War on Drugs in Sport : Moral Panics and Organizational Legitimacy (Hardcover) (Vanessa Mcdermott)

This innovative and compelling work critically examines the relationship between sport, moral regulation and governance from a moral panic theoretical perspective. It argues that doping scandals create a crisis for sport governing bodies and other elite groups, leading to a moral panic, where the issues at stake for them are perceptions of their organizational legitimacy. McDermott also highlights the role of the media as a site where claims to legitimacy are made and contested, contributing to the social construction of a moral panic. The book makes a key contribution to moral panic theory by adapting Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s moral panic model to capture the diversity of interests and complex relationships between elite groups. It will be important reading for all students, researchers and policy-makers interested in sport sociology, moral panic theory, policy work on about governance and regulation, and the relationship between sport and wider society.