The Sports Experience of the Black College Athlete: Exploitation in the Academy

Abstract

The exploitation of college student-athletes, especially black ones, is a dominant theme in the American sport literature. The present research explores this motif as seen through the eyes of college basketball players (n = 505) performing at NCAA Divisions I, II, and III. The most provocative general finding is that discrepancies exist between the actors' and critics' definitions of the sport experience. In discussing the implications of the outcomes, several methodological (e.g., sport sampled, social desirability response set) and theoretical considerations (e.g., pluralistic ignorance, actors' vs. observers' perspectives and false consciousness) are raised.