Sport in broader leisure lifestyles: An analysis of the professional sport consumer’s cultural engagement

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of professional sport in contemporary societies, there is little known by academics about professional sports consumers. We know much more about other cultural domains, such as music and the arts. This study examines consumption and sport in Canada to further understand how patterns of sports consumption fit into broader leisure lifestyles. Through investigation of how five professional sports leagues in Canada are consumed, this paper draws conclusions about the lifestyle of these consumers to assess which prevailing theories of cultural consumption are most useful for this segment. By utilising latent class analysis and regression modelling, this paper finds that cultural omnivores are the most likely consumers of these leagues. This group also maps onto theorisations of omnivores as high-status persons. Additionally, this paper suggests that theories of cosmopolitanism in omnivorous consumption may have particular salience for the Canadian case.

Sport omnivorism: Social stratification of sports practice in Chile

“…In this case, the latent variable corresponds to the type of sports practice, which explains the sporting patterns, the time per session and the weekly frequency of practice. LCA is a relatively new technique in sports practice studies (Gemar, 2018a(Gemar, , 2018b(Gemar, , 2018cWiddop and Cutts, 2013;Widdop et al, 2016), but it has been used in other cultural fields (Chan and Goldthorpe, 2005, 2006, 2007.…”

“…First, in the coexistence of arguments of both the homology argument and the omnivorous-univorous argument in the types of sports practice that can be found in a certain context. There are a growing number of studies that interpret their findings in light of both hypotheses in at least some respect (Gemar, 2018a(Gemar, , 2018b(Gemar, , 2018cLefèvre and Ohl, 2012;Stempel, 2005;Widdop and Cutts, 2013;Widdop et al, 2016). This phenomenon has already tried to be explained for another cultural field by Lizardo and Skiles (2012), who postulate that cultural omnivorism will be acquired through socialization at an early age in the family setting and then develop in school and in the labour market, becoming a form of distinction in Bourdieu's (1989) terms.…”

“…Likewise, this multiplicity of omnivorous profiles gives scope to the idea of the omnivorous as cosmopolitan individuals open and tolerant to new forms of cultural practices and consumption as the one explained by Chan (2019). However, it is still necessary to analyse for each case whether, in the case of sports, cosmopolitanism would obey a form of social distinction (Gemar, 2018b;Ollivier, 2008), or a transversal change of attitudes towards new experiences (Chan, 2019). Considering this, the fact that on the sports field it is plausible to find more than one omnivorous group indicates that each of them must be analysed on the basis of its unique context.…”

Emerging Culture and Cultural capital: The cases of yoga, meditation and vegetarianism in the U.K.

“…Indeed, many studies suggest that the upwardly mobile represent the primary example of a site in which we can find the culturally omnivorous (Emmison, 2003;Daenekindt and Roose, 2013;Coulangeon 2015;Friedman, 2012Friedman, , 2013Van Eijck and Knulst, 2005;). However, the cultural 'omnivore' as such is not championed as representing patterns of cultural consumption in the United Kingdom (Savage et al, 2015;Warde, Wright, and Gayo-Cal, 2007), and in other context, such as Canada, there is mixed evidence of omnivorism (Gemar, 2018a;2018b;Veenstra, 2010;.…”

Social capital networks in sports spectatorship and participation

“…This paper seeks to contribute to the debates on social capital and sport in a number of ways. First, while direct sports participation is frequently studied (Lera-López et al, 2012;Thrane, 2001), sports spectatorship, such as in person, on television (Perényi, 2010;Taks and Scheerder, 2006;Thrane, 2001) or via another contemporary spectating medium (Gemar, 2019a), has received significantly less scholarly attention (Gemar, 2019b(Gemar, , 2020aLera-López et al, 2012). Those that consider both at once are even rarer.…”