Jonathan Long

What’s the Big Idea? A Critical Exploration of the Concept of Social Capital and its Incorporation into Leisure Policy Discourse

Abstract Starting from the overwhelming welcome that Putnam’s (2000) treatise on social capital has received in government circles, we consider its relative merits for examining and understanding the role for leisure in policy strategies. To perform this critique we identify some of the key points from Putnam’s work and also illustrate how it has been incorporated into a body of leisure studies literature. This is then extended to a discussion of the methodological and theoretical underpinnings of his approach and its link to civic communitarianism. We suggest that the seduction of the ‘niceness’ of Putnam’s formulation of social capital not only misses the point of the grimness of some people’s lives but it also pays little attention to Bourdieu’s point that poorer community groups tend to be at the mercy of forces over which they have little control. We argue that if the poor have become a silent emblem of the ways in which the state has more and more individualised its relationship with its citizens, it is they who also tend to be blamed for their own poverty because it is presumed that they lack social capital. This in turn encourages ‘us’ to determine what is appropriate for ‘them’. As a critical response to this situation, we propose that Bourdieu’s take on different forms of ‘capital’ offers more productive lines for analysis. From there we go on to suggest that it might be profitable to combine Bourdieu’s sociology with Sennett’s recent interpretation of ‘respect’ to formulate a central interpretive role for community leisure practitioners – recast as cultural intermediaries – if poorer community groups are to be better included.

Sustainable tourism: the role of the small firm

Reports the preliminary findings of a study examining the relationship between issues of sustainable development and the operations of small tourism businesses. Indicates that detailed questionnaires were administered to owner managers of small tourism firms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. States that the survey sought to establish information levels, attitudes towards sustainability, and action taken to protect the environment. Reveals that the research then sought to establish what characteristics of the firms and their owner managers might lie behind these. Suggests that although there is a lot of sympathy with the general principles of sustainability, there is general confusion around the term “sustainability” and even “environmental concern”. Reports a range of actions, but a lack of appreciation of how these might relate to a coherent business strategy, aggravated by a surprising lack of information, which is clearly something that needs to be addressed by the various public agencies in the field. Suggests that it may be possible to identify the characteristics of those business owners who are most likely to be receptive to the principles of sustainable tourism.

Continuity as a basis for change: leisure and male retirement

The images, attitudes and activities associated with retirement are changing, but it still represents an important threshold in peoples lives. This paper argues that men commonly deal with the changes precipitated by retirement by emphasizing those aspects of their lives that represent continuity. Far from taking-up a set of new activities, it is most usual for retirement to be characterized by more of the same. Much of this continuity is provided by leisure pursuits which may, however, change their significance in retirement. The paper appraises the psychological values, use of time and social contact associated with leisure in this period of transition and concludes that many of those who adapt best to retirement are those who in fact have to make the least changes.

Managing and monitoring equality and diversity in UK sport: an evaluation of the sporting equals Racial Equality Standard and its impact on organizational change.

Despite greater attention to racial equality in sport in recent years, the progress of national sports organizations toward creating equality of outcomes has been limited in the United Kingdom. The collaboration of the national sports agencies, equity organizations and national sports organizations (including national governing bodies of sport) has focused on Equality Standards. The authors revisit an earlier impact study of the Racial Equality Standard in sport and supplement it with another round of interview material to assess changing strategies to manage diversity in British sport. In particular, it tracks the impact on organizational commitment to diversity through the period of the establishment of the Racial Equality Standard and its replacement by an Equality Standard that deals with other diversity issues alongside race and ethnicity. As a result, the authors question whether the new, generic Equality Standard is capable of addressing racial diversity and promoting equality of outcomes.

Promoting Racial Equality within Sports Organizations

In an attempt to promote racial equality policies in national sports organizations in England, the Racial Equality Charter for Sport was introduced in 2000. This article reports on progress in achieving the associated Standard in different sports and different levels of sport. Questionnaires and interviews suggest that there has been some measure of success but that this has been slow and is vulnerable to personnel change and competing demands on resources. The article also adopts a critical sociological approach to the structures of sport to examine the limitations on the success of those interventions to conclude that more than organizational change is required—cultures need to change to become more inclusive.

On the moral economy of racism and racist rationalizations in sport.

This article draws on and extends a series of empirical studies into the nature and extent of racism in selected sports and philosophical explorations of certain virtues and vices in sports more generally. In particular, the article explores dispassionately questions of responsibility and culpability for both committed and unacknowledged racism in sports, and critically evaluates sportspersons’ attempts to rationalize it. We argue that it is necessary to examine: some of the underpinning ‘logic’ of empirical and conceptual research; certain unchallenged assumptions about the moral repugnance of racism; and certain undifferentiated moral responses to racisms of lesser and greater viciousness. The aim of this article, then, is to offer a clearer conceptual schema for evaluating beliefs and behaviour in this highly charged arena. We examine critically certain definitions of racism, and evaluate the ethical standing of a range of actions and practices that characteristically fall under the labels ‘racist’ and ‘racism’.

Improving competitiveness. Critical success factors for tourism development

For a variety of reasons an increasing number of local authorities and other agencies have turned to tourism as a means of economic development. To date, however, the level of activity among policy makers has not been matched by research that might inform their deliberations. Although the importance of demand-related issues — such as the promotion of particular destinations — is recognised, this paper shifts the focus to the neglected issue of sector supply. It argues that if tourism is to contribute to economic development that is sustainable, private- and public-sector facilities (such as attractions or hotels) must be nationally — and often internationally — competitive. The paper proposes a model for understanding the competitiveness of organisations in the sector and reports the findings of its application in a case study of east and south-east London.

A critical examination of the advantages of investigating community and leisure from a social network perspective

In an attempt to appreciate the contribution that social network analysis might offer to the study of leisure, four distinctive, though not mutually exclusive, approaches to social network analysis are considered and an overall critique of the approach offered, paying special attention to the work of Wellman. Within this critique is a discussion of the ontological, epistemological and methodological problems confronting the social network perspective, particularly the works of those analysts, such as Stokowski (1994), who have attempted to merge structural analysis with more action-based perspectives. Some comparisons are made with figurational sociology and structuration theory, and attention is drawn to three central explanatory tools deployed within network analysis: the strength of weak ties, sociometry, and network density.

Whiteness, Blackness and Settlement: Leisure and the Integration of New Migrants

At times of economic uncertainty the position of new migrants is subject to ever closer scrutiny. While the main focus of attention tends to be on the world of employment the research on which this paper is based started from the proposition that leisure and sport spaces can support processes of social inclusion yet may also serve to exclude certain groups. As such, these spaces may be seen as contested and racialised places that shape behaviour. The paper draws on interviews with White migrants from Poland and Black migrants from Africa to examine the normalising of whiteness. We use this paper not just to explore how leisure and sport spaces are encoded by new migrants, but how struggles over those spaces and the use of social and cultural capital are racialised.

Leisure opportunities and new migrant communities: challenging the contribution of sport

This paper offers a critique of the much-vaunted claims of sports ability to integrate new migrants by generating social capital. By examining a growing literature base alongside new empirical evidence, we explore whether the experiences of new migrants actually reflect the hypothetical claims made by some policy-makers and scholars about the role of sport in tackling exclusion, promoting inclusion and constructing interculturalism. We demonstrate that the claims made about the value of sport are not found in the experiences of most of our respondents from new migrant communities living in Leeds, UK. We question whether sport truly is communicative in the Habermasian sense, contributing to identity projects, and so counsel caution in using it as a panacea to promote belonging and cohesion. This was a purpose for which leisure opportunities seemed more suited (at least for participants) in our research.