Continuing immigration is one of the great challenges that contemporary western societies are faced with. According to Brubaker et al., race and ethnicity even ‘count among the most significant social and cultural structures of modern times’ (1994: 53). Meanings given to race and ethnicity are not only influenced by institutions like the family, education or paid labour, but also by the media. Due to its popularity, the sport media are an important factor in the expression of meanings given to race and ethnicity.

In my presentation I will discuss my research project that employs a qualitative content analysis to study the representations of racial and ethnic groups in the Dutch sport media, in particular in football on television. By studying representation of race and ethnicity in televised football, the project hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the ways race and ethnicity are socially constructed through popular (media) culture. The project is situated within the disciplinary framework of cultural studies and social cognition theory. The constructions of race and ethnicity in mediated football will be studied by analyzing Dutch football during matches of Dutch teams played at the highest professional level in The Netherlands (the Eredivisie). We draw on grounded theory to apply a method of conducting verbal content analysis that is sensitive to the contextual character of race and ethnicity.