Twelfth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

This study employs a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) on the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Presidential Pledge discourse in discussion among a host of sport scholarships. The relationship between neoliberalism, race, and socio-economic inequality is an emerging phenomenon among critical theory scholars, yet lacks adequate attention in the context of intercollegiate athletics. I recognize CDA as an appropriate and accurate method for social analyses which provides a precise theoretical framework for analyzing political discourse as social practice which is constitutive for social continuity or social change. The subject participants are categorized as student-athletes, coaches, athletic directors, and university presidents. This research argues sports organizations’ discourse of diversity and inclusion, social justice, and social cohesion has occurred at the expense of historically marginalized communities’ demands for racial and social justice. Specifically, although the NCAA’s endeavor to achieve ‘diversity and inclusion’ in terms of institutional change through refined hiring practices are well intended, their Presidential Pledge (re)produces dominant narratives and societal power relations, which ultimately perpetuates the racial inequities plaguing the United States.