THE BOURDIEUSIAN THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE IN ANALYZING THE BRAZILIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE WITHIN PARALYMPIC SPORT IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Using the Field, Capital, and Habitus Categories as a theoretical framework, the article aims to analyze whether the institutionalization of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee was decisive for the development of Paralympic sports in Brazil. The study is configured as qualitative research, with its data collection conducted from semi-structured interviews with six subjects (three Paralympic athletes and three Paralympic sports managers). The institutionalization of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee was a fundamental factor for the development of Paralympic sports in Brazil, given that this sports entity became the central coordinator that systematize and carried out strategic planning of a professional nature, anchored in three axes (Governmental; Management; Sports) that had as fundamental principles the focus on Organizational/Administrative; Financial; Infrastructure; Technical/Physical/Sports practices. This structural systematization encouraged the implementation of projects and programs for Paralympic sports with the main objective of training and developing high-performance Paralympic athletes.

Keywords
Brazilian Paralympic Committee; Field; Capital; Habitus

Resumo

Utilizando como referencial teórico as Categorias de Campo, Capital e Habitus, o artigo tem como objetivo analisar se a institucionalização do Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro foi determinante para o desenvolvimento esportivo paralímpico do Brasil. O estudo se configura como uma pesquisa qualitativa, tendo sua coleta de dados realizada a partir de entrevistas semiestruturadas com seis sujeitos (três atletas paralímpicos e três dirigentes esportivos paralímpicos). A institucionalização do Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro foi fator fundamental para o desenvolvimento esportivo paralímpico do Brasil, dado que essa Entidade esportiva se tornou o coordenador central que sistematizou e efetuou um planejamento estratégico de caráter profissional, ancorado em três eixos (Governamental – Diretiva – Esportiva) que tiveram como princípios fundamentais o foco em práticas Organizacionais/Administrativas – Financeiras – Em Infraestrutura – Técnicas/Físicas/Esportivas. Essa sistematização estrutural fomentou a implementação de projetos e programas de prática esportiva paralímpica com o objetivo principal de formar e desenvolver atletas paralímpicos de rendimento.

Palavras-chave
Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro; Campo; Capital; Habitus

Resumen

Utilizando las Categorías Campo, Capital y Habitus como marco teórico, el artículo tiene como objetivo analizar si la institucionalización del Comité Paralímpico Brasileño fue decisiva para el desarrollo del deporte paralímpico en Brasil. El estudio se configura como una investigación cualitativa, con su recolección de datos realizada a partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas con seis sujetos (tres atletas paralímpicos y tres líderes deportivos paralímpicos). La institucionalización del Comité Paralímpico Brasileño fue un factor fundamental para el desarrollo del deporte paralímpico en Brasil, dado que esta Entidad deportiva se convirtió en el coordinador central que sistematizaba y realizaba una planificación estratégica de carácter profesional, anclada en tres ejes (Gobernativa – Directiva – Deportiva) que tuvo como principios fundamentales, el enfoque en las prácticas Organizativas/Administrativas – Financieras – En Infraestructura – Técnicas/Físicas/Deportivas. Esta sistematización estructural impulsó la implementación de proyectos y programas para el deporte paralímpico con el objetivo principal de formar y desarrollar atletas paralímpicos de alto rendimiento.

Palabras clave
Comité Paralímpico Brasileño; Campo; Capital; Habitus

1 INTRODUCTION¹

Over the last three decades, Brazilian Paralympic Sport (BPS) has been gaining prominence on the international Paralympic scene. Brazilian athletes are evolving during the world’s main Paralympic sports competition, the Summer Paralympic Games (CPB, 2023).

In 1992, at the Barcelona Paralympics, the Brazilian delegation finished in thirty-second place in the overall medals table, while at the Tokyo 2020 Games,² the final position was seventh. This progress is clear from the fact that in the last four editions of this competition, BPS has been among the top 10 countries (ninth place in Beijing/2008; seventh place in London/2012; eighth place in Rio de Janeiro/2016; seventh place in Tokyo/2020) (CPB, 2023).

