ISCTE - INSTITUTO UNIVERSITÁRIO DE LISBOA

ESCOLA DE SOCIOLOGIA E POLÍTICAS PÚBLICA

FINAL COURSE ESSAY

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL INEQUALITIES

Sport: terrain of social inequalities

Chiara Maraucci Professor Nuno Nunes

mcaia1@iscte-iul.pt nuno.nunes @iscte-iul.pt

Academic Year 2023/2024

" Sport is part of the heritage of every man and woman.
and its absence can never be compensated."

Pierre de Coubertin
Summary

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Historical evolution of sport ................................................................................................................ 2

The social meaning of sport ................................................................................................................. 3

Sports participation in Europe.............................................................................................................. 4

Sport for All in Scandinavian countries: myth or reality? ................................................................... 9

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 10

References .......................................................................................................................................... 12

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 Introduction

Conditioned by the beautiful stories of social redemption that media highlight today, we often tend
to believe that sport is a vector of mobility and economic and social redemption. In reality, on the
field of play, we not only compete against our opponent, but also against the prejudices and
discriminations that exist in society. Although sport is the largest social activity in Europe, as it
involves citizens from all Member States and has a huge potential to bring them together, recent
studies by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) show that sport is also a field
where intolerance and social exclusion are expressed (Marivoet, S., 2014). With the aim of deepening
the sociological approach to the issue of inclusion through sport, this paper analyses the diffusion of
sport in Europe, with a particular focus on its social dimension.
It begins with a brief overview of the socio-historical evolution of the concept of sport, then moves
on to a theoretical reflection on the social significance of sporting activities. Finally, the last section
analyses social inequalities in the world of sport, starting from online databases provided by official
sources such as the Special Eurobarometer 525 - Sport and Physical Activity (2022) and Eurostat, the
Statistical Office of the European Union. The data collected was then transformed into graphical
representations using Google Sheets software in order to facilitate the visualisation of the phenomena
described.

Historical evolution of sport

Unfortunately, the binomial of sport and gender has very old origins. In ancient Greece and Rome,
the Olympic Games and other sporting competitions were reserved for free men only: slaves and
women were excluded. During the Middle Ages and the European Renaissance, participation in sport
was often linked to social status, so most sports were reserved for the aristocracy. With
industrialisation, many sports became popular with the working classes, but resources and
opportunities varied greatly according to class. In the more recent era of globalisation, the cultural
barriers between peoples have tended to disappear. It is now generally agreed that sport is a cultural
event with enormous potential to bring people, cultures and nations closer together, to stimulate
conviviality and to convey a sense of identity, belonging and inclusion (Marivoet, S., 2014).
In particular, since the second half of the 20th century, the ideals of "sport for all" have formed the
backdrop of European public sport policies, first promoted by the Council of Europe with the
promulgation of the European Sport for All Charter in 1975, followed by the European Sport Charter
in 1992, revised in 2001. More recently, the European Union has also played an active role in shaping
sport development policies, especially after the signing of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, which made
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sport a matter of common interest. In the same year, the European Commission launched the White
Paper on Sport, presenting a proposal for a common European sports policy. This strategic document
significantly broadened the scope of the EU strategy, no longer focusing only on institutional aspects,
i.e. "sport as an institution", linked to the professions of competitive disciplines, but also on
"citizenship sport", i.e. sport as social participation and individual and collective well-being.
2008 also saw the creation of the European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which is now
the EU body responsible for monitoring and preventing violations of these principles.
As authors who have studied social exclusion and inequality, in particular Robert Castel (1998),
have pointed out, forms of discrimination tend to be multiple and linked to people's social
characteristics: in particular, the social vulnerability to which they are exposed, the economic, social,
cultural and symbolic disadvantages that are exacerbated in times of crisis such as the current one,
when unemployment and crime tend to rise.
If, therefore, on the one hand, sport is a social configuration in the sense attributed to it by Elias
and Dunning (1986), promoting inclusion, respect for others, cooperation, loyalty and friendship,
values associated with fair play, the fundamental principle of sporting ethics (Simon, 2004), on the
other hand, it can also express intolerance and exclusion, in particular racial and ethnic discrimination
(Hylton, 2009).

