Sports Science (Good Work, A++, NO plagarism)

Final Project - Research Paper

The term paper will be on a topic that falls under the History, Culture, and Social Contexts of Sport. Students will pick a topic that is meaningful and significant to them. Through research the student will discuss why he or she agrees or disagrees with this topic. The student should research solutions as well as add his/her own solutions to the topic.

It’s important to narrow down the focus for a research paper that is no more than 12 pages, not including the title and reference pages. For example: the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports would be too broad a topic for this paper. More manageable topics could be: the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the National Football League; or a comparison of the use of performance-enhancing drugs in men’s and women’s bodybuilding.

Guidelines include:

8-12 pages (not including title page and references)

Double spaced 

12 font 

Times New Roman font 

1" margin all the way around 

Introduction (DO NOT INCLUDE AN ABSTRACT)

Review of the literature/body of the paper 

Conclusions and solutions

Reference list (minimum of five references, APA Format). Please remember at least 75% of references must be from scholarly and/or primary sources. 

Performance Enhancing Drugs Debate

Is deviance out of control in sports, or is deviance just behavior that's interfering with the status quo and not really a problem to anyone other than wealthy people with property to protect? What's your view?

     My view on this topic is that deviance in the field of sport is just out of control. This is because cases of deviance which we keep hearing about are cases that take place both within the field and also off the field (Moody College of Communication, 2014). They are cases that are practised by players as well as other stakeholders such as administrators and coaches among others.

     When anyone looks deep into the reasons why participants in sports engage in the many forms of deviance that they do, protection of wealth and status quo are almost nowhere to be seen. The main reason why deviance is so prevalent is the fact that sports by nature are very competitive. At whatever level, there is a lot of pressure for a team to win from the administrators, the public as well as the media. Players, for this reason, are willing to go to any length to live up to this pressure.

     The competitive nature of the sector also provides a good breeding ground for triggers of crime and deviance such as stress and strained relationships. All these factors are expected because by nature sports are competitive and this has never changed and is not anticipated to change. However, what makes the deviance level out of control is the fact that there is very little effort that is being put into preventing these factors from leading players to deviance.

     There is lenient punishment, lack of role models and lack of character education and this has normalized the deviant behaviour in the sector (Leonard, 2016). It would be very inaccurate to say that deviance in sports is a matter of status quo because deviance is not only being experienced among sports stakeholders who have gathered a lot of wealth and belongings but rather even young participants in the field including high school players. The level of deviance is simply out of control now because it has become a culture within the sector. Despite being in a profession that is governed by a lot of rules and regulations that promote the right values in theory, the culture in practice undermines them. As a result of the prevailing culture once an individual obtains any label within the sports sector the almost automatically become sucked into the culture of deviance in one way or another which is in line with the labelling theory of sociology for them to sustain themselves in the field.

 

References

Leonard, D. J. (2016). Book review: Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies, The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction, Sport in Contemporary Society: An Anthology, Sociological Perspectives on Sport: The Games Outside the Games and Sociology of North American Sport.

Moody College of Communication. (2014). The Harry Edwards lecture on Sport and American Culture presented by the McGarr Symposium and TPSM. YouTube. From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tUuu_f2wx0&feature=youtu.be

In the video, “Sociology of Sport Origins”   Dr. Harry Edwards provides an interesting view of sports in the sociological context. Based on the way Dr. Edwards describes the topic, it appears that sports from the start had not been taking as a serious academic discipline and just narrowly relegated to physical activities. Even so, the speaker insists that sports should be taken as a sociological subject given that it has the ability to draw the attention of millions of audiences such as audience at a super bowl event (Pollzie, 2009). This is indeed demands that sports are given more attention because first it brings people from different walks of life and culture together. A good example is the Olympics where sports athletes from different nationalities compete within each other. Aside from that the Olympics promote cultural cohesion than any other international event.

         Secondly, sports have been known to help positively impact the lives of young people in terms of development in aspects of team work and leadership. In the same thread, sports as indicated in the video by USAID allows for mentors to teach young people on critical subjects such as work skills and health matters. Thirdly, sports help to empower every member of the community (USAID, 2011). For instance, in the USAID video, the speakers assert that sports help empower girls epically from cultures that limit their education and career opportunities (USAID, 2011). There have been many success stories of young people making great careers out of sports and have in turn helped their communities. I have also witnessed how some of my friends have been able to attend college through sports scholarships which would have been impossible. Sports has allowed them to pursue great careers and improved their financial situations. Therefore, sports deserve to be viewed as an impactful and valuable platform for pursuing both academic and career interests.

References

Pollzie,B. (2009).Sociology of Sport Origins.Retrieved fromyoutu.be/1ipyAYsb5Bg

USAID. (2011). Measuring the impact of sports on youth development. Retrieved from https:///www.youtube.com/embed/MQXPeaFueeQ?wmode=opaque&rel=0&cc_laod_policy=1&cc_lang_pref=en