Enhancing physical performance through the use of doping agents. Sociological notes
Considered as a social practice, the practice of taking drugs can only be understood in relation to a symbolic universe which gives it meaning. At a time when society is dedicated to a quasi-unanimous cult of personal success, progress, power and physical beauty, people seem to feel obliged to shape their body and heighten their performance through legal or illegal means. This attitude would explain the increasing attraction for certain doping agents (which are gaining in popularity in France and Europe), not only in the competitive sports’ world, but also in various social strata. In this context, how can we explain resistance to and variations in the use of doping agents, depending on the sport or social strata? A possible sociological answer is that, depending on the relation between the person’s body and their “body ethic”, recourse to and the (occasional or regular) use of drugs will vary. In such a case, the doping mindset would require a liberal relationship to the body.