The stratification of professional sports following: social position and the consumption of major professional sports leagues in Canada

ABSTRACT

The existence, nature, and social make-up of the cultural omnivore has been a topic of consistent scholarly inquiry in recent decades. Studies exist examining these dynamics both across cultural fields (inter-domain) and fully within them (intra-domain). However, even as one of the most culturally salient domains of leisure, sport is often relegated to the side-lines of these debates. This study sets out to analyse the leisure ‘following’ of professional sports. Using large-scale survey data from Canada, and employing a variety of statistical methods, this paper finds numerous distinct omnivorous categories, as well as a univorous group of professional sports consumers. The results reveal that the omnivorous groups have elevated levels of cultural and economic capital. However, it is two more selective omnivorous profiles, rather than the most omnivorous group, that show the highest concentration of cultural and economic capital. These results shed doubt on the status of intra-domain omnivores by volume as the consumption profile of high status groups. This paper also presents gendered results from these consumption groups in the first large scale investigation of female professional sports following in Canada or elsewhere.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture
• consumption
• omnivore
• social class
• professional sport

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Dr. Reginald Bibby for providing relevant spreadsheets of the survey data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Gemar

Adam Gemar is a final year doctoral candidate in sociology at Durham University. His research seeks sociological understandings of culture, religion, and sport with specific interest in their ties to social inequalities. He also holds degrees from Fordham University, Yale University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.