Tommy Langseth

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University College of Southeast Norway

This paper investigates the historical prohibition of skateboarding in Norway from 1977 to 1989, a unique instance of such a comprehensive ban globally. The study aims to understand the circumstances leading to this ban and the rationale behind it. Two primary explanations emerged around the ban: one from a bureaucratic perspective citing risk mana...

Surfers often see themselves as “green”. In this study we examine Norwegian surfers' attitudes and actions towards the environment. The article is based on a questionnaire (n = 251) and six qualitative interviews. The results show that most surfers see themselves as environmentally conscious. Oppositely, the data also show that they also buy a lot...

Freeride skiing is an activity that is, or at least can be, quite dangerous. Risk-taking in high-risk sports has usually been understood within a psychological framework. Building on Pierre Bourdieu's sociology, this article highlights the social dimension of risk-taking in freeride skiing by scrutinizing values within a freeride culture. A central...

As extreme sports gain popularity – so does the public appreciation of such sports. Mass media are full of panegyric appraisals of these self-driven, individualistic athletes that dare to “live life to the fullest.” Voluntarily seeking risks, in general, and in extreme sports specifically, is often understood in terms of individual traits or the un...

Sports involving extended risk for physical injuries or death, such as B.A.S.E. jumping, rock climbing, river kayaking and downhill mountain biking have become ever more popular throughout the western world during the last few decades (Arnegård, 2006; Creyer, et al., 2003; Puchan, 2004; Wheaton, 2004b). As the popularity of these activities has ris...

The desire to voluntarily undertake risk in sports has been studied and theorized within various academic disciplines. From a meta-sociological point of view, this article identifies two main perspectives in the existing sociological research and theory on risk sports. On the one hand, from the compensation perspective, risk-taking in sports is und...

Surfing is getting increasingly popular in Norway as well as other countries that have a coastline with rideable waves. As surfing gains in popularity, however, the boundaries of the surfing subculture become increasingly guarded. Through ethnography and qualitative interviews, this study examines identity construction on an individual and group le...