John Girdwood

SOC 931 – Topics of Structural Inequality – Global Transformations

for Dr. Xuefei Ren

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Fall 2010

Abstract

Professional sport is a more attainable goal for youth now than it was thirty years ago because pro sports include a variety of new leagues in many different countries and continents.  Youth in deindustrialized cities are able to reach the professional ranks by participating in international leagues while role models provide an example for them.  There are an increasing number of spots on international rosters as the employment rates in deindustrialized cities drop.  Parental influence plays a factor.  The offspring of disgruntled and unemployed former factory workers view manufacturing as unsteady.  To avoid a dead end with no future, these offspring look elsewhere for possible careers.

In this article, I show why American youth view sports as a potential form of entrepreneurship especially in deindustrialized cities.  First, I describe the American history of economic transition, from Fordism to the current deindustrialized economies of Midwestern cities.  This historical account provides a framework to explain the current situation in American deindustrialized cities.  Next, I explain the results of high unemployment and its effects on individuals in the American work force.  I develop a theory of why American youth currently use sports as an opportunity for employment, especially in deindustrialized cities.  Finally, I conclude with a set of globalizing effects this economic transition causes within the next American working generation.  Youth in deindustrialized cities are now more likely to aspire to become international basketball players.  They would rather try to “get that overseas money” than reach for an assembly line job that is no longer available.  The times have changed in deindustrialized cities.

Young Athletes as Entrepreneurs in Deindustrialized Cities

The United States began the twentieth century with a new product to develop.  Midwestern pioneers like Ransom Olds and Billy Durant added vehicle manufacturing to the landscape and provided an economically invigorating boost to several cities like Flint and Lansing, Michigan.  A similar experience of millennial transition occurred at the turn of the twenty-first century, although absent a single clear and present product.  The American “New Economy” was thriving as the ball dropped on the country to indicate it had moved forward into the new millennium.  Around that time, the national unemployment rate was roughly four percent, wages were on the rise for the middle-class, and there was little thought given to the possibility of recession (Knapp & Harms, 2002).  However, job displacement and plant closings occurred at more locations than Vehicle City (Knapp & Harms, 2002; Root, 1984).  As a result, young job seekers could no longer rely on an open vacancy on the General Motors production line to provide their salary and support their lifestyle.  American youth now participate in an uncertain and vaguely defined global job market that requires new forms of entrepreneurship and individual motivation to be successful.  In this article, I examine why American youth now view sports as a potential form of entrepreneurship especially in deindustrialized cities.

First, I describe the American process of economic transition chronologically, from early twentieth century Fordism to the current deindustrialized economies of formerly industrialized cities.  This historical account provides a framework to explain the current situation in American deindustrialized cities.  Second, I explain certain results of high unemployment and its effects on individuals in the American work force.  The first two sections are a review of prior literature.  Third, I develop a theory on why American youth currently use sports as an opportunity for employment, especially in deindustrialized cities.  Finally, I list a set of unforeseen globalizing effects this economic transition causes within the next American working generation.

Deindustrialization

Henry Ford brought promise to Detroit when he said during 1906 that he would build a factory to employ 10,000 in southeast Michigan (Prelinger Archives, n d).  He simultaneously injected hope and change into a city that was thirsting for it.  He is most famously known for establishing the assembly line, an invention that generated loads of standardized cars that were affordable enough for his employees to purchase their own product.  This concept, labeled “Fordism,” was based upon efficiency, service, and progress (Grazia, 2005).  The assembly line approach to production still exists and can even be seen in fast food restaurants.

There were innumerable and varying results that came out of the Fordist approach to production, from an aesthetic effect of the drab black paint finish (Gartman, 2009) to industrial reorganization that increased productivity and expanded divisions of labor (Matthews, 1996).  Culture and production are unusual bedfellows but not without previous theoretical analysis.  Gramsci cast a positive attitude toward the cultural practices that took place in combination with changing processes of production (Holub, 1992).  Horkheimer and Adorno spoke of the “sameness” that infects culture en mass (Horkheimer, Adorno, & Noerr, 2002).  Throughout the literature and in the conclusions of multiple theorists, it is impossible to negate this characteristic of Fordism: its effect on culture and production.

