Participation in sport: bonding and bridging as identity work

Abstract

Nowadays sport is assigned a crucial role in solving social problems, especially those relating to social cohesion. Participation in sport is assumed to build relevant bonding and bridging social capital that generates reciprocal contacts and trust in others. In this essay we will present findings of two, mainly qualitative studies on participation in sport in the Netherlands. We argue that while sport indeed makes contributions to the development of social capital, bonding and bridging are much more complex and differentiated processes than is usually assumed in both social policies and social capital theory. An argument is made to view bonding and bridging as identity work.

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