School physical education in the transition from solid modernity to liquid modernity: the Brazilian case

Abstract

This article discusses the implications of the contemporary transition from a solid modernity to a liquid modernity for school physical education, according to the metaphors adopted by the Polish sociologist and English resident Zygmunt Bauman. By leveraging Bauman's sociological theory, this article pursues two aims: (1) to examine how physical education was forged by the characteristics of solid modernity and (2) to demonstrate how the cultural dynamics of contemporary bodily practices can be analyzed and interpreted based on the characteristics of the so-called liquid modernity. The article further argues that the contours of liquid modernity indicate the need for a ‘culturalist turn’ in physical education, which would mean giving up a model requiring universal claims of solid modernity. Finally, the article concludes with some reflections on the need to revise the social mandate of school physical education, as well as on some of the challenges that must be faced by this field.