The elite breakaway sustains its lead on the peloton: social leverage, major sport events, and cultural decolonisation

ABSTRACT

Major sport events are considered to be a catalyst of social benefits in society and are a fully-fledged actor within social sport policy. However, sports and sport event participation are socially stratified and many studies indicate non-uniform effects. This article draws on data from an online questionnaire collected in the context of the 2021 Road World Cycling Championship and aims at examining, through Elite theory, early participation and social effect differences between communities in the host city. The self-reported differences in event participation, direct social impact, and long-term social outcomes are compared between the dominant and non-dominant groups within this context. The findings indicate that participation, social impacts, and outcomes are not that straightforward, nor universal throughout different social communities. Despite the rhetoric of events’ beneficiary character, especially towards non-dominant groups, the event turns out to be mainly attuned towards the dominant groups. This is due to the inability of major sports events to be separated from inequality because of their political, cultural and economic embeddedness. In addition, the events serve as a cultural coloniser through the transmission of Western-dominated neoliberal thought patterns.

KEYWORDS:

• Major sport events
• sport
• social impact
• social leverage
• power
• decolonization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Individuals with a low socio-economic status could also be classified as non-elite or non-dominant group within sports. Unfortunately, the data collection did not allow us to identify these individuals in our dataset.

2. Flanders Classics and Golazo can present a wealth of experience as organisers of the largest cycling races in Flanders and Belgium, including the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Baloise Belgium Tour, the BinckBank Tour, numerous cyclocross races and more than 40 events for cycling tourists.

3. Hoplr is a private social network for neighbourhoods in Belgium and the Netherlands (https://www.hoplr.com/). It focuses on social interaction between residents and engagement in the neighbourhood.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nathan D’Hoore

Nathan D’Hoore obtained his Master of Science at the Faculty of Movement & Rehabilitation Sciences of the KU Leuven in 2021. As a PhD student, he is currently preparing a thesis with a focus on social inclusion through sports within the Sports & Physical Activity Research Group at KU Leuven.

Kobe Helsen

Kobe Helsen studied movement and sports sciences (major sports policy and sports management) at the Faculty of Movement & Rehabilitation Sciences (KU Leuven, Belgium). Since 2017, he has been working as a scientific researcher within the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group at KU Leuven. He participated in research projects concerning policy and management challenges concerning local sports federations and in research projects on the variety of impacts of sports events.

Jeroen Scheerder

Jeroen Scheerder is Professor in Sport Policy and Sport Sociology, and Head of the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group at KU Leuven, Belgium. He was President of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (EASS) and currently he is Promotor-coordinator of the Policy Research Centre on Sports on behalf of the Flemish Government. His primary research interests focus on political and sociological aspects of sport and physical activity.