ABSTRACT
American college sports reproduce existing social relations and historical and cultural systems of privilege and oppression inherent to US society. This chapter explores both of the concepts relationally, focusing on college athletes as the embodiment of the dynamic system. The apparent contradiction of experiences suggests that many American colleges and universities have created campus climates characterized by resentment and community discord as a result of their promotion of commercialized sport. American football and basketball at the college and professional levels appears to evidence black athletic superiority. By celebrating and commodifying black athletic performance in college sports, educational institutions continue to support racial hierarchies of intellectual and physical superiority. The admission of promoting a diverse student body through sports teams highlights institutional priorities and reproduces a recurring race logic, particularly because ethnic and economic diversity is often confined to athletics. The overrepresentation of male athletic participation rates continues to reinforce gender logic based on male privilege inherent to American college sport.
