Race, ethnicity, and content analysis of the sports media: a critical reflection

In this article we draw on a cultural studies perspective to reflect critically on the racial and ethnic categorizations that are used by those who employ content analysis to study the sport media and to demonstrate how such categories naturalize racial thought and erase ethnic distinctions. We use examples of content analysis of the sport media to illustrate the dominant categorization practices used in many studies. We draw on perspectives from cultural studies and social cognition theory, and on methods based on grounded theory, to suggest a method of conducting verbal content analysis that is sensitive to the contextual character of constructions of race and ethnicity.