EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Young immigrants and sport

Young immigrants and sport

Introduction

The policy document of the Dutch government 'Time for Sport' contains the policy programme 'Participation of Immigrant Youths through Sport'. A statement of affairs has been drawn up with a view to working out the details of this policy intention. This statement of affairs, commissioned by the Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports, entails a review of the literature and policy information on (young) immigrants and sport.

Description

What information is available (in the form of publications and projects) on immigrants and sport?
This statement of affairs is drawn up by the Mulier Institute. Information was sought in the Mulier Institute's library as well as in the libraries of various universities. The main search keys were: immigrants, immigrant youths, integration, sport and leisure. The literature review was primarily restricted to Dutch sources. Given the relatively limited 'shelf life' of the information, the statement of affairs was restricted to sources dating from the last decade.

Conclusions

According to the Verwey-Jonker institute there are no national statistics on the scope and development of the participation of immigrants in sporting activities available. In addition little research has been conducted into the effectiveness of the policy on sport.
This statement of affairs regarding publications and projects points in a single direction. The knowledge and understanding with respect to the participation of immigrants in sport is indeed fairly limited. Nevertheless, certain patterns in participation in sporting activities can be discerned from local surveys and qualitative studies.
Attempts to explicitly and instrumentally use sport in the scope of social integration can easily miss their target.
It would seem to be advisable to channel attention towards the promotion of participation in sporting activities and the training and informing of the sporting community. These are necessary conditions for a more instrumental use of sport.
The sport (association) forms a context within which social networks are created and social capital recruited. In this sense participation in sporting activities can also implicitly promote the social integration of participants.

Contact info

W.J.H. Mulier Institute
Phone: +31 73 6126401
info@mulierinstituut.nl

Publication date

01/01/2006

Researcher

J. van der Leest and J. Janssens

Links

W.J.H. Mulier Institute

Young immigrants and sport: inventory of publications and projects (PDF, Dutch, 367KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Keywords

Health