RACISM AND SOCIAL CLASSES AFFECTING YOUTHS IN SPORTS

Running head: RACISM AND SOCIAL CLASSES AFFECTING YOUTHS IN SPORTS
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RACISM AND SOCIAL CLASSES AFFECTING YOUTHS IN SPORTS
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RACISM AND SOCIAL CLASSES AFFECTING YOUTHS IN SPORTS
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Introduction
The integration of organised sports is highlighted by several sports associations. The
abstain is that sport is international and does not demand strong language competencies and
typically follows rules which are not challenging to deal with (Eime et al., 2015). However
irrespective of the alleged integration benefits of sports, it is claimed that youths with
immigrant parents have a tendency to involve in sports organisations to a lesser degree as
compared to young people coming from the majority of the population (Andersen & Bakken,
2019). Racism, discrimination and the gap between minority and majority in sports
participation are observed in several Western countries.
Racism and ethnic discrimination is a complex phenomenon and tend to manifest
itself in varied ways such as racist molestation of cultural or religious minority sports persons
by other athletes, spectators or coaches either in dressing room, training camps or in other
areas of sports practices (Lawrence, 2016). The thesis statement of the essay is "distinctive
means and motivation must be incorporated in order to make minority youth participate in
sports."
Discussion
Racism Impact on Youth Sports Participation
Racism is studied as an important factor that has been affecting boys and girls
especially the ones coming from racially minority groups. According to studies, ethnic
minority groups showing vulnerability towards racism marginalization and discernment is
considered to be a critical issue in several Western countries (Marshall, 2016). In previous
times, the provision of after-school sports activities in deprived communities were chiefly in
the arena of not-for-profit organisations, education institutes and recreation agencies.
However, at present, professional sport league associations like the Major League Baseball
(MLB) started to organise sports programs only to engage the deprived youth in sports and

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concurrently involve them with prospects to involve in positive team spirited activities which
will refrain them from negativity and increase their academic attainment (Andersen &
Bakken, 2019). However, these contributions are not strong enough to safeguard them from
the plethora of sociological factors associated with individual needs of the youth and
psychological characteristics and most importantly social and communal contexts. Youths
belonging to racially minority backgrounds exhibits greater inclination and representation in
subsidized sports by schools as compared to the private programs. Furthermore, economic as
well as physical challenges of admission to sport openings, apparatus as well as training are
critically reinforcing the level of inequality. Moreover, the significant connection between
racism and class more precisely signifies the discrimination and prejudice knotted to this
unfairness in addition to the distinctive disadvantages communities of minority experience.
Nonetheless, for minority youth athletes even though they get access to sport involvement,
problems of discrepancy treatment are also relatable. Problems linked to categorizing as well
as “stacking” youth of belonging to ethnically minority groups are involved in high profile-
racialised sports (Eime et al., 2015).
Social class background affecting youths’ sports participation
On the other hand, sports participation shows greater inclination towards the upper
and middle classes and youths with highly educated and economically affluent parents. To
certain extent it has been noted that while sports is considered to be a highly social leveller, it
shows greater appropriateness to consider it as a competitor ground that provides a fertile
base for production and arousal of social inequality (Roberts, 2016). In this context, social
class has a tendency to affects the participation level in organised sports in two ways. Firstly,
financial resources related to sports participation tends to make it easily obtainable for upper
and middle class young athletes. Secondly, in class cultural patterns, sports possibly will be
more highly appreciated and acknowledged among specific class factions. However, both of