Changing people’s lives for the better? Social mobility through sport-based intervention programmes:opportunities and constraints

Abstract

This paper critically examines the capacity of sport-based intervention programmes to facilitate upward social mobility for disadvantaged young people. Social mobility is seen to comprise both objective and subjective dimensions, which are studied concurrently. The paper draws on a mixed methods study of the Vencer programme in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to analyse the development opportunities created by the programme as well as the constraints faced by participants in seeking to convert these opportunities into upward social mobility. The research combines qualitative and quantitative data using a complimentary design, where each type of data produced a particular kind of knowledge. It is concluded that participants’ opportunities for upward social mobility are strongly affected by structural factors emanating from the labour market and education system. Where social mobility does take place it is at an individual and relative level rather than at a collective or absolute level. Directions for future research into social mobility through sport are proposed.