Factory of risks linked to a sedentary lifestyle and promotion of «healthy sports» in France (1960-2022)

Abstract

The study consists in observing the social dynamics that accompany the rise of concerns about the risks related to the lack of exercise. It analyzes their consequences on the promotion of physical activity for public health purposes, from the 1960s to the present. The aim is to show that public action relating to "sport-health" by highlighting the scientific and ethical justifications that accompany the warnings expressed and the proposals made. "Sport-health" is gradually emerging as a collective solution to the risks associated with sedentariness, gaining importance until its recent inclusion on the political agenda. The analysis reveals three significant time sequences which translate specific declinations of the public problem considered and the dynamics of public actions engaged to remedy it. This situation illustrates the advent of a government of bodies involving individuals and groups in an increasingly participatory and empowering process. It also raises problems of social and territorial inequalities, to which are added tensions relating to the perimeter of professionals' intervention skills.
Keywords: risk, sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity, sport-health, social factory.