Social Capital and Sport in the UK Evidence From National and International Survey Data: April 19 th, Liam Delaney Economic and Social Research Institute

Simple Message The existing data paints a convincing picture of correlations between participation in sports activities and high levels of social capital. The next step for researchers and policy makers is to determine to what extent the causality is running from one to the other. It is almost certainly two way, but we cannot tell the extent from the existing evidence.

Introduction Social capital is an increasingly important concept in national policy making. Increasing attention being paid to the role of sport in civil and community life. Also an increasing emphasis on quantifying the role and value of the sports sector. This report examines survey data. Delaney (2005) examines cultural participation and social capital.

Scope of Report Sport means all forms of physical activity which through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels. European Sports Charter, 1993 Focuses on participation in sports and physical activity that fall under the DCMS remit.

Existing Literature on the Role of Sport Huge literature on the economic significance of the cultural, heritage and sporting sectors. Large and growing literature on the physical and health benefits of sport. Recent emphasis on social benefits of sport. See Daly (2004) for a comprehensive review of social capital studies. See paper for a review of other sports studies.

Civil Renewal/Social Capital A number of diverse theoretical positions. This presentation considers the broadest and utilises measures across different theoretical streams. Social trust, trust in institutions, subjective well-being, civic membership, informal group activity, political activity. Disentangling social capital and civil renewal.

Types of Social Capital Derived From Sport Individual. –Sport may provide a basis for an individual to form a friendship base, provide goals and foster well being. –Sport may absorb pro-social motivations and utilise the talents of diverse individuals. Local/community. –Sport may provide a basis for the building of local networks. –Through interacting with childrens sports, parents networks may form which have potentially beneficial effects. –Sport may provide a basis for bringing different sections of communities together. National. –Sport may provide a basis for common shared norms and conversational points as well as providing a basis for collective memory. –Sport can act to transmit pro-social values such as fairness and rule following. –Sport may act as a vehicle for citizens to engage with other countries.

A Cost-benefit Should Also Include Costs Problem: we cannot simply assume that Net Benefit is increasing in the level of sports membership, attendance and playing. Net Benefit = Benefits(individual benefits, indirect individual benefits, external benefits) – Costs (individual costs, external costs). Bridging and bonding social capital. –Sports may also generate socially negative effects. Social liability.

Empirical Questions Does Britain have a social capital deficit when compared to other EU countries? What are the patterns of social capital and civil engagement within britain? What are the patterns of sporting participation within britain? To what extent are these patterns linked? At one level, they are linked tautologically in that sporting membership/volunteering is arguably a form of social capital but we are also asking about the links with other forms of social capital.

Data Utilised European Social Survey British Social Attitudes Survey Time Usage Survey Home Office Citizenship Survey 2001.

Britain Has Below Average Levels of Social Trust

And Average Levels of Individual Trust

Men Are More Likely to Take Part in Sport Than Women, Although Sport Is Still One of the Most Prevalent Forms of Activity for Both Sexes

Walking is the most popular type of activity

Sport is the most frequent field of volunteering for men

Volunteering Takes Several Different Forms

There are particularly strong Cross National Correlations between participation in sport and trust in other people (see Appendix 1 for Interpretation)

Correlations Between Social Trust and Participation (UK) – See Appendix 2 for Interpretation

Membership of a Sports/outdoor Activity Club Has a Positive Effect on Well-being Controlling for Other Factors

The Demographic Determinants of Sporting Participation By examing the demographic determinants of sports participation we can begin to think in a more targeted fashion on the potential role of sport in building communities and social capital Results from the statistical models show that women, manual workers and unemployed, and older people play markedly less sport, which should be taken in to account when thinking about social capital generation.

Who doesnt Participate in Sport? (Binary Logistic Model based on Time Usage Data)

Different Sports – Different Demographics (See appendix 3)

How People Become Involved

Barriers to Further Involvement

Ways to Get People More Involved

Future Research Develop more refined statistical models of existing measures. Develop refined, agreed upon, and publicised scales. Track existing measures through time. Programmatic evaluations incorporating measures of social capital that extend beyond economic cost-benefit. Disentangling the macro correlation?

References (1) Attwood, C., Singh., G., Prime, D., and Creasey, R. (2001) 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey : people, families and communities. Home Office Research Study 270. Bailey, R., (2005). Evaluating the relationship between education, sport and social inclusion educational review, volume 57, issue 1, pp 71 –90. Collins, M. (2004). "Sport, physical activity and social exclusion." Journal of Sports Sciences 22(8): Curtis, J., McTeer, W., And white, P., (2003). Do high school athletes earn more pay? Youth participation and earnings as an adult. Sociology of sport journal, volume 20, issue 1, pp 60 –76. Daly, S. (2004). Social capital and the cultural sector: literature review prepared for the department of culture, media and sport. Center for civil society, LSE. Department of culture media and sport, UK (2002): game plan: A strategy for delivering government's sport and physical activity objectives.

References (2) Delaney, L. (2005). Cultural Participation and Social Capital: Evidence from Survey Data Paper Presented at the ippr Conference, Cultural Participation and Communities. Held at the UK Home Office, January Delaney, L. and Fahey, F., (2005). The Social and Economic Value of Sport in Ireland, Dublin, Economic and Social Research Institute. (Forthcoming). Fahey, T., Layte, R., And Gannon, B., (2003). Sports participation and health among adults in Ireland. Dublin, economic and social research institute. Hall, P. A. (1999). "Social capital in Britain." British Journal of Political Science 29: Home office, citizenship survey, Performance and Innovation Unit (2002). Social Capital: A discussion paper. London PIU, Cabinet Office. Putnam, R. D. (2000), bowling alone: the decline and revival of American community, new York: Simon Schuster.

References (3) Sport England website Stolle, D. And M. Hooghe (2005). "Review article: inaccurate, exceptional, one-sided or irrelevant? The debate about the alleged decline of social capital and civic engagement in western societies." British journal of political science 35: Sturgis, P., And Jackson, J. (2003). Examining participation in sporting and cultural activities: analysis of the UK time usage survey. Phase 2. Commissioned by the department of culture, media and sport. November. World health organisation (2003): consultation document to guide development of a WHO strategy for diet, physical activity and health.

Appendix 1 The Cross-National Correlations are Spearman Rank Correlations between the average score on social capital variables (down the side) and the average score on Participation Variables (across the top). We have 20 countries. So, for example, a correlation of 0.9 between x and y means that there is a 90% correlation between a countries level of x and a countries level of y within the 20 countries

Appendix 2 The National Correlations are Pearson Correlations between the average score on social capital variables (down the side) and the average score on Participation Variables (across the top). We have approximately 1400 individuals. So, for example, a correlation of 0.1 between x and y means that there is a 10% correlation between an individuals level of x and an individuals level of y within the 1400 observations

Appendix 3 The statistical models used in this presentation are called binary logistic models. They examine the probability of observing a response (in this case whether the person played a sport or not) as a function of a set of variables (in this case social class, gender etc).