Putnam versus Bourdieu

The relationship between membership of sports associations and generalized trust was studied. The problem statement formulated to investigate the relationship reads as following “To what extent does membership of sports associations influence generalized trust and to what extent does membership of sports associations divide or unite people of different groups?” The hypotheses formulated to answer the research questions were based on the conflicting ideas of Putnam and Bourdieu. Data from the NEtherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Studies (2010) were used to test the hypotheses. It can be concluded that members of sports associations have a significantly higher level of generalized trust compared to non-members. The ethnical heterogeneity of the personal network is positively related to the level of generalized trust. However, interethnic personal contact at the sports association does not influence the level of generalized trust.