Sportsiology

9 comments

1. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 9, 2011 at 7:37 am

   Are there any studies comparing the personal morality of professional athletes with that of the general population, perhaps in terms of family structure or criminal behavior? Is the impression of moral rot in pro sports really caused more by greater publicity given to high profile figures than a statistically significant difference between athletes and others?

2. 

   Comment by Sociology Sports Girl on June 9, 2011 at 6:09 pm

   I haven’t heard of any particular studies, especially not at a quantitative level that might have generated statistically significant data. It would definitely be interesting research. One can imagine that all of the deviance that occurs within sports also does in the general population but I guess the question would be whether the percentages of athletes who participate in deviant behavior differs from that of the general population or whether we notice it more because of their high profiles and the additional restrictions often placed on them by their sport.

3. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 19, 2011 at 5:39 am

   Assuming Kolberg’s theory of moral development is reasonable, and “Game reasoning”, or a suspension of normal ethics, does occur in sports, it would be expected that professional athletes would have a stunted moral sense. It follows then that caution should be exercised in the degree to which a society is infatuated with sports, as they are practiced in our culture, simply for the good of the society.

4. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 19, 2011 at 4:39 pm

   Assuming that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is correct in that the more mature a person’s moral reasoning is, the less it is based on self interest, and if game reasoning (D. L. Shields and B. L. Bredemeir, Notre Dame) leads athletes to develop an egocentric, less mature level of moral reasoning than non-athletes, would we not expect to see a greater degree of self-indulgent behavior in sports figures? If moral development in the young is a worthy societal goal, then it seems perhaps we should reconsider our cultural infatuation with pro sports.

5. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 19, 2011 at 4:59 pm

   There is an interesting study done at Notre Dame,.Moral Reasoning in the Context of Sport, concluding that athletes develop a less mature moral reasoning. If this is credible, wouldn’t we expect to see more self-indulgent behavior in professional sports participants, if Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is right that maturing moral reasoning becomes less egocentric? It follows that we should be cautious regarding our infatuation with pro sports figures, as a society, if moral reasoning is something worthy of cultivation, particularly in our young.

6. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 19, 2011 at 6:06 pm

   Have you seen the study Moral reasoning in the context of sport? If so, does it seem to fit with what you have seen of pro athletes?

7. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 20, 2011 at 5:15 pm

   If game reasoning is a real phenomenon, and athletes have less mature moral reasoning, defined by Kohlberg as more self centered,perhaps we should not expect athletes to be paragons of virtue and therefore not hold them up as heroes to our young.

8. 

   Comment by Sociology Sports Girl on June 21, 2011 at 9:04 pm

   That study seems very interesting. As soon as I get a chance, I’ll access the full article and take a closer look at the data. They do mention that both groups score lower in terms of morality with the sports situations than the non-sports ones and that there does seem to be a difference between the morality displayed on the field or court and that in the rest of their lives (the “bracketed morality”). I do think that some of the self-indulgent behavior is not necessarily a direct result of sports but more a result of the way people who are great at something get treated by the rest of us. I don’t think the infatuation with pro sports (and I would be interested to see this same study done at the professional level) is the problem as much as it is how we hold the athletes up as our heroes and justify their behaviors to our children in a way we wouldn’t if they were normal people. That should be the thing that we reconsider.

9. 

   Comment by Gene Mast on June 22, 2011 at 5:31 am

   Our treatment of people who are the best at what they do would explain somewhat why it seems that persons in any field who are very successful seem to have tendency to be self-indulgent. Political or religious figures are notable examples. Perhaps it is simply the corrupting influence of poower.