More Than Just Play
Unmasking Black Child Labor in the Athletic Industrial Complex
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2349262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Theresa Runstedtler (American University, Washington, DC, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 152-169 |
| Publication date | 2018-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Sport and Social Issues (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0193-7235 • E-ISSN: 1552-7638 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0193723518758458 |
| OpenAlex | W2789569174 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 22 |
African Americans' hypervisibility in sports remains a frequent point of critique. There has been a tendency to blame Black youths for their supposed 'sports fixation.' Complicating this narrative of cultural pathology, I examine the foundational importance of Black boys' athletic labor to the profitability of the sporting industries. I first trace the structural conditions (imperialism, racism, industrial capitalism) that contributed to the hypervisibility of young Black boxers at the turn of the 20th century. I then explore the contemporary conditions driving Black hypervisibility in basketball. Analyzing Hoop Dreams (1994) alongside the aggressive tactics of corporations such as Nike, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the National Basketball Association (NBA) to recruit talent at younger and younger ages, I illustrate that Black boys are performing a kind of child labor. Similar to Black boxers from a century before, Black youths' focus on achieving success in basketball is not just a simple matter individual 'choice.' It is also symptomatic of their continued political, social, and economic marginalization in the postindustrial, neoliberal United States, which sports companies capitalize on
Basketball · Blame · Political science · Post-industrial society · Racism · Sociology · American Sports and Literature · Gender Studies · History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society
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The “other” NIL and SportCrit
Agents of change
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The academic, social, and psychological experiences of Black men enrolled in STEM undergraduate degree programs
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Between hope and cruel optimism? The dangers and possibilities of football in fostering hope for male refugees
Competing Narratives
Walking to the gallery
Black Mothers and NFL Moms Safety Clinics
Decolonizing the Sneaker
All the World's a Fair
In Search of the Black Fantastic
Embodying Black Experience
(Re)Imagining Black Boyhood
Knocking the Hustle
Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner
Golden Gulag
Barbarian Virtues
Commodified and Criminalized
Movements, Markets and Fields
The New Jim Crow
Pay for Play
New Commodities, New Consumers
Visible Men
"The price of "Black dominance
Black athletes at the millennium
The Construction of Black Masculinity
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |