Working Paper on Sports and Social Cohesion Published

At the 2022 International Youth Conference, as one of the suggestions made with the purpose of reducing polarization and improving social collaboration, the Youth Fellows proposed the idea of using “sports as a glue for community building”. The fifth contribution to the International Youth Think Tank’s Working Paper Series, titled “Sport and Social Cohesion: Bridging Social Divides through Equitable Sports Policies”, builds on the Youth Fellow’s proposal and discusses the possibility of using sports as a policy tool for social cohesion.

The paper looks at three dimensions of social cohesion that could be improved by sports policies, but which could also cause obstacles for equitable sports participation: socioeconomic status, common values and social capital, and social and institutional trust. Compiling research from countries across the globe, the paper concludes that sports policies have the potential to improve community ties and intra-group collaboration. However, it is also evident that sports can produce exclusionary attitudes if, by creating a strong sense of community within a specific in-group (i.e. teams or clubs), they also create out-group antagonism. Therefore, if policymakers want to utilize sports as a tool for community building and social cohesion, they must ensure that policies prioritize diversity and inclusion.

Furthermore, the paper also concludes that if policies are to ensure the equal participation of individuals across society, they have to adopt a holistic approach to potential obstacles tied to the dimensions of social cohesion, so that neither economic, social, or structural issues prevent individual participation.

Read the full working paper here.