Building a sense of community through sport programming and special events: the role of sport marketing in contributing to social capital

Abstract

The role of sport marketing in contributing to social capital is derived from the historical relationship of marketing methods and the social sciences. Examples can be found in psychology (attitudes, consumer behaviour, motivation, participation levels, perceived value, perceptions, satisfaction levels), sociology (ethics and morals, ethnicity, gender equity, globalisation, performance enhancement, politics, race, social class and setting, violence and deviance), economics (accounting, asset markets, consumption levels, investments in sport products, labour equilibrium, pricing) and anthropology (cultural identity, ethnography, history of sport, human development and movement, rituals). In addition, market research validates most of these activities and the advertising of sport is related to many of the creative arts. The goal of this paper is to take a look at how marketing seems, in most cases, to have moved away from the social sciences into the business realm by bringing awareness to the historical relationship by articulating the role sport marketing plays in contributing to the social psychological concepts of 'social capital' and 'sense of community'.