Deviance in Sports

Chapter 05 Deviance in Sports Name: __________________________________ Due date: ___03/14/21_ Multiple Choice Questions (5 points each) 1.As the term is used by sociologists, deviance a) always involves a violation of a law. b) is punished only when it occurs in formal social situations. c) refers to any action that is seen as different. d) can involve a person's ideas and traits as well as actions. 2. When a basketball player dribbles the ball out of bounds during a game, she has a) committed a personal foul. b) violated a formal norm. c) engaged in informal deviance. d) engaged in an immoral act. 3. Studying deviance in sports presents problems in that. a) b) c) d) psychological research shows that athletes have conforming personalities. coaches enforce rules so strictly that deviance seldom occurs. actions that are normal in sports may be deviant outside sports. athletes don't understand the differences between sports and the rest of life. 4. One of the reasons that it is difficult to study deviance in sports is that much of it involves actions grounded in a) accepting and overconforming to norms in sport cultures b) a rejection of norms and expectations in society and sports c) strong feelings of despair and alienation among athletes and coaches d) a strong desire on the part of athletes to avoid responsibility. 5. An absolutist approach to deviance in sports is based on the assumption that a) there are no ideals in society. b) humans have inborn tendencies to be evil. c) humans have inborn tendencies to be moral. d) unchanging moral truths are the foundation for all norms. 6. A constructionist approach to deviance is based on the assumption that a) most ideas, traits, and actions fall into a normally accepted range. b) the more an action departs from an ideal, the more deviant it is. c) all deviance involves overconformity to norms. d) all deviance involves underconformity to norms. 7. Anarchy is the social condition that exists when a) people use an absolutist approach to deviance. b) law enforcement officers are overtrained. c) supranormal actions are out of control. d) widespread underconformity creates general lawlessness. 8. The author suggests that athletes engage in overconformity in sports because of their desire to a) win games, meets, and matches. b) make money and become famous. c) play and be accepted as an athlete by other athletes. d) avoid media coverage and excessive attention from fans. 9. The sport ethic is linked to deviance in sports because athletes a) are unwilling to accept norms developed by others. b) expect each other to overconform to its norms. c) tend to be self-centered. d) come from families in which parents valued conformity. 10. When Lance Armstrong confessed to using performance enhancing substances, many of his fans condemned him as the embodiment of evil because they a) had spent excessive amounts of money on bicycles and cycling equipment. b) his actions contradicted their belief in the great sport myth. c) felt that he had also lied about having cancer. d) had resisted the use of illegal and prescription drugs in their own lives. 11. When athletes collectively dedicate themselves to a goal and willingly endure pain and make sacrifices to achieve it, they often create a social world in which a) coaches lose control of players. b) players tend to burn out at high rates. c) the athletes cannot understand the motivation of teammates. d) deviant overconformity becomes normalized. 12. Research suggests that on-the-field deviance such as cheating and "dirty play" are a) definitely more common today than in the past b) probably less common today than in the past c) only found in heavy contact sports d) nonexistent among today's athletes 13. Which of the following is NOT true about norms? a) They differ from one situation to the next. b) They exist only in formal social situations. c) They include both written laws and unwritten customs. d) They are used to identify deviance. 14. Research on sport participation and general delinquency rates generally shows that delinquency rates among athletes are a) often lower than rates for other students from similar backgrounds b) always higher than rates among other students from similar backgrounds c) lower than rates among other students only for football players d) higher among golfers and tennis players than among football players 15. The people most likely to agree with the war on doping as waged by WADA and USADA are a) professional athletes b) retired professional athletes. c) believers in the great sport myth d) people who believe that sports are for leisure only. Essay (25 points) You have an internship with a top professional sport team. You love what you do, and on a few occasions you take modafinil to stay up all night to meet project deadlines. Your supervisor is impressed and offers you a job that all the other interns wanted. You accept the job, pass the company’s mandatory drug test, and have a successful first year on the job. Are you a cheater for taking this drug, which is on the WADA banned substance list? Explain why or why not, in a way that is logical. (300 words) In the context that we are talking about, I don’t think this would be considered cheating. It may be immoral or a little unfair but it is not cheating. If it was real cheating, the company would have a better grip on keeping their interns and employees accountable. Thating with the company’s mandatory drug test. If modafinil was a serious concern for the company then it would show up on the drug test. Also in contrast to drugs like steroids and other PEDs that athletes take, modafinil just works for a short period of time and doesn’t change the physical makeup of your body. It may affect your attention or performance slightly but overall you are the same person. From steroids you physically change, and in a sport where the competition is physical that would be cheating as you are actively using drugs to improve your skills. Lastly, this is a job not a professional sport and thus I feel that drugs would not help as much in this case. In sports being more athletic will significantly help your performance while in the office being more awake gives you more attentiveness and time to work on the projects you need, yet long term and overall the drugs do not give a strong edge.