INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

in the present moment, remembrances of the past and
anticipations of the future are reconstructed continuously
through the lens of the present (Kohli, 1981)
In many cases these three approaches can overlap. As delineated
above, the realism and neo-positivism share a common view towards
‘objective truth’ and both approaches share the view that the macro
can be apprehended through studying the micro (or in the case of the
narrative approach through the interplay of the actors).
The aforementioned approaches emphasize, in one way or another
the tension between the subjective viewpoint of an actor and his/her
perception of the overarching social structure. The neo-positivist
approach focuses on the depiction of structure and is evaluated by the
respondents’ reporting of their subjective perception of their
placement in structure and time. Similar tension can be observed in
the realist approach, in which reported subjective perception provides
the basic units for generalizing structure.
Finally, the narrative approach is built upon similar tension, but at
different level. The postmodern view of structure does not see it as a
single reality, but as interplay between the actors, which through the
power relations among themselves socially construct reality (Miller,
2000).
Justification for using ‘life story’ research
Female executive board members of sport organizations are not a
homogenous group. Although, many share the same interest in the
love of sport, they nevertheless, differ in terms of class, race, sexual
identity, age, disability, body size and cultural, religious and linguistic
heritage (Dewar, 1993). This is, to some extent, reflected in different
life stories and experiences of different women in executive board of
sport organizations.
The story that follows highlights aspects of one woman life and
reveals the lived reality of her feminist politics (Clarke &
Humberstone, 1997). Therefore, there is no intention to universalise or
generalize from this story to all cases of females on executive board
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