This book examines the relationships between the Nordic social democratic welfare system ('The Nordic Model') and physical culture, across the domains of sport, education, and public space.

Introduction: the Nordic model and physical culture, Part I: Education, 1. Creating new sport policy: the case of Finnish schools on the move, 2. Nature in the history of physical education and in the lives of Norwegians today, 3. Let's move: embodiment, leadership, and dance in education, 4. Exploring democratic relations in higher dance education: a case study, Part II: Sports, 5. Changing constructions of childhood challenging the Swedish sport model: 'football was for fun - I exercise for my health', 6. The roots of Icelandic physical culture and sport in the Saga Age, 7. The Finnish sport system in transition: from a mixed model back to the Nordic sports movement?, 8. Discourses on the legitimate understanding of Norwegian and Nordic elite sport: theoretical reflections on an empirical case, 9. The Johaug doping case: public reactions and sociological explanations, Part III: Public space, 10. Scandinavian friluftsliv (outdoor life) and the Nordic model: passions and paradoxes, 11. Nature is the new culture: the active body as a citizen typology on the rise, 12. Water competence and new Norwegians: outdoor teaching as an inclusive-exclusive learning space, 13. Public parks in the North: designed to liberate or discipline our moving bodies?, Afterword: the Nordic model and physical cultures in the global context