Workshop: Inequality and integration in sport, 26-28 June 2013, Bern (Switzerland)

The Swiss Sociological Association is organizing from 26 to 28 June a conference with the theme "Inequality and integration in sport." This will be held at the University of Bern and gather different scientific collaborators from the field of the sociology of sport.

It is common to credit  sport as a great integrating force and with the ability to remove social barriers. Sport is deemed to be a meeting place in which the community, equal opportunities and camaraderie are essential values. Therefore, it is supposed to erase, at least temporarily, the differences between social classes, ethnic groups and nations. But sport is also characterized by performance and competition. It stirs rivalries and prejudices and chooses the winners and losers. In this perspective, the workshop aims to examine the different ways through which the integration potential is exploited in sport, but also the contexts in which inequalities are met or, on the contrary, reproduced or strengthened. It will also answer the question of who participates in sport, how and where, but also who is excluded and why. The workshop will focus on various interventions devoted to themes such as integration and social inequalities in and through sport.

Call for Workshop Papers

The workshop will be composed of four to six inputs and last about two hours. If you want to propose a contribution to the workshop theme, "Inequality and integration in sport", please submit the title of your contribution, abstract (2000 characters maximum) and your contact address (name, institution / organization, address and e-mail). The abstract must contain information concerning the issues addressed, the theory and background of research, methodical approach and results. Outside the abstract, please add a few keywords and bibliographic data (10 references maximum).

Please submit contributions by February 28, 2013 via email to the contact address: [email protected] or [email protected] 

The workshop organizers are responsible for the collection of bids and selection of contributions to be included in the workshop.