Sports in Society: Issues

1
Sports in SocietyIssues Controversies

• Chapter 9
• Race and Ethnicity
• Are They Important in Sports?

2
Defining Race Ethnicity

• Race refers to a category of people regarded as
  socially distinct because they share genetic
  traits believed to be important by people with
  power and influence in society
• An ethnic group is a category of people regarded
  as socially distinct because they share a way of
  life and a commitment to the ideas, norms, and
  material things that constitute that way of life

3
Minority Group

• Refers to a socially identified collection of
  people who
• Experience discrimination
• Suffer social disadvantages because of
  discrimination
• Possess a strong self-consciousness based on
  their shared experiences of discriminatory
  treatment

4
The Concept of Race

• Racial categories are social creations based on
  meanings given to selected physical traits
• Race is not a valid biological concept
• Verified by data from Human Genome Project
• Racial classifications are fuzzy because they are
  based on continuous traits with arbitrary lines
  drawn to create categories
• Racial classifications vary from culture to
  culture

5
Racial Categories Drawing Color Lines in Society
Snow white
Midnight black
Skin color continuum
Continuous Traits skin color, height, brain
size, nose width, leg length, leg length ratio,
of fast twitch muscle fibers, etc. Discrete
Traits blood type, sickle cell trait,
etc. Racial category lines can be drawn anywhere
and everywhere on this continuum! We could draw 2
or 2000 lines our decisions are a social
decisions, not decisions based on biology. Some
people draw many others draw few some reject
lines.
6
Race in the United States

• Race is a primitive but powerful classification
  system that has been used around the world
• Race is based on a two-category classification
  system premised on the rule of hypo-descent or
  the one-drop rule
• The one-drop rule was developed by white men to
  insure the purity of the white race and
  property control by white men
• Mixed-race people challenge the validity of this
  socially influential way of defining race

7
Tiger Woods Disrupting Dominant Race Logic

• CABLINASIAN
• CA Caucasian
• BL Black
• IN Indian
• ASIAN Asian

8
Racial Ideology in History

• Racial classification systems were developed as
  white Europeans explored and colonized the globe
  and found that there were physical differences
  between people
• These systems were used to justify colonization,
  conversion, and even slavery and genocide
• According to these systems, white skin was the
  standard, and dark skin was associated with
  intellectual inferiority and slowed development

9
Racial Ideology in Sports Today

• Racial ideology encourages people to
• See sport performances in racialized terms,
  i.e., in terms of skin color
• Use whiteness as the taken-for-granted standard
• Explain the success or failure of people with
  dark skin in racial terms
• Do research designed to discover racial
  difference

10
Figure 9.2
Racial ideologies often influence how athletes
are assessed in society and in science.
11
Traditional Racial Ideology Used in Sports

• Achievements of White Athletes are due to
• Character
• Culture
• Organization

• Achievements of Black Athletes are due to
• Biology
• Natural physical abilities

12
A Sociological Hypothesis

• Racial ideology discrimination sport
  opportunities
• Beliefs about biological cultural destiny
• Motivation to develop skills
• OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPORTS

13
Searching For Jumping Genes in Black Bodies

• Why is the search misleading?
• It is based on oversimplified ideas about genes
  and how they work
• It mistakenly assumes that jumping is a simple
  physical activity related to a single gene or
  interrelated set of genes
• It often begins with ideas about skin color and
  with social definitions of race

14
The Power of Racial Ideology

• Black male students often have a difficult time
  shaking athlete labels based on racial ideology
• Young people from all racial backgrounds may make
  choices influenced by racial ideology
• In everyday life, racial ideology is integrally
  linked to ideas about gender and social class

15
Figure 9.4
Athletes often bring cultural traditions to the
playing field
16
Sport Participation amongAfrican Americans

• The facts show that
• Prior to the 1950s, African Americans faced a
  segregated sport system
• African Americans participate in a very limited
  range of sports
• African American men and women are
  underrepresented in most sports

17
Sport Participation amongNative Americans

• Native Americans comprise dozens of diverse
  cultural groups
• Traditional Native American sports combine
  physical activities with ritual and ceremony
• Native Americans often fear losing their culture
  when they play Euro-American sports
• Stereotypes used in sports discourage Native
  American participation

18
Images of Native Americans in Sports

• Using stereotypes of Native Americans as a
  basis for team names, logos, and mascots is a
  form of bigotry, regardless of the intentions of
  those who do it
• Are there conditions under which a group or
  organizations could use the cultural and
  religious images of others for their own
  purposes?
• What would happen if a school named their teams
  the Olympians and used the Olympic logo (5-Rings)
  as their logo?

