Guillaume Dumont – författare

Action sports have undergone dramatic growth, commercialization, and institutionalization over recent decades. This book uncovers the social, political, economic and organizational dynamics of their professionalization.

After sketching some of the main transformations at stake in the field, the contributors provide novel insights into the changing structures in the action sports industry and the effects on athletes, coaches, agents and the cultures more broadly. Such trends came to the fore in the inclusion of surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and BMX freestyle into the Tokyo Olympic Games. The book explores the working lives of action sports athletes, more specifically when it comes to their social media practices and the commercial pressure emerging from sponsors, and it also provides key insights into the institutionalization and professionalization of action sports amid ongoing processes of globalization, commodification and incorporation. Overall, the book reveals how different action sports (i.e., snowboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, parkour, climbing, skateboarding), and across countries, are at various stages in the professionalization process, with local, national and international responses and reactions to such trends differing considerably.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Action sports have undergone dramatic growth, commercialization, and institutionalization over recent decades. This book uncovers the social, political, economic and organizational dynamics of their professionalization.

After sketching some of the main transformations at stake in the field, the contributors provide novel insights into the changing structures in the action sports industry and the effects on athletes, coaches, agents and the cultures more broadly. Such trends came to the fore in the inclusion of surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and BMX freestyle into the Tokyo Olympic Games. The book explores the working lives of action sports athletes, more specifically when it comes to their social media practices and the commercial pressure emerging from sponsors, and it also provides key insights into the institutionalization and professionalization of action sports amid ongoing processes of globalization, commodification and incorporation. Overall, the book reveals how different action sports (i.e., snowboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, parkour, climbing, skateboarding), and across countries, are at various stages in the professionalization process, with local, national and international responses and reactions to such trends differing considerably.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

This book provides a critical, ethnographically grounded examination of the hype surrounding the idea of impact by investigating the work of those attempting to create innovative social ventures. Through in-depth immersion in the day-to-day running of a social impact accelerator, Guillaume Dumont reveals the intricate, behind-the-scenes socialization through which entrepreneurs learn the ropes of impact entrepreneurship and sheds light on the roles of some of the key players of this unique social world. The book challenges the view that impact is a given property of a venture resulting from an intrinsic desire to change the world embodied by gifted and compassionate entrepreneurs. Instead, Dumont argues that impact emerges iteratively from a process of social engagement and negotiation among entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and mentors as they collaborate in the mundane processes of its production, what he calls “Impact work.” This book, therefore, is about impact in the making. It is a story of hope and collaboration unveiling the social and cultural challenges and contradictions faced by those attempting to create alternative organizations addressing social and commercial goals.