Exploring the relationship between social class and sport event volunteering

ABSTRACT

There is a dearth of research that examines the relationship between sport event volunteering and social class. This article contributes to this gap by exploring the social class of volunteers involved in the running of a series of major international field hockey events held between 2015 and 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. The authors draw upon longitudinal research that utilises demographic information and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 46 event volunteers. To gauge the social composition of this volunteer pool, the authors first discern the social class categories of the study’s participants.

Following analysis of the qualitative data, the authors then examine how the interplay between social class and Pierre Bourdieu’s principal forms of cultural, economic and social capital shapes the volunteer workforce, and how they might operate to inhibit under-represented groups from volunteering. In parallel to the class analysis of the participants, the authors provide novel insights into the organisational amassing of an event volunteer workforce. The article concludes by considering the implications of the nexus between social class, capitals, and inclusion within event volunteering and its management.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Event volunteers sampled predominantly hail from middle-to-higher social classes.

• Cultural, economic and social capitals combine to facilitate sport-event volunteering.

• Institutional and technical capital are key to access and selection.

• Embodied cultural capital facilitates role progression and leadership opportunities.

• The serial hosting of single-sport major events promotes repeat event volunteering.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport events
• Bourdieu
• Capital
• Volunteers
• Social class

Notes

1 As well as recording the number of social contacts one has, social ties were also scored according to the “status” attributed to specific occupational type.

2 A mode of cultural capital, highbrow cultural tastes are “historically sanctioned in the education system” and cultural institutions such as museums and galleries; A traditional marker of cultural status, yet increasingly associated with older generations (Savage, 2015, p.113).

3 An emerging, flexible and adaptable mode of cultural capital associated with younger generations who valorise engagement in intense forms of contemporary and cosmopolitan cultural activities (Savage, Hanquinet, Cunningham, & Hjellbrekke, 2018).

4 Cultural signals that are both recognised and shared across organisations and are thus given high status by selectors (Stempel, 2005).

5 This fund can invest up to £2m in organisations seeking to develop programmes that engage communities and individuals local to the major event (Sport England, 2018).