Department of Sport Science, Tourism & Leisure

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND SPORTS VOLUNTEERISM IN GREECE:

THE CASE STUDY OF THE AUTHENTIC MARATHON

D. Chatziefstathiou, C. Tsagdi, A. Baltas, N. Choutas

Canterbury Christ Church University, UK Panteion University, Athens

Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association (SEGAS),

Introduction The term ‘social capital’ was first described as “those

tangible assets that count for most in the daily lives of people: namely goodwill, fellowship, sympathy and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit”. (Hanifan, 1916: 130)

In the field of social science, most of the studies in relation to social capital were derived from the work of Bourdieu, Coleman, and Putnam.

Social capital Recently a growing interest in exploring the association

between sport and social capital.

Sport has been considered as a useful tool to tackle issues of broader social development, e.g. social integration, the creation of national identity.

However, studies backed up with robust evidence in relation to this concept are still scarce.

Social capital & Political discourse

On 26 November of 2013 the Council adopted the first ever Council Recommendation in sport, notably on promoting health-enhancing physical activity across sectors (HEPA).

It also adopted Council conclusions on the ‘Contribution of sport to the EU economy, and in particular to addressing youth unemployment and social inclusion’

Social capital & volunteering Many studies on the motivations of

volunteers for volunteering

Only a few have investigated how volunteering may impact on social capital and vice versa.

Same applies in the context of sport volunteering and how it is linked with social capital

Social capital & sport? Is sport unique in its ability to build social capital for

participants? Some studies have demonstrated the capability of

sport in providing opportunities for social capital formation.

However, the uniqueness of sport itself for the creation of social capital is largely unexplored

This research aims to shed further light into this by examining the social capital of runners in a marathon event.

Methodology A convenience sample of n=250

questionnaires was collected from the total n=1980 volunteers who participated in the 32nd Authentic Marathon (2014, Athens).

Measuring social capital is problematic, especially in identifying causality relationships between variables.

The problematic nature of measuring social capital is also evident in the variety of different questionnaires used by social scientists (political scientists, sociologists etc.).

Results volunteers are more inclined to be active

citizens and engage with decision-making of the clubs or organizations of which they are members.

they offer volunteering activities regularly rather than sporadically.

They demonstrate a high degree of social connectedness and have an active social life with frequent meetings in public with friends and family.

Results a rather high percentage of the sports

volunteers (28%) responded that they never participated in activities that benefitted their neighbourhoods or close region in the past 12 months

25.5% answered that they never attended an event organized by their neighbourhood or close region in the past 12 months.

Conclusions Thus, our findings did not indicate a

direction of a causal link between volunteerism and social capital

...but also showed that a deeper and longer involvement with sports volunteering may be a strong determinant of social capital.

Department of Sport Science, Tourism & Leisure

Thank you

Email: dc130@canterbury.ac.uk