Introduction
Society’s emphasis on social event and sports competition could drive athletes into taking drugs to achieve an athletic advantage. As a result of this, the strong motivation for many athletes to use or abuse performance-enhancing substances is the desire to boost performance, gain prestige, and status. Furthermore, many diverse pathways lead to drug use in sporting events. Factors contributing to the use or abuse of performance-enhancing substances (Illicit drug use) in sporting events include age, genetics, family influences, peer pressure, education, individuality, and a range of mental health factors, including stress and basic abnormal behavior (Murphy, 1995). Competitors in various sporting events are not resistant to these factors.
The structural sources of the trouble/issue of “juiced” athletes
Although most debates on drug abuse in sporting events concentrate on performance-enhancing drugs, however, abuse of so-called recreational or social drugs by athletes continues to be a serious problem. On the other hand, the intake of illicit drugs is restricted to a comparatively little and distinct group of athletes. In line with this, the use of recreational drugs (e.g., illicit drugs, nicotine) must be carefully analyzed within a much broader societal perspective (Murphy, 1995).
According to Mills Wright, “The relationship between learning to acquire understand and subsequently societal change is the sociological imagination” (62). In line with this, the sociological imagination is the ability to distinguish the association between individual lives and larger social forces at work determining lives. Mills urged us to understand that human personal fortunes or problems must be fully apprehended in terms of general public concerns (e.g., the strength of the economy).
Given Mill’s perspective, the issue of drug use among athletes can be linked to social pressure. The social influence regarding substance use involves the pressure in society to win at all costs. Athletes, however, consider the use of drugs, especially if it improves athletic performance. Certain drugs do have the desired result of instant performance enhancement. Many athletes who use performance-enhancement drugs become more willing to risk their long-term health when faced with pressure to excel in competitions from society. Athletic merit is often met with society’s reaction to overwhelming support and tremendous pressure to win and attain dominance.
Athletes competing in organized sporting events or competition learn at an early age the significance of winning and excelling in their preferred field. Fairness in following the rules of the game, so often emphasized by the athletic coach, becomes a secondary center of attention when the stakes for winning involves financial gain, rank, status, media focus, and greater social benefit. Thus, societal pressures to win may excessively control athletes and physically active individuals to consider the use of substances to aid their performance.
In Mill’s famous book “The Sociological Imagination” he noted how knotted social forces and individual lives are influenced by society. He further stated, “Neither the life of a human being nor the narration of a society can be fully apprehended without understanding both” (Mills, 1959).
Without a sociological point of view, society might be inclined to think of these individual experiences mainly in individual terms. Society might trace both the foundation of a problem and the way out to that dilemma as lying within an entity. The experience of athletes who use or abuse performance-enhancing substances, for example, an individual problem may be on account of his or her traits such as opportunities. As Mills further stated, “The mere constitution of opportunities has broken down” (9). Establishing results for these comprehensive problems entails looking into the structure of the social order (Mills, 1959).
Conclusion
Mills sensed that increasing a sociological imagination will assist the society to stay away from becoming “preys” of social pressures and better direct human existence and lives. By realizing how social systems carry out their duties, society can improve the approaches embarked on to create change and influence history.
Reference List
Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Murphy, S. M. (1995). Sport Psychology Interventions. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.