Athlete activism is activism performed by athletes, both during sports events and outside them. [1]
Athlete activism is activism performed by athletes, both during sports events and outside them. [1]
Early examples of top-tier athletes using their status and position to advocate for social justice date to the beginning of the 20th century, increasing in prominence during the 1960s and 1970s, and significantly growing in the 21st century. The participation of Black athletes in professional sports in countries with racial segregation, and the prominence of top-tier Black players, has made sports a constant site of contention regarding societies' understanding of race and racism. [1]
Athletes have also engaged in activism around women's rights issues, particularly inequality of pay and funding between men's and women's sport and gendered standards of attire for uniforms. [1] [2] Parasports are also a site of activist engagement around disability. [1] During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes engaged in more activism on racial justice, [3] after the George Floyd killing, and on many other issues, such as mental health, which were addressed widely in activist causes. [4]
Activism has taken the form of both symbolic protests, such as the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute, as well as athletes engaging in existing political movements. Athletes have engaged in activism at both the professional and amateur level, often at the risk of significant repercussions to their career and financial prospects both from official sporting bodies and private sponsors. In some cases, such as Jesse Owens's participation in the 1936 Summer Olympics, an athlete's decisions to attend or represent a given country at an event may be analyzed through the lens of activism, even if the athlete did not consider themself to be an activist. [1]
Counterterrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.
Sociology of sport, alternately referred to as sports sociology, is a sub-discipline of sociology which focuses on sports as social phenomena. It is an area of study concerned with the relationship between sociology and sports, and also various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport. This area of study discusses the positive impact sports have on individual people and society as a whole economically, financially, and socially. Sociology of sport attempts to view the actions and behavior of sports teams and their players through the eyes of a sociologist.
Steven Barkan, an American sociologist, is Professor and chairperson of the Sociology department at the University of Maine.
Harry Thomas Edwards is an American sociologist and civil rights activist. After working as an assistant professor of sociology at San Jose State College, he completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University and is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Edwards' career has focused on the experiences of African-American athletes.
The Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) was an American organization established by sociologist Harry Edwards and multiple Black American athletes, including noted Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, on October 7, 1967. The purpose of the group was to advocate for civil rights and human rights for Black people in the United States and Africans abroad, along with protesting racism in sport in general. The OPHR proposed a complete Black athlete boycott of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City to achieve its goals. While the OPHR advocated for a boycott backed by all Black Americans, the group did not actively include women in its discussions and in the end was mostly composed of track and field athletes.
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The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, "Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the Jim Crow laws were generally overturned in 1965. Formal and informal racial segregation policies were present in other areas of the United States as well, even as several states outside the South had banned discrimination in public accommodations and voting. Southern laws were enacted by white-dominated state legislatures (Redeemers) to disenfranchise and remove political and economic gains made by African Americans during the Reconstruction era. Such continuing racial segregation was also supported by the successful Lily-white movement.
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Issues related to race and sports have been examined by scholars for a long time. Among these issues are racial discrimination in sports as well as the observation that there are overrepresentations and underrepresentations of different races in different sports.
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Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate building in a community, petitioning elected officials, running or contributing to a political campaign, preferential patronage of businesses, and demonstrative forms of activism like rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, or hunger strikes.
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Athlete activism in the United States refers to using one's platform as a professional athlete to advocate for social and political issues in the United States of America. It has been an aspect of American sports culture for decades, dating back to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, with athletes such as Muhammad Ali and Tommie Smith using their fame to speak out against racism and discrimination. In recent years, athlete activism has gained renewed attention as athletes have used their platforms to address issues such as police brutality, racial inequality, and LGBTQ rights. The intersection of sports and social justice has been a contentious topic, with some praising athletes for using their influence and privilege to bring attention to important issues, while others criticize them for being too "political" or "divisive."
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