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A Little Pain Never Hurt Anyone: Athletic Career Socialization and the Normalization of Sports Injury
Author(s) -
Curry Timothy Jon
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1993.16.3.273
Subject(s) - socialization , amateur , conformity , normalization (sociology) , psychology , sports injury , athletes , elite , physical therapy , social psychology , medicine , sociology , political science , politics , anthropology , law
How do pain and risk of injury come to be accepted as a normal part of an athlete's role‐identity? Through an examination of the career history of Sam, an amateur wrestler, the normalization of injury is seen as a traditional form of role socialization. Sam learned to define pain and injury as a routine part of his sports career by observing and interacting with a variety of significant others. As he progressed into higher levels of competition, he encountered successful athletes and coaches who had endured considerable pain and injury in their own careers. Sam eventually gained acceptance from these elite athletes and became a role model for others through conformity to a demanding sports ethic, but he suffered progressively more serious injuries. Sam's career not only reveals the socialization processes that normalize sports injury, it also demonstrates how sports participation can become a significant health risk.