By analyzing this historical trajectory, we can see that BPS has undergone numerous transformations in terms of its organizational and administrative profile (Araújo, 2011; Begossi; Mazo, 2016). It should be noted that during this period there was a political-administrative process that fostered the creation and development of an administrative structure responsible for managing this sporting context (Pasini; Gutierrez; Duarte, 2020).

During this phase, in 1995, the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (BPC) was institutionalized. Therefore, by addressing these facts, the BPC is positioned as a fundamental piece of analysis, since this sports entity is characterized as one of the main bodies responsible for the organization and administration of BPS today (Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Pasini; Gutierrez; Duarte, 2020).

The research was based on the following assumption:

• The institutionalization of the BPC was a determining factor in the implementation of actions that contributed to the BPS’s progress.

Based on this assumption, we opted for an investigation into the transformations that have taken place in this specific sporting space in Brazil since the institutionalization of the BPC.

This demarcation also sought to analyze the historical and social elements that transformed the implementation of adapted motor activities into a social space endowed with specific agents, which over the last century has been configured and established as a sui generis sports field (Araújo, 2011; Bourdieu, 1989a; 1989b; 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2005; 2007; 2013; 2019; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014).

To this end, the methodological tools selected were the Categories of Field, Capital, and Habitus, which are part of the Reflexive Sociology of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1989a; 1989b; 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2005; 2007; 2013; 2019). Based on this methodological characterization, the objective of the study was to analyze whether the institutionalization of the BPC was fundamental to the sporting, administrative and economic development of BPS, observing how this entity may have become the main body responsible for managing this national sporting context from a sociological reading based on the theoretical lenses of the Bourdieusian perspective.

In view of this, it was decided that the proposed scrutiny would have as its source of research people who were and are active in BPS since the testimonies of these specific agents provided unique elements about the universe and the object being researched.

Therefore, the period from 1995 to 2022 was chosen as the time frame. The reason for determining this timeframe is based on the writings of Pasini, Gutierrez, and Duarte (2020), who analyzed the presence of the BPC in the process of BPS’s sporting, administrative, and financial evolution in the period after its institutionalization.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

The study is characterized as a qualitative, descriptive, analytical, and sociological study with a methodological-conceptual approach based on grounded theory (Creswell, 2010). Given this methodological characterization, field research was carried out based on semi-structured interviews with six individuals who were and are part of the BPS sports scene. The data collected from the interviews was analyzed using deductive reading (Creswell, 2010).

All the ethical procedures and parameters established by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution proposing the research were followed. The study has therefore been submitted to and approved by this scientific research ethics control body.

2.1 CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SUBJECTS

The study sample consisted of six individuals (three Paralympic Athletes and three Paralympic Sports Managers) who participated and are actively participating in BPS during the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. The quantification of the sample was determined according to the saturation criterion (Fontanella et al., 2011; Minayo, 2006).

The subjects participating in the study were identified as follows: AS: Paralympic Athlete; MS: Paralympic Manager. After being identified, the subjects participating in the study were divided into two groups according to their respective roles. The outline of the functions that each subject performs within the BPS context was the basic element for dividing the groups and their respective positioning. The groups were named as follows: Brazilian Paralympic Athletes; and Brazilian Paralympic Sport Managers.

Below are the main characteristics of the sample.

Table 1
Group: Brazilian Paralympic Athletes.

Identification	Sports Modality	Physical Disability	Functional Classification
AS1	Dart-throwing and Weight-throw	Paraplegia	F54
AS2	Discus throw	Tetraplegia	F54
AS3	Athletics - Long jump	Cerebral Palsy	T38

• Source: research data.

Table 2
Group: Managers of Brazilian Paralympic Sport.

Identification	Sports Entity	Person with a Disability	Physical Education Professional
MS1	BPC	Yes	Yes
MS2	BPC	No	Yes
MS33	BPC and CBC	No	Yes

• Source: research data.

