ARTICLE REVIEW

Sports Article Reviews



Sports Article Reviews

Article 1) Racism in Sports: A Question of Ethics, Paul M. Anderson, 1996.

Introduction

This study is a qualitative examination of my lived experiences and the lived experiences of my immediate family in sport. Using critical race theory (CRT) as my guiding theoretical framework, this research project answers Denzin's call to advance a radical performative social science” that “confront[s] and transcend[s] the problems surrounding the colour line in the 21st century. As such, the purpose of this project was to explore issues of race, culture and power within our lived sport experiences and to present these experiences in such way so as to unpack the tensions associated with being an Aboriginal person living in today's US society (Anderson, 1996, 5).

Purpose and objective

The purpose of this research project is to critically explore the intersection of race, culture, and power in the lived sport experiences of my (Aboriginal) family. To do so, the researcher plan to produce a multi-vocal performance text that addresses these issues within the context of our personal sport experiences. Through conversations about sport with my family members, who represent three different generational cohorts, the researcher aim to use their (Aboriginal) voices to speak to being Aboriginal in US society, a standpoint missing from current leisure scholarship.

Literature Review

Sport is a social phenomenon whose meanings vary from one social context to another, for people create and define sport in ways that suit their values and beliefs (Coakley, 2004). Accordingly, research into sport touches upon every major sphere of social life. In short, sport's impact on our lives is undeniable. Even so, defining sport is challenging, in large part because conventional definitions fail to account for cultural difference. As Coakley (2004) suggests, sport sociologists should be concerned with what constitutes sport in “different cultures at different points in time” (p.27). By doing so, he argues scholars can begin to think of sport in relation to issues such as power, culture, race, and ethnicity. This thesis takes on this challenge and specifically endeavours to examine the interplay of race, culture, and sport in the context of Aborginal life in US .

In effect, functionalists are concerned with whether sport socializes people to learn and accept important values, promotes social connections, motivates people to achieve goals through accepted methods, and/or protects the system from disruptive outside influences. These functions presumably contribute to the social stability of society. Thus, sport is viewed positively as an important sphere of social life that benefits society and inspires people to develop personally.

The second theoretical perspective, conflict theory, posits society is shaped by economic forces, which are used to coerce and manipulate others. In short, conflict theorists are concerned with “who has economic power, how economic power is used, and who is advantaged or disadvantaged by economic organization and economic forces in society. For conflict theorists, sport keeps those without economic power subdued and advances the interests of those with the financial means and power within ...