Are you ready for some football?!  On this episode of Research on Religion we invite Prof. Eric Carter (Georgetown College, Sociology) to discuss his work about the various troubles that professional football players face and how religion may help to mediate these problems.  Eric has conducted over 100 interviews with NFL players, some who have led happy and well-adjusted lives but also with many who have not.  We talk about the typical pressures that a professional player faces, coming into sudden fame and fortune.  Prof. Carter brings the research ideas of Emile Durkheim, particulary “social anomie,” to bear on what a number of these athletes face when moving into the professional ranks.  The sudden change in lifestyle