Sport in

Society:
Issues &
Controversies
Sports and Children:
Are Organized Programs
Worth the Effort?
 Origins of Organized
Youth Sports
• Organized youth sports emerged in the 20th
Century
• The first programs focused on “masculinizing”
boys
• Organized youth sports grew rapidly in many
industrialized countries after World War II
• Programs in the U.S. emphasized competition
as preparation for future occupational
success
• Girls’ interests generally were ignored
 Social Changes Related to the
Growth of Organized Youth
Sports
• Increase in working families
• New definitions of “good parent”
• Growing belief that informal activities
lead to trouble for kids
• Growing belief that the world is
dangerous for children
• Increased visibility of high-
performance and professional sports in
society
 Major Trends in
Youth Sports Today

• Organized programs have become

increasingly privatized
• Organized programs increasingly
emphasize the “performance ethic”
• An increase in “elite training”
facilities
• Increased participation in
“alternative sports”
 Youth Sports:
Types of Sponsors

1. Public, tax-supported community

recreation programs
2. Public non-profit community
organizations
3. Private nonprofit sport organizations
4. Private commercial clubs
 Privatized
Youth Sport Programs
• Growth is associated with the
decline in publicly funded programs
• Most common in middle- and upper-
middle income areas
– May reproduce economic and ethnic
inequalities in society
• May not be committed to gender
equity
– Private programs are not accountable in
the same way as public programs
 The “Performance
Ethic”

• Refers to emphasizing measured

outcomes as indicators of the quality
of sport experiences
• Fun = becoming better
• Emphasized in private programs
• Related to parental notions of
investing in their children’s future
 Elite Sport Training
Programs
• Most common in private, commercial
programs
• Emphasize the potential for children to
gain material rewards through sports
• Children often “work” long hours and
become like “laborers,” but programs
are not governed by child labor laws
• Raise ethical issues about adult-child
relationships
 New Interests in
Alternative Sports

• A response to highly structured, adult-

controlled organized programs
• Revolve around desires to be
expressive and spontaneous
• May have high injury rates and
patterns of exclusion related to gender
and social class
• Are being appropriated by large
corporations for advertising purposes
 Different
Experiences

Formal Sports Informal Sports

Emphasize: Emphasize:
• Formal rules • Action
• Set positions • Personal
involvement
• Systematic
guidance by
• Challenging
experiences
adults
• Reaffirming
• Status and friendships
outcomes
 Different Outcomes

Formal Sports Informal Sports

Emphasize: Emphasize:
• Relationships with • Interpersonal &
authority figures decision-making skills
• Learning rules and • Cooperation
strategies • Improvisation
• Rule-governed • Problem solving
teamwork &
achievement
 When Are Children Ready to
Play Organized, Competitive
Sports?
• Prior to age 12, children don’t have the
ability to fully understand competitive team
sports
– They play “beehive soccer”
• Children must lean how to cooperate before
they can learn how to compete
• Team sports require the use of a “third party
perspective”
– Role Taking Ability
– Game Stage Developmental level
 What Are the Dynamics of
Family Relationships in Youth
Sports?
• Sports have the potential to bring
families together
• Being together does not always mean
that close communication occurs
• Children may feel pressure from parents
• Parent labor in youth sports often
reproduces gendered logic ideas
– work
– family
 How Do Social Factors
Influence Youth Sport
Experiences?
• Participation opportunities vary by social class
• Encouragement often varies by gender and
ability/disability
• Self perceptions and the social consequences
of participation vary by:
– social class
– sex
– race/ethnicity
– ability/disability
– sexuality
 Recommendations for
Changing Informal &
Alternative Sports
• Make play spaces more safe and
accessible to as many children as
possible
– Be sensitive to class and sex
• Provide indirect guidance without
being controlling
• Treat sport as a worthwhile site for
facing challenges
– developing competence
 Recommendations for
Changing Organized Sports

1. Increase action
2. Increase personal involvement
3. Facilitate close scores and
realistic challenges
4. Facilitate friendship formation
and maintenance
 Recommendations for
Changing High-performance
Programs

1. Establish policies, procedures, and

rules to account for:
– the rights of children participants
– the interests of children participants

2. Create less controlling environments

– to promote growth
– to promote development
– to promote empowerment
 Prospects for Change

