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Maximum Pace
- Feb 5, 2012
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- 48
All,
I wrote this for a discussion activity in my Sociology class and wanted to post it here, for further discussion or just as an interesting read. If you wish respond please do so thoughtfully, that is, intelligently. As a student of the social sciences I am always interested to learn about others thoughts, ideas, and so on.
What Lance Armstrong's situation teaches us about Labeling and symbolic interactionism; this article in the Vancouver Sun discusses the final UCI decision to uphold the removal of all Tour De France victories from Lance.
Symbolic interactionism tell us that the final decision one makes is the result of "a process of social recognition, identification, labeling, or naming" of the situation and how to respond to it. The disappointing story and the events that took place within this investigation were shocking to the general public, if for nothing more than the intricate details that were exposed. From a sociological perspective, more specifically that of symbolic integrationist's, it raises important questions about how Lance arrived at his decisions and what social pressures were influencing those decisions, for instance recognition and identification.
The general public swiftly applied the label of "doping", a word synonymous with cocaine and other illicit drugs, yet in the pro cycling world with it's own set of social norms, values, and beliefs may have previously not seen this label as appropriate. The first reported death from drug overdose was Tom Simpson in 1967 at the age of 29, and during the next days stage of the Tour De France his teammates and fellow riders said they had no idea why he collapsed on the previous stage, this was the wall of silence shown to anyone outside the pro peloton (the main group of pro riders in the Tour).
Functionalists would have us believe that the use of performance enhancing drugs is an objective event that is followed by an objective response, but this does not account for differing belief systems that subsequently color ones decision making process. Personally I do not agree with Armstrong's decisions, but I feel that it must be judged within its own context.
"It's like walking into an exam room and half of the students have the answer key for the final exam and half do not, you obviously will not get the top grade now, and so what side of the classroom would you sit?" (Tim Smith, 2012)
References:
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Lance+Armstrong+kicked+cycling+world+that+made+icon/7428662/story.html"Lance Armstrong kicked out of cycling world that made him an icon", Vancouver Sun online article, October 23, 2012.
Parkinson-Drislane, 2011, Nelson Education Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tim Smith, 2012
I wrote this for a discussion activity in my Sociology class and wanted to post it here, for further discussion or just as an interesting read. If you wish respond please do so thoughtfully, that is, intelligently. As a student of the social sciences I am always interested to learn about others thoughts, ideas, and so on.
What Lance Armstrong's situation teaches us about Labeling and symbolic interactionism; this article in the Vancouver Sun discusses the final UCI decision to uphold the removal of all Tour De France victories from Lance.
Symbolic interactionism tell us that the final decision one makes is the result of "a process of social recognition, identification, labeling, or naming" of the situation and how to respond to it. The disappointing story and the events that took place within this investigation were shocking to the general public, if for nothing more than the intricate details that were exposed. From a sociological perspective, more specifically that of symbolic integrationist's, it raises important questions about how Lance arrived at his decisions and what social pressures were influencing those decisions, for instance recognition and identification.
The general public swiftly applied the label of "doping", a word synonymous with cocaine and other illicit drugs, yet in the pro cycling world with it's own set of social norms, values, and beliefs may have previously not seen this label as appropriate. The first reported death from drug overdose was Tom Simpson in 1967 at the age of 29, and during the next days stage of the Tour De France his teammates and fellow riders said they had no idea why he collapsed on the previous stage, this was the wall of silence shown to anyone outside the pro peloton (the main group of pro riders in the Tour).
Functionalists would have us believe that the use of performance enhancing drugs is an objective event that is followed by an objective response, but this does not account for differing belief systems that subsequently color ones decision making process. Personally I do not agree with Armstrong's decisions, but I feel that it must be judged within its own context.
"It's like walking into an exam room and half of the students have the answer key for the final exam and half do not, you obviously will not get the top grade now, and so what side of the classroom would you sit?" (Tim Smith, 2012)
References:
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Lance+Armstrong+kicked+cycling+world+that+made+icon/7428662/story.html"Lance Armstrong kicked out of cycling world that made him an icon", Vancouver Sun online article, October 23, 2012.
Parkinson-Drislane, 2011, Nelson Education Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tim Smith, 2012