Chapter 6. Ethnicity matters 129 6.4 Social implications Positively motivated sorting Now let us consider the social implications of this dissertation’s findings. While amateur football is an immensely popular sport and Dutch citizens of all backgrounds become members of local football clubs, this study demonstrates that club membership is subject to homogenising forces. All things being equal; membership ties are strengthened by ethnic similarity and weakened by dissimilarity. This limits the possibilities for interethnic mixing within clubs. Given that the Dutch population will continue to ethnically diversify over time and organizational heterogeneity and inclusion are widely valued, some may find these outcomes to be unsettling. It is therefore important to stress once more that the lion’s share of ethnic sorting is most likely positively motivated. Namely, people, regardless of background, find it easier and more important to connect with others who are like themselves. We should keep in mind that even when these ingroup preferences are small, they can still lead to substantial ethnic sorting because the time and resources we are able to invest in social ties are highly constrained. This, of course, does not mean we should discount the fact that ethnic discrimination is a structural phenomenon both inside and outside amateur football. Indeed, ethic sorting can and will also be the result of explicit or more subtle process of exclusion and this warrants our careful attention. The extent to which this occurs remains, for now, an empirical question. Based on what we know, however, it seems unlikely that discrimination is the primary driver of ethnic homogenisation of membership ties. Universal preferences, unequal opportunities This is not to say that when ethnic homogenisation is positively motivated it cannot be problematic. A critical issue within this dynamic is that while the preference for ingroup contacts may be universal, the ability to create or join homogeneous clubs is most definitely not. Given the distribution of ethnic backgrounds in the Netherlands, most clubs tend to have an overwhelming majority of members with Dutch backgrounds. For citizens with a Dutch background, this offers a range of options. Furthermore, when this groups joins a club through an acquaintance, this will almost always be a club in which they are
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