2025/02/09 by Anders Bastrup Jørgensen · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Sport and Mega-Event Impacts
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/1369183x.2025.2461649
openalex publication_date 2025/02/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Scholars and policymakers often assume that leisure organisations, such as hobby, cultural, and sports clubs, promote social integration by fostering cross-ethnic ties. However, the empirical basis for this assumption is weak. Against this backdrop, I use two-wave panel data from the Netherlands to examine the extent to which participation in leisure organisations impacts various cross-ethnic integration outcomes, encompassing (i) cross-ethnic ties in the associations, (ii) cross-ethnic ties in the neighbourhood, and (iii) cross-ethnic friendships. The findings suggest that participation in leisure organisations comprising out-group members increased cross-ethnic personal contacts within associations for individuals of Dutch, Turkish, and Moroccan origin. However, their participation did not substantially impact cross-ethnic relations outside these organisations. I found no evidence of increased personal contacts in the neighbourhood or a higher likelihood of cross-ethnic friendships in personal networks resulting from leisure organisation participation. Overall, this study tempers overly optimistic visions of leisure organisations' ethnic bridging potentials.