On the surface, it appears that production occurs in the factory and culture develops outside working hours.  The cars come off the line and the opera happens in the theater.  Yet, the elements of culture and production are entwined, waver between the individual and his environment, and influence a large proportion of his life course decisions.  For purposes of this research, I assume that vocational choice results from a development of understanding environment/place and orientation/self (Holland, 1959).  Therefore, the path to a chosen profession in 1906 is the same one hundred years later.  A youth in the early part of the twenty-first century aspires to the same general goals as today’s young American: to purchase a shiny new black Ford and successfully fit into society.  The main difference is that the individual no longer finds his place in an automotive factory.

The factory is no longer a readily available choice of occupational environment for residents of Vehicle City.  The prevalence of the factory declined alongside the drop in overall importance of the factory system in America (Weir, 2007).  Deindustrialization, as it relates to employment, occurred in four stages (R. Edwards & R. C. Edwards, 1980; Polanyi, 2001; Jacoby, 2004; Kalleberg, 2009).  During the “Great Depression” employment was quite unstable.  Afterward, job security steadily improved during a period of “Great Transformation.”  Continuing the upward trajectory during the “Great Compression” (1940s to 1970s) job satisfaction, stability, and opportunities were available to many Americans.  After the American industrialized economy peaked, structural changes caused numerous plant closing and downsizing that many analysts expect to continue.  The number of “dislocated” American workers will likely rise (Koppel & Hoffman, 1996).  Therefore, the current American job market includes growing perceptions of job insecurity and many more nonstandard work arrangements.  Kalleberg calls this a “precarious” work environment.

Plant Shutdowns and Parental Responses to Job Loss

In order to explain certain results of high unemployment and its effects on individuals in the American work force, I convey two case studies: “Zenith” and “Meat Packing.”  The Zenith study shows factors that help explain joblessness while the Meat Packing study analyzes how displaced workers cope with job loss.  These studies are vital to understanding my research question because of the relationship between family stability and its effects on the future occupational choice of youth.  Prior research has shown that growing up in a stable family increases the likelihood that a man will pursue an occupation that ranks high on the socioeconomic scale (B. Duncan & O. D. Duncan, 1969).  For purposes of this research, I assume major professional sports to be a high socioeconomic professional choice due to the popularity, fame, and high salary that are connected with being a pro athlete.  I also assume that the path to pro sports is one of “self-employment.”  In other words, the self-promotion that an amateur athlete conducts prior to becoming employed by a pro sports team is a form of self-employment.  Prior research has been conducted regarding family influence on youth paths to self-employment.  Self-employed fathers have offspring who are more likely to be self-employed (Hout & Rosen, 2000) and there are racial differences in the likelihood of self-employment (Butler & Herring, 1991).  This article does not fully develop theory on self-employment and is not an analysis of occupation by race, however it is important to understand that parental influence on youth occupational choice is relative to the experiences the family endures as a unit and as individuals.  The Zenith and Meat Packing case studies explain some effects of high unemployment on individual parents, and I draw conclusions on how that parental experience influences the children who come from deindustrialized cities.

Zenith, one of the world’s largest producers of televisions founded in the early twentieth century became a fixture of U.S. culture by the mid 1960s.  In 1967, Zenith opened a manufacturing plant in Springfield, Missouri and within a decade the plant was producing half of the TV sets that the company sold.  Three years later, the company moved 1,000 American jobs to Mexico when it opened a new plant south of the U.S. border.  By 1992, the company had outsourced over 13,000 jobs outside of the U.S. to other plants.  In 1993, the last TV was produced in the Missouri plant and all jobs were eliminated by 1996.  Knapp & Harms (2002) conducted a qualitative study using survey and interview information regarding the impacts of job loss on former employees at the Missouri plant.  After the plant closed, former Zenith employees endured an average of 41 weeks without a job.  This was significantly longer than average unemployment duration for displaced workers during the same time period (Kletzer, 1998).  The authors suggested several factors to help explain the longer duration of joblessness in this sample.  First, the typical employee worked in the plant for roughly twenty years.  Generally, that worker acquired a specific skill set that transfers only within the industry.  Simply, if there are no other TV plants nearby, the worker has no place to use his acquired skills.  Second, most of the displaced workers were around 50 years old.  Many respondents viewed this as a disadvantage when seeking to fill a job vacancy.  Third, the workers belonged to a union which typically points to them not readily accepting the opportunity for low-paying jobs and employers’ unwillingness to hire former union workers.

