The Integrative Role of Sport in Multicultural Societies
Abstract
Sport participation has been recognized as an important socializing agent; the sport environment is considered a suitable setting for the development of social and moral values, particularly for youth. Therefore, it can be argued that participation in sport may reinforce understanding and respect of cultural diversity and foster the integration of migrants. In this paper, we review the existing literature on the integrative role of sport among individuals and groups with differing cultural backgrounds. The existing findings support the role sport may have in promoting integration; nonetheless, some controversy exists. On the one side, there is evidence suggesting that sport can promote interaction among people from different cultures, while also helping individuals maintain ties with their own cultural groups, thus facilitating the maintenance of their cultural heritage. On the other side, there are also indications that sport participation may accentuate cultural differences, thus evoking tensions. Therefore, it appears that sport participation per se may not have the strength to achieve the anticipated integration; rather, sport would provide a common ground where integration can be cultivated. Future directions are discussed to encourage the development of research that enhances further our understanding on the integrative role of sport in multicultural societies.
References
1997). Rethinking assimilation theory for a new era of immigration. International Migration Review, 31, 826–874.
(2010). Sport as a vehicle for socialization and maintenance of cultural identity: International students attending American universities. Sport Management Review, 13, 421–434. doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2010.01.004
(1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(1969). Contact hypothesis in ethnic relations. Psychological Bulletin, 71, 319–342.
(1996). Muslim women and physical education in initial teacher training. Sport, Education & Society, 1, 5–21. doi: 10.1080/1357332960010101
(1980). Acculturation as varieties of adaptation. In , Acculturation: Theory, models and some new findings (pp. 9–25). Boulder, CO: Westview.
(1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 5–34. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x
(2003). Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In , Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement and applied research (pp. 17–37). Washington, DC: APA Press.
(2013). Accommodating cultural diversity and achieving equity: An introduction to psychological dimensions of multiculturalism. European Psychologist, 18, 151–157. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000167
(1997). Towards an interactive acculturation model: A social psychological approach. International Journal of Psychology, 32, 369–386.
(2006). Sports and character development. President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 7, 1–8.
(1986). Promoting moral growth in a summer sport camp: The implementation of theoretically grounded instructional strategies. Journal of Moral Education, 15, 212–220.
(1999). Changing attitudes through intergroup contact: The effects of group membership salience. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 741–764.
(2011). Fit to belong: Activity and acculturation of Chinese students. Journal of Sport Behavior, 34, 207–227.
(1987). Gender, leisure and sport: A case-study of young people of south Asian descent. Leisure Studies, 63, 265–279. doi: 10.1080/02614368700390211
(2009). Household income, maternal acculturation, maternal education level and health behaviors of Chinese-American children and mothers. Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, 11, 198–204. doi: 10.1007/s10903-008-9124-8
(2002). Sport and social exclusion. London, UK: Routledge.
(2002). Coach and peer influence on children’s development through sport. In , Psychological foundations of sport (pp. 520–540). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
(2001). Acculturation and leisure-time physical inactivity in Mexican American adults: Results from NHANES III, 1988–1994. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1254–1257.
(2006). Young Muslim women’s experiences of Islam and physical education in Greece and Britain: A comparative study. Sport, Education & Society, 11, 21–38. doi: 10.1080/13573320500255056
(2011). Multiple voices: Improving participation of Muslim girls in physical education and school sport. Sport, Education & Society, 16, 223–239. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2011.540427
(2005). The influence of ethnicity and length of time since immigration on physical activity. Ethnicity & Health, 10, 293–309.
(1996). Implications of Islam on Muslim girls’ sport participation in Western Europe. Literature review and policy recommendations for sport promotion. Sport, Education & Society, 1, 147–164. doi: 10.1080/1357332960010202
(2007). Sport and physical recreation in the settlement of immigrant youth. Leisure/Loisir, 31, 27–55. doi: 10.1080/14927713.2007.9651372
(2003). Sociology of North American sport (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
(2013). Promoting integration in young migrants through sport: Role of motivational environment and ethnic and cultural identities. Manuscript submitted for publication
(2011). Ethnic and cultural identity in young athletes across Europe: Individual differences. In , Proceedings of the 13th FEPSAC European Congress of Sport Psychology. Funchal, Portugal: IDRAM(pp. 114.
(2002). Developing citizenship through sport: The impact of a sport-based volunteer programme on young sport leaders. Sport, Education & Society, 7, 151–166. doi: 10.1080/1357332022000018841
(2005). Mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in the Dutch sports landscape: Who can and wants to belong?. Sociology of Sport Journal, 22, 498–515.
(2001). The social integrative meaning of sport: A critical and comparative analysis of policy and practice in the Netherlands. Sociology of Sport Journal, 18, 414–434.
(1999). Creating a culturally relevant curriculum for disengaged girls. Sport, Education & Society, 4, 31–49.
(2003). Benchmarking in immigrant integration. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Erasmus University.
(White Paper on sport 2007 Retrieved from ec.europa.eu/sport/documents/wp_on_sport_en.pdf
.2004). Acculturation and physical activity among North Carolina Latina immigrants. Social Science & Medicine, 59, 2509–2522. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.04.011
(1991). Gender differences in motivation for intercollegiate athletic participation. Journal of Sport Behavior, 14, 159–167.
(2012). Acculturation and physical activity among immigrants: A systematic review. Journal of Public Health, 20, 313–341.
(1964). Assimilation in American life: The role of race, religions and national origins. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2000). Physical education: A reader. Oxford, UK: Meyer & Meyer Sport.
