Is It Not As Deceiving As You May Think?

Today’s society judges people on the type of car you drive. Society does not like to admit to this but it is very true. Manufactures know this happens and targets their markets by these thoughts. Anyone who drives a nice vehicle is thought to be wealthy. No one wants to be seen driving an unattractive piece of junk because of what other people will think of him or her. Consumers also just feel better when they are driving a nice or new car, if makes them feel better about themselves.

This Article, is from the Sociology of Sport Journal, title “Learning Lessons in Tee Ball”: “The Reinforcement of Gender and Status in Kindergarten Sport”. The article was written by Melissa A. Landers and Gary Alan Fine University of Georgia (1996). The article describes how “status and gender roles can become reinforced at the earliest stage of organized sports” (Landers & Fine 1996). The data collected was done “through field notes that the authors took during participation” (Landers & Fine). The children that were being observed were “between the ages of 5 and 6”. There was a total of 24 children “13 Caucasian boys”, “6 Caucasian girls”. “4 African American boys”, and “1 Asian-American boy” all this children were from “working-class and middle class families” (Landers & Fine 1996).

But, omnisciently speaking, both entities faced severe scrutiny and criticism from United States and international citizens for their capitalistic business practices. Furthermore, a vast number of American citizens, mainly teenagers, had been killed over Nike Air Jordan sneakers because of their high price tag, while the cost to produce the shoes were rapidly declining due to Nike’s unprecedented offshore production. Bill Bigelow’s, The Human Lives behind the Labels: The Global Sweatshop, Nike, and the Race to the Bottom accurately portrays this capitalistic mentality when mentioning, “children as young as 6 are ‘sold and resold like furniture, branded, beaten, blinded as punishment for wanting to go home...’ For pennies an hour, these children work in dank sheds, stitching soccer balls with the familiar Nike swoosh and logos of other transnational athletic equipment companies” (Bigelow, 113). What is most disturbing to fans of Nike and Jordan were their comments and proposed remedies on the matter. Essentially, Jordan did nothing to curtail the number of kids being killed for his shoes and, as far as his affiliation with capitalistic Nike, Jordan did not want to cause any kind of rift between himself and the corporation that made him millions

Times have since changed. Gender roles and expectations have evolved just as the societal lines dividing the social classes. Where populations were once divided in two broad groups, aristocracy and commoners, social stratification has deepened and expanded. The Industrial Revolution, Post World War Two technological advances, the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement have each played a significant role in the development of the class system of modern society. The widespread use of credit has done the most to blur the lines of social status distinction, but has not stopped advertisers from relying on the conventional standards of using luxury items to offer the appearance of elevated social status. Even with the blurring of class lines, advertisers continue to reinforce the preconceived notions that social position is related

Throughout generations, social mobility has become something everyone wants to attain in their lifetime. Through social mobility comes a better and more stable life. There are many ways to achieve maximum mobility, which include getting a higher education and reducing risk in your life. There are also a lot of myths towards this concept that has been portrayed by the media and one of the myths is the social mobility gained by a person playing a sport. Americans in today's world believe that sports are the path we should take to have full financial and social flexibility. Examples leading to this conclusion are obvious as we see kids from poor areas escalate their nobility and capital through their abilities to compete in sports. From the million-dollar contracts and endorsement deals, the ideology behind being an athlete is that your social mobility will rise, but many statistics will prove otherwise. Although it is possible for athletes to gain revenue and fame, the overall ideology of sports of gaining maximum social flexibility from being involved in a sport is a myth.

Moreover, Rhoden describes today’s sports world as one with no black power. Many black athletes have great potential and are recruited from their high schools to attend good colleges with a promising education. In practice and games, they play against each other and if they are good enough to make the cut, they get drafted and play at a professional level. As a result, their owners (white individuals) get richer with their unique style of play and talent. The drive for these athletes is of course the good paying salaries, (to some) their education, and their dream of making it out of the streets they grew up in. Rhoden uses Michael Jordan and LeBron James as good examples of athletes that instead of helping on improving the power for the African

In this chapter of Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, he talks about rumors, sneakers and the power of translation. Throughout the chapter he kept with the theme of change and the way that things can change over time. The concept of change and shoes throughout this chapter is evident. Gladwell writes, “They expanded their focus to include not just skateboarding but also surfing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and bicycle racing, sponsoring riders in all of those sports and making Arwalk synonymous with active, alternative lifestyle”( Gladwell 194). Many people ask why do they have to produce so much more to compliment everyone in every sport or just for everyday wear? Gladwell explains how companies expanded their mind to appeal to everyone's

The stereotyped group that is a problem is African American and black athletes being portrayed as beast like, unintelligent, emotional, dominating, violent, and brutal. The specific sport of focus is the NBA. Black athletes are portrayed as beast and animal like in media images like poster, magazine covers, tee shirts, and game freeze frames. Black players have made many strides in the NBA, nearly 75% of NBA players are black, while only 23% of players are white (The 2015 Racial and Gender Report Card). Although there are many black players the media is still owned and operated by predominantly white gatekeepers. This negative stereotype is because it disregards the hours of hard work that black players complete to play professionally. African Americans feel this cover misrepresents them. Blacks could feel exploited, manipulated, or even subconsciously use it as justification for confirming the negative stereotypes the media feeds society. It is a racist notion that black players are unintelligent and rely on genetics “animal instincts” to be great players. If this stereotypes continues young blacks may see believe that they are unintelligent and slack off in school, believing that they can make it through like based on their athletic ability. It perpetuates a “super model minority”. An excellent example of this stereotype is the visual portrayals of NBA superstar LeBron James in the media. James has been prevalent in sports media dating back to his high school years when