19
Figure 9.5
The racial and ethnic attitudes of team officials
are sometimes hypocritical
20
What happens when stereotypes are built into
sport culture?
21
Why have stereotypes about Native Americans
persisted in U.S. sports?
22
Why have other ethnic stereotypes been rejected
in U.S. sports?
23
Using Native American team names has often led to
offensive media coverage
24
Sport Participation amongLatinos Hispanics

• The experiences of Latino and Latina athletes
  have been ignored until recently
• Stereotypes about physical abilities have
  influenced perceptions of Latino athletes
• Latinos now make up over 25 of Major League
  Baseball players
• Latinos often confront discrimination in school
  sports
• Latinas have been overlooked due to faulty
  generalizations about gender and culture

25
Sport Participation amongAsian Americans

• The cultural heritage and histories of Asian
  Americans are very diverse
• The sport participation patterns of Asian
  Americans vary with their immigration histories
• Little is known about how the images of Asian
  American athletes are represented in the media
  and minds of people in the US

26
The Dynamics of Racial Ethnic Relations in
Sports

• Race and ethnicity remain significant in sports
  today
• Todays challenges are not the ones faced in the
  past
• It is a mistake to think that racial and ethnic
  issues disappear when desegregation occurs
• The challenge of dealing with inter-group
  relations never disappears it changes in terms
  of the issues that must be confronted

27
Eliminating Racial Ethnic Exclusion in Sports
(I)

• Changes are most likely when
• People with power and control benefit from
  inclusion
• Individual performances can be measured precisely
  and objectively
• Members of an entire team benefit from the
  achievements of teammates
• (continued)

28
Eliminating Racial Ethnic Exclusion in Sports
(II)

• Changes are most likely when
• Superior performances do not lead to automatic
  promotions on teams
• Team success does not depend on off-the-field
  socializing and friendships
• Athletes have little power or authority in the
  organizational structure of a sport organization
  or team

29
After Inclusion Managing Racial Ethnic
Diversity

• Racial and Ethnic Diversity creates
  management challenges related to
• The social dynamics on teams
• The social dynamics among spectators
• The marketing of athletes, teams, and leagues
• NOTE The global recruitment of players insures
  that diversity issues will always exist in sports

30
The Biggest Challenge Integrating Positions of
Power

• Even when sport participation is racially and
  ethnically mixed, power in sports is not readily
  shared
• The movement of minorities into coaching and
  administrative positions has been very slow
• Social and legal pressures are still needed
  before power is fully shared

31
Needed Changes

• Regular and direct confrontation of racial and
  ethnic issues by people in positions of power
• A new vocabulary for dealing with new forms of
  racial and ethnic diversity in our lives
• Training sessions dealing with practical problems
  and issues, not just feelings

32
Using Critical Theory to Ask Questions About
Racial Classification Systems

• Which classification systems are used?
• Who uses them?
• Why are some people so dedicated to using certain
  classification systems?
• What are the consequences of usage?
• Can negative consequences be minimized?
• Can the systems be challenged?
• What occurs when systems change?

33
The Racially Natural Athlete?

• There is no evidence showing that skin color is
  related to physical traits that are essential for
  athletic excellence across sports or in any
  particular sport.

34
Socially Constructing the Black Male Body Racial
Ideology in Action

• In Euro-American history there has been
• Strong fears of the physical power and prowess of
  (oppressed) black men
• Powerful anxieties about the sexual appetites and
  capabilities of (angry) black men
• Deep fascination with the movement of the black
  body
• THEREFORE, the black male body
• valuable entertainment commodity

35
Research Summary(Genetic Factors Athletic
Performance)

• Are there genetic differences between
  individuals? YES
• Are genetic characteristics related to athletic
  excellence? YES
• Could one gene account for success across a range
  of different sports? PROBABLY NOT
• Might skin color genes physical performance
  genes be connected? NO EVIDENCE

36
Research Summary (Continued)

• Are physical development the expression of
  skills in sports related to cultural definitions
  of skin color and race? DEFINITELY YES
• Do cultural ideas about skin color race
  influence the interpretation of and meaning given
  to the movement and achievements of athletes?
  DEFINITELY YES

37
Social Origins of Athletic Excellence

• A cultural emphasis on achievement in activities
  that have special cultural meaning
• Resources to support widespread participation
  among young people
• Opportunities to gain rewards through success
• Access to those who can teach tactics and
  strategies

38
Consequences of Racial Ideology in Sports

• Desegregation of revenue producing sports
• Continued racial exclusion in social sports
• Position stacking in team sports
• Racialized interpretations of achievements
• Management barriers for blacks
• Skewed distribution of African Americans in US
  colleges and universities