Race, Sport and the American Dream

by Earl Smith

Race, Sport and the American Dream (2007) won the annual North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Best Book Award, announced at the Society's 2008 annual conference. Race, Sport and the American Dream reports the main findings of a long term research project investigating the scope and consequences of the deepening relationship between African American males and the institution of sport. While there is some scholarly literature on the topic, author Earl Smith tries to understand through this project how sport has changed the nature of African American Civil Society and has come to be a major influence on economic opportunities, schooling and the shaping of African American family life. In this 2nd edition of the book, Smith continues several of the core arguments introduced in the first edition but each is developed with the most up to date and cutting edge research. The reader will note particular changes to the analysis of the increasing expansion of the Athletic Industrial Complex and the decline in the number of African Americans in key leadership positions. Pursuing this line of inquiry was important in 2007 and it is even more important now, in 2009, as the United States grapples with race―the election and inauguration of the first African American president―and faces the worst economic crisis most living Americans have ever experienced. Lastly, Smith compiled a unique dataset that captures data on African American college and professional athletes who are arrested for and often charged with acts of violence against women. The analysis of this data allows for Smith to offer a significantly more sophisticated discussion of this pressing social issue. This book is intended to provide social scientists and others interested in sports with an understanding of carefully selected issues related to the African American athlete. Smith examines the world of amateur sports (Olympic and intercollegiate sport) using Immanuel Wallerstein's "World-Systems Paradigm" which provides a lens with which to examine the colonizing and exploitative nature of intercollegiate sports and the special arrangements that universities have with SportsWorld. All of the topics in this book are addressed within the context of the history of racial oppression that has dominated race relations in the United States since its inception as a nation-state in the 1620s. Across a variety of topics including sport as big business―which Smith terms the Athletic Industrial Complex―to criminal behavior by athletes, to the lack of leadership opportunities for African American athletes, to the question of the biological superiority of African American athletes, Smith argues that any discussion of race and sport must be understood within this context of power and domination. Otherwise the importance of the question itself will always be (a) misunderstood or (b) underestimated. "Dr. Earl Smith's book, Race, Sport and the American Dream , is a work long overdue. Although a scholarly work intended for an academic audience, this book will resonate for anyone interested in advancing their appreciation of the historical and contemporary forces that influence the experience of African American athletes." ― Ellen J. Staurowsky, Professor & Graduate Chair, Department of Sport Management & Media, Ithaca College "Earl Smith has been a scholar on the issue of race and sport for many years. His Race, Sport and the American Dream is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. He organized the book in a clear layout that puts forth an important lens on the issue. He gives us theory that demonstrates the mighty struggles of African-Americans in sport but also is real-life enough to help us feel both the pain of the barriers and the joy in overcoming them." ― Richard Lapchick, Director, Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, University of Central Florida "This well-documented book provides insights into race and sport, as African American athletes have made their way along the path toward an equal playing field and the American dream. Summing Recommended." ― CHOICE Magazine

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2005

About the author

Earl Smith, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and the Rubin Distinguished Professor of American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University. He is the Director of the Wake Forest University American Ethnic Studies Program. Dr. Smith is the former Chairperson of the Department of Sociology, Wake Forest University, from 1997-2005. Prior to his appointment at Wake Forest University, Professor Smith was the Dean, Division of Social Science at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, Washington. He also served as Chairperson of the Department of Sociology at PLU. Professor Smith has numerous publications (books, articles, book chapters etc.) in the area of professions, social stratification, family, urban sociology, and has published extensively in the area of the sociology of sport. His professional research focus is urban sociology, criminology and race, ethnic relations and the sociology of sport.  He is the author of numerous books, research articles and book chapters. Several books are sports related including: Sociology of Sport and Social Theory (2010, Human Kinetics Publishers) and Race, Sport and the American Dream (3rd edition 2014 – Carolina Academic Press).
Smith received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Connecticut