Sport in Society: Issues

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Sport in SocietyIssues Controversies

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

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Defining Race Ethnicity

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

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Minority Group

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

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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

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Racial Categories Drawing Lines in Society
Snow white
Midnight black
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! We could draw 2 or 2000 the
decision is a social one, not a biological one.
Some people draw many others draw few.
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Race in the United States

• A primitive but powerful classification system
  has been used in the U.S.
• It is a two-category system based on the rule of
  hypo-descent or the one-drop rule
• The 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

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Tiger Woods Disrupting Dominant Race Logic

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

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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?

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Race Logic in History

• Racial classification systems were developed as
  Caucasian Europeans explored and colonized the
  globe
• 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 arrested development

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Race Logic in Sports Today

• Race logic 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 studies to discover racial difference

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Traditional Race Logic Used in Sports

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

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

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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 skin color and social
  definitions of race

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A Sociological Hypothesis

• Race logic discrimination sport opportunities
• Beliefs about biological cultural destiny
• Motivation to develop skills
• OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS

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The Power of Race Logic

• Black male students often have a difficult time
  shaking athlete labels based on race logic
• Young people from all racial backgrounds may make
  choices influenced by race logic
• In everyday life, race logic is related to the
  cultural logic of gender and social class

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Sport Participation andAfrican 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 under
  represented in most sports

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Sport Participation andNative 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 Anglo sports
• Stereotypes used in sports discourage Native
  American participation

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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?

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Sport Participation andLatinos Hispanics

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

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Sport Participation andAsian 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 U.S.

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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

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Eliminating Racial Ethnic Exclusion in Sports
(I)

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

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Eliminating Racial Ethnic Exclusion in Sports
(II)

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

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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

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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

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Other Topics

• The following slides are for those who deal
  with race and performance issues in depth

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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.

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Socially Constructing the Black Male Body Race
Logic 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

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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

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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

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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

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Consequences of Race Logic 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 U.S.
  colleges and universities