The case for a social science of drugs in sport

Abstract

Social science began to take a prominent role in drugs in sport research in the early twenty-first century. This development has its roots in the history of drugs in sport, from the ancient Olympics through to the twentieth century, where the question of ‘could’ drugs enhance sporting performance, answered affirmatively, was replaced with whether they ‘should’. The history of drug testing reveals that ‘should’ may have been asked too late, with the advent of potentially undetectable performance enhancements rendering testing ineffective as a deterrence method. In an effort to find alternative models to deter the use of drugs in sport, the focus has shifted from ‘detection-based deterrence’ to ‘prevention-based deterrence’. Many of the questions underpinning prevention-based deterrence have the character of those asked by social science. Exploration of this character demonstrates social science offers an appropriate range of philosophical and methodological tools to explore prevention-based deterrence of drugs in sport.