Understanding American Sports

Gems, Gerald R.; Pfister, Gertrud

doi:10.4324/9780203886175

Cited by 18 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Collectively, the data reveal a sportstrack-to-college pipeline that White middle-and upper-class youth shape and use for college access. The findings contradict the national belief that elite athletics provide a reasonable pathway out of poverty (Eitzen, 2012;Gems & Pfister, 2009;Mackin & Walther, 2011).…”

contrasting

confidence: 56%

Reproducing Sports Stars: How Students Become Elite Athletes

Hextrum

2019

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context School-sponsored sports programs are seen in both the public and policy spheres as meritocratic mobility institutions. In the U.S. context, athletic participation can yield access to college via sports performance. Meritocratic mobility would be achieved as individuals use their athletic ability and effort to enter universities and in turn improve their social standing. Yet few existing studies empirically examine the extent to which interscholastic athletic participation yields mobility. As a result, little is known about how individuals access colleges via athletics. Purpose/Objective This study's purpose was to understand how individuals began a path to college via sports. In doing so, it asks: what larger social forces influence how youth become top-level college athletes? It draws upon social reproduction theory—how publicly funded educational entities ensure the maintenance rather than the reduction of class inequality—to determine whether youth sports participation facilitates mobility. Research Design This qualitative study examined the athletic and academic trajectories of 47 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I student-athletes from one university classified as Research-1, Tier-1, and as a member of a power-five athletic conference. Data include semistructured life history interviews, an original database, and institutional reports. Population Participants were recruited from four teams to investigate the athletic selection process: men's and women's track & field and rowing. The teams offered multiple comparisons in macro- and micro-social processes. Rowing draws from White and elite communities, because it requires tremendous resources to participate. Conversely, track & field requires fewer resources and draws more participants from marginalized communities. Findings Research reveals a sports-track-to-college pipeline and a correspondence between White middle-class communities and greater access to elite universities via athletics. Access to the sports-track-to-college pipeline is co-constructed through interactions at the individual, familial, and institutional levels. Five reproductive mechanisms are discussed—community access, bureaucracies, social access, knowledge, and enacted knowledge—all of which emerged as greater determiners for college athletic recruiting than individual athletic merit. Conclusions Recommendations offer policy and programmatic changes at the high school, college, and NCAA levels that make athletic recruiting more transparent and systematic to lessen the reproductive effects.

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confidence: 56%

Reproducing Sports Stars: How Students Become Elite Athletes

Hextrum

2019

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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“…The game is exemplary of American national identity historically forged by the violent acquisition of territory. Its heroes are enshrined in halls of fame where believers travel to worship in the glory of their deeds that tie the past to the present and reinforce the ethnocentric belief in American exceptionalism (Gems and Pfister, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science and Football VIII

Bangsbo¹,

Krustrup

Hansen³

et al. 2016

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Science and Football VIII showcases the very latest scientific research into the variety of sports known as 'football'. These include soccer, the national codes (American football, Australian rules football and Gaelic football), and the rugby codes (union and league). Bridging the gap between theory and practice, this book is by far the most comprehensive collection of current research into football, presenting important new work in key areas such as:First published 2017 by Routledge

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“…This is surprising since the media are increasingly considered to be major stakeholders with regard to sports. That is to say, the sports world has unambiguously adapted to the media’s logic, with the consequence of reciprocal benefit by covering sports competitions (Birkner & Nölleke, 2015; Boyle & Haynes, 2009; Gems & Pfister, 2009, pp. 339–340).…”

Section: Attribution Of Responsibility In Media Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is Responsible for Doping in Sports? The Attribution of Responsibility in the German Print Media

Starke

Flemming

2016

Communication & Sport

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The fight against doping has been one of the most profound challenges in the world of (media-) sports. However, communication research has not addressed the mediated attribution of responsibility for this problem. Drawing on the distinction between episodic and thematic framing, this study analyzes the attribution of responsibility in three quality German national newspapers. We find that responsibility for causing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) use is equally attributed to the individual and systemic levels, while responsibility for finding solutions is directed at the systemic level. Individual responsibility attributions occur more frequently in articles with an episodic news frame. Given the often proclaimed ambiguous role of the media with regard to PED use, the study attaches particular importance to the self-attribution of responsibility by the media. Our findings show that the media neglect to discuss their own role and do not see themselves as responsible for the problem of doping. This study demonstrates that the investigation of mediated responsibility attribution provides a fruitful new approach to the research on media and PED use in sports.

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Understanding American Sports

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Reproducing Sports Stars: How Students Become Elite Athletes

Reproducing Sports Stars: How Students Become Elite Athletes

Science and Football VIII

Who is Responsible for Doping in Sports? The Attribution of Responsibility in the German Print Media

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