2.2 METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES

The semi-structured interviews were carried out between August 2021 and June 2022 individually, in person, and remotely by one of the researchers responsible for the study. The personal interviews took place on the premises of the BPC Training Centre in São Paulo/SP. The remote interviews took place via web conference using the WhatsApp mobile phone application. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in full. The Free and Informed Consent Form (FICF) was signed by all study participants before the interviews began.

Table 3
Interviews: Brazilian Paralympic Athletes Group.

Subject	Format	Date	Duration
AS1	Web Conference	23/09/2021	32’31”
AS2	Web Conference	26/08/2021	26’42”
AS3	Web Conference	10/09/2021	16’26”

• Source: research data.

Table 4
Interviews: Brazilian Paralympic Sport Directors Group.

Subject	Format	Date	Duration
MS1	In-person	27/10/2021	47’17”
MS2	In-person	17/11/2021	28’32”
MS3	Web Conference	28/06/2022	54’51”

• Source: research data.

2.3 RESEARCH TOOL

The interviews were semi-structured, giving the participants the freedom to express themselves and tell their life stories within the BPC and BPS. A pre-established script was based on the following questions:

1. What is your relationship with BPS?

2. What is your trajectory within the BPS?

3. What is the objective of the BPC?

4. How important is the institutionalization of the BPC for the development of BPS?

Based on this script, two research instruments were established, given the characteristics of the sample: one applied to the group called “Brazilian Paralympic Athletes”, and the other to the group called “Brazilian Paralympic Sport Managers”. The research instruments have specific guiding questions for each of the groups. This methodological structural configuration was based on the theoretical concepts of Creswell (2010):

Chart 1
Guiding Questions - Brazilian Paralympic Athletes Group.

1.		What is your background in BPS? Please comment.
2.		What were the main factors in your sporting development as a Paralympic athlete?
3.		Comment on the importance of the BPC throughout your career as a Paralympic athlete.
4.		In your opinion, what were the main factors that influenced and influence the development of BPS? Please comment.
5.		In your view, what is the main role of the BPC? Please comment.
6.		In your opinion, has the BPC been and is it primarily responsible for the sporting and economic development of BPS? Please comment

• Source: prepared by the author.

Chart 2
Guiding Questions – Brazilian Paralympic Sport Managers.

1.		Tell us about your history within the BPS.
2.		Comment on your career as a sports manager in BPS.
3.		In your opinion, what were the main factors that influenced and influence the development of BPS? Please comment.
4.		How important was the institutionalization of the BPC for the BPS? Please comment.
5.		Comment on the main function of the BPC.
6.		In your opinion, has the BPC been and is it primarily responsible for the sporting and economic development of BPS? Please comment.

• Source: prepared by the author

3 RESULTS AND THEORETICAL DISCUSSION

3.1 THE INSTITUTIONAL PROCESS OF THE BPC AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITHIN THE BPS BASED ON THE CATEGORIES OF FIELD, CAPITAL, AND HABITUS

The assessment proposed at this stage is based on understanding whether the BPC was a key player within the BPS and whether this organization was a key player in this sporting context. It emerges that prior to the institutionalization of the BPC, the administrative organization of BPS was incipient during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, with its roots linked to a number of sports bodies that were associated with specific disabilities. Therefore, it was possible to understand the existence of a demand for sports for people with disabilities that required organizational structuring and not simply coordination by a few isolated ventures (Araújo, 2011; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Pasini, 2020).

The BPC's institutional process arose from a demand established by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which asked for an organization to be directly responsible for representing BPS in international competitions (Araújo, 2011; Begossi; Mazo, 2016).

In the BPC's Statutes, this demand is in its third article (Araújo, 2011). However, the request made by the IPC was not the only fundamental element for the institutionalization of the BPC, given that this international body did not have sufficient powers to promote this process. For this institutionalization to take place, a series of legislative arrangements had to be put in place (Begossi; Mazo, 2016; Souza, 2021).

