Dissertation Proposal

Peter Jette Student ID 12903158 MSc Sport Management and the Business of Football February 15, 2013

Topic This dissertation will examine the creation of social capital within participants of online football fandom communities. Background It is facile and obvious to remark on the massive changes on day to day life that have been the result of what could loosely be termed as the internet. What has previously been considered a virtual or online reality is an idea that has to be questioned, is something virtual if it affects ones life? As the line between the real world and the virtual world become blurred it is important to understand the nature of the virtual world and its effects on its participants. Sport and participation in sport has long been championed as something that can have myriad benets. There are obvious benets such as increased health and physical well being or the positive feelings associated with competitive success. However less obvious and larger societal benets have also been cited as a result of sport and sport participation. For example observer this passage is from a report on the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games in London published in 2010 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport The 2012 Games provide a great opportunity to promote community engagement and bring people together over a national event, helping to empower and embolden communities to achieve what they want to do in their area. More cohesive and proactive communities would be a genuine legacy from London 2012, which would last for generations and would support the creation of the Big Society. We want to ensure that the Games leave a lasting legacy as the most equality-friendly ever1 Many of these benets can be understood to be a part of a larger idea known as social capital. Social capital itself is a a broad concept with no specic denition, however it could generally be dened as the capital or resources that arise from social interactions. Putnam denes social capital as social networks and the associated norms of reciprocity2. Within the context of sport social capital can be more specically dened. Hoye, Nicholson, and Houlihan assert social cohesion, social inclusion and social capital are interchangeable terms and their discussion of social inclusion and sport outlines the creation of social capital,

Plans for The Legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, (December 2010), p. 1.
2

Robert Putnam, interviewed by Rory J. Clarke Bowling together, OECD Observer. March, 2004, http:// www.oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/1215/Bowling_together.html

In other words, the simple act of being with other people will result in an individual feeling more socially included because of their membership of a group...Furthermore, this increase in social interaction results in improved well being3 In The Canadian Sport Policy document produced from 2002 by the Heritage Ministry demonstrates the Canadian governments denition and approach to social capital within sport, Establishing sport clubs and organizing events are great training grounds for social action. Social capital is built by learning to organize meetings, negotiate for the use of shared facilities, and deal with expectations, triumphs, and failures4 In the UK, New Labours goal of modernization and social inclusion following their election to government in 1997 and their policy toward sport policy and development was in part an effort to increase the amount of social capital and promote engaged and active citizenship 5 In these examples and denitions where social capital is created through sport the focus is on participation in sport. This ignores a major component of sport, following and spectating sport. This is an important activity in the lives of many people worldwide and this, like any group activity, affects social capital. Houlihan and White reference Putnams work on the decline of sport participation and the increase in the following of sport as having a negative effect on the amount of social capital in society, as Putnam states, In football as in politics, watching a team play is not the same thing as playing on a team6 However is Putnams assertion correct? Is sport participation the only way to build social capital? Are supporting a team, or being engaged with a sport as a spectator activities that are incapable of creating social capital between its participants? This dissertation will attempt ascertain wether or not this is the case and wether or not the nature of online social networks and communities provides a forum for the interactions that are essential to creating social capital. Research in to the social capital created through online interactions is ongoing, Williams has identied and discussed the specic functional differences between previous social capital research and the social capital research techniques being used for online
3

Russell Hoye, Matthew Nicholson, Barrie Houlihan, Sport and Policy: Issues and Analysis (London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010) p. 156-157.
4 5

The Canadian Sport Policy, Canadian Heritage, (April 2002) p. 6.

Barrie Houlihan and Anita White, The Politics of Sports Development (London: Routledge, 2002) p. 215-217.
6

Robert Putnam Bowling Alone. 2000 quoted in Barrie Houlihan and Anita White, The Politics of Sports Development (London: Routledge, 2002) p. 216.

research7 . Studies in to the effects of the social networking on social capital have been conducted examining social capital through the of Facebook by university students 8 or the differences in social capital between different users on the website MySpace9. These and other studies will form the basis for the literature review along with an indepth look a the concept of social capital. Purpose of Research The primary aim of the research is to examine and assess the link and creation of social capital within online football fandom communities. In what forms and to what extent does social capital exist in these communities? More specically to creation of social capital in these online communities and the nature of this social capital is wether the social capital is of a bonding or bridging nature. Putnam describes bonding as a form of social capital that, tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogenous groups and bridging involves networks that, are outward looking and encompass people across diverse social cleavages 10. Inherent in this research will be an exploration of the nature of these communities and the networks they create. An understanding of these networks and the people that they are composed of is fundamental to grasping the way social capital is created. These are relatively nascent and specic social networks and an exploratory study of these communities has its own inherent value. This research can also be seen as having an ethnographic component. An important question to be explored is wether the relationships that create social capital in these online communities and networks are limited to the relationships between participants in the communities or if they extend to the catalysts of these communities. That is to say, do the participants in these communities and fandoms feel that they have a relationship with the teams and players themselves? As mentioned before reciprocity is an important facet of social capital and it would seem that reciprocity is not possible with someone not actively participating in the relationship, but
7

