Black athletes in the media. (Volumes I and II).
Item
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Title
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Black athletes in the media. (Volumes I and II).
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Identifier
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AAI9325068
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identifier
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9325068
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Creator
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Banks, Michael Alexander.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Stanley Aronowitz
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, General | Journalism | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | Black Studies
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Abstract
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"Black Athletes in the Media" is a sociohistorical documentation of trends in the characterization of black athletes by the news media. This study seeks to demonstrate and explain the ambiguity and dilemma of black American acceptance in the American Ideal with respect to black sporting achievements over the Twentieth Century. The evolution of black stereotypes, depictions and generalizations are traced and exposed in contemporary media.;With respect to the media, as the foremost propagator of the black stereotype, it has the ability to shape, influence and arouse public opinion through the manipulation of controversial events. The social imagination is thus enhanced by this authority and "keeper" of American social values. The major focus on black athletes by the media, represents and reflects a consistent pattern of racial assessments and stereotypical journalistic attitudes.;Racial characterizations in the New York media is the major focus of this study. Strongly facilitating these assessments are the various and myriad genetic race-linked studies which have been learned through American "value channels" and inhabit the American social imagination, with respect to the perceptions and "beliefs" about the black athlete. The "controversial" black athlete usually receives a higher degree of these biased assessments, however, the "accepted" black athlete is also stigmatized in a perpetual format. "Black Athletes in the Media" focuses on the dilemma between these two archetypes and the emergence of the "white hope" in American sports. Selective black athletes over the Twentieth Century are used to observe this dilemma.;The nature of this study is an attempt to chart the evolution and transition of racial assessments of black athletes by the media in terms of key categories and to demonstrate a modern popular perception of these assessments of black athletes and their effect on American society in a formal and historical analysis. The periodization that guides this study (as a methodology) groups characteristics in the relationship of black athletes to their respective sports (especially boxing). However overt or subtle the journalistic racial generalization, the individual attitude of the journalist is at once exposed through the semantics of chosen words and topics.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