It is worth noting that the consolidation of these legal and administrative processes was fundamental to the constitution of the BPC, and that these devices made it possible to promote, organize, and structure sports for people with disabilities through public government spheres (Souza, 2021).

These determinations are set out in the Federal Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil - 05/10/1988, the Mendes Thame Law - Law No. 7.752/1989, the Zico Law - Law No. 8.672/1993 and the Pelé Law - Law No. 9.615/1998 (Souza, 2021).

It is important to highlight this legislative path by identifying the importance of the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution, which recognizes sport as a right for all citizens. As a result, the 1988 Constitution was fundamental in ensuring that the administrative organization of sports for people with disabilities was covered by legal regulations (Souza, 2021).

The Mendes Thame Law mentioned above was a determining principle, as this legislation established a new Secretariat directly linked to the President of the Republic. This body had a department that became responsible for supporting, promoting, organizing, and structuring sports for people with disabilities in a specific way (Begossi; Mazo, 2016; Souza, 2021).

The main deliberations of the Zico Law are the constitution of the General Norms of Sport in Brazil, which allows sports organizations to have total autonomy over their actions and conceives the creation of a council (Higher Sports Council) responsible for overseeing whether the guidelines stipulated in this legislation are being complied with (Begossi; Mazo, 2016; Souza, 2021).

These mechanisms and processes prior to the Pelé Law were essential for the organizational structuring of BPS and the institutionalization of the BPC. However, the Pelé Law was of significant value in this trajectory, given that its conception established the BPC as the main governing body of BPS, specifying what its attributions, responsibilities, and competencies were, which can be understood from the studies by Begossi and Mazo (2016) and Souza (2021) and the narrative below that exemplifies a little of this historical path.

Before the Pelé Law, which was passed in 1998, the National Sports System didn't recognize Paralympic Sport, we couldn't have a Paralympic Committee, there were only two entities in the National Sports System, which was the CBF for Football and the Brazilian Olympic Committee for Olympic Sport. We couldn't even found a Paralympic Committee, and then without founding a Paralympic Committee you can't join the IPC, and the IPC understood that we had a problem, but that we needed to resolve it here in the country, they don't interfere in the country's law, that is, you need to change the law so that you can adapt to reality

(MS3).

The formulation of this legislative framework transforms the BPS, as it creates the conditions for the conception of a directive structural architecture through the definition of a sports entity that would have the foundation of being the central axis for the administrative organization of this specific type of sport.

With the emergence of the BPC, we began to organize and systematize the Paralympic Movement as a whole. So, everything that exists today is part of a process that began with the BPC, even before the BPC perhaps had that name, but there was the seed of the BPC, and now we’re reaping the fruits [...] so, yes, I have no doubt that the BPC is the main responsible for all this development

(MS1).

Faced with this reality, the BPC became the main agent in this whole process and began to establish strategies and actions that had the development of BPS as a whole at its core. Analyzing the first steps along this path, we can see BPC’s work with government institutions in order to raise financial resources. This characterization can be identified from the data collected, when the BPC took on the role of the BPS’s main governing body and, through its managers, devised practical actions that made it possible to acquire public financial investment. This economic contribution is recognized as essential for the start of its sporting development.

I think there are two factors, the first was the creation of the Agnelo/Piva Law [...] we began to have a permanent fund, and it was easier to plan and organize. From this perennial fund [...] from the Agnelo/Piva Law that was approved in 2001, we were sure of a fund, with the certainty of a fund you know what you can do

(MS3).

This can be understood from the objective structural design of the BPS field. In evidence, it is possible to recognize the specific agents that operate within this specific social space and the objects of differentiation (Capitals) that are elementary in this sporting environment (Bourdieu, 2019; Marchi Júnior, 2015; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Ortiz, 2013). These agents are present in the form of sports managers, public and private institutions, public officials, and athletes. Identifying the object of distinction (Capital) involves recognizing it in its current economic form.

In concrete terms, the BPC’s managers consider Economic Capital to be an important object, and by imposing it, they can transform this social sphere. This shows that the possession of this form of Capital can be conditioned to the acquisition of financial resources from the Agnelo/Piva Law - Law no. 10.264 of 16 July 2001.