• Often subverted when priority is given

to efficiency and organization
– over age-based developmental concerns
• May be subverted by national
organizations concerned with
standardizing programs
• May be subverted by adult
administrators with vested interests in
the status quo
 Coaching Education
Programs

• Are useful when they provide coaches

with information on
– Dealing with children safely and responsibly
– Organizing practices and teaching skills
• Are problematic when they foster a
“techno-science” approach to
controlling children
– Creating “sports efficiency experts” should
not be the goal
Deviance in
Sports:
Is It Out of
Control?
Problems Faced When
Studying Deviance in Sports
• Forms & causes of deviance are
diverse
• No single theory can explain all
• Sports behavior may be deviant in
other settings (All Star Wrestling)
• Sports often involves unquestioned
acceptance of norms
– rarely the rejection of norms
• Training & performance have
become medicalized
Using Functionalist Theory
to Define Deviance
1. Deviance involves a rejecting of
accepted goals
2. Or rejecting the means of achieving
goals in society
3. Conformity is equated with morality
4. Deviance is caused by faulty
socialization
 By inconsistencies in the social system
5. Deviance is controlled by getting tough
 By enforcing more rules more strictly
 Using Conflict Theory
to Define Deviance
1. Deviance involves behavior that
interferes with the interests of those
with economic power
2. The behavior of those who lack power is
more likely to be labeled as deviant
3. Those who deviate often are victims of
exploitation in a system characterized
by inequalities
4. The problem of deviance will be minimal
when power is equally distributed in
society
 Using Interactionist &
Critical Theories to Define
Deviance
1. Most deviance in sports is not due to the
moral bankruptcy of athletes
2. Much deviance in sports involves over
conformity to established norms in sports
3. Sport deviance must be understood in
terms of the normative context of sport
cultures and the emphasis on “the sport
ethic”
•Deviant •Normally •Deviant
Under- Accepted Over-
Conform Range of Conform
•ity
Deviance Behavior •Deviance
ity
based on based on
ignoring or unquestione
 The Sport Ethic

A cluster of norms that

represent the accepted criteria
for defining what it means to be
an athlete.
Four Norms of the Sport
Ethic
1.An athlete makes sacrifices
for “the game”
2.An athlete strives for
distinction
3.An athlete accepts risks and
plays through pain
4.An athlete accepts no limits
in the pursuit of possibilities
 Why Do Athletes Engage
in Deviant Over-
Conformity?
Two reasons for over-conformity:
1.Sports are so exhilarating and
thrilling that athletes want to play,
and they will do almost anything
to continue to do so
2.Being selected by coaches and
managers is more likely when
athletes over conform to the sport
ethic
Athletes Most Likely to
Over- Conform to the
Sport Ethic
• Those who have low self-esteem
 Eager to be accepted by their peers
 Willing to sacrifices what they think
others want them to
• Those who see achievements in
sport as their only way to get ahead
 make a name
 become important in the world
Deviant Over-Conformity
and Group Dynamics
Following the Norms of the Sport
Ethic

Special Bonds Among Athletes

Hubris (arrogance)
Social Processes in Elite
Power & Performance
Sports
• Bond athletes in ways that normalize
over conformity to the sport ethic
• Separate athletes from the rest to
inspire awe and admiration among
community members
• Lead athletes to develop HUBRIS (a
sense of arrogance, separateness, and
superiority)
 Hypotheses About Deviance
Among Athletes
Deviance becomes more likely
when
1.Social bonds normalize risk taking
2.Athletes are separated from the
rest of the community
3.Athletes develop extreme degrees
of hubris
4.When people in the community see
athletes as being special
Controlling Deviant Over-
Conformity in Sports
Four ways to control deviant over-conformity:
1. Learn to identify the forms and dynamics of
over-conformity among athletes
2. Raise critical questions about the meaning,
organization, and purpose of sports
3. Create norms in sports that discourage
over- conformity to the sport ethic
4. Help athletes to learn to strike a balance
between accepting and questioning rules
and norms in their sports
 Research on Deviance
Among Athletes
On the Field Deviance
• Cheating, dirty play, fighting, & violence are
less common today than in the past
• This historical finding contradicts popular
perceptions.
• Many people think deviance is more common
today
More rules than ever before
Expectations for conformity are greater.
 Research on Deviance
Among Athletes
Off the Field Deviance
• Athletes do not have higher delinquency
rates
• Data on academic cheating is inconclusive
• Athletes have higher rates of alcohol use
• Felony rates among adult athletes do not
seem to be out of control
• BUT they do constitute a problem (see Ch.
7)
 Is Sport Participation
a Cure for Deviant
Behavior?
Research suggests that organized sport
might
reduce deviance if:
1. A philosophy of nonviolence
2. Respect for self and others
3. The importance of fitness and control
over self
4. Confidence in physical skills
5. A sense of responsibility
 DON’T FORGET
Athletes are not the only ones in sports
who engage in deviant behavior. Think
of other examples involving:
Coaches
Parents
Spectators
Administrators
Team owners
Agents
 Using Performance
Enhancing Substances in
Sports
• The use of performance enhancing
substances occurs regularly in high
performance sports
• Many cases of usage constitute a form
of deviant over conformity
• Such substances will be used as long
as athletes believe they will enhance
performance
Defining and Banning Performance
Enhancing 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, & 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
 Eight Reasons Why Substance Use