The social meaning of sport

When we talk about sports practice, we have to refer to a broad concept, as there are a huge number
of sporting activities involving an increasing number of people. We speak of sportification of society
and desportification of sport (Bifulco, L., 2019). This means that, on the one hand, we have a great
diffusion of sporting practice involving larger segments of the population; on the other hand, these
activities are increasingly moving away from sport as a simple competitive activity. New types of
sport of a different nature are emerging, no longer considering the body as a 'machine' but as an
'expressive body', increasingly linked to commercial logics. In addition to these new practices, a form
of third sector sport associationism, known as 'popular' or 'social' sport, is also emerging. The most
prominent of these is “sport for all”, a category that sees sport as a right that must be accessible to all.
Changes in the practice of sport manifest themselves in different ways depending on the
institutional contexts and theoretical systems of sport regulation. The variability of national sport
systems can be analysed using the so-called Welfare Triangle (Evers, Wintersberger 1990). This
model is based on the three Polanyian forms (Polanyi, 1983) of resource regulation (state, market and
community), which represent the three principles of integration between the economy and sport
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(redistribution, market exchange and reciprocity) and form the three corners of the theoretical triangle
within which the analysis of sport regulation is developed (cfr. figure 1). Then there are three other
institutional dimensions: public versus private, profit versus non-profit, primary versus complex
social relations.

Figure 1. Welfare mix triangle

Source: Study of Pestoff 1998

The interweaving of these dimensions divides the Welfare Triangle into four areas that identify
four types of social configuration of sport:
1. Public and nonprofit: the key players are public institutions acting according to political
strategies;
2. Economic-commercial: sports practice regulated by market logic and animated by private
operators whose goal is to generate profit;
3. Private: do-it-yourself sports practice;
4. Associationism and volunteerism: organizations that promote competitive activities trying
to open them up to disadvantaged groups (disabled, migrants, minorities or prisoners).

Sports participation in Europe

The Special Eurobarometer 525 is a survey carried out by the European Union between April and
May 2022, in which 26,578 EU citizens from different social and demographic categories were asked
about their level of participation in sport. The results of this survey show that the most widespread
tendency in Europe is not to engage in any physical activity. Specifically, 45% of all respondents say

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they do not do any sport and only 6% say they do it regularly. From a national perspective, there is a
big difference between the more physically active Nordic countries and the rest of Europe (cfr. figure
2). Respondents from the Nordic countries are the least likely to answer 'never': Finland (8%), Sweden
(12%) and Denmark (20%). At the other end of the scale, 'never' is the most common answer in 15
EU Member States. More than half of those questioned in eight countries say they do not exercise,
with the highest percentages found in Portugal (73%), Greece (68%) and Poland (65%).

Figure 2. How often respondents exercise or play sport in European countries, 2022
(% - Never)

Source: Special Eurobarometer 525 Sport and Physical Activity

Belonging to a European country rather than another, is therefore the first factor determining
inequalities in sport participation across Europe. The availability of sports infrastructure, support
from local authorities and the sporting culture of a community can play a crucial role in encouraging
or limiting participation in sport. More than half of respondents believe that the area where they live
offers them many opportunities to be physically active (cfr. figure 3). However, the highest
percentages are found again in the Netherlands (91%), Sweden and Denmark (both 89%).

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Figure 3. Opportunities to be physically active across the European territory, 2022
(%)

Source: Special Eurobarometer 525 Sport and Physical Activity

The Nordic countries seem to be the areas in Europe where the importance of sport is most strongly
felt. This awareness is linked to education, which has the power to influence a citizen's lifestyle habits
and awareness of the importance of physical activity. An individual's level of education is therefore
another crucial factor that has a significant impact on the possibility of engaging in physical activity.
Eurostat data show that in 2019, 42% of the EU population with post-secondary education did at least
150 minutes of aerobic physical activity per week. This percentage decreased to 33% for those with
lower secondary education and further to 25% for those with only lower secondary education (cfr.
figure 4). People with a high level of education are therefore more likely to be physically active (the
highest results are always found in the Nordic countries).

