The World Cup and social cohesion

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The World Cup and social cohesion Bread and
circuses or bread and butter?
Too many coats of convenience hanging on too many
conceptually
loose pegs
Prof Fred Coalter University of Stirling
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Bread and circuses or bread and butter?
A personal introduction
The journey of a liberal white man
Complex/dynamic political, economic, ethnic and
cultural situation
whatever you say, say nothing
So, what do we know about events.? Little
substantive evidence nature and extent of social
impacts
Complexities of uneven development of developing
societies
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Events and social cohesion
The match programme
(i) Imagined communities. (ii) The development
of forms of social capital The soft
infrastructure/soft economics agenda
? Processes of bidding, managing and
delivery. ? The development and management of
volunteers
? Investment in sport-for-development
organisations.
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Imagined Communities
Lack of face-to-face contact ? Language, media
and symbolic practices
the imagined community of millions seems more
real as a team of eleven named people
Hobsbawn (1990)
Miller Civic and ethnic national identities
difficult in SA ? culturally based
nationalism might be possible
Rugby, cricket ? football
Soccer throughout its history in South Africa has
been a signifier for respectability, African
initiative, political struggle, individual
freedom, escapism and capitalism through its
pervasive role of urban black communities
Nauright
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Sport and imagined communities 90
minute patriots

• Role of sport in broad issue of social cohesion
  is minor.
• Big problems are political, economic and social
  
• Sport cannot work miracles
• Fodimi

Thabo Embeki quotes Nauright (1997) The overall
conception of what South Africa is, or should be,
is still being negotiated through lived
experience and discursively through the media
and other forms of public discourseSport is but
one area where the South African nation can
exist, however, the divisions that exist in
sport and within wider South African society mean
that it will take a long time before a truly
national identity is forged and takes account
of race, class and gender differences.
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Which road to social
cohesion?
All of them .and I am not sure that I would
start here
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This is a tough league
Social cohesion core concern of sociology (ies)
? Factors promoting equity in distribution of
opportunities (e.g. poverty, educational
opportunities, social mobility), and
? Capacity for cooperation based on high
levels of social capital (compliance
with law, interpersonal trust, trust in public
institutions and politicians).
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Playing in mid field
Grand narrative/sports evangelism ? middle
range theory ? Mechanisms, processes,
networks and purposive action
?
?
Sport Magic box social
vaccine
? ? ? ? ?
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A (social) capital prospect
Putnam and team work Strong social networks/civic
infrastructure/social norms/mutual
trust/reciprocity
Bonding social capital ? like us
sociological superglue getting by dark
side
Bridging social capital ? a sociological
WD40 friends ? colleagues ? getting ahead

• Linking social capital (Woodcock)
• vertical connections between different social
  strata/
• outside community

Coleman and personal goals Social capital ?
human capital Organic ? rationally
devised material and status incentives
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The soft-infrastructure of events
Partnerships ? bridging and linking
capital Urban and political elites/boosterists/
FIFA
Kim et al South Korean World Cup Lack of
involvement in the planning and decision-making
process

• Misener and Mason (2006) forms of bridging and
  linking capital
• Community values central to all decision-making
  processes

• All stakeholders, esp community interest
  groups, involved in strategic activities

• Collaborative action ? empower local
  communities ? agents of change
• Linkages community members ? local
  elites/power structures

• Open communication/mutual learning throughout
  strategic activities

Hiller Cape Town Olympic Steering
Committees transmitting information about
Olympic plans for reaction
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Volunteering and active citizenship
Volunteering key index of social capital
brings people into contact with those outside
their normal circle, broadening horizons and
raising expectations, and can link people into
informal networks through which work is more
easily found.
High economic value ? high social
value Chalip Sydney Olympics Aus1 ? Aus10 ?
c 4.5 saving on total budget
Human resource management volunteer development
strategy Strategic/systematic approach to
recruitment/training/retention Manchester
Commonwealth Games PGVP Coleman social
capital and human capital purposive
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Sport for development
Evangelism ? rationally devised material and
status incentives
UN Sport-in-development volunteering Social
welfare/community participation/trust and
reciprocity ? Bonding social capital
Papacharisisi et al (2005) there is nothing
about sport itself that is magicalIt is the
experience of sport that may facilitate the
result
Sport plus
Mathare Youth Sport Association (MYSA)
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Strategy, tactics and managing for a result
Inputs

?
Outputs Programmes


? Sporting
Inclusion Equity/target groups/frequency
? Sporting
outcomes Skills/competencies/sporting ethics
?
Individual outcomes
Personal/social development self-efficacy/esteem

? Theory of change?
? Outcomes
Changed behaviour
Peer leaders more important than programmes
people/responsible citizens
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Going beyond the touchline
important sector of civil society integrated
partnership approach ... involving a full
spectrum of actors in field- based community
development including all levels/sectors of
government, sports organisations, NGOs and the
private sector
Bridging and linking social capital
Seippel ? Isolated clubs sport/bonding ?
Connected clubs bridging/linking
But who writes and interprets the rules of the
game?

• Woolcock and Narayan (2006) Institutional View
• Civil society organisations not simple
  substitutes for the state
• Thrive to extent that state encourages them.
• In the absence of civic and government social
  capital limited impact

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Trickle down and the road to hell..
Since the Games are not about development per se,
the Games could only be developmental to the
extent that there was a deliberate will to make
them so. Embracing principles and putting them
into operation are two different things
constantly endangered by finances, time
constraints and politics Hiller
fragmented, one-service-at-a-time programs,
dissociated from peoples total patterns of
living Weiss
What are the material, cultural, economic basis
of social cohesion?

• Winning (from) the World Cup
• From sports evangelism ?
• Systematic strategy, planning and implementation
• Sustained hard work, based on a coherent
  strategy
• Understanding of the importance of tactics

even then you might not win all your games.
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