[Grammar] To maintain something among something?

[azhu]

Hi, I couldn't understand the meaning the sentence marked in red in the following passage:

Thus it can be seen that economic barriers—however great they may be in the case of golf, skiing, sailing or even riding and tennis—are not sufficient to explain the class distribution of these activities. There are more hidden entry requirements, such as family tradition and early training, or the obligatory manner (of dress and behaviour), and socializing techniques, which keep these sports closed to the working class and to upwardly mobile individuals from the middle or upper classes and which maintain them (along with smart parlour games like chess and especially bridge) among the surest indicators of bourgeois pedigree.

I'm confused by the pronoun "them" here, what does "them" mean in this sentence?
Also, I don't know what the author means by saying that "they" are maintained among the surest indicators of bourgeois pedigree.
Does the author want to say that, golf, skiign, sailing... and parlour games are often played by the bourgeois class?
Thanks!!

 

[Tarheel]

Hi, I couldn't understand the meaning the sentence marked in red in the following passage:

Thus it can be seen that economic barriers—however great they may be in the case of golf, skiing, sailing or even riding and tennis—are not sufficient to explain the class distribution of these activities. There are more hidden entry requirements, such as family tradition and early training, or the obligatory manner (of dress and behaviour), and socializing techniques, which keep these sports closed to the working class and to upwardly mobile individuals from the middle or upper classes and which maintain them (along with smart parlour games like chess and especially bridge) among the surest indicators of bourgeois pedigree.

I'm confused by the pronoun "them" here, what does "them" mean in this sentence?
Also, I don't know what the author means by saying that "they" are maintained among the surest indicators of bourgeois pedigree.
Does the author mean to say that, golf, skiing, sailing... and parlour games are often played by the bourgeois class?

The words "them" and "they" both refer to the previously mentioned sports. And, yes, the writer is saying are activities the "bourgeois class" prefers.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes. If you hear that someone was sailing, you can assume that they are "bourgeois."