“Futures—Past,” A Reflection of 40 Years of the Sociology of Sport Journal: An Introduction
Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown, Chen Chen, Tomika Ferguson, Courtney Szto, Anthony Jean Weems, and Natalie Welch
Volume 16 (2023): Issue 4 (Dec 2023)
Volume 18 (2023): Issue 12 (Dec 2023)
Volume 31 (2023): Issue 6 (Dec 2023)
Volume 39 (2023): Issue 6 (Dec 2023)
Volume 17 (2023): Issue 4 (Dec 2023): JCSP Special Issue Burnout in Sport and Performance, Part 2
Volume 40 (2023): Issue 4 (Dec 2023): SPECIAL ISSUE “Futures—Past,”: Liberation, Futurity, Intersectionality, and Interdisciplinarity: Reading Sport, Physical Culture, and the (Physically Active) Body
Volume 37 (2023): Issue 4 (Dec 2023)
Anti-Racism in Sport Organizations
Krystina B. Sarff
Authenticity Negotiation: How Elite Athletes (Re)Present Themselves as Personal Brands
Nataliya Bredikhina, Thilo Kunkel, and Ravi Kudesia
Projecting authenticity is crucial for athletes engaged in personal branding. Prior scholarship has emphasized the “frontstage” of authenticity: what tactics athletes use to present themselves and how audiences perceive such tactics. But it has not yet examined the “backstage”: why athletes pursue authenticity and the strategic considerations involved in such ongoing self-presentations. Using a constructivist grounded theory that draws on interviews with 30 elite athletes engaged in personal branding, we unpack these backstage processes, which are not straightforward but entail an ongoing cycle of authenticity negotiation. Our model of authenticity negotiation identifies conflicting authenticity demands and constraints imposed by various actors, which athletes attempt to resolve over time using a range of authenticity management tactics. By modeling the backstage processes in authenticity negotiation, our research integrates, contextualizes, and suggests extensions to the existing frontstage work on authenticity. It offers guidance to athletes and practitioners on managing athlete brands and stakeholder collaborations.