Anglo-Saxon culture is in many ways obsessed with sport and, from the late eighteenth through to the nineteenth centuries, produced many of the formalized sports now adopted world-wide and played according to the standard rules (Holt, 1989). In the last century following a brief period of participation, black sportsmen were barred participating alongside whites e.g. Baseball in the early 1860s which led to black players resorting to create their own teams and leagues. Black sportsmen have since World War II made a remarkable impact in baseball, basketball, athletics, American football and boxing but not so much in golf and tennis (Coakley 1978, Edwards, 1973). A reason being that according to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey the poverty rate for African Americans is 28% compared to 15% for all races which shows some races are more inclined to be part of a certain social class. Certain sports tend to be linked with middle and upper classes lifestyle both in their recruitment and their supporters.

creating their own brand and although the target audience may not be African-American consumers, there has been a correlation established between the two. This has decreased the affluence gap that never seemed to shorten between whites and blacks. With there not being any African-Americans in any of the professional sport teams available in America, only the white players received the financial benefits of participating in sports.

In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle individuals need to remain physically active every day to ensure a long and healthy lifestyle. When an individual often works out whether in the comfort of their own home, running out on the streets, or in a gym, majority of the time they wear clothing that is meant for their specific usage. In this case, individuals who play basketball often wear basketball shorts provide comfort, movement, and airflow. The style of shorts that majority of youth and society wears are much longer than past times. When an individual throws on a pair of basketball shorts and heads to the recreation center to shoot hoops, do they realize the connection between the style of shorts they are wearing to the racial inequalities individuals faced setting that trend? An everyday item such as a pair of basketball shorts has a deep historical relationship when it comes to racial differences and in this case, it passes through the lives of the Fab Five. The Fab Five consisted of five freshman for the Michigan Wolverines basketball team in 1991. Their dislike of the short shorts that professional basketball players such as John Stockton wore led to their desire of wearing long and baggy shorts that provided more comfort with the ability of keeping their jersey tucked in. As a result of their difference in appearance, culture, and influence based

Karl Benz invented the first automobile in 1866; it has changed the world in how we commute every day. From riding in carriages to now cutting our time travel whether it is riding a bus or our on car. It has become more of a necessity in today's world to have a car because its something that we choose to have in our daily life that it is a choice that is high on the priority list to own. As to wealthier people the type of car you drive puts in a different class. Where some get the choice of car that they want others have a certain budget on what to look for. The way an automobile symbolizes today, changed in society, and how a car has become a collection.

Social class is defined as 'people having the same social or economic status' (Wordnet). In contemporary American society, social class is based on the amount of money and property you have and also prestige. Prestige is given to a person through the line of work or the family that they come from. For example, upper-upper class member Jennifer Lopez reeks of prestige not only because she has millions of dollars in her bank account, but she has very expensive luxuries, cars, and houses.

The use of specific athletes in marketing campaigns really began to show promise when athletes like Jordan began wearing their own brands of shoes. The idea to consumers or fans of the NBA that they could wear the same shoes as Michael Jordan, and somehow play like him was an easy sell by Nike. Today it is now common for marketable athletes in almost all sports to wear their own style of shoes, spikes, or skates. An interesting point to make is that through Nike Michael Jordan eventually launched his own clothing line called Jumpman23 that makes everything from socks and underwear to winter coats. Even though Jordan has been retired since 1999 the Jumpman23 company has continued to release a new shoe every single year that are simply called “Jordan 24”, an increasing corresponding number to the number of years the shoes have been produced. The new Jordan shoes still retails at over $150 a pair even though Mike hasn’t stepped on the court in 11 years! After retirement and becoming the CEO of the Jumpman brand Michael Jordan has been able to court other famous athletes from a variety of sports to wear his brand. A few examples of the athletes include Derek Jeter (baseball), Dwayne Wade (basketball), Jason Taylor (football), and April Holmes (track and field). The wide range of athletes in all different sports who now market a brand for arguably the greatest athlete of all time truly shows the money, power, and influence an athlete can experience

Sports participation is something that is looked at closely in todays society because of the amount of participants there are in sports today. Social classes and participation is heavily influenced by the way people live their lives, where they live, what country they live in , and perhaps most importantly, the socioeconomic class they may fall into. In some understatements, sports may serve as an identifier of what social class a family or individual may fall into, simply by looking at who we are dealing with and what sport this individual may play. As a student in a sport sociology class we find trends in countries worldwide when comparing certain sport involvement and social class. Throughout this essay I will have three arguments that will support my point about social class and participation in sports. My first point will be how economic resources affect the middle-class, second will be how social capital affects middle-class sports, and lastly lower-class and participation in sports.