Violence involves aggressive and abusive acts which cause or intends to cause injury or harm. Violence can either be looked down upon as a form of deviant underconformity or found acceptable as a form of deviant overconformity. An example of violence involving deviant underconformity is a random act of violence against an innocent person. An example of violence involving deviant overconformity is when a police officer uses violence to enforce the law. (more…)
The functionalist theory states that normal social behavior comes from a collective of normative values held by society. These collective values translate into similar cultural goals with similar ideas on how to meet these goals. An important goal in sports is getting better and the way to meet this goal is to increase work ethic and work harder than others.
The functionalist theory approach to deviance in sports applies when an athlete uses unacceptable means such as performance enhancing drugs and cheating to get the upper hand on his/her opponent.
The conflict theory states that the order of society is influenced by what is best for the economy and that those who have high economic status or power also control the economy. This theory applies to deviance in sports with the assumption that athletes act deviantly due to a disagreement with the rules that govern their respective sport. Here the athlete feels the rules in effect aren’t in his/her best interest and can even be potentially harmful in the name of making more money for those in power (owners and advertisers).
The interactionist/critical theories focus on how people interpret particular actions, characteristics, and ideas to determine what is or isn’t deviant behavior. Normative social values change over time and are different among societies. When applied to deviance in sports this theory implies whether or not an act is deviant is relative to the time period and location of the act.
Although overconformity to social norms might appear to be a good thing, it can actually have harmful results. Deviant overconformity is blindy subscribing to and strictly following social norms. Following rules or commands without questioning them is akin to being brainwashed. Fascism involves the blind adherence to a system of rules or ideologies in society.