Does Diversity in Sport Reduce Racial Prejudice?

Abstract

Does diversity in sport reduce prejudice? The answer to this intriguing query largely depends on who is asked. Functional theorists might point to the many virtues of sport and how it is a place that brings a diverse group of people together through a collective interest or communal striving for success. For instance, Hums and MacLean (2009: 80) submitted that, in addition to promoting character development, leadership skills and personal responsibility, interscholastic sport participation in the US allowed young athletes to ‘benefit from cross-cultural contact’, and presumably the accompanying reduction in prejudice. Others have advanced these arguments further by suggesting that sport is a place free from the racial constraints and conflicts found in other segments of society (Fordham, 1988). In commenting on this unique context, Brown et al., (2003: 165) suggested that ‘there’s “no race” on the playing field’ because athletes are otherwise consumed with their sport participation and defining themselves as athletes, above all else. From this perspective, then, sport is a place free of racial strife and conflict, and therefore, diversity in sport results in an amelioration of prejudice.