art 11 McCarthy, D. etal. (2003). Constructing Images and Interpreting Realities: The Case of the Black Soccer Player on Television, International Review For The Sociology Of Sport 38/2(2003) 217–238.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVScwog05Xw Little monkey commnet by H Coselll
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/soccer-team-walks-out-on-racist-fans-in-italy/ NYT
Sport is often seen to be presented within certain ideological discourses which reflect existing powerstructures.
What are the imagesconstructed of the Black soccer player in the UK by television commentators?
TheBlack groups clearly identified the existence of media sport racial stereotypes
These were fed andreaffirmed through commentator discourse.
On the other hand, the White groups were lesscertain of such phenomena
There is a big gap between the Black’s reading of the commentary and that of the White’s who do not see the stereotyping.
There was a discourseof “us and them”
Resultant implications for the cultivation of nationalismand ethnocentrism.
Also these discourses emanate from binarythinking: racism, sexism, homophobia
There is no evidence that commentatorsnegatively described Black players as opposed to White players in any of thethree ascribed categories.
There is no evidence that commentatorsnegatively described Black players as opposed to White players in any of thethree ascribed categories.
Foucault (1977) argues that the body, used as an ‘ideologicalconduit’ in this way, is particularly suited to the sports as the body’s use is more natural.
• The result of using the body for this sport, is based on many ‘commonsense’assumptions of inherent physicality and difference – thus it is a part of the generalprocess of racial formation and racialization.
• Such a process is the production of a racial ‘hegemony in sport through themanipulation of images of natural physicality’
• These are crucial in the constructionof racially defined individuals and groups.
• Thus it is a major mechanismfor the reproduction of racial relations.
Emphasis within football commentary:
• On the physical attributesof Black players
• On the cognitive abilities of Whites
The Black focusgroups expressed that this issue is significant
and in no small partresponsible for the continuance of the stereotype of the Black athlete.
The Whiterespondents on the other hand, although acknowledging a stereotypical portrayalof the Black athlete was often painted in commentators’ discourse, appeared to beunsure how much of a misrepresentation it actually was.
As reflected through sports media discourse Black experience in Britain is:
• Continued identificationas a differentiated ‘other’
• Dominance of an ideology of normalized‘Whiteness’