Social control agents are the activities which influence or direct the appearance, thoughts, and behavior of the community in regards to the norms, laws, and rules. Professional sporting activities like tennis, basketball, rugby and volleyball have their benefits and demerits towards the social construct of a community. The purpose of the essay is to explain the pros and cons of professional sports as a control agent by expounding on the impact that the sporting activities have on a community’s social order.
The advantages of professional sports as a social control agent
Professionalism calls for ethical standards which must be followed by all stakeholders. Professional sports are also regulated, just like the other professions, by set-out rules, procedures and ethical standards which have positive impacts on the players, fans, sponsors and the society in general. There are many advantages that professional sports have on the social order of a community. First, professional sports encourages the behavior of discipline and obedience to the law. Rugby, football, tennis and other professional sports have bodies regulating the behavior of payers, officials and fans (Bandura, 110). For example, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) is responsible for, among other things, the discipline of the players and officials. If a referee in a football match is accused of corruption, the body investigates and passes strict measures to curb such practices like a permanent ban on the official responsible. Besides, football fans are expected to behave in an orderly manner, and any direct attack on the players can attract heavy fines in monetary terms and also a ban to attend some matches. According to the behavioral theory of operant learning, the players, fanatics and other stakeholders in the society get to know the punishments that can accompany disobedience to the norms and rules of the game and therefore the society begins to inculcate the respect into the social order.
Secondly, professional sports help the society by engaging the youth constructively thus reducing the crime rates in society. According to the social disorganization theory of criminology (Woods 80), one’s physical and social environments have a primary impact on his or her behavioral choices. The professional sports pay the youth who take part as players and others who are involved in gambling activities related to the professional sports. According to the social control theory of criminology (Bandura, 71), the crime rates are higher in societies which lack the institutions and laws regulating their behavior. Professional sports do not only help in the regulation of behavior but also in the physical engagement of the stakeholders thus leaving little or no time for the crime.
The third benefit of professional sports as a social control agent is an encouragement of teamwork and enhancement of problem-solving skills. The sportspersons often work in teams to win matches. The sign of successful teamwork is usually viewed by fans as a positive aspect which they borrow to use in their daily lives. For example, professional football involves coordination of eleven players (Bandura, 75). The fans do not only benefit from the display of talent but also the show of solidarity and teamwork. The laws of the game influence the fans who lean that technical issue can only be addressed through teamwork because the society's social order is determined by the ability of the members to address the existing social challenges successfully. The third benefit of professional sports as a social agent is the enhancement of the cognitive functions of the participants. When the youth in society get adequate physical activity through sports and recreation, the cognitive abilities of memory, behavior and academic concentration increase thereby limiting the chances of disorder in the community attributable to failed cognitive functions. Professional sports also empower, motivate and inspire society.
Considering that success in sports requires the development of talents and skills, societies learn that the talents can be transformed into an income generating activity like professional volleyball. Consequently, other artists like the designers, musicians, and dancers change their behavior from crime to hard work because they are inspired to grow their skills into professionalism. Besides, professional sports ease pressure on the society’s health care system by keeping the active participants healthy.
The other advantage of professional sport as social control is that the activity gives the society a sense of pride and identity which has a consequential impact of reducing the level of crime and stabilizing the social order (Kitchin " David Howe, 123). For example, England is a country that has a well-developed culture of professional football. In that currently, there are many fanatics who visit the country to watch football matches, and therefore the security agencies in England are alert to avert any criminal activities which can tamper with the football programs.
Disadvantages of professional sports as a social control agent
Professional sports, just like other professions, have their negative aspects which impact the society. According to Woods (31), the first demerit of professional sports is the encouragement of violence in society. There is a strong positive correlation between aggressive games like rugby and individuals' behavior. The violent games which result in injuries like wrestling and rugby have a bad influence on the youth who take the players or wrestlers as their role models. Even though the live events of aggressive professional games are often classified to be watched under parents’ guidance, there is a high chance that a community which is so exposed to these aggressive activities becomes violent later on despite the parents’ guidance classification.
Secondly, professional games inculcate the culture of win-it-all which the discourages the principles of equality, justice and sharing in the social order of communities. For example, the United States of America and Europe have professional associations like the National Football League (NFL) and the English Premier League (EPL) in which the participants or players are required or expected to win as many games as possible at the expense of other teams. Even though the idea of the sporting associations is to bring the concept of competition among teams, the consequence of the decision has been a tense atmosphere between players and fans who are more obsessed with wining the games at the expense of displaying skills. Besides, the fans in the community often engage in a violent exchange of ideas which cause conflict among them and therefore denying the community a social order of peace and prosperity.
Even though professional sports is considered an income generating activity which can help in the community, over-reliance on the games may result in an unprecedented rise in the level of crime in the community. For example, a community can have many school dropouts of youths and children who believe that their talents can be transformed into the profession (Jones et al. 202). However, there is a possibility that some talents may not end up in the professional arena because of many factors like resources. In such cases, the children and youths who end up being disappointed by not making it to professional sports end up in crimes because of lack of a legitimate source of income.
The other demerit of professional sports as a social control agent is the creation of an environment of social evils like prostitution. For example, there have been reported cases of a rise in social evils during world cups organized by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA). The reason for these social evils is the abrupt increase in the number of people within a society, town or community. Once the fans and other stakeholders exit after the completion of the functions like the world cup, the behavior of crime and prostitution remains and tampers with the existing social order.
Finally, professional sports can have a bad influence on the fanatics if their role model is involved in criminal activity or social evil (O'Leary, 75). For example, if a basketball legend is found in criminal activities, the fanatics from a community may get involved in crime because of the activities of the legend.
Conclusion
Professional sports can have both positive and negative impacts when used as a social control agent. Even though the existing research has shown both aspects, there is room for future research to focus on the positive impacts of professional sports because of the increasing investments that shareholders put in the sporting activities.
Works Cited
Bandura, Albert. "Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action." Handbook of moral behavior and development. Psychology Press, 2014. 69-128.
Jones, Robyn L., Christian Edwards, and IA Tuim Viotto Filho. "Activity theory, complexity, and sports coaching: An epistemology for a discipline." Sport, education, and society21.2 (2016): 200-216.
Kitchin, Paul James, and P. David Howe. "How can the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu assist sports management research?." Sports Management Review 16.2 (2013): 123-134.
Woods, Ron. Social issues in sport. Human Kinetics, 2015.
O'Leary, John. Drugs " Doping in Sports. Routledge-Cavendish, 2013.