(1982). Constructing measures to assess perceptions of sport functions: An exploratory investigation. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 13, 96–106.
(2003). Physical activity programs for refugee Somali women: Working out in a new country. Women & Health, 38, 83–99.
(2010). Ethnic/cultural identity in young athletes across Europe: Preliminary descriptive evidence. Programme & Abstract Book BASES Annual Conference 2010: Challenging the Dogma (pp. S124–S125). Glasgow, UK: BASES.
(2012). Ethnic and cultural identity: A working framework for the integrative role of sport. In , Book of Abstracts of the 17th annual congress of the European College of Sport Science. Brussels, Belgium: European College of Sport Science(pp. 496.
(2003). The Integration of Immigrants in European Societies. Stuttgart, Germany: Lucius and Lucius.
(2007). “I don’t want to feel like a stranger”: Korean students who play basketball seriously. Leisure/Loisir, 31, 133–154. doi: 10.1080/14927713.2007.9651376
(2007). Acculturation does not necessarily lead to increased physical activity during leisure time: A cross-sectional study among Turkish young people in the Netherlands. BMC Public Health, 7, 230 doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-7-230
(2008). Motivational factors mediating the association between acculturation and participation in sport among young Turkish and Moroccan women in the Netherlands. Preventive Medicine, 47, 95–100. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.02.024
(2011). The role of leisure in the assimilation of Brazilian immigrants into Japanese society: Acculturation and structural assimilation. International Journal of Sport & Health Science, 9, 8–14. 10.5432/ijshs.20100019
(1998). Social cohesion through sport. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.
(2011). “Social inclusion” through sports-based interventions?. Critical Social Policy, 31, 126–150.
(2009). Ethnic/cultural identity salience, achievement goals and motivational climate in multicultural physical education classes. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 10, 45–51. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2008.06.001
(2006). A good sport? Research into the capacity of recreational sport to integrate Dutch minorities. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41, 165–180. doi: 10.1177/1012690206075419
(1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 395–412.
(2005). A new voice: Korean American women in sports. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 40, 481–495. doi: 10.1177/1012690205065748
(2011). Korean American males’ serious leisure experiences and their perceptions of different play styles. Leisure Sciences, 33, 290–308. doi: 10.1080/01490400.2011.582826
(2006). Examining the role of acculturation in health behaviors of older Mexican Americans. American Journal of Health Behavior, 30, 684–699.
(2009). Influence of acculturation among Tunisian migrants in France and their past/present exposure to the home country on diet and physical activity. Public Health Nutrition, 12, 832–841.
(in press ). Team cohesion and ethnic-cultural identity in adolescent migrant athletes. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. .2008). The integrative power of sport: Imagined and real effects of sport events on multicultural integration. Sociology of Sport Journal, 25, 387–401.
(2005). Relative acculturation extended model (RAEM): New contributions with regard to the study of acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 21–37.
(2000). Diversity and cohesion: New challenges for the integration of immigrants and minorities. Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe Publishing.
(2003). Perceptions of immigrant students on the absorption process in an Israeli physical education and sport college. European Journal of Physical Education, 8, 52–77. doi: 10.1080/1740898030080105
(1991). Constraints on the leisure and community participation of immigrant women: Implications for social integration. Society & Leisure, 14, 133–150.
(2010). Can sport contribute to the promotion of social integration in contemporary multicultural societies?. Proceedings of the 2010 Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Conference. London, UK: British Psychological Society(pp. 85 Retrieved from abstracts.bps.org.uk/index.cfm?&ResultsType=Abstracts&ResultSet_ID=6441&FormDisplayMode=view&frmShowSelected=true&localAction=details
(2002). Volunteers and professionals in Norwegian sport organizations: Facts, visions and prospects. Voluntas, 13, 253–71. doi: 10.1023/A:1020389409852
(2007). Advances in sport mortality research. In , Handbook of sport psychology (3rd ed.). (pp. 662–684). New York, NY: Wiley.
(2008). High levels of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviours among US immigrant children and adolescents. Archives Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 162, 756–763. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.162.8.756
(2009). The role of leisure pursuits in adaptation processes among Afghan refugees who have immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada. Leisure Studies, 28, 239–259. doi: 10.1080/02614360902951658
(2004). The role of recreational sport in the adaptation of first generation immigrants in the United States. Journal of Leisure Research, 36, 379–413.
(1971). Social categorization and intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 149–178.
(1998). Negotiating cultural diversity for women in sport: From assimilation to multiculturalism. Race, Ethnicity & Education, 1, 75–90. doi: 10.1080/1361332980010106
(2000). Ethnic/cultural identity salience and conflict styles in four US ethnic groups. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24, 47–81.
(2004). Acculturation, physical activity, and fast-food consumption among Asian-American and Hispanic adolescents. Journal of Community Health, 29, 467–481.
(2012). Perceived intergroup difference as an organizing principle of intercultural attitudes and acculturation attitudes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 801–821.
(2008). Bridging and bonding social capital in sport-experiences of young women with an immigrant background. Sport, Education & Society, 13, 1–17. doi: 10.1080/13573320701780498
(2004). Sport as a means of integrating minority women. Sport & Society, 7, 109–129. doi: 10.1080/1461098042000220218
(1990). The psychological and social benefits of sport and physical activity. Journal of Leisure Research, 22, 167–182.
(1994). Curriculum and instruction: The secondary school physical education experience. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
(