Finally a ‘Taste for Diversity’? National Identity, Consumer Discrimination, and the Multi-ethnic German National Football Team

Meier Henk Erik, Leinwather Marcel

Forschungsartikel (Zeitschrift) | Peer reviewed

Zusammenfassung

Persistent immigration towards industrialized countries has challenged traditionalconceptions of citizenship. In Germany, immigration has visibly changed the ethic fabric of thenational football team, which is one of the few national post-war icons. Although some commentatorsconsider the team to be a role model for successful integration of immigrants, unanimous approval ofa multi-ethnic team would be surprising, given substantial xenophobic tendencies in Germany.Therefore, by analysing regional TV ratings, we examine consumer discrimination against the presenceof ethnic out-group players in the national football team and explore how such discriminationrelates to discriminatory attitudes. We find some but limited evidence for consumer discriminationbut also for a trend towards a ‘taste for diversity', suggesting that the audience gets used to amulti-ethnic team. While identity politics seems to be important for sport consumption, the linksbetween sport, identity, consumer discrimination, and discriminatory attitudes seem more complexthan initially assumed.

Details zur Publikation

FachzeitschriftEuropean Sociological Review
Jahrgang / Bandnr. / Volume29
Ausgabe / Heftnr. / Issue6
Seitenbereich1201-1213
StatusVeröffentlicht
Veröffentlichungsjahr2013
Sprache, in der die Publikation verfasst istEnglisch
DOI10.1093/esr/jct011

Autor*innen der Universität Münster

Meier, Henk Erik
Professur für Sozialwissenschaften des Sports (Prof. Meier)