Knapp & Harms point out that some of the workers who become dislocated turn to self-employment, but few studies have assessed the success or failure that results from such entrepreneurship.  The authors include an expression from a former employee that Zenith was “a dead end with no future.”  A connection can be made to sports as a potential form of entrepreneurship.  Sports changed from a recreational activity at the turn of the century to a lucrative business in large part due to the entrepreneurship of Knute Rockne at Notre Dame and embellished news accounts of players with nicknames like the “Wheaton Ice-Man,” “Galloping Ghost,” and “Harold ‘Red’ Grange of Illinois” (Hutchinson, 1993).  Although not an appropriate job option for a 50 year old, the idea of sports as an entrepreneurial alternative to “a dead end with no future” has now been established and can be viewed as a potential option for young residents of a formerly strict manufacturing city.  Further research is necessary to understand how sport is conveyed to American youth, especially through mass media, as a potential form of entrepreneurship.

Not only are sports a theoretical avoidance of joblessness as a form of entrepreneurship, but athletic participation can significantly increase income outside the scope of the wages of professional athletes.  For example, males who performed as collegiate athletes receive about 4% higher annual incomes than non-athletes (Long & Caudill, 1991).  Thus, sports are a way to increase salary and avoid joblessness not only as an end result (playing professionally) but also as a building block for future success.  Another study on plant closures was conducted by Root (1984) to analyze how displaced workers cope with job loss.  This research compared two Iowa meat-packing shutdowns during the mid 1970s and 1980 respectively along with analysis of displaced auto workers in Wisconsin in the early 1980s.  Workers responded to job loss by cutting back on expenses, extending their informal network of relatives and friends for employment possibilities, and sending their spouse to the workforce.  The authors state that more research is necessary on several aspects of job loss in order to produce effective public policy.  This is probably true, but the research needs to go beyond studies of reactions to joblessness and ought to include perceptions of the prospects of certain career choices.  It is vital not only to ask “What did you do after the plant closed?” but to also include many questions that drive to answer “Going into it, how long did you think this prosperity would last?”  Only then will we have a more complete picture.  This is why new research regarding sports sociology and career path choice is relevant to the discussion.  Research is needed to examine the types of jobs that those in the generation subsequent the plant closing choose.  The next generation of workers in deindustrialized cities is likely to avoid reaching for “a dead end with no future.”  Therefore, it is necessary to understand how that next generation determines what jobs have the potential for bright futures.

New Urban Poverty

In the 1930s, E. Franklin Frazier expressed his belief that Blacks’ upward mobility and assimilation into American life depends mostly on the availability of employment opportunities in the industrial sector (Wilson, 1994).  For better or worse, Frazier’s words are no longer true.  There is a diminishing number of available industrial jobs in cities like Flint and Detroit, Michigan.  In another study, Drake & Cayton (1993) maintain that mobility is hindered by living space and tie much of the lack in mobility to brick and mortar buildings.  To update scholars, Wilson (1994) lectured on the concept of “new urban poverty” that represents poor segregated neighborhoods where most of the adults are unemployed.  This is drastically different from the population studied by Drake & Clayton because those subjects in their book “Black Metropolis” actually held jobs.  There are very few jobs now.  Wilson makes this very clear.

Cities like Flint are “ghost towns” when industry leaves as opposed to reconstructed economies.  Additionally, the populace is more spread out.  Wilson (1994) expressed that neighborhoods with high unemployment are more likely to experience problems of social organization and regular employment provides the anchor for the temporal and spatial aspects of daily life.  Furthermore, unemployment and irregular employment hinder rational life planning, the necessary condition of adaptation to an industrial economy (Darbel & Bourdieu, 1963).  The absence of rational planning in a jobless family is reinforced by other families in the neighborhood holding the same attribute.  In sum, social organization decreases as joblessness increases.  Temporal and spatial aspects of daily life vanish when jobs do.  Most importantly, the choice to develop career aspirations and goals is eliminated when industry departs and leaves conditions of unemployment.  Finally, the inability to consciously climb “the ladder” is contagious.

Social isolation causes inner-city residents to look elsewhere for role models.  Conventional role models once buffered the effects of neighborhood joblessness (Wilson, 1996).  This is no longer the case as American professional sports have brought unconventional role models into the living rooms of families through television, perhaps even through Zenith units.  TV is a main conduit for many families who do not have transportation.  Transportation was once essential for employment in metropolitan economies (Kasarda 1989).  Professional athletes usually travel on private jets, another element of their unconventional lifestyles.

