Ben Johnson and the use of steroids in sport: sociological and ethical considerations.

This paper examines from a sociological and an ethical standpoint the problem of steroids in sport and competition. After a sociological analysis of some key ideological, social, political, and economic issues related to drugs in sport, we address the question of whether ethically we wish these developments to continue along the same path. A final analysis of the nature of the "authentic practice" makes the distinction between the practice itself with its intrinsic search for excellence and the organizations that sustain the practice but are essentially and necessarily concerned with extrinsic rewards from winning--money, power, status. Priorities have to be reexamined in light of certain fundamental ethical principles.