Social Capital in Australian Sport

Abstract

Socio-cultural studies of sport in society have employed various conceptual categories from a variety of theoretical perspectives, with the latest to gain wide currency being 'social capital'. While there is much general debate on the concept and its measurement in the study of society, the number of studies using social capital has grown remarkably. Of the research using social capital as a central concept, little of this work focuses on understanding sport's position and role in society. This study adds to this new focus by linking recent empirical work and published papers on sport and social capital in Australian society. Social capital is seen to add many positive features to life in society, to provide positive development for individuals, and for building community capacity.