SPORTS IN SOCIETY:
SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES AND
CONTROVERSIES
CHAPTER 6
SPORTS AND DEVIANCE:
Is it Out of Control?
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Problems Faced When Studying
Deviance in Sports
1. Forms and causes of deviance are diverse, and no
single theory can explain them.
2. Actions accepted in sports may be deviant in other
social situations.
3. Deviance in sports often involves unquestioned
acceptance of norms rather than a rejection of norms.
4. Training and performance have become medicalised.
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Defining and Studying Deviance in Sports
• Studying Deviance is challenging – norms take
different forms, vary in importance, change over time
and social world.
Norm – shared expectation.
Deviance – ideas, traits, actions perceived to fall
outside normal range of acceptance.
• Formal norms (e.g, official rules) and informal norms
(e.g., unwritten understandings)
• Formal deviance (e.g., violations of official rules) and
inform deviance (e.g., violations of unwritten
customs).
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Two Approaches
to Studying Deviance
• Absolutist approach – social norms based upon
essential principles – unchanging foundation for
identifying good/evil, right/wrong.
– Popular with fans, media, general public. Not useful for
sociology other than to explain general responses.
• Constructionist approach – assumes deviance occurs
outside socially determined boundaries of particular
social worlds.
– Norms and deviance are socially constructed.
– Negotiated boundaries determined by power dynamics.
– Allows for deviant overconformity and underconformity.
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Deviant Underconformity and
Overconformity in Sports
• Deviant underconformity – subnormal ideas, traits,
actions that indicate rejection or ignorance of their
existence. Linked to anarchy and lawlessness.
• Deviant overconformity – supranormal ideas, traits,
actions – uncritical acceptance of norms. Linked to
fascism and blind obedience of charismatic leader.
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Figure 6-2
Deviance may involve underconformity or overconformity
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The Sport Ethic
A set of norms that many people in power and
performance sports accept and reaffirm as the
dominant criteria for defining what it means, in their
social worlds, to be a sports competitor and to
successfully claim an identity as a sports competitor.
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The Norms of the Sport Ethic
•
•
•
•
A sports competitor:
makes sacrifices for ‘the game’
strives for distinction
accepts risks and plays through pain
accepts no limits in the pursuit of possibilities.
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Why Do Competitors Engage in
Deviant Overconformity?
1. Sports are so exhilarating and thrilling that some
competitors will do almost anything to continue
to participate.
2. Being selected to play sports is more likely when
participants overconform to the sport ethic.
3. Exceeding normative limits can create excitement
and bonds between participants.
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Competitors Most Likely to
Overconform to the Sport Ethic
1. Competitors with low self-esteem and strong
needs to be accepted by peers in a sport.
2. Competitors who see achievements in sport as
their only way to get ahead, make themselves a
name, and become important in the world.
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Deviant Overconformity
and Group Dynamics
Following the Norms of the Sport Ethic
Special Bonds Among Competitors
Hubris
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Underconformity and Overconformity:
Is there a Connection?
• If bonds are powerful to foster overconformity, can they
also foster other forms of deviance?
• If competitors’ actions separate them, do players come
to disdain or disrespect rest of community?
• If competitors develop hubris, might they feel entitled to
conclude they are exempt from community standards?
• If community holds players in awe because of their
displays of overconformity, are those people less likely
to enforce laws and standards?
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Controlling Deviant
Overconformity in Sports
• Learn to identify the forms and dynamics of
overconformity among competitors.
• Raise critical questions about the meaning,
organisation and purpose of sports.
• Create norms in sports that discourage overconformity
to the sport ethic.
• Help participants to learn to strike a balance between
accepting and questioning rules and norms in their
sports.
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Research on Deviance
Among Competitors
Deviance on the Field and in the Realm of Sports
• Cheating, dirty play, fighting, and violence are less
common today than in the past.
This historical finding contradicts popular perceptions.
Many people think deviance is more common today
because there are more rules than ever before, and
expectations for conformity are greater.
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Research on Deviance
Among Competitors
•
•
•
•
Deviance off the Field and Away from Sports
Competitors do not have higher delinquency rates than
those who do not play sports.
Data on academic cheating is inconclusive.
Competitors have higher rates of alcohol use and
binge drinking.
Felony rates among adult athletes do not seem to be
out of control, but they do constitute a problem (see
Ch. 7).
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Performance-Enhancing Substances:
Deviant Overconformity in Sports
 The use of performance-enhancing substances occurs
regularly in high-performance sports.
 Many cases of usage constitute a form of deviant
overconformity.
 Such substances will be used as long as competitors
believe they will enhance performance.
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Defining and Banning PerformanceEnhancing Substances
• Defining what constitutes a ‘performance-enhancing
substance’ is difficult.
• Defining what is natural or artificial is difficult.
• Defining what is fair when it comes to the use of
science, medicine and technology in sports is difficult.
• Determining what is dangerous to health is difficult.
• Studying and testing for substances is constrained by
ethical and legal factors.
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Why is the Challenge of Substance
Control So Great in Sports Today?
1. The high stakes in sports have fuelled research and
development of substances.
2. Fascination with the use of technology to push human
limits.
3. The rationalisation of the body.
4. Growing emphasis on self-medication.
5. Changing gender relations.
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Why is the Challenge of Substance
Control So Great in Sports Today? (cont.)
6. The organisation of power and performance sports
(must win to continue to play).
7. Coaches, sponsors, administrators and fans clearly
encourage deviant overconformity.
8. Competitors’ performances are closely monitored
within the social structure of elite sports.
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Drug Testing as a Deterrent:
Arguments in Favour of Testing
• Testing is needed to protect participants’ health.
• Testing is needed to guarantee fairness and a level
playing field.
• Testing is a part of normal law enforcement because
drug use is illegal in many cases.
• Testing is needed to anticipate and discourage the use
of genetic engineering.
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Drug Testing as a Deterrent:
Arguments Against Testing
• Competitors and substance manufacturers can stay one
step ahead of the testers.
• Mandatory testing, testing without cause, and using
blood and tissue violates privacy rights.
• Tests are expensive and drain resources in sports
organisations.
• Tests are ineffective for synthetic versions of naturally
produced substances.
• Drug tests will push more competitors toward genetic
engineering.
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Controlling Substance Use:
Where to Start
• Critically examine the hypocrisy in elite sports.
• Establish rules indicating that risks to health are
undesirable and unnecessary in sports.
• Establish rules stating that injured competitors must be
independently certified as ‘well’ before they may play.
• Educate young competitors to define courage and
discipline in ways that promote health.
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Controlling Substance Use:
Where to Start (cont.)
• Establish a code of ethics for sports scientists.
• Make drug education part of deviance and health
education.
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–
–
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Create norms regulating use of technology.
Critically examine values and norms in sports.
Redefine meaning of achievement.
Teach competitors to think critically.
Provide accurate and current information to parents, coaches
and competitors.
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