Race, Hegemonic Masculinity, and the “Linpossible!”

An Analysis of Media Representations of Jeremy Lin

Bibliographic Data

ID13049385
AuthorsMichael Park (0000-0001-8373-5480, corresponding author), Michael K Park (0000-0001-5268-094X, University of Southern California, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume3
Issue4
Pages367-389
Publication date2014-01-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunication & Sport (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-4795 • E-ISSN: 2167-4809
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2167479513516854
OpenAlexW1987187136
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited36

In February 2012, Jeremy Lin, the first American of Taiwanese and Chinese descent to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), led the Knicks to seven straight victories while establishing an NBA scoring record. This study analyzes how U.S. mass media contextualized Lin’s meteoric rise in the NBA and explores assumptions grounded in the media coverage of Lin, including how race and masculinity are defined within a dominant ideological field and how notions of a hegemonic masculinity define the “other.” This article looks at mass media as a site of complicity for the construction and maintenance of hegemonic masculinity by examining media representations and sports media columnists’ coverage of Jeremy Lin’s meteoric rise in the NBA from February 5 to March 15, 2012. Critical discourse analysis reveals that the majority of mainstream news media outlets did not overtly racialize Lin’s meteoric rise to stardom. However, the research uncovered several instances of racialized coverage and the incorporation of emasculation discourse to reinforce and police hegemonic notions of masculinity. Furthermore, the intense “media mania” referred to as “Linsanity” operated to preserve the dominant discourse of masculinity by confirming the “low expectations” inscribed in Asian male bodies, making Lin’s success “miraculous” and “warranting” intense media attention

Complicity · Hegemonic masculinity · Hegemony · Ideology · Mainstream · Masculinity · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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