Trends in adventure sports in a post-modern society

Abstract

The essay delineates main trends in the development of adventure sports and looks into possible future scenarios. Since the 1970s there has been an increase in adventure sports of various kinds. The concept ‘adventure sport’ is used in a wide sense, covering sports that are labelled ‘alternative’, ‘extreme’, ‘X’, ‘gravity’, ‘lifestyle’ and ‘action sports’. The rise of adventure sport must be seen both on the background of developments inside sports itself and the environing society. Adventure sports have things to offer that are difficult to find in other sports, like strong sensations and risk. They represent an opposition and protest against certain aspects of modern societies, but can also be said to express key ideas in modern and post-modern society such as individualism, technology, self-realization and transcendence. The essay discusses various theories and recent empirical findings that may explain and predict developments of adventure sports in the future.