Multiculturalism and Antiracism in Sports? U.S. Public Opinions about Native American Team Names and Mascots and the Use of Hijabs in Sports

Abstract

Sports interactions offer contested cultural terrain where cultural citizenship is continually (re)established. Relatedly, this study uses National Sports and Society Survey data ( n = 3,993) to assess public opinions about the use of Native American team names and mascots and the allowance of Muslim women to wear hijabs in sports. Descriptive results indicate that there is considerable but mixed support for eliminating Native American team names and mascots. There is more uniform agreement for allowing hijabs in sports, although more than 20 percent of U.S. adults disagreed with allowing them. Multiple regression results show that dominant statuses and in-group identities, as well as indicators of traditionalism, are consistently associated with reduced support for the proposed changes in sports that are designed to result in multiculturalism and antiracism. Also, recognition of racial/ethnic discrimination is positively associated with support for eliminating Native American team names and mascots as well as allowing hijabs in sports.

When Kids Hitting Each Other Is Okay: Examining U.S. Adult Support for Youth Tackle Football

“…Conservative ideologies and self-identities may also lead to stronger support for both kids playing tackle football and hegemonic masculinity, too. Partially, this appears to result from a nostalgia for the past and a resistance to change—including change in understandings of gender and sexuality (Hawzen and Newman 2017; Newman and Giardina 2011; Knoester and Rockhill 2021). However, professional football actually has the most politically balanced fanbase of any major sport in the U.S. as it is the most popular sport among self-identified liberals, conservatives, and moderates alike, on average (Baker and Blakely 2008).…”

“…Moreover, stigma and backlash may be directed at those who challenge the status quo. Thus, social change, and even changes in public opinions, are not easy to achieve (Bachynski 2019; Berger and Luckmann 1966; Allison, Knoester, and Ridpath 2021; Knoester and Ridpath 2021; Knoester and Rockhill 2021; Knoester, Ridpath, and Allison 2021). For example, criticisms of proposed tackling restrictions in youth football aimed at mitigating its health risks seem to be connected to deeply held passions about the sport uniquely and prominently building toughness, character, and a particularly American form of masculinity.…”

Patriotism, competition, nationalism, and respect for the military in US sports: Public recognition of American institutionalized sports nationalism

“…However, as many critics have noted, this messaging glosses over apparent problems (e.g. inequalities, warmongering) and a selective imagining of who counts as a ‘real’ American (Andrews, 2019; Knoester and Rockhill, 2021; Montez de Oca, 2013; Serazio and Thorson, 2020).…”

“…In addition, we draw upon theorizing about rhetorical entanglement and ritual to highlight how AISN and its component values become further taught, amplified, and sacralized in and through sport (Birrell, 1981; Montez de Oca, 2013; Sirvent and Reyburn, 2017). Finally, the notion by Ong (1996) of cultural citizenship is relevant to how cultural processes in sport are linked to producing an awareness of who is a ‘real’ American and how that is intertwined with AISN (Knoester and Rockhill, 2021; Knoester et al, 2021; Montez de Oca, 2013).…”

“…Sport is an essential institution in the United States, where people can learn what it means to be an American, and celebrate this, through their sports involvement (Birrell, 1981; Bryant, 2018; Montez de Oca, 2013; Newman and Giardina, 2011). However, the presentation of US sport as inherently American, prosocial, and representative of all people often ignores the inequalities that persist in sport (Knoester and Rockhill, 2021; Leonard, 2017; Newman and Giardina, 2011; Spaaij et al, 2015). It seems that those who embrace a glorified story of sport nurturing character development and national unity often consider sport as apolitical—as well as removed from the social inequalities that are embedded in American society (Allison et al, 2021; Butterworth, 2020; Knoester et al, 2021; Thorson and Serazio, 2018).…”