Dmitri Williams, On and off the 'net: Scales for social capital in an online era, Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 11(2), article 11 (2006) via http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/williams.html
8

Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfeld, Cliff Lampe, The Benets of Facebook Friends: Social Capital and College Students Use of Online Social Network Sites, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12:11431168 (2007) via http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j. 1083-6101.2007.00367.x/full
9

Ulrike Pfeil, Arjan Raj, Zaphiris Panayiotis, "Age differences in online social networkingA study of user proles and the social capital divide among teenagers and older users in MySpace," Computers in Human Behavior 25, no. 3: 643-654 (2009) via http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0747563208001714
10

Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, Internet Communication and Qualitative Research: A Handbook for Researching Online (London: Simon & Schuster, 2000) p. 42 (e-book)

perhaps a passive one-way form of reciprocity exists11? In essence do these communities just provide a forum for an individuals to express their fandom in ways they could not ofine and is it the fandom itself which affects social capital? Research Questions 1) What is the impact of online football fandom communities on social capital for the participants of these communities? a. Does the social capital created, if any, arise out of the interactions between the participants, is it created through relationships with the object of the fandom, or is it a combination of both? b. Is the social capital found in these communities of a bonding or a bridging nature or a mix of both? 2. What is the nature of these communities? How do they function? Who are their participants? Proposed Research Methods This dissertation will use a mix of interviews and questionnaires with the participants in online football fan communities. The use of both of these methods of data collection allows for open ended and exploratory research through interviews but also provides for a larger number of respondents to increase the sample. Using questionnaires and surveys online has many advantages. Mann and Stewart note the speed and efciency of online surveys along with the ability to reach and participant in a community, the ability to participate in these communities means they are able to complete an online survey 12. Additionally with tools such as Survey Monkey, creating online surveys is cost and time efcient. Interviews can be conducted face to face, via Skype/Gchat/telephone or instant messaging. The interviews will take a semi-structured form to match the exploratory nature of the research, while the topic of social capital is the primary focus, a more structured and direct approach could constrain the discussion and illuminate only certain aspects of these communities and individuals. Gaining access to these communities presents certain difculties but with the open nature of many of these networks and such large user bases nding enough respondents should be possible and the use of snowball sampling could prove very effective in recruiting new respondents.

11 12

I do understand the paradoxical nature of this statement Chris Mann and Fiona Stewart (London: Sage Publications, 2000) p. 72.

Discourse analysis of the discussions within these communities was considered however there are two reasons that interviews and surveys were preferred. This analysis does not actually concern social capital itself, in the main users will be discussing the subject matter of the community which would not indicate anything about the social capital that arises out of these communities. This approach also raises certain ethical concerns as participants would not be aware that their content is being used in a discourse or if consent is obtained it may affect the nature of the discourse as users are conscious that their words are being read by a third-party observer. There is also the misreading of certain statements as it can be difcult to establish context online 13. Ethical Considerations As with any interview and survey based research informed consent from all participants must be obtained. With online based research it is also important to remember that the possibility of contacting a child while conducting online research is more likely than in traditional interviews and parental consent may be required, the nature of online interactions also means that it may not be possible to verify the parental consent when presented with it, this may mean that all participants must be adults14. Condentiality of personal information will be the primary concern, it is paramount that all respondents are able to respond freely and honestly without fear of private information becoming public. It is especially important with participants of these communities as anonymity can be an important part of these online interactions. As noted by Friedman, Kahn, and Howe in their article Trust Online, On the other, if we focus on protecting ourselves from the potential harm and ill will of others, then anonymity can help cultivate a climate of trust by putting in place greater safeguards15 , trust is essential to ensuring reliability of data. Related to condentiality is also security of the data when it is collected. This may mean that increased security measures such as specialized encryption will be used or that specic assurances about condentiality must be made and it must be understood that this information may be accessed in a way that would not be possible with traditional methods such as interview recordings or notes16 . Conclusion These online communities exist for a variety of interest groups and they are not exclusive to football or sport. Understanding the nature of these communities and the
13 14 15

Mann and Stewart, p. 87-91 ibid, p. 52

Barry Friedman, Peter H. Kahn Jr., Daniel C. Howe, Trust Online, COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 43, no. 12 (2000) p. 38, via http://depts.washington.edu/hints/publications/Trust_Online.pdf
16

Mann and Stewart, p. 42-43

effect it has on social capital has great value as the line between online and ofine grows smaller. Preferred Supervisor Richard Tacon Second Choice Supervisor Geoff Walters