The gym as intercultural meeting point? Binding effects and boundaries in gym interaction

Abstract

Gyms that at the same time offer an environment for individualized training and social encounters are today attractive to a broad and culturally diverse group of people. The figuration sociological approach of ‘established’ and ‘outsiders’ and the ethnographic field work of this study show that in a gym, cultural differences play out in both exclusionary, rejecting behaviours and a gym-specific habitual principle of mutual help in sport activities that binds members and transcends cultural differences. Gym attendance and participation can enable intercultural interaction, strengthen mutual acceptance and support adaptation processes. Nevertheless, the potential of this interaction depends on gym-goers’ personal motives, their training habits and a gym’s active cultural diversity management.