When sport discriminates: Recruitment training or the construction of deviance in the sports retail industry

Several studies have revealed that physical appearance continues to be taken into account in recruitment processes, despite the reinforcement of the French anti-discrimination legislative framework since the 2000s and the acknowledgment of this criterion as discriminatory by the law of November 16, 2001. Within the sports retail sector, the stipulation of “being a practicing athlete” as a prerequisite for employment compels recruiters to evaluate candidates’ sporting capital through their physical attributes. Through an examination of their professional socialization, this study aims to shed light on what leads recruiters to partake in this form of discrimination and deviant practices. Through the observation of multiple in-house recruitment training sessions, it becomes evident that most discourse and learning centers around the subject of sport. The results show a tendency among employees to conform to organizational norms at the expense of legal standards. This training process aims to “format” the participants. While they do provide trainees with a useful set of tools, these training procedures relegate legal obligations, such as non-discrimination, to a secondary status, as they risk conflicting with the indispensable criteria mandated by the employer.