So Prevalent Today?
1. The high stakes in sports have fueled
research and development of
substances
2. Fascination with the use of
technology to push human limits
3. The rationalization of the body
4. Heavy emphasis on self-medication
5. Changing sexual relations
 Why Is Substance Use
So Prevalent Today?
6. The organization of power and
performance sports (must win to
continue to play)
7. Coaches, sponsors, administrators,
and fans clearly encourage most
forms of deviant over-conformity
8. The social structure of elite sports
(control over body and conformity to
demands of coaches)
 Arguments Against
Testing
• Testing will never be able to identify all
substances athletes use to enhance
performance
• Athletes and substance manufacturers
can stay one step ahead of the testers
• Mandatory testing, testing without
cause, and using blood and tissue
violates ideas about rights to privacy in
many cultures
 Arguments for Testing
• To be meaningful, sport performances
must involve natural abilities
• Drug use destroys the basis for
competition by subverting fairness
• Drug use threatens the health and
well-being of athletes
• Drug use is immoral and must be
stopped
 Controlling Substance
Use:
Where to Start (I)
• 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 athletes
must be independently certified as “well”
before they may play
• Educate young athletes to define courage
and discipline in ways that promote health
 Controlling Substance
Use:
•Where to ofStart
Establish a code (II)
ethics for sport scientists
• Make drug education part of deviance and
health education
Create norms regulating use of technology
Critically examine values and norms in
sports
Redefine meaning of achievement
Teach athletes to think critically
Provide accurate and current information
to parents, coaches, and athletes
Violence in Sports:
How Does It Affect
Our Lives?
Definition of Violence
The use of excessive force
that causes or has the
potential to cause harm or
destruction
• Violence is not always illegal or disapproved
– It may be praised and lauded as necessary
• When violence involves widespread
rejection of norms, it may signal anarchy
• When violence involves extreme over-
conformity to norms, it may signal fascism
Definition of Aggression
Verbal or physical behavior grounded
in an intent to dominate, control, or
do harm to another person
• Aggression is not the same as
assertiveness, competitiveness, or
trying hard
• Intimidation refers to words,
gestures, and actions that threaten
violence or aggression
Violence in Sports
History
• Figurational research shows that
violence was more severe in the past
– On the field & off the field
• Rates of sports violence have not
automatically increased over time
• Violence in sports remains a crucial
social issue today
– Sports violence can serve to
reproduce an ideology of male
privilege
Types of
On-the-field Violence
1. Brutal body contact
• Hits, Tackles, Blocks, or any forceful body
contact

2. Borderline violence
• Brush Back Pitch, Elbow, the Bump in running,
Fight in hockey, or any force with the intent to
cause bodily harm

