Double reflexivity and social change: towards a critical understanding of reflexive actions and discourses in sport for development and peace

Abstract

Sport has increasingly become an important site for social transformation. Driven by aspirations for social change through sport, global Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) initiatives serve as examples of reflexive modernisation. This paper provides an empirically informed theoretical elaboration of the reflexivity concept and critically interrogates the potential of SDP initiatives - seen as an expression of late modernity - to trigger social change. Based on 11 months of ethnographic research in two SDP NGOs in São Paulo, Brazil, we argue that reflexive practices and discourses do not always lead to social change. We identify five processes that potentially undermine or revisit the transformative potential of SDP initiatives: auto-referentiality, strategic appropriation, alteration, loosening and anti-reflexivity. Considering the global macro-societal and postcolonial context, our analysis inspired us to revisit existing conceptualisations of reflexivity. As the main contribution of this paper, we introduce the concept of double reflexivity, which highlights how new forms of reflexivity emerge in response to previous reflexive practices and critiques and allows us to discuss the nexus between societal, and methodological and epistemological reflexivity. This study highlights the non-linear consequences of SDP programmes as well as transformative initiatives in sport more broadly, while also suggesting avenues for further research to better understand the diverse processes through which attempts at social change can unfold.