Therefore, it was possible to detect that specific agents (BPC managers) have established some practical actions with the aim of possessing the Economic Capital that has become the main source of funds that go directly to the BPC. These practical actions characterize the Habitus of the subject of social action, shaping the types of agents who run the BPC (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019; Ortiz, 2013). This demarcation constituted the field of practices carried out with the main objective of possessing an object of distinction present in this territory (Economic Capital - Resources from the Agnelo/Piva Law). One of the interviewees corroborates this trend in the constitution of the field and its disputed symbolic assets.

João Batista, who was the first President of the BPC, was fundamental when he managed to get the Law, the beginning of the Law, to be the Pedro/Piva Law, which would allocate two percent of lottery resources to Olympic Sport. With the work of João Batista and the leaders of the time, Senator Agnelo Queiroz, who is from Brasilia, made an amendment stating that of the two percent, 15 percent should be for Paralympic Sport. So, the law was renamed the Agnelo/Piva Law

(MS3).

The actions taken at the time by the manager of the BPC with a federal public agent meant that part of the financial resources from the legislation that was to be created were earmarked for BPS, and were no longer fully transferred to Brazilian Olympic Sport in (BOS). We can see the presence of a social sphere of sporting practice,in the Field of Olympic and Paralympic Sports in Brazil. The possibility of distinguishing this space comes from recognizing that Economic Capital (Federal Financial Resources - Agnelo/Piva Law) is common to the promotion of this sporting universe as a whole and is therefore disputed by sports agents associated with these two contexts.

This characterization leads to the occurrence of practices aimed at gaining possession of this specific object. Identifying this field and categorizing this specific type of Habitus becomes important given this type of action. These questions point to a set of theoretical conceptions by Bourdieu (1989a; 1989b; 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2005; 2007; 2013; 2019), and his commentators, such as Ortiz (2013) on the dynamics of categories, as well as discussions of Bourdieusian theoretical application in sport, such as Marques and Gutierrez (2014) and Marchi Júnior (2015). These authors make it possible to understand the reproduction of these practices in the Brazilian sports field and to observe the presence of all the characteristics that make it possible to structurally constitute this sphere as a specific social space for sports practice.

The reproduction of this Sports Habitus is repeated in this environment, with the direct consequence for the BPS field being the formulation of Law No. 13.146/2015, known as the Statute for People with Disabilities (Pasini; Gutierrez; Duarte, 2020). The immediate benefit of this new legal provision is an increase in the economic revenue earmarked for the BPC, thus allowing for a greater contribution from this object of distinction. In addition to the reach of this singular object, the realization of this Habitus in these two distinct moments makes it possible to recognize another kind of Capital: Political Capital (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019).

In 2014, 2015, I won’t be able to tell you exactly, there was this change in the Statute of the Person with a Disability, Senator Mara Gabrilli, a Federal Deputy at the time, made an amendment to the law that she passed without touching the BOS resource, what she did, she went from two percent that was collected from the lotteries to three percent, and then this new one percent that came in all by law, it came to BPS

(MS3).

It is possible to determine this form of Capital from the relative strength that this type of element exerts in this field because the relationships and social interactions established between BPC managers and public agents are constituted, thus forming this new principle of differentiation (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019; Marchi Júnior, 2015; Ortiz, 2013). According to the data collected and the literature interpreted, the funds from the Agnelo/Piva Law, together with one of the stipulations in the Statute for People with Disabilities, are characterized as the main source of economic resources that are allocated directly and in full to the BPC (Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Pasini, 2020).

Observing the formation of this funding structure shows why these legal stipulations are seen as conditioning factors for the organization and structuring of BPS through effective actions carried out by the BPC. This financial transfer enabled specific strategies to be devised, organized, and put into practice that fostered the administrative and sporting development of BPS.

