ABSTRACT
Football is an enjoyable, seemingly innocent popular cultural practice, but it is deeply implicated in the reproduction of the local ruling class of white males, hence class, patriarchal, and racial forms of dominance. Local sports, especially football, socialize every new generation of youth into the local status hierarchy, both inside and outside the school. This chapter provides an insider's view of how football fits into a small South Texas high school and how the town, the school, and football together tend to reinforce the central divisions of the community. It also provides an examination of North Town High and its football team, which illustrates how the status hierarchy of the town and of the school articulate with one another. The role of the Booster Club illustrates nicely that the football ritual reproduces class and racial inequalities as well as gender inequalities.
