Hierarchies of a Golf Course: Looking at Race, Class, and Gender Reproduction
Format
Oral Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Alison Alkon
Faculty Mentor Department
Sociology
Abstract/Artist Statement
How are hierarchies of race, class, and gender reproduced at a golf course? This paper analyzes what golf courses have done for their members, employees, and affiliates in relation to their current condition within each golf course. In this paper I argue that the creation of the golf community has developed historical hierarchies of status through race, class, and gender as the criteria for perpetuating the promotion, employment, and everyday social interactions at golf courses. This argument is based on six weeks of participant observation during the summer of 2013, a review of recent literature, and two years of employment at a golf course in Stockton, California. Due to a rigorous work schedule as the golf car mechanic and head of maintenance, I used an ethnographic approach to obtain my findings. Drawing on these everyday interactions and recent literature, my findings shed light on how racism, classism, and sexism are reproduced to create a collective order that maintains social hierarchies in golf and other sports.
Location
DeRosa University Center, Room 211
Start Date
26-4-2014 1:00 PM
End Date
26-4-2014 4:40 PM
Hierarchies of a Golf Course: Looking at Race, Class, and Gender Reproduction
DeRosa University Center, Room 211
How are hierarchies of race, class, and gender reproduced at a golf course? This paper analyzes what golf courses have done for their members, employees, and affiliates in relation to their current condition within each golf course. In this paper I argue that the creation of the golf community has developed historical hierarchies of status through race, class, and gender as the criteria for perpetuating the promotion, employment, and everyday social interactions at golf courses. This argument is based on six weeks of participant observation during the summer of 2013, a review of recent literature, and two years of employment at a golf course in Stockton, California. Due to a rigorous work schedule as the golf car mechanic and head of maintenance, I used an ethnographic approach to obtain my findings. Drawing on these everyday interactions and recent literature, my findings shed light on how racism, classism, and sexism are reproduced to create a collective order that maintains social hierarchies in golf and other sports.