The issue of social norms revolves primarily around the predominance of specific races in sports. In this blog I will focus mainly on the predominance of African- Americans and Caucasians. As is stands now 80% of the National Basketball League is black, 65: of the NFL is black and 60% of baseball players are Caucasian.
While growing up playing many different sports I gradually realized that In specific sports such as basketball and football, the teams became less and less diverse. My basket ball team had a increase in African- American players while my baseball team increased its white players. As far back as my high school years I began to contemplate why such an in balanced of diversity was occurring. It is my conclusion today that as I advanced in sports people of certain races continued on to the sport that society deemed acceptable for them. They did so because society has socially accepted roles for each race in sports. A common racial norm for African- Americans is that they are more "Naturally athletic" than whites, who are seen as "heady and hardworking". Such norms explain why we see more strategic related sports such as baseball, dominated by whites while more athletic sports such as football and basket are predominantly white.
In my opinion that current racial stereotypes influence younger generations into conforming and choosing the route society paves for them. There are plenty of examples in past history that prove race is not a determining factor in sports. Lary bird is an example because he was white and excelled playing for the Celtics basketball team. It is my hope that sports teams will become more diverse in the near future as more aspiring players realize that race is not a factor in sports.open('http://skylight.wsu.edu/
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