Sociology of Sport 2016

Today

• Finish Deviance topic
• Thing 10 - Hubris
• Blog Post editing

GROUP DYNAMICS & DEVIANCE - The social processes that exist in many sports bond players together in ways that encourage & normalise overconformity

WHY? Research shows that this is highly motivated by a players desire to claim identity as a competitor & maintain membership of the group (often more so than winning or making money)

Who is more likely to overconform?

• players who see achievement in sport as a way to get ahead & become significant in the world
• male players who link identities as competitors and as men so that being a competitor and being a man become one & the same
• (Coakley, 2011)

Overconformity sets athletes apart from the rest of the community. Can also lead high performance athletes (esp. pros) to feel that others cannot understand them and their lives.

Untitled Slide

The separation between competitors and the rest of the community makes group dynamics very powerful

Team bonding

• not limited to elite
• can become site where extreme forms of deviance occur
• players often feel safe to engage - 'stays in the team'
• group think mentality

Thing 10

When the sense of being extraordinary becomes extreme it may be expressed in terms of arrogance, an inflated sense of righteousness & superiority.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/72913819/France-What-we-thoug...

HUBRIS= An expression of self-importance and the accompanying sense of being separate from and above the rest of society.