Sport Executives and Voluntary Associations: A Review of the Literature and Introduction to Some Theoretical Issues

Since the overwhelming majority of sport opportunity in Canada is enjoyed, organized, and administered by voluntary associations, it is surprising that so little research has been done in this area. This paper reviews the voluntary association literature in general and the sport voluntary association literature in particular. Broadly stated, the general literature shows that voluntary association membership reflects the normative order and no matter what indicator of socioeconomic status is used, there is a direct relationship between SES and participation in voluntary associations. The same, in an accentuated form, is found in sport associations. Furthermore, instrumental associations, both as a whole and in sport, are more dominated by upper SES personnel than are expressive associations. Concerning gender relations, the review shows that the exclusion of women from so many spheres of social life is found with equal severity in the voluntary association literature as a whole and in the sport literature in particular. The final section of the paper examines how power and the control over rules and resources can be used to explain the existing patterns of voluntary association in Canadian sport.