After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Define deviance and identify the major problems faced when studying deviance in sports.
Explain the differences between an absolutist and a constructionist approach to deviance in sports.
Discuss how deviance is defined in sports and whose interests are represented in the process of defining and controlling deviance in sports.
Distinguish between deviant overconformity and deviant underconformity.
Define the sport ethic, and identify the norms of the sport ethic.
Explain why athletes may overconform to the norms of the sport ethic, and why some athletes are more likely to engage in deviant overconformity than other athletes do.
Explain the group dynamics associated deviant overconformity in power and performance sports, and indicate how deviant overconformity might be connected with deviant underconformity among elite athletes.
Outline the major strategies that could be used to control deviant overconformity among athletes.
Summarize research on deviance among athletes, on the field and off the field, especially in connection with delinquency rates, academic cheating, alcohol use, binge drinking, and criminal rates.
Explain when sport participation may help to control off-the-field deviance.
Explain why athletes may create deviant personas in sports.
Identify examples of deviance that do not involve athletes and explain why they do not attract the same interest that is given to athletes who engage in deviance.
Explain why performance enhancing substance use is so prevalent among athletes today.
Identify the problems faced when trying to define, ban, and control the use of performance enhancing substances in sports today.
Identify the major arguments for and against drug and substance testing in sports.
Outline the strategies that might be used in controlling substance use in sports today.
