“Hands off”: responsibilizing low-income citizens through fee assistance programs

ABSTRACT

Rationale

To critically examine fee assistance programs (FAPs) through the lens of responsibilization and discuss the implications of creating access to sport for low-income families.

Method

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 volunteers and administrative staff from community sport organizations in New Brunswick who facilitated FAPs for their organizations.

Findings

Four themes were constructed and discussed, illuminating how FAPs responsibilize low-income families: (1) Don’t advertise, don’t share: Applicants do all the work; (2) Passive but efficient: Processes of FAPs; (3) It’s always the parent: Communication of FAPs; and (4) You have to take ownership: Families need to be accountable.

Practical implications

This study is valuable to practitioners interested in understanding how FAPs may cause harm by excluding low-income families.

Research contribution

This study demonstrates how responsibilization is evident in facilitating FAPs in community sport organizations in New Brunswick and the consequences of creating access to community sport.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport
• fee assistance programs
• responsibilization
• neoliberalism
• low-income

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Organizations such as Jumpstart, KidSport and PRO Kids are non-profit charitable organizations in Canada that facilitate participation for low-income children by providing funding through community sport organizations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.