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Figure 4. Distribution of people who spent at least 150 minutes on health-enhancing
(non-work-related) aerobic physical activity per week, by level of educational attainment, 2019
(% of population aged 15 and older)

Note: Data for Finland not available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: hlth_ehis_pe2e)

In the Nordic countries, where participation in sport is more widespread, the gender gap in sport,
which is more pronounced in the rest of Europe, is also narrowing. In 2019, more men (47%) than
women (42%) participated in regular physical activity. The gender gap was particularly pronounced
in Bulgaria, Spain, Greece and Slovakia, with a difference of almost 10 percentage points. On the
other hand, in the five EU countries with the highest levels of sport participation (Denmark, Sweden,
Germany, Luxembourg and Austria), the percentage of women taking part in sport was higher than
or almost equal to that of men.

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Figure 5. Practising sport, keeping fit or participating in recreational (leisure) physical
activities at least once a week, by sex, EU, 2019
(% population aged 15 and older)

Note: Data for Finland are not available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: hlth_ehis_pe3i)

Living in a particular country, having a high level of education and being male or female are not
the only factors that make participation in sport unequal. An individual's economic availability and
socio-professional class also play an important role. As well as providing concrete opportunities, class
also affects the symbolic structure that influences the choice of sports to play. There is a link between
economic capacity, the meanings attached to the practice of sport and the tastes incorporated by virtue
of one's class position (Bourdieu, 1978). Eurostat data confirm that people with lower incomes are
less likely to participate in sport. In 2019, almost 55% of people in the highest income quintile
participated in sport and physical activities, compared with 37% of those in the lowest income quintile
(cfr. figure 6). The largest difference between those in the first and fifth income quintiles was found
in Ireland (44 pp), followed by Hungary (38 pp) and Belgium (35 pp), while the Netherlands and
Romania had the smallest differences (8 pp).

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Figure 6. Practising sport, keeping fit or participating in recreational (leisure) physical
activities at least once a week, by income quintile, 2019
(% population aged 15 and older)

Note: Data for Finland not available.

Source: Eurostat (online data code: hlth_ehis_pe3i)

Sport for All in Scandinavian countries: myth or reality?

The fact that sports participation rates in Scandinavia are high compared to most other countries
is mainly due to the fact that Denmark, Norway and Sweden have adopted 'sport for all' as the main
goal of their sports policies (Skille, E. Å., 2011). While Sport for All became an issue at European
policy level in the 1960s, in Norway, for example, Sport for All has its roots in the communist
children's clubs of the inter-war period and the establishment of the Workers' Sports Federation in
1924 (Seippel, Ø., 2010).
However, as Green notes:
'We are witnessing the decline of sport for all as an important guiding political ethic, there is
something inherently problematic about the sport for all ethic that has contributed to its demise”.
(Green, M., 2006).
In principle, sport is for all, but in reality it is not, not even in Scandinavia.
In all Scandinavian countries, sport is primarily an activity for children and young people: there is
a marked decline in sporting activity during adolescence. There are also clear differences according
to social class. Several contextual variables contribute to the definition of a high social profile, such
as long education, good health and high income.

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 Voluntary work, a characteristic of all Scandinavian sports organisations, makes grassroots sports
clubs rather autonomous. The intention of sports organisations is to be able to implement strategies
that include two key concepts: communitarianism and competitiveness. However, while
communitarianism aims at egalitarian outcomes, competitiveness leads to the emergence of selections
and rankings. In a Swedish study based on an institutional perspective, Stenling and Fahlen (2009)
identified three dominant logics in Swedish sport: the logic of sport for all, the logic of results
orientation and the logic of commercialisation. Sports clubs try to manage all three, but in reality they
mainly support the logic of results and commercialisation.
As long as competitiveness remains the main convention of sport, sport for all will remain difficult
to achieve, because the concept of competitiveness involves processes of elitism, selection and
exclusion.

