Work and Leisure

116 A. J. VealFigure 6.1 Participation in sports, games and physical activities by socio-economic group,Great Britain, 1987–96Source: based on data from Office for National Statistics 1997in participation rates is pronounced, and that there was little change over thedecade. It should, however, be noted that the two extreme groups, professionalsand unskilled manual, account for only 3.4 per cent and 5.9 per centof the workforce respectively; for the middle 90 per cent of the population thedifferences in participation rates are less marked, and fell somewhat over thedecade. While this is an incomplete picture, based only on sport and physicalrecreation over a comparatively short time-period, it is at least not inconsistentwith the embourgoisement thesis.Roberts (1999: 86–7), however, argues that the ‘class’ element of socioeconomicgroup is no longer important, that differences in patterns of leisureparticipation are influenced more by variations in levels of income and othervariables, such as age, gender and family situation, than by socio-economicgroup. Thus, he implies, the differences shown in Figure 6.1 are largely due tothe differing income levels of the various groups rather than class-basedcultural differences. The fact that such differential participation rates arereplicated in other areas, such as the arts (Gratton 1996: 117), reflects the factthat people in higher socio-economic groups engage in a wider range ofactivities, primarily, according to Roberts (1999), as a result of their higherincomes. If this were the case, it would follow that the lower levels of participationby members of lower socio-economic groups were due mainly to cost