In the mid 1990s the political theorist Robert Putnam popularised the term ‘social capital’, in his bestselling book Bowling Alone. Broadly speaking, social capital referred to the links between people. If you had lots of friends willing to help you out when you were in trouble you’d be rich in social capital even if you were poor in physical or intellectual capital. A variety of different studies have argued that the more social capital a country has the happier it is, as there are strong bonds tying society together. National identity with its shared sense of belonging is a key way of generating and promoting social capital.
For most countries national identity evolves naturally over time, based largely on a shared language, history and cultural touchstones. When any of these things are missing there is much more likely to be conflict between different groups that can sometimes slide into civil war. In Britain, our sense of national identity influences how we speak, behave and relate to others on a daily basis. For instance, politicians often refer to the ‘spirit of Dunkirk’ as a way of conjuring up the idea of succeeding against the odds. This reference would be quite familiar to the average citizen thanks to a diet of old war films and half remembered history lessons. However, for most people in Latin America or Asia the phrase might as well be meaningless.
This is where sport comes in. Nothing fosters a sense of shared national identity better than the country taking part in a global sporting competition (short of declaring a popular war). It draws people together into supporting the national team and this is partly why the World Cup is so important for South Africa. Due to its traumatic history, fractured by the apartheid regime, there are still huge differences in South African society with pronounced divisions between rich and poor and the various social and ethnic groups.
Sport increasingly crosses cultural and political boundaries in a way that few other activities can. The recent Clint Eastwood film Invictus deals with this subject in that the newly released Nelson Mandela saw the rugby world cup team as a vehicle to help bring the country together with a shared purpose. The teams’ success, eventually winning the competition, provided a huge boost to his government and helped the society make the transition from the Apartheid dictatorship to democracy. Now cracks are emerging again, prompted in part by the economic crisis that has swept the world in recent years. The question remains however, while the World Cup might temporarily paper over these cracks, can it help develop the social capital needed for solutions to the long term problems facing South Africa?
Dr Matt Ashton, Nottingham Trent University
To speak to Dr Ashton, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8782 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk
[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]
NTU World Cup 