Drowning in Inequalities: Swimming and Social Justice

The authors argue that age, sex, and racial differentials in swimming participation are conditioned by the availability of swimming infrastructure and the principle of social exclusivity that limits access of lower status groupings, even where pools and programs are available. In turn, the authors argue that participation in swimming and where that activity occurs (pool versus open water) affect life chances (accidental drowning rates) across status groups. Multiple data sources were used to operationalize measures of swimming participation, social exclusivity, conditions associated with the development of swimming infrastructure, risk for a place to drown, and age, sex, and racial accidental drowning and submersion rates. Given that some progress has been made toward lessening social exclusivity with lower status groups now participating in many sports, and the underreporting of deaths from accidental drowning and submersion, the authors believe that the confirmation of their hypotheses is conservative.