Do Clubs Play Social Bridging Role?

I like clubbing because I like dancing.

But another reason why I like clubbing is that I can meet many different people there.

When I was in Japan, I went clubbing almost every weekend. There is a district called Roppongi in the center of Tokyo and there, many people from many backgrounds (nationality, social status, faith, type of work, etc etc) gathered for clubbing.

I always get to know with new people there and talked about ourselves.

I liked it. I learned something that I could not learn in schools or offices. Clubs were my second schools. Those were spaces where I can get to know with different types of people and get to know with people who are living in other world.

However, I found out that not all clubs in the world are like that.

As I travel, I have been keeping clubbing in different countries.

Now I am in Philippines. Before I was in Nicaragua. Before that, I was in Morocco.

In those countries, it seems like clubs are where only rich people gather.

Or at least, people with similar background gather in particular type of clubs and never get to know with people from other social background.

It is a little bit sad.

A famous philosopher Michael Sandel said in his TED talk,

Democracy does not require perfect equality, but what it does require is that citizens share in a common life. What matters is that people of different social backgrounds and different walks of life encounter one another, bump up against one another in the ordinary course of life, because this is what teaches us to negotiate and to abide our differences. And this is how we come to care for the common good

For me, clubs are where "I bump up against one another" with "people of different social backgrounds and different walks of life."

There is a notion called "Bridging Effect" when we think about democratic consolidation.

The idea says that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can connect people of different social backgrounds and fulfill the gap of social cleavage. This is "Bridging Effect"

And this is what I liked about Japanese clubs.

Can clubs bridge social cleavage?

Do clubs play social bridging role?

If so, Ill keep clubbing even after I become old.