Speaker
Description
Description of phenomenon. The paper will discuss the phenomenon of the popularity of leisure running, with origins in the USA in the Seventies. Now "The State of Running 2019" report cites 70,000 running events to be held worldwide, with 107.9 million participants, while the European population of amateur runners was estimated at 45-55 million people couple of years ago.
Aims/Objectives. The paper will examine the problem of the social significance and outcomes of the popularity of leisure running boom as a relatively durable phenomenon of nowadays global scope.
Justification. The most popular issues in the field of investigations of leisure running seems to be: socio-demographic profiles of amateur runners, runners’ motivation, as well as specific aspects and elements of runners’ training or the cultural and social origins of the running boom. However, it is difficult to come across analyses of the actual social impact of the running boom. In general, this phenomenon is "justified" on the basis of the expected large-scale health, psychological and possibly economic benefits.
Implication. The use of the term "social footprint" to describe the social impact of the phenomenon of interest, is proposed. I would like to summarize and theoretize in the paper my last decade studies and empirical researches dedicated to the running boom. Basing on the empirical data, the analysis will be carried out at four levels of sociological analysis: global, macro-social, mezzo-social and micro-social, considering two vectors: maintenance and social change, and using the distinction between developed and modernizing countries.
