Effeminate or Enforcer: Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes in the National Hockey League

• In Event: 4354 - Sociology of Sport: Identities, Interactions, and Institutions

Abstract

Research on positional segregation in sport focuses mostly on the mechanisms that perpetuate discrepancies between black and white athletes. Previous studies in the National Hockey League, however, have revealed positional segregation among white athletes, based on prejudice against Francophone-Canadian players (Lavoie 1989). Demographic shifts in the NHL linked to greater globalization has led to an influx of European and Russian players into the NHL, leading in turn to stereotypes regarding style of play between athletes from North America and the recently introduced European and Russians. We use 2018 data on 791 NHL players to evaluate if these stereotypes have led to ethnic-based stacking. We use three different lenses to examine how new stereotypes might be related to ethnicity in the largely-white NHL: first, we search for within-white groupings ethnic positional segregation among NHL teams. Second, we evaluate whether such stereotypes operate to block European and Russian players form leadership positions. Third, we measure differences in penalty minutes accrued by players of different ethnic backgrounds to test whether there are differences in playing style that might lead to stereotypes. Findings show that while there is no evidence for ethnic stacking nor barriers to leadership in the NHL, there are significant differences in the style of play between players that may be associated with stereotypes that. Anglophone-Canadians are more aggressive than other players.

Authors

• Thomas R. Leppard, Brigham Young University

• Mikaela Dufur, Brigham Young University