneous, e.g., in terms of location, history, organization, preconditions and size, and that they represent various aspects of social entrepreneurship in sport. In this chapter, a description of the cases introduced in chapter three, except KIOSK, is presented, including Enjoy water, Equestrian ventures, Football for integration, Mapping orienteering, Pre-emptive activity and The sports club on the island.

Socialt entreprenörskap kan ses som en kritik mot att samhällsstödet inte är tillräckligt. Kritiken kan vara riktad mot såväl det offentliga som det privata. De sociala entreprenörerna skapar en verksamhet som de erbjuder en viss målgrupp, som uppfattas vara i behov av just denna verksamhet. Och liksom målgruppen kan vara i behov av denna verksamhet så kan samhället också uppfattas behöva verksamheten. Ibland är det till och med så att staten ringar in problemen och ger idrottsrörelsen i uppdrag att lösa dem, vilket då kräver att den utmanar och utvecklar sin egen verksamhet.

This article is about sport and social entrepreneurship as a challenge to the Swedish Sport movement.