Developing an agenda for social science research into drugs in sport

Abstract

This article provides a short introduction and overview to a collection of essays designed to provide a starting point in the form of a research agenda towards developing a social science of drugs in sport. It firstly addresses the paucity of social science research on the issues and then summarizes the approach taken to developing a research agenda to guide social science research into drugs in sport. This is done through describing the conceptual relationship between five pairs of essays comprising of the argument for a social science of drugs in sport (historical and overview of the development of the research agenda), developing policy (sport philosophy and sociology), implementing policy (economics and law), individual response to policy (health and educational psychology), and the research agenda (discipline specific and cosmopolitan).

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Australian Government through the Anti-Doping Research Program, whose management of the project has been integral to its success. As with any such effort, many people make up the eventual success of the project. The project was given crucial momentum at its conception by Dr Anthony Millgate, Professor Stephen Mugford and Professor Peter Hall. Important contributions over the life of the project were made by Associate Professor Tim Rolfe, Dr Eugene Aidman, Mr Ken Norris, Mrs Alannah Kazlauskas and Mr Trevor O'Donnell. Professor Brian Stoddart made a significant contribution to the project with sound, measured advice. As the convenor of the project, my personal thanks go to the contributors to this collection who did much more than write, and to my family who shared the ride.

Notes

¹ BMA, Drugs in Sport.

² This is reinforced by the review of social psychological investigation of anti-doping by Backhouse et al. , Attitudes, Behaviours, Knowledge and Education.

³ These papers include Berentsen and Lengwiler, ‘Fraudulent Accounting and other Doping Games’; Anshel, ‘Causes for Drug Use in Sport’; Donovan et al. , ‘A Conceptual Framework for Achieving Performance Enhancing Drug Compliance in Sport’; Mazanov et al. , ‘Towards an Empirical Model of Performance Enhancing Supplement Use’; Strelan and Boeckmann, ‘A New Model for Understanding Performance-enhancing Drug Use by Elite Athletes’, and ‘Why Drug Testing in Elite Sport does not Work’; Coakley, Sports in Society; and Waddington, Sport, Health and Drugs.

⁴ Answering either question with ‘to win’ is unlikely to be helpful when looking to develop, design or guide interventions.