Conclusion

This study has shown how, over time, European countries have become increasingly aware of the
beneficial effects of sport on society, to the point of placing it at the heart of public policies aimed at
improving the social and economic status of the population. However, the level of participation in
sport varies greatly from one country to another and, above all, there are variables that make this
world an area of inequality and exclusion. In addition to gender, we saw that "distributive inequalities"
(income and education) and "categorical inequalities" (country and social class) also have a
significant impact in this area, with a transnational dimension of the same size as that described by
Mauritti et al. (Mauritti, R., Martins, S. D. C., Nunes, N., Romão, A. L., & Costa, A. F. D., 2016).
Political will is a conditio sine qua non for the development of gender equality in social and sports
systems. Therefore, the European Union should continue to force all member states to institutionalise
certain values, including equality in social areas such as sport, which cannot be ignored in the context
of European integration. In this respect, the Scandinavian countries are an example to follow, although
we have observed that even in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the implementation of "Sport for All"
faces various obstacles. A possible solution for the Scandinavian countries would be for the focal
sports organisations to adapt state policy more thoroughly in order to be the legitimate recipient of
public funds. Another solution would therefore be to use organizations other than the sport clubs of
the DIF/RF/NIF systems (the Sports Confederations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway respectively)
to implement ‘physical activity and health’ policy (Skille, E. Å., 2011).
We can therefore conclude that, although we almost always tend to think that sport produces
benefits always and everywhere, regardless of the way and context in which it is practised, there are
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in fact factors that make this world an area of inequality and exclusion. More transnational
comparative studies on inclusion in sport should be encouraged, in order to pave the way for greater
equality in sport participation by learning from the various good practices that already exist in some
European countries.

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References

Database

Eurostat Data Browser, (2019), Performing (non-work-related) physical activities by sex, age and
income quintile
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/HLTH_EHIS_PE3I/default/table?lang=en&category
=hlth.hlth_det.hlth_pha

Eurostat Data Browser, (2019), Time spent on health-enhancing (non-work-related) aerobic

physical activity by sex, age and educational attainment level
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_ehis_pe2e/default/table?lang=en

Special Eurobarometer 525/2022, (2022), Sport and Physical Activity, ‘Citizens of the European
Union’. EC.
https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2668

Theoric
Bifulco, L., & Tirino, M., (2019), Sport e scienze sociali: fenomeni sportivi tra consumi, media e
processi globali, Sport e scienze sociali

Bourdieu, P. (1978), Sport and Social Class, Social Science Information, 17

Castel, R. (1998), As Metamorfoses da Questão Social (9). Petrópolis: Editora Vozes

Elias, N. e Dunning, E. (1986), Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process,
Oxford: Blackwell

Evers, A., Wintersberger, H. (eds.), 1990, Shift in the Welfare Mix. Their Impact on Work, Social
Services and Welfare Policies, Boukder, Westview Press

Green, M. (2006), From ‘sport for all’ to not about ‘sport’ at all?: interrogating sport policy
interventions in the United Kingdom. European sport management quarterly

Hylton, K. (2009), ‘Race’ and Sport. Critical Race Theory. London: Routledge

Marivoet, S. (2014), Inclusão social no desporto. Contributos para uma nova área de investigação.
In VIII Congresso Português de Sociologia (Vol. 40).

Mauritti, R., Martins, S. D. C., Nunes, N., Romão, A. L., & Costa, A. F. D. (2016), The social
structure of European inequality: A multidimensional perspective. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas

Polanyi, K., (1983), La sussistenza dell’uomo, Torino, Einaudi [ed. or., The Livelihood of Man, New
York, Academic Press, 1977]

Seippel, Ø., Ibsen, B., & Norberg, J. R. (2010), Introduction: sport in Scandinavian societies

Simon, R. L. (2004), Fair Play: The Ethics of Sport (2). Colorado: Westview
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Skille, E. Å. (2011), Sport for all in Scandinavia: sport policy and participation in Norway, Sweden
and Denmark, International journal of sport policy and politics, 3(3), 327-339

Stenling, C., & Fahlén, J. (2009), The order of logics in Swedish sport–feeding the hungry beast of
result orientation and commercialization. European journal for sport and society, 6(2), 121-134.

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