The acquisition of the Economic Capital allowed the BPC to concentrate its efforts on devising a strategic plan to establish a professional structure that would enable the athletes’ sporting development and the consequent advancement of BPS (from sporting initiation to maximum sporting performance — Paralympic athletes). In this way, the increase in the BPC’s income over the years corroborates the empirical survey.

Table 5
BPC’s annual revenue.

Year	Total Revenue	General Application	School and University Sport
2005	R$ 12,360,906.72	85%	10%	5%
2015	R$ 42,860,421.38	85%	10%	5%
2016	R$ 113,607,300.79	85%	10%	5%
2022	R$ 214,532,308.44	100%	-----	-----

• Source: CPB (2023)

Based on the data collected, we can recognize some of the strategies promoted by the BPC that have made BPS development possible. This study confirms other research on the BPC (Araújo, 2011; Pasini; Gutierrez; Duarte, 2020), but it goes further by understanding the strategic process of administrative professionalization, the transformation of BPS that resulted in its sporting development. This logical outline has its actions classified into three axes that have been defined according to the understanding established by the subjects' actions. These axes are defined as Governmental, Management, and Sport. The tables below set out these dimensions and their main endeavors:

Chart 3
Governmental axis.

1.		Raising public funds through laws to promote and encourage Paralympic sport.
2.		Partnerships with State and Municipal Secretariats to develop programs for Adapted and Paralympic Sports.

• Source: research data.

Chart 4
Management axis.

1.		Creation of a BPS organizational structure.
2.		Comprehensive sports management of specific Paralympic sports modalities (athletics - swimming - weightlifting - para-sport shooting).
3.		Shared management of specific Paralympic sports with their respective national confederations.
4.		Establishment of a financial structure.
5.		Financial transfer to the national confederations responsible for managing Paralympic sports.
6.		Raising private financial resources.

• Source: research data.

Chart 5
Sports axis.

1.		Establishment of strategies and programmes to promote and increase the practice of Paralympic and adapted sports in performance, leisure, and educational environments.
2.		Coordination of missions to the BPS’s main international competitions.
3.		Partnerships with: State and Municipal Governments, Public Institutions, Public Universities, and Physical Rehabilitation Medical Centres.
4.		Investment in physical infrastructure for BPS.
5.		Creation of professional training courses.
6.		Financial support for Paralympic athletes.

• Source: research data.

These three axes of structural and organizational actions had as their fundamental principles a focus on Organizational/Administrative; Financial; Infrastructure; Technical/Physical/Sporting practices. Based on the data collected, it was possible to identify the profile of these practices and classify them.

Here are some excerpts from the interviews that allow us to recognize some of these organizational movements:

• Organizational/Administrative:

  But what I can guarantee is that today the BPC, with well-defined strategies within a strategic plan, and trying to pass on these strategies to the confederations, makes Paralympic Sport move in the same direction. So, it ends up guiding the development of sport

  (MS2)

• Infrastructure:

  If you’re part of the cycle, you’re there in the Training Centre, you have everything in your hands. You have the best multidisciplinary team, you have an excellent club, the Training Centre, which is sensational in terms of swimming, athletics, badminton, wheelchair basketball, and rugby

  (AS1).

• Financial:

  When it comes to other sports, the BPC ends up being the one who distributes the funds from the Lottery Law, so it’s inevitable, that it establishes the forms, of course in a way that has good governance, that has a good systematization of how the funds will be distributed

  (MS2).

• Technical – Physical – Sporting:

  The Committee has given me this support. I’ve also had a lot of support from them at times when I’ve needed it a lot, especially when it comes to functional classification, the psychologist part, which I also used to go through with the psychologist from the National Team. So, I think we ended up with a very good multidisciplinary team

  (AS2).

  So, with the BPC, with this issue of encouragement in the area of teacher training, and team building. I think it’s good

  (AS3).

Pasini, Gutierrez, and Duarte (2020, p. 16) state that the actions carried out by the BPC are elements that can be identified within a structural organization based on a “professional operating logic”. By promoting this strategic planning, the BPC has established a professionalization movement in the BPS’s social space.

