Family leisure consumption and youth sport socialization in post-communist Poland: A perspective based on Bourdieu’s class theory

Abstract

This study analyses the class-related determinants of sport socialization and sport practices in Poland from the perspective of Bourdieu's class theory. We investigate how parents equip their children with sports-related cultural capital, including whether or not they take into account the social recognition of sport activities and how this is reflected in sport socialization practices. We performed in-depth interviews with parents whose children practised horseback riding, lawn tennis, soccer and wrestling, and a quantitative nationwide survey of parents of children aged 7-16 who practise sports. Class-based patterns of sport socialization, parents' past sport experiences and present participation and family leisure and sport consumption were observed in the qualitative part of the research, in which we found sport practices and tastes to be quite distinct according to class. Yet, except for class-dependent sport consumption, this pattern was not confirmed in the survey. Sport practices within highly commercialized sport services in present-day Poland may be used as markers of social position by those who enter this social field -approximately 40% of the Polish population. The rest remain undefined and undistinguishable in terms of a specific sport-related lifestyle.

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