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Key Topics
Requirements
Using examples, and drawing upon relevant sociological and philosophical perspectives and research to inform your writing, answer the following question:
To what extent does sport facilitate deviance?’
Guidelines:
Use literature and research to guide your presentation
You are advised to use more than one example though you must attempt to maintain the balance between breadth and depth of analysis.
You are expected to draw upon the sociological and philosophical perspectives taught in the module: Performance Enhancement Drugs and Rugby, Risk, Pain, Injury and Over-Conformity in Sport and Deviant Subcultures – Bodybuilding. (Choose 1 or 2)
The ability to critically compare perspectives will demonstrate a greater knowledge and understanding
* 8- 10 references if possible
Solution
ABSTRACT
This article aims at illustrating the various negative effects that sports has brought into the society through numerous deviations. In general, we expect sports to develop and mold our society in a meaningful way through various teachings like teamwork, dedication, determination, hard work and other attributes that help in building character. However over enthusiastic attitude while taking part in sports has led to several negative aspects to develop. Apart from the injuries there severe social deviation driven by drug abuse, aggressive competition and sometimes homicidal tendencies to eradicate competition have also been noticed. This article talks in brief about these aspects of sports development and tries to critically analyse the impact of sports in creating such deviation in the society. It evaluates the linkages between sports and other abuses presently taking place along with sport and develops a framework to restrict them. This article should be viewed as a guide to end such malpractices taking place in the sports domain.
INTRODUCTION
Sports has over the years been seen as a constructive phenomenon by which it can add value to the society and the people taking part in it. Parents and schools have always encouraged students to take part in sports development activities in the hope that they would yield good results. However, there has been great evolution all over the world which has skewed the mind-sets of people taking part in the sports domain. The sense of achievement has overshadowed the hard work and dedication involved in any sports activity. People are engrossed in the idea of fame and money which has led them to take up short cut measures to achieve success. All these are serious concerns leading to the degradation of sports as a discipline. People are indulging in drug abuse and other unscrupulous means which should have been avoided. This article talks in detail about these deviances and critically examines their influence on society (Evans, 2003).
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SPORTS DEVIANCE:
In order to understand the impact of sports in creating deviance, we need to delve deeper into the definition and purview of deviance. Deviance can be formally defined as a behavior or belief as well as the condition in a human being which violates considerable social norms or rituals in culture and societal framework. It can also happen in a group where the person resides (Hartmann and Massoglia, 2007). There are some important aspects related to deviance which can be summarised as:
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Who are the people in charge of defining deviance
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What is the extent or benchmark of deviance
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The numerous processes which lead to deviance
Deviance in sports is somewhat difficult to judge since the beliefs and behaviors which are considered deviant in normal society are actually praised as a competitive attitude in sports. Some of the examples include aggressive competition, sledding, and hard mentality of not giving up and in the process of not helping any of one’s colleagues. Deviant behavior is most considered normative in a society which is represented as over-conformity deviance in sports. Sports pieces of training and developments are increasingly becoming medicalized which opens up the scope for erratic behavior which is not at all expected (Prokop, 2005).
SUBSTANCE ABUSE:
The most common form of deviant behavior that is identified in sports is the use of drugs to artificially enhance the capability of the athlete. This behavior is completely prohibited by the regulatory authorities but still athletes involved in this kind of practice. Some of the steroids which are commonly abused by the athletes include anabolic-steroids, nutritional supplements, and recreational drug use. As we have been able to identify the drugs which are being wrongly used by the athletes there should be an attempt made to check them. For that, we need to understand the widespread nature of this drug abuse. As the reach of sports increasing beyond geographies with time, the tendency to consume such drugs is also increasing. In fact, it is justified to mention here that drug abuse through the consumption of illegal medicines dates long backdating the Greek era when they used to conduct sports in the Colosseum (Sekot, 2011).
REASONS FOR DRUG ABUSE:
The reasons for such abuse can be attributed to several factors which can be classified as follows:
The culture of using drugs has become quite common and ubiquitous
Our society accords high social status to successful athletes which have become one of the prime drivers of deviant behavior to achieve success by any means
There is a wrong perception developed that drug abuse is the new normal or it is a necessary evil in order to participate in any competition
There is considerable coaching pressure which drives the athletes towards unscrupulous methods
There is ambiguity in the nature of the relationship among the big-time sports companies and the drug manufacturers. The drug makers have emerged as the owners of sports sponsors in many occasions which have led to the increase of drug consumption among athletes
Although several mechanisms have been put in place to keep these practices at check there are several questions that have been raised regarding such laws or enactments. Validity tests are frequently done before the athlete takes part in any sports event which acts as the necessary check for any participant (Robson, 2007). However, this can act as a preventive measure in case of drug abuse but not as a precautionary measure since this will not develop the ecosystem which will thrive athletes without the intervention of drugs. In order to develop such practices, it is necessary that there is a widespread awareness campaign among athletes. Since mostly it is seen that the trainers are in charge of the drugs that an athlete consumes while the person charged of guilty is not aware of the drug he or she is having. A perfect recent example would be that of Maria Sharapova where she was given a medicine which was banned and she had no knowledge about the issue. So the onus lies with regulators and authorities to spread the word regarding drug abuse (Sefiha, 2012).
EATING DISORDERS:
As we have talked at length about the drug abuse focus should now be shifted to other forms of deviances which include eating disorders. Eating disorder that is developed in the sports domain is mainly classified as Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa. While one is associated with very little eating leading to skinny figures and a loss of appetite the other one includes overeating or overburdening oneself with extra food in order to grow muscles. Empirical study has proceeded that 93 percent victims belong to the gender woman and almost 20-60 percent of all athletes experience this at some point of time in their career (McNamee, 2013).
GAMBLING AND VIOLENCE:
A most serious form of offense that people indulge in is violence. Mostly it is seen that athletes develop aggressive competitiveness against their peers which results in violence. Aggression can be explained as the behavior which has the potential or capability to cause significant harm to another person so that he is injured psychologically or physically. There are many other ways of creating a rift in the sports domain through physical assault and other mental or emotional tortures. These should be avoided although it can be said that our society and the coach or parents are also equally responsible for the display of this kind of behavior. They generally tend to overburden their kids or followers with the expectation which eventually leads to this behavior in order to achieve success in other unscrupulous methods.
Gambling is another aspect of deviance which has become popular for the past few decades as the inflow of money in every sport has increased (Fruchart and Rulence-Pâques, 2016)
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Place Your OrderTHEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE:
There have been several theories that have been applied to explain such deviant behavior among the athletes or the people who participate in sports activities. Some of them being are mentioned below:
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Instinctive aggression theories – Sports act as a safety valve which results in the eventual opening when there is a display of aggression. Most people are aggressive in nature which explains these categories and sports are used to overshadow these tendencies.
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Frustration-aggression theories – Frustration engulfs most people in their careers and sometimes athletes use sports as an avenue to express their disappointment or frustration which can be explained by this theory.
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Social learning theory – This is a common form of learning behavior in which the participant observes and learns from other athletes about aggression and violence which leads to deviant behavior (Esquith, 2007).
CONCLUSION:
This report has dealt in detail about the various aspects of the social deviances that are prevalent among the athletes. This work has critically evaluated the various reasons behind the display of such behaviour together with the ways in which it can be avoided. This article provides several theoretical frameworks to explain the numerous aspects of socially deviant behaviour. Finally it is justified to mention that this report should be viewed as a structured approach to deal with social deviance implications of sports in the society (Burger, 2001).
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