This process is fundamental to the development of this scenario, and its sporting evolution can be seen in the results of the athletes in the main international Paralympic competition, as mentioned in the introductory section of the article. Therefore, this sporting advance in terms of results in this competition was not the result of chance, but rather the result of a series of strategic organizational actions developed by the BPC that led to an evolution in the athletes’ sporting performance.

The constitution of these practices carried out by this governing body had as one of its foundations a structural analysis of strategies developed and reproduced by other agents that are part of the International Paralympic Sports Field.

We did our planning following some examples [...] so the first thing in 2010, before 2012 for London, we looked at which country is our size. And what do they do? We followed Canada, Canada had come seventh in Beijing, what do they do? What is their investment? We discovered that the resources that Canada had just for their Mission to the Games were the same as what we had for four years for everything. But we kept going, if Canada has a result, let’s keep going. We came seventh in the Games and Canada came tenth. Then we went to study, why is that? The same thing happened with Spain, Spain had done a fantastic job for Barcelona, so we went to study Barcelona, and what happened? We discovered that they had invested in a generation, they had done a lot of work to get to Barcelona and become the benchmark for Paralympic Sport

(MS3).

It is possible to identify this from the data above and interpret it according to a reading based on the Bourdieusian theoretical perspective of Field, Capital, and Habitus (Bourdieu, 1989a; 1989b; 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2005; 2007; 2013; 2019). This set of practices described is categorized as yet another way of demarcating a Sports Habitus present in this social sphere, which has been put into effect by the BPC in the form of its managers.

This interpretation sees the BPC as a specific agent within the International Paralympic Sports Field, which at one time positioned itself on the dominant side of this space. This sports organization's understanding of the positional ordering present in this field has enabled it to carry out a series of processes that can be classified as transformation strategies that have taken place with the central aim of changing its positioning within this sporting sphere (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019; Marchi Júnior, 2015; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Ortiz, 2013).

The basic principle of carrying out these actions is the acquisition of a specific form of capital: Sports Capital. The possession of this specific object as a result of these practices results in this positional change. These practices can be categorized according to the understanding of the Habitus Category (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019) because the performance of these actions is determined by the possession of an object that organizes the positional ordering of this space.

As soon as the imposing force of Sports Capital is recognized, the BPC, as a specific social agent, carries out a series of procedures aimed at acquiring this structural device (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019; Marchi Júnior, 2015; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Ortiz, 2013).

The execution of these practices made it possible to possess these assets, which altered the BPC’s position in the International Paralympic Sports arena, placing it in a prominent position and thus transforming the architecture of positions in this social space. The reproduction of these strategies took the form of concrete actions that had already been carried out by other agents in this sporting universe and the conception of original practical actions. In this way, a theoretical conceptual design is presented that categorizes these practices as a Habitus. Their institution gave BPS a massive acquisition of Sports Capital and consequent possession of Economic and Political Capital.

This determines the existence of an interdependent relationship between these two forms of Capital (greater Economic and Political Capital, greater Sports Capital; greater Sports Capital, greater Economic and Political Capital). As a consequence of possessing these objects, it is accepted that the other principles of imposition that are present in this sporting sphere are acquired by the BPC.

It is known that Habitus can be characterized in different ways in practices carried out abstractly or concretely, with direct reference to a series of characteristics (behavior, consumption, habits, tastes, language, bodily practices, environment, etc.) that are part of a specific social space. Habitus can therefore be absorbed and transmitted consciously or unconsciously by the agents within these spheres (Bourdieu, 1997; 2004a; 2004b; 2007; 2019; Marchi Júnior, 2015; Ortiz, 2013).

Specific types of concrete Sporting Habitus were categorised in the analysis presented in this section. As such, this type of analysis is not exhausted here, recognizing the presence of other principles that generate practices in this sphere of sport. However, the design elucidated in this categorization is based on the recognition of practices that are instituted and reproduced as precise actions aimed at the structural transformation of a social space based on the possession of symbolic objects present in this environment, and their architecture is based on the data collected empirically from the subjects that make up the study sample.