3. Quasi-criminal violence
• Cheap Shot, Late Hits, or any use of force that
violates the rules

4. Criminal violence
• Physical Assault that usually brings criminal
charges
Violence As Deviant Over
Conformity to the Sport Ethic
(I)
• Coaches may expect players to use
violence
• Violence often attracts media attention
• Players may not like violence, even
though most accept it as part of the
game
• Quasi and criminal violence are routinely
rejected by athletes and spectators
Violence As Deviant Over-
Conformity to the Sport Ethic
(II)
• Violence may be related to insecurities
in high performance sports
• Expressions of violence are related to
gender, but not limited to men
• Physicality creates drama and
excitement, strong emotions, and
special bonds among all athletes, male
and female
Commercialization and
Violence
• Some athletes are paid to do violence
• Commercialization and money expand
the visibility of violence in sports, and
violent discourse in and about sports
• Violence is not caused by TV and
money – it existed long before TV
coverage and big salaries
Violence and
Masculinity
• Violence is grounded in general
cultural norms

• Violence in sports is not limited

to men

• Playing power and performance

sports often are ways to prove
masculinity
Violence, Masculinity,
Social Class, & Race

• Among men from low-income

backgrounds, violence may be a tool to
bring respect

• Black men may use violence to exploit

white stereotypes
 Violence Is
Institutionalized
in Some Sports
• In non-contact sports, violence is
usually limited to using violent images
in talk
• In contact men’s sports, players learn
to use violence as a strategy
– Enforcers & goons are paid to do violence
• In women’s contact sports, violence
may be used as a strategy, but not to
prove femininity
 Pain and Injury As the
Price of Violence

• A popular paradox in today’s sports:

People accept violence while being
concerned about injuries caused by
violence
• Disabling injuries caused by violence
in some sports are serious problems
• Dominant ideas about masculinity are
related to high injury rates in men’s
sports
 Controlling
On-the-field Violence

• Brutal body contact is the most

difficult form of violence to control
– Most injuries occur on “legal hits”
The most effective strategies might
involve:
– Suspensions for players
– Fines for team owners
Off-the-field Violence
• Carryover data are inconclusive
• Assault and sexual assault rates
among male, heterosexual athletes
are a serious problem
– These behaviors are a serious problem
in society as a whole
– Debates about whether rates are higher
among athletes distract attention from
the problem of violence in culture
Hypotheses About Male
Athletes’ Violence Against
Women
Violence is related to
1. Support from fellow athletes for using
physical force as a strategy
2. Perceived cultural support for
domination as a basis for status &
identity among men
3. Deviant over-conformity to the norms
of the sport ethic
Hypotheses About Male
Athletes’ Violence Against
Women
Violence is related to
4. Support for the belief that women
constitute “groupies” in sport worlds
5. Collective HUBRIS and the notion that
outsiders do not deserve respect
6. Institutional support for elite athletes
regardless of behavior
7. Institutional failures to hold athletes
accountable for deviance
Learning to Control
Violence in Sports

Control may be learned if

• The social world formed around a
sport promotes a mindset & norms
emphasizing:
•Non-violence
•Self-control
•Respect for self and others
•Physical fitness
•Patience
 Violence Is Most Likely
When:
Sports are organized in ways
that

• Produce HUBRIS
• Separate athletes from the
community
• Encourage athletes to think that
others do not deserve their respect
 Violence in Sports
& Gender Ideology
• Doing violence in sports reproduces the
belief that “men are superior to women”
• Power & performance sports, when they
encourage violence, emphasize
difference between men and women
• Sports violence reproduces an ideology
of male entitlement
Violence Among
Spectators
• No data on how watching sports may
influence violence in everyday
relationships
• Spectators at non-contact sports have low
rates of violence
• Spectators at contact sports have rates of
violence that constitute a problem in
need of analysis and control
– Rates today are lower than rates in the past
Celebratory Violence

This form of violence has

not been studied
systematically by scholars
in the sociology of sport
General Factors Related
to Violence at Sport
Events
1. Action in the sport event itself
2. Crowd dynamics & the situation in
which spectators watch the event
3. Historical, social economic, &
political context in which the event
is planned and played
 Crowd Dynamics
& Situational Factors
Crowd size Alcohol consumption
Composition of by spectators
crowd Location of event
Meaning and Motivations for
importance of event attending the event
History of Importance of teams
relationship as sources of
between teams identity for
Crowd control spectators
strategies at event
Controlling Crowd
Violence
Be aware of the following factors:
1. Perceived violence on the field is
positively related to crowd violence
2. Crowd dynamics and conditions
3. Historical, social, & political issues
underlying spectator orientations