Theorizing the Use of Performance Enhancing Substances and Methods in Sport as Four Different Types of Deviant Behavior

ABSTRACT

The central objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the validity of the Hughes and Coakley (H&C) model of deviance in sport is context specific and depends on the time, place, social groups involved, and the relative power of the audience and deviant(s). H&C argued that performance enhancing substance (PES) use constituted a single type of deviant behavior among athletes (i.e. positive deviance). The Heckert and Heckert (H&H) deviance framework made it possible to theorize performance-enhancing substances and methods (PESM) use as four ideal types of deviant behavior among athletes and in sports collectives. Given the variability in the historical and social contexts where PESM use has occurred in sport, a comprehensive explanatory framework is needed to understand a full range of PESM behaviors. This paper demonstrates that the H&H framework has a clear explanatory advantage over the H&C model.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the three reviewers for their useful recommendations and clear editorial remarks.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anthony M. Garcy

Anthony M. Garcy is currently a Visiting Associate Research Professor at Arizona State University. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Illinois - Chicago. His research interests include deviance in sport, the education and health relationship, the social determinants of health, and work and occupations.