4 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The results of the research have shown that the institutionalization of the BPC had as its basic premises an administrative institutional demand established by the IPC and the institution of a series of legislative and bureaucratic mechanisms that authorized and granted the creation of this body.

It was observed that a legislative action (Pelé Law) created after the institutionalization of the BPC was established as a determining factor that allowed this body to become the main governing body of BPS. By assuming this position, the BPC has become a cornerstone for the development of this sporting environment, as a series of strategies have been implemented in various contexts that have enabled a process of evolution.

These administrative actions are identified when the BPC devises and establishes organizational support based on three basic axes: Governmental, Management, and Sporting, which focus on Organizational/Administrative; Financial; Infrastructure; Technical/Physical/Sporting practices. Raising public funds through legislative mechanisms, sharing the management of Paralympic sports with their respective Confederations, investment in physical infrastructure, partnerships with public universities, and the creation of incentive programs for the practice of sport (from Sport Initiation to Performance Sport) are the main processes associated with this management approach.

The BPC’s role in promoting adapted and Paralympic sports in the educational environment (schools and universities) and in the leisure environment (security forces; medical rehabilitation centers) is aimed at spreading this type of activity to more people, in order to create a means of attracting and developing new performance athletes.

The systematization of these ideas is anchored and grounded in the Bourdieusian theoretical perspective. Its categories have made it possible to delineate and define BPS as a sphere, a specific social space for sports practice that manifests within it all the particularities and characteristics that make it classifiable as such.

Some studies have been identified in the literature that have used this theoretical prism to elucidate their sociological criticisms of sport at the national level (Hirata; Starepravo, 2020; Marques, 2010; Marques; Gutierrez, 2014; Starepravo; Souza; Marchi Júnior; 2013). However, the effort undertaken here surpasses these works, given the presence of an original attribute that arises from the delineation of their interpretations concerning the use of the theoretical-methodological categories of Field, Capital, and Habitus in analyzing specific structures and dynamics of BPS.

As a result, when the data collected was examined and analyzed according to the theoretical framework that these concepts offer for this type of reading, it was possible to categorize this material by understanding the existence of a field that manifests within it a set of specific social agents, objects that are placed in the contest, such as effective capitals that organize the structure of positions in this sphere and a set of practices produced and reproduced that can alter or maintain the structural ordering of positions of its members.

• 1
  This article is the result of a doctoral thesis. VALERIO, Danilo Lutiano. A institucionalização do Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro e o Campo Esportivo Paralímpico do Brasil: uma análise a partir das categorias de Campo, Capital e Habitus. 2022. 270 p. Thesis ((PhD in Physical Education) – Faculty of Physical Education, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12733/6493. Accessed: 15 Jan. 2024.
• 2
  The Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games ended up taking place in 2021 due to the worldwide pandemic of the new Corona Virus (Covid-19) (Valerio, 2022).
• 3
  MS3 was a sports manager at the BPC and is currently a sports director at the Brazilian Cycling Confederation (CBC).

• RESEARCH ETHICS

  The research followed the protocols in force in Resolutions 466/12 and 510/2016 of the Brazilian National Health Council and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the State University of Campinas. Protocol number18245519.0.0000.5404.

HOW TO CITE

• VALERIO, Danilo Lutiano; ARAÚJO, Paulo Ferreira de; ALMEIDA, Marco Antônio Bettine de. A perspectiva teórica bourdieusiana na análise do comitê paralímpico brasileiro no interior do esporte paralímpico do Brasil. Movimento, v. 30, p. e30003. Jan./Dec. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.129455

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Edited by

EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Alex Branco Fraga*, Elisandro Schultz Wittizorecki*, Mauro Myskiw*, Raquel da Silveira*

*Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, School of Physical Education, Physical Therapy and Dance, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  19 Apr 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  03 Mar 2023
• Accepted
  29 Nov 2023
• Published
  07 Mar 2024