Attributing the overall current position of the urban poor to a lack of jobs, Venkatesh (1994) is likely correct that the future position of the urban poor on the socioeconomic ladder is not reliant on industrial jobs.  When conducting future studies, researchers must incorporate new “virtual” role models and new visions of transportation.  More and more people live and work in medium to low density neighborhoods on the outskirts of larger job/market centers yet most public transit systems are designed to serve higher density communities (Mueller & Flanigan, 2000).  The idea that the next generation of laborers dreams of a job that involves air travel as the most common form of transportation is not without merit.  The “No Collar” workforce (Ross, 2004) is a perfect example.  With spatially restrictive and constructive forces like transportation no longer shaping employment opportunities, future research must cast a glance on sports as a viable employment opportunity in the newly integrated global labor market.

Sports as Employment in America

To explain how sports can be an economic injection into a struggling city, I will convey two case studies, Indianapolis and Cleveland.  Particularly, I show how sports enter the city as an opportunity for citizens to become employed, not necessarily as athletes.  This concept is appropriate to the research because it relates to familial influence and perceptions of environment for employment opportunities.  In the preceding section, I developed an understanding of how the younger generation determines what jobs have the potential for bright futures (and what jobs are bleaker).  In what follows, I expand on that idea especially clarifying how the younger generation perceives the sports industry as a viable opportunity for successful employment.

Rosentraub (1999) provides an account of Indianapolis from the 1960s to the 1990s.  Because of a declining job base and deteriorating downtown, the city exemplified the struggle of the American rust belt during this time period.  Governmental maneuvers linked older neighborhoods with downtown, yet flight to the suburbs prevailed.  Indianapolis was viewed negatively and quite simply, nobody wanted to live there.  A downtown development strategy was created to revive the city’s image.  Sports provided a source of economic development.  Rosentraub explains that sport is a small component of any economy, but it can achieve positive image goals like those of Indianapolis.  The sporting industry also provides stimulation to a variety of complementary businesses, like restaurants and hotels.

The number of sports related jobs went up during this city’s revitalization period, accounting for 0.32 percent of all jobs in the Indianapolis economy (Rosentraub, 1999).  Indianapolis simultaneously placed emphasis on amateur and professional sports endeavors.  This is essential to the research goal of this article.  Not only did the city build a new pro sports arena, it became a mecca for unpaid athletes at many different levels.  Youth in Indianapolis not only saw sports at the highest level, but witnessed a variety of paths of upward mobility.  Indianapolis was a “capital city for amateur sports” and its Hoosier Dome is a glaring example of its focus on many levels of athletics.  From the highest paid pro football player to the hot dog vendor at the amateur state wrestling tournament, sports became embedded in the economic fabric of the city of Indianapolis.

Cleveland, on the other hand, witnessed sports as a major piece of its economic structure since Municipal Stadium was built in 1931.  At that time, the sports venue was the largest outdoor stadium in the world.  Because of its sheer size, the stadium was simultaneously a job provider and a visual representation of what sports meant to the city of Cleveland.  In the current sports market, massive stadiums are built specifically to house professional sports teams.  Most of the new construction projects receive corporate names and are meant to connect to a team in the NBA, NFL, or Major League Baseball.  However, Municipal Stadium did not house the Cleveland Indians (MLB) and Cleveland Browns (NFL) until the late 1940s.  This fact sheds light on the embedded quality of sports in the city.  Again, like Indianapolis, sport was not a “one team pony” (sic) in Cleveland.

Sports became geographically spread out during the 1970s when the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA) moved from a downtown stadium to the suburbs.  Then, as Cleveland moved into the 1990s, the NBA team moved back downtown.  Quite simply, the team now plays within the deindustrialized city as opposed to the periphery.  Therefore, the economic opportunities and job prospects through sports (pro basketball) are much clearer for the youth in Cleveland.

