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The Paradox of Social Class and Sports Involvement

The Roles of Cultural and Economic Capital

Florida Atlantic University, USA wilson{at}fau.edu

Studies in the sociology of sport have found that the higher one's social class, the greater is one's overall involvement in sports, but the less likely is one's involvement in what have come to be called `prole' sports. Using data from the 1993 General Social Survey, this study tests two explanations for this paradox, one stressing class-based differences in cultural capital and the other emphasizing class-based differences in economic capital. Findings show that those who are richest in cultural capital and those richest in economic capital are most likely to be involved in sports generally, and that these tendencies are independent of one another. However, those richest in cultural capital are least likely to be involved in `prole' sports, and economic capital has no bearing on `prole' sports involvement. In all, cultural capital explains the paradox of social class and sports involvement better than economic capital does. Inferences are drawn for the role of sports involvement in the reproduction of social inequality, and for the `cultural omnivore' thesis.

Key Words: Americans' sport consumption • cultural capital • social class

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 37, No. 1, 5-16 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1012690202037001001


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