Alan M. Klein

Alan M. Klein (born 1946) is an American anthropologist known for his research on the cultural, economic, and political dimensions of sport.[1][2] He is professor emeritus of Sociology-Anthropology at Northeastern University. He was the finalist of Seymour Medal from Society for American Baseball Research in 1997. His research examines baseball in the Caribbean[3] and along the United States–Mexico border, the globalization of Major League Baseball,[4] bodybuilding and constructions of masculinity,[5] and basketball within a Native American community.[6]

Education

Klein received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970, his M.A. in cultural anthropology from the same institution in 1973, and his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977.[7]

Academic career

Klein joined the faculty of Northeastern University in 1979, promoting to the rank of Professor of Sociology and Anthropology before retiring in 2020.[8][7] During his career he has carried out ethnographic fieldwork in Dominican Republic,[4] South Africa, Japan, Italy, Germany, England, and in the US.[9] He was active in the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and served a term as its president, 1998–1999.[10]

Scholarly works and research

Alan Klein's scholarly work uses sport to examine culture, politics, and economics, with particular attention to the role of power in globalization, nationalism, and resistance to dominance as well as cultural reproduction and identity.[11] In addition to four books on baseball, Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice,[4] In Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice, Klein analyzes the historical development of baseball training and recruitment systems in the Dominican Republic, the role of buscones as independent player developers, and the evolving relationship between Major League Baseball organizations and local sporting institutions. His other books include Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream (1991), one of the earliest ethnographic studies of baseball in the Dominican Republic;[12] Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Laredos (1999), an interdisciplinary analysis of baseball and national identity in a U.S.–Mexico border context;[13] Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (2006), which investigates the international expansion strategies of Major League Baseball.[14]

Klein has published Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction (1993), a critique of masculinity through bodybuilding[15], American Sport: An Anthropological Perspective (2008),a collection of his works looking at sport through an anthropological lens;[16] and Lakota Hoops: Life and Basketball on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (2020), an ethnographic study of basketball and community life in a Lakota reservation setting.[17] Across these works, Klein applies theoretical perspectives such as gender, cultural reproduction to show how international sport systems reflect broader patterns of power, inequality, resistance, and identity formation.[18]

Awards

References

  1. ^ Kornwitz, Jason (2014-03-20). "From sugarball to the big leagues". Northeastern Global News. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  2. ^ Muniowski, Łukasz (2024-11-23). "Review of Baseball's Endangered Species: The Craft of Scouting by Those Who Lived It". Sport in American History. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  3. ^ Stanley, Logan (2023-09-05). "Baseball has huge on- and off-the-field impact in the Dominican Republic". Cronkite News. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  4. ^ a b c Littlefield, Bill (2014-04-26). "'Dominican Baseball' Illuminates Relationship Between MLB And Dominican Republic". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  5. ^ Bolin, Anne (1994). "Sociology of culture -- Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction by Alan M. Klein". Contemporary Sociology. 23 (5).
  6. ^ Ganje, Francie (2025-04-19). "Native American basketball changed the game in South Dakota". KBHB Radio. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  7. ^ a b "Alan Klein". College of Social Sciences and Humanities. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  8. ^ "Emeritus Faculty". Department of Sociology & Anthropology. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  9. ^ Quinn, Kevin G. (2008). "Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball (review)". NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. 17 (1): 155–157. doi:10.1353/nin.0.0014. ISSN 1534-1844.
  10. ^ "Presidential History". nasss.org. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  11. ^ Klein, Alan M. (1995). "Culture, Politics, and Baseball in the Dominican Republic". Latin American Perspectives. 22 (3): 111–130. ISSN 0094-582X.
  12. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (1991-04-07). "Take Me Out to El Beisbol : SUGARBALL; The American Game, The Dominican Dream By Alan M. Klein". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  13. ^ Treviño, A. Javier (1999). "Baseball, Nationalism, and the Two Laredos". Qualitative Sociology. 22 (3): 269–274. doi:10.1023/A:1022914023278. ISSN 0162-0436.
  14. ^ Klein, Alan M. (2006-09-18). Growing the Game: The Globalization of Major League Baseball. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-13512-1.
  15. ^ Klein, Alan M. (1993-08-24). Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-0925-2.
  16. ^ "American Sports: An Anthropological Approach". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2026-02-22.
  17. ^ DeLand, Michael (2021). "Lakota Hoops: Life and Basketball on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation". Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews. 50 (6): 488–490. doi:10.1177/00943061211050046h. ISSN 0094-3061.
  18. ^ Lipsyte, Robert (1994-11-11). "Why Do Male Athletes Assault Women? Research Begins". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  19. ^ "Sport Sociology and the Responsibility for Decolonial Praxis: Decolonizing Minds Indigenizing Hearts -- NASSS Conference Program 2019" (PDF). North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Programs.
  20. ^ "Outstanding Book Award". nasss.org. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  21. ^ "The Seymour Medal – Society for American Baseball Research". Retrieved 2026-02-21.
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