Globalizing Effects

The situation in Cleveland is an ideal case study of how pro athletes can start from a lower socioeconomic status and rise to become one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.  LeBron James is well known to sports fans as a former resident of Akron, a suburb of Cleveland.  LeBron was born in 1984, ten years before the Cavs moved out of the Richfield Coliseum and ten years after they started to play there.  The Richfield Coliseum was almost exactly halfway between Cleveland and Akron.  LeBron was drafted with the number one overall pick by the Cavs in 2003.  LeBron left Cleveland to play for the Miama Heat in 2010 much to the dismay of Cavs fans and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.  Mr. Gilbert infamously bashed LeBron as a departing traitor in a letter to Cavs fans (ESPN, 2010).  Mr. Gilbert stated a fact when he wrote LeBron had left the very region he grew up in.  LeBron continuously clarifies that he did not grow up within Cleveland city limits, a fact greatly analyzed through his advertisement counter to Gilbert’s in which LeBron stated that Akron is (or was) his home (Klopman, 2010).  The question of LeBron’s hometown is very applicable to the research here examining why American youth currently use sports as an opportunity for employment, especially in deindustrialized cities.

It is clear that LeBron wants no hometown ties to Cleveland.  He is primarily a self-employed entrepreneur whose endorsement income exceeds his NBA salary (CNN, 2008).  Although financially secure now, his mother did not have steady employment during his youth (James, B. Bissinger, & H. G. Bissinger, 2009).  LeBron knew early on that he would do better if he aspired to work in a “basketball factory” rather than an industrial factory.  Ironically, authors even label his high school a basketball “factory” (Jones, 2005).  LeBron chose to participate in a global economy as soon as he decided that basketball was to be his profession.  Whether playing in a multi-national corporation sponsored (McDonald’s) high school all-star game or being wooed by Ralph Nader to participate in a global fight against labor injustice (Freedman, 2008) LeBron is a prime example of the global reach of sports.  Furthermore, he participated as an Olympic athlete.

Although LeBron James serves as an unconventional role model and an example of the level of success that Akron youth can achieve outside the Cleveland region, he is an anomaly.  He serves as something that Cleveland area youth aspire to but exemplifies a level rarely attained.  Yet, hundreds of athletes reach a level of professional sports that involves going across the pond to play in Europe and Asia.  Less recognized names like Kelvin Torbert, Des Farmer, and Kevin Tiggs played amateur ball in the deindustrialized city of Flint and some received national acclaim as McDonald’s All-Americans.  Now, they play in countries like Ukraine and Greece (Hayes, 2009; 2010).  Many youth in deindustrialized cities aim to be LeBron James and many become the next Kelvin Torbert.

Parental influence plays a part in aspirations of youth.  Jon Goode is the son of Flint basketball legend Eric Turner and JaVale McGee the son of Flint women’s legend Pam McGee (Hayes, 2010).  Pam McGee won an Olympic gold medal and played professionally in Brazil, Italy, France, and Spain.  JaVale and Pam are the first mother and son combination to play professionally in the WNBA and NBA.  JaVale also played internationally for Team USA (Lee, 2010).  Other Flint stars like Charlie Bell (Europe), Lamar Rice (Asia), and J’Nathan Bullock (Australia) have spanned the globe and touched almost every continent as a professional player.  Professional basketball continues to be a viable job option for many Flint athletes while the number of manufacturing vacancies declines more each day.

New Exclusions and Inequality

I have shown how sports is a viable employment opportunity in the newly integrated global labor market.  It is a visibly apparent job option for youth in deindustrialized cities.  Role models, both parents (as a negative example of the declining manufacturing sector) and other athletes (as a positive example of successful participation in profession sport), provide an emblematic paradigm for their respective situations.  As youth increasingly choose to follow the career path of professional sports, new forms of exclusion and inequality develop.  In particular, certain new scenarios occur along lines of gender and race among underprivileged youth in deindustrialized cities.

First, research indicates that black athletes tend to graduate at a higher rate than black non-athletes at the university level (Siegel, 1994).  On the surface, sports appear to be an empowering route to success for the African American race as a whole.  However, as the black man integrates with certain elements of white culture he is sometimes unfortunately viewed as an “Uncle Tom.”  This is because blacks, especially in impoverished deindustrialized cities, see that most of their fellow blacks have inferior jobs (e.g. fast food and retail), less education, and lower socioeconomic status than whites (Petroni, 1970).  O. J. Simpson, the first black American athlete to promote a traditionally white product (rental cars) has been portrayed in this manner (Williams, 2002).  Mr. Simpson had other characteristics of “whiteness.”  He married a white woman and was a sports commentator after he retired from pro football.  Prior researchers argue that white males are typically the voices of authority in American sports commentary (Messner, Dunbar, & Hunt, 2000).  This unfortunate byproduct of achieving success, being labeled an “Uncle Tom,” is definitely a possibility for successful black male athletes.  Although the idea of “Uncle Tom” is nothing new, American sport creates an atmosphere where it can be reproduced.

