Sports and Social Integration

Sports and Social Integration

Thesis statement

The overwhelming increase in the popularity of sports in the 20th century helped significantly to merge cultures and change laws in the United States. With the dawn of the 21st century, it is easily observable how big a role sports has played in overcoming critical political and national issues such as racial tensions, women rights and international relations.

Introduction

In order to fully comprehend the true meaning of the term 'social integration', it is imperative that one glimpses back at the pages of history when it had the most significant influence upon the American society. Thus far, the strong integration of patriotic opposition has enabled the Americans to achieve the greatest degree of freedom and independence in the region. However, despite the extensive and 'equal' rights that the constitution grants to all the people living within America, instances of racism, racial discrimination and ethnic are increasingly common in the country.

Even today, America as a nation is confronted by critical problems that concern social integration. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is for the Americans to maintain a strong bond of national solidarity. When there is solidarity in between the citizens of a particular nation, the country is considered to be powerful and strong; it is resilient against the negative factors that try so hard to bring it down on its knees (Steenbergen & Knop, 2001).Countless examples can be found in the pages of history that strongly suggest how a society that has little solidarity and social integration is manipulated without much effort.

This gives rise to a familiar question -what is the recipe to build successful social integration? Some think tanks suggest financial aid to be the leading solution to tackle the problem whereas other pundits have strongly defended that the minority groups should be integrated by their involvement in local issues (Rheker, 2000).

Discussion

If one were to ask for visible evidence to suggest how sports have encouraged better social integration, they only need to look at high-profile sports athletes of minority groups who proudly represent America nationally as well as internationally. A great example of this is the success story of the greatest boxer and people's champion of all time, Mohammad Ali. The success story of Muhammad Ali exemplifies the struggle and survival of the African-Americans. Back in the 60s and 70s, a majority of African-Americans faced tremendous adversity and hardships due to increasing instances of crime, violence, poverty, unemployment and racism.

At such a stage, the struggles of Mohammad Ali became the symbol of social upheaval and empowerment for the African-Americans. What is more remarkable is that Mohammad Ali literally swept the entire world by storm and became a household name virtually overnight due to his tremendous success rate in the field of boxing and, more importantly, for his charisma and self-adulating I'm-the-greatest attitude. At the time when African Americans were so disenfranchised that it was virtually impossible for them to demand equal civil liberties, Ali became a leader for the cause (Pillemer, ...