De populariteit van sporten

Samenvatting

The popularity of sport. Generally, differences in the number of participants in different sports are explained in terms of individual preferences. It is the thesis of this article, that these preferences are shaped by very general conditions. These conditions are the development of the world system and the corresponding processes of national modernization. In this article it is demonstrated how differences in sports preferences between national states are influenced by their positions in the world system. Results reveal a relatively high degree of overlap of sports preferences among West European countries. The role of national modernization will be discussed in a following article. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix, 22 References.