The process of “sportivization” of an activity: parkour as a spectacularized practice

Abstract

Understanding Parkour as a physical activity that primarily had rescuing purposes, it is well known that the media publicizes about the movements involved in the practice of Parkour, either ignoring or devaluing its ideological bases. For most traceurs – an expression used to refer to Parkour practitioners –, this urban practice is antagonistic to competitions, as the only competition is of the Parkour practitioner against himself, pushing their boundaries as a principle. The main problematics of this study concerns the “sportivization” of Parkour. Thus, what is the current state of Parkour? This study aimed to analyze the conflicts among Parkour practitioners towards its “sportivization” process, based on Pierre Bourdieu's theory, and to identify the current state of Parkour practice during this process. In order to approach this subject, a literature review related to Parkour and concepts of habitus, field and capital of Pierre Bourdieu was carried out. We conclude that there are great possibilities of a collective acceptance of Parkour as a sport, even though it may take a long time to happen – recognizing the tensions between the fields, and emphasizing the overlapping of universal laws on the economic field over the subfield of Parkour practice.