KRLS 304: Intersectionality, Privilege, and Critical Race Theory

What is intersectionality?

The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group. Regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Who created intersectionality?

-Kimberle Crenshaw

-American legal scholar and civil rights advocate, who coined the term in 1989

Why was the concept of intersectionality developed?

Explain how black women faced discrimination that wasn't just about race or just about gender, but a specific blend of both.

What is intersectionality now?

The concept has been broadened beyond the initial framework of looking at race and gender

What are the social classifications now included in intersectionality?

-Socioeconomic class

-Sexual orientation

-Age

-Ability

-Religion

What is an example of intersectionality in sport and leisure?

Overall, women and girls have lower participation rates in sport compared to boys and men but according to one study, sport participation rates for muslim women and girls are lower (25.1%) compared to women and girls who identify as being non-religious (51.8%)

What is privilege?

Refers to advantages and benefits that certain groups of people have in society based on their social identities, such as race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and more.

What is meritocracy?

The belief that social rewards are distributed based on individual merit

What does sport have to do with meritocracy?

Sport is commonly understood as a system where talent, hard, work, and discipline determine success

What is the key assumption with meritocracy?

Those who succeed deserve their outcomes because they have earned them.

What are the two ways privilege produces merit?

1. Economic privilege

2. Cultural privilege

What is economic privilege?

-Early access to sport

-Private coaching and elite leagues

-Access to top training facilities and equipment

-Transportation

-Training camps

What is cultural privilege?

-Knowing how systems work (tryouts, scouting, recruitment)

-In Canada, being able to speak and understand English

-In Canada, within youth sports participants having parents that can speak and understand English

What does meritocracy assume?

-Equal starting points for everyone

-Equal access to resources

-Neutral evaluation systems

What does meritocracy see inequality as?

-Fair

-Natural

-Deserved

What is meritocracy like in sport institutions?

-Selection systems appear objective

-Outcomes consistently favour those with prior advantage

What is meritocracy like in leisure?

-Fitness culture promotes "anyone can be fit if they try"

Overlooks:

-Time constraints

-Cost

-Mental health struggles surrounding body image

What are the key takeaways for meritocracy?

Meritocracy often turns strucutral advantages into individual success and structural inequalities into personal failure

What is Critical Race Theory?

A frameworks that examines how race and racism are embedded in social structures, not just individual attitudes

What are the core assumptions of CRT with racism?

Racism is:

-Ordinary, not exceptional

-Structurally reproduced

What is Race?

A social construct, it is a concept created by humans to categorize people based on physical characteristics such as skin colour, hair texture, eye shape, and other physical features

Where does the concept of race come from?

European naturalists and anthropologists

-From the book System Naturae in 1735

-Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus proposed a classification of humankind into four distinct races

What does CRT ask?

How institutions produce racialized outcomes - not whether individuals are "racist"

-Inequality persists even without explicit racist intent

What is an example of structural racism in sport?

Racial stacking

What is racial stacking?

-Racialized athletes overrepresented in physically risky roles

-White athletes overrepresented in leadership and decision-making positions

What do these patterns reflect?

-Radicalized assumptions about intelligence, discipline, and leadership

-Not purely performance differences

How does CRT fit into sports?

-Meritocracy as racial cover

-Selection framed as "objective" and "performance-based"

What does CRT ask about sport?

-Who gets early access to development?

-Who is evaluated as having "potential"

-Who is seen as a "risk"?

What is the key idea of CRT and Sport?

Meritocracy makes racial inequality by treating unequal outcomes as fair competition

How does CRT fit into leisure?

Leisure is not racially neutral

-Access and belonging

How does CRT affect access and belonging?

-Outdoor recreation and fitness spaces

-Historically coded as white and middle-class

What might racialized bodies experience?

-Surveillance

-Questioning of legitimacy

-Safety concerns

What is another example of CRT in leisure?

Policing in leisure

What is policing in leisure?

Differential treatment in:

-Parks

-Gyms

-Shopping and recreational spaces

Some bodies are allowed to relax; others are monitored

What is the takeaway from CRT and policing in leisure?

Leisure reproduces racial inequality through norms of who belongs, who is watches, and who is entitled to rest.