CAPÍTULO V MODELO DE REGRESIÓN
5.4 PRUEBAS ECONOMÉTRICAS
Given, as proposed earlier, that a context may be more important in today’s social environment and that a focus on strong-bonded networks can be a stumbling block, the leveraging of informal leisure contexts to strengthen the ties might be a contemporary solution to engaging communities. Rather than a focus on investment into organised community-based groups, there is a need to build social capital by people ‘bumping into each other’ more often in social leisure settings to facilitate and foster place-based friends. Can this resolve issues raised by scholars and policy makers (for example: NESF, 2003, Glover et al., 2005, Van Ingen and Van Eijck, 2009) in their search for contexts more reflective of contemporary social capital?
What is required is an exploration of the interaction between contemporary social ties, place factors and the less-structured forms of leisure to gain an understanding on how social capital is being built or could be built in contemporary society. This
thesis explores ways of strengthening the weak ties that Granovetter (2005, p. 34) would describe as being “of little significance” and to identify if there are actually new forms of weak ties in informal leisure contexts that could be made stronger.
Sharpe and Lashua (2008, p. 246) state that “popular leisure pursuits form powerful conduits to key issues of culture, society and questions of contemporary knowledge”. This thesis argues that informal, or less-structured, leisure activities will become increasingly significant when compared to formal, or structured, leisure activities for the generation of social ties and the formation of social capital. As communities become ‘looser’, the use of informal leisure contexts to foster weak ties will be more significant for community resilience.
To this end, the thesis aims to provide a better understanding of the weak ties created and strengthened through space and place-based, informal leisure. Already new terms and concepts are being framed in an attempt to better understand the links between leisure, place and social ties. Terms like ‘leisurescapes’ (Fullagar et al., 2013) and ‘place capital’ (Kent, 2013) are examples. It is timely and expedient not only to unpack the origins and application of these terms but also to provide a research framework within which to better understand the processes underpinning them.
The aim of the research is not to challenge theories but to configure them to guide an exploration of what occurs ‘on the ground’ in an informal leisure context. No one body of literature will assist on its own. Figure 5 outlines the research framework. While the diagram is simplistic, it is designed to broadly visualise the framework. Circle A is a reproduction of Figure 1 that identifies that leisure happens in spaces and places. This circle provides a construct to elucidate how informal leisure contexts might assist to better understand social capital in contemporary society. This construct feeds into social capital theory in Circle B via the large black arrow. Within Circle B sits SWT theory. It does so to seek how it can assist to better understand social capital. By configuring a framework this thesis not only
investigates the spatial elements of social capital but explores how it is created through informal leisure, what place characteristics can shape it and how the strength of weak ties might inform social capital in a more individual-focussed society.
Figure 5 – Research Framework
However, how does this framework assist the leisure practitioner and policy maker? Figure 6 introduces an extra arrow pointing back to Circle A. Once the elements of Circle A are tested through Circle B then Circle B can feed insight back to Circle A where the practitioner and the policy maker operate. Figure 6 assists to inform policy and practice.
Figure 6 – Research Framework with Insights for the Practitioner
According to the World Leisure Organization (2008), “The term ‘leisure’ is characterised as perceived freedom, experienced through a variety of social, cultural, sport and tourism activities in which the individual is the main actor”. The focus on the actor, or individual, is integral to this thesis. The focus on the individual aligns the research framework with the concept of weak ties (see Granovetter, 1973, 1983) and third place (see Oldenburg, 1999) while incorporating Coleman’s (1988) actor concept. This thesis stretches bridging capital theory by using the concept of weak ties and argues this will be a key to the future of social capital because of the shift toward individuals interacting in ‘looser’ ways.
Fundamentally, for this thesis the underpinnings of the framework are:
1. Leisure is an important factor in people’s lives but it means different things to different people;
2. Participation in leisure is changing;
4. A better understanding of how social ties are formed through informal leisure will build understanding of how contemporary social capital may be formed; and
5. A better understanding of how contemporary social capital may be formed may assist policy makers and practitioners to make more informed decisions.
2.5 Research Question
The framework outlined in Figure 5 provides the research framework within which this thesis is located. This research tests the linkages between the components of the framework with the aim to identify how social capital can be researched and observed in informal leisure. It explores how informal leisure contexts might influence social capital.
In order to do this, the question proposed in this research is:
Do informal leisure contexts build contemporary social networks and, subsequently, social capital?
To answer this question, a series of sub-questions are asked:
1. Are weak ties present in informal leisure contexts and, if so, what role do they play in generating social capital, and how?
2. What are the characteristics of these contexts that can assist to build social capital?
3. How do informal leisure contexts support and/or expand the ideas proposed by Granovetter and researchers of social capital?
The methodology designed to respond to these questions requires careful consideration of the most appropriate ways to identify and document weak ties. Similarly, it is important to determine appropriate examples of informal leisure contexts to study this. These matters are elaborated carefully in the following chapter on methodology.