For gender, the graduation gap between men and women grows larger within athletics.  Women graduate at higher rates than men and statistics show the gap widens when the sample is student-athletes (Rishe, 2003).  Therefore, sports increase inequality rather than reduce it.  However, gender inequality is mitigated by the fact that certain sports provide equal opportunities for both male and female athletes.  Title IX allowed more women to participate in collegiate sports.  However, Kane (1988) argues that the media now encourages female athletes to participate in “sex-appropriate” sports therefore increasing the gender gap.

Second, previous research argues that sports marginalize the academic, social, and psychosocial well-being of the black collegiate athlete (Davis, 1995; 1999).  Furthermore, blackness becomes negated when the black athlete performs in a white forum (Abdel-Shehid, 2005).  Young (2004) provides analysis through a comprehensive qualitative study regarding the mindsets of marginalized black men.  Black men have ideas, strategies, and worldviews that show how they develop an understanding of their needs and adapt so that they can become successful.  Young describes social isolation’s contributions to the black man’s understanding of how certain social actions and beliefs might contribute negatively to his overall financial well-being.  In other words, Young explains that a rational plan and vision override chance.  This is an argument against the systemic marginalization that Davis and Abdel-Shehid believe occur through sport.

The limitations of this research prevent me from conveying thought on every scenario that may occur within the new opportunities that are present through sports as a new frontier of employment for youth in deindustrialized cities.  However, I argue that opportunities for success are generally beneficial.  Marginalization may occur, and I assume is hard to avoid in any discussion of poverty, social isolation, race, and gender.  Additionally, the discussion of exploitation is popular in traditional media and a dominant theme in academia (R. Edwards & R. C. Edwards, 1980; Edwards, 1984; Gaston, 1986; Leonard, 1986; Hoberman, 1997).  I understand the preceding discussion regarding new forms of exclusion and inequality is important.  However, I agree with Sheldon  & Kasser (1998) that benefit comes from attaining goals that are consistent with inherent psychological needs.  I assume that opportunity for success is a common inherent psychological need of the youth in deindustrialized cities.  I argued previously that youth are looking to avoid a “dead end with no future.”

Conclusion

Professional sport is a more attainable goal for youth now than it was thirty years ago.  This is because pro sports include a variety of new leagues in many different countries and continents.  Youth in deindustrialized cities like Flint and Cleveland are able to reach the professional ranks by participating in these international leagues.  Role models like LeBron James provide an example for youth to mimic and a level to aspire to.  Even when the athletes do not make it to the NBA, there is an increasing number of spots on international rosters.  As the unemployment rates in Michigan rise, the number of European and Asian pro sports teams increases.  Parental influence also plays a factor.  The offspring of disgruntled and unemployed former factory workers see that manufacturing is not as steady an occupation as it once was.  To avoid a dead end with no future, these offspring look elsewhere for possible careers.  Mass media is one place they look.  Former alumni of their respective high schools is another.  With success stories like Charlie Bell and Lamar Rice, youth in Flint see pro basketball as a means to a bright future.  And, they are correct in thinking that there are more opportunities globally and more collective job vacancies in European pro sports leagues than there are in the local General Motors plant.

Young job seekers can no longer rely on the GM production line to provide their salary and put food on the table.  American youth now compete in a global job market that requires new forms of entrepreneurship and individual motivation to achieve success.  In this article, I showed why American youth view sports as a potential form of entrepreneurship especially in deindustrialized cities.  First, I described the American history of economic transition, from Fordism to the current deindustrialized economies of Midwestern cities.  This historical account provides a framework to explain the current situation in American deindustrialized cities.  Next, I explained the results of high unemployment and its effects on individuals in the American work force.  I developed a theory of why American youth currently use sports as an opportunity for employment, especially in deindustrialized cities.  Finally, I concluded with a set of globalizing effects this economic transition will cause within the next American working generation.  Youth in cities like Flint are now more likely to aspire to become European basketball players.  They would rather try to “get that overseas money” than reach for a GM salary and pension that are no longer available.  The times have changed in deindustrialized cities.  Cities like Flint and its basketball history provide a solid model for examining a shift in occupational opportunities for American youth.

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