Modern Sport Ethics

The descriptions and examples of unethical behaviors in sport in this book will challenge readers to rethink how they view sport and question whether participating in sport builds character-especially at the youth and amateur levels. Sport potentially can teach character as well as social and moral values, but only when these positive concepts are consistently taught, modeled, and reinforced by sport leaders with the moral courage to do so. The seeming moral crisis threatening amateur and youth sport-evidenced by athletes, coaches, and parents alike making poor ethical choices-and ongoing scandals regarding performance-enhancing drug use by professional athletes make sports ethics a topic of great concern. This work enables readers to better understand the ethical challenges facing competitive sport by addressing issues such as gamesmanship, doping, cheating, sportsmanship, fair play, and respect for the game. A compelling read for coaches, sport administrators, players, parents, and sport fans, the book examines specific examples of unethical behaviors-many cases of which occur in amateur and educational sports-to illustrate how these incidents threaten the perception that sport builds character. It identifies and investigates the multiple reasons for cheating in sport, such as the fact that the rewards for succeeding are so high, and the feeling of athletes that they must behave as they do to "level the playing field" because everyone else is cheating, being violent, taking performance-enhancing drugs, or doing whatever it takes to win. Readers will gain insight into how coaches and sport administrators can achieve the goals for youth, interscholastic, intercollegiate, and Olympic sport by stressing moral values and character development as well as see how specific recommendations can help ensure that sport can serve to build character rather than teach bad behavior in the pursuit of victory.

An examination of both ethical and unethical behaviors in sports designed to help readers analyze the notion that participating in sports builds character. Is it possible to teach lasting values through sports? With coverage that explores the origins of sports, ethical theories as applied to sports, and key moral issues affecting sports throughout history to the present day, Modern Sports Ethics: A Reference Handbook surveys the realm of athletics and its potential as an arena for character development. Taking examples from a variety of areas in nonprofessional athletics, including Little League baseball, the Tour de France, and the Olympic Games, Modern Sports Ethics is an eye-opening yet evenhanded look at both the positive and negative impact sports have on society. The book focuses on a number of specific problems and controversies, including commercialization, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, sexism, physical violence and psychological ploys, and deliberate rule-breaking behavior. - Biographical sketches of individuals who have made significant contributions in shaping sports ethics, including John Wooden, Arthur Ashe, and James Naismith - A data and documents chapter that provides context for the examination of specific challenges in sports, such as those faced by young athletes and female athletes

The book attempts to provide a wide overview of key ethical matters in the philosophy of sport: What is fair play? Is strategic fouling legitimate? What is the role of cheating and gamesmanship in sport? What can be said about doping and physical enhancement? How can we approach gender issues that come from the core of the practice of sport? Does sport share any common characteristics, or even roots, with racism, violence or nationalism? Should cyborgathletes compete in equal conditions with organic athletes? What can we do with new technologies in sport? In the book there is an analyse of all possible solutions that the main authors or contemporary sport philosopher has brought forward on a topic, and after having laid out the current panorama, the author deal with each of them directly and personally.

What is, or what should be, the function of sport in a globalized, commercialized world? Why does sport matter in the 21st century? In Ethics and Governance in Sport: the future of sport imagined, an ensemble of leading international experts from across the fields of sport management and ethics calls for a new model of sport that goes beyond the traditional view that sport automatically encourages positive physical, psychological, social, moral and political values. Acknowledging that sport is beset by poor practice, corruption, and harmful behaviors, it explores current issues in sport ethics, governance and development, considering how good governance and the positive potentials of sport can be implemented in a globalized sporting landscape. Ethics and Governance in Sport suggests a future model of sport governance based on well substantiated projections, and argues that identifying the root causes of harmful behavior, those things that are characteristic of sport, and engaging sport managers, policy makers and leaders of sport organizations, is essential if sport is to thrive. The book’s interdisciplinary examination of sport, encompassing philosophy, sociology, economics, management and sport development, and its forward-looking approach makes it important reading for advanced students, researchers and policy makers with an interest in the place and development of modern sport. Its clear messages invite self-reflection and discussion, especially within sports organizations.

This is a text for students in sport philosophy, sport ethics, sport management and sport studies courses, as well as a reference for professionals with an interest in sport ethics. World-renowned experts examine the moral and ethical issues surrounding sport in contemporary society, addressing current debates.

This comprehensive text examines the history, significance, and philosophical dimensions of sport. Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, second edition, is organized to reflect the traditional division of philosophy into metaphysical, ethical, epistemological and political issues, while incorporating specific concerns of today’s athletic world, such as technology, violence, and professionalism. The second edition features expanded sections on social categories (including race, gender, and disability), sport in schools, and collegiate sports. Each chapter includes discussion questions, and the book features a comprehensive glossary.

Highly skilled athletes are produced by technologies of training which seek to create the athlete as a singular identity. Yet the disciplinary model of modern sport is consistently disrupted by the diversity and hybridity of the participants. Using Foucault's work on disciplinary power as a theoretical framework, Debra Shogan, an academic in sports ethics and a coach of high performance athletes, examines the ways in which athletes are produced through technologies of training and the ethical issues which emerge when demands to improve performance envelopes athletes, coaches, administrators and sports scientists in decisions about how far to push the limits of performance. Making the case for a new, postmodern sports ethic, Shogan shows how the juxtaposition of hybrid athletes with the homogenizing technologies of sport discipline opens up spaces for questioning, refusing, and perhaps creating new ways of participating in sport.

This book provides an inter-disciplinary examination of the relationship between sport, spirituality and religion. It covers a wide-range of topics, such as prayer and sport, religious and spiritual perspectives on athletic identity and ‘flow’ in sport, theological analysis of genetic performance enhancement technologies, sectarianism in Scottish football, a spiritual understanding of sport psychology consultancy in English premiership soccer and how Zen may be useful in sports performance and participation. As modern sport is often intertwined with commercial and political agendas, this book also provides an important corrective to the “win at all costs” culture of modern sport, which cannot always be fully understood through secular ethical inquiry. This is a unique and important addition to the current literature for a wide-range of fields including theology and religious studies, psychology, health studies, ethics and sports studies.