Violence In Contact Sports

In the United States of America, societal deviance changes nearly on a daily basis. Depending on the pop culture of the day, deviance is modified to make societal heroes like celebrities, political figures, and sport players look less like deviants and more like role models to the public. The change in what is considered “normal” is customarily because of society in general. By using a reference group of people (i.e. celebrities) non-celebrity people tend to identify with those who are famous. Then when that role model does something terrible, like Justin Bieber urinating in a mop bucket in a restaurant, the public becomes desensitized to this behavior as abnormal, and thus aiding to the change in social deviances.

Author of the 2002 Encyclopedia

The type of violence in contact sports such as hockey or football is accepted in American society. If the previously mentioned behavior involved in gang activity or drug use goes reprimanded then society views it as reprehensible. However, the violence in the aforementioned contact sports is thought to be acceptable. The reasons behind this could be many, but according to R.C. Schneider (2009) “Violence has always been part of human nature. We see [violence] all around us, in our homes, our schools, our communities, from historical times to the present” (p. 174). In this segment from his book Ethics of sport and athletics: Theory, issues, and application Schneider excuses the acceptance of violence in sports and passes it off as a form of desensitization because human kind has been subjected to it in different ways over the

taking part in gang activities, abuse of drugs, or public disturbances) the player is supposed to be reprimanded as any other person would. However, since the athlete in question is part of the group that helps influence the social bias of deviance, their behavior could be overlooked or even glamorized. This applies to anyone included in the collection of individuals considered to be the most influential on change in social deviance. Those parties include, but are not limited to political figures (the President, mayor, governor etc.), celebrities, and law enforcement representatives (Police officers, Security, body guards etc.). The media has an extreme habit of making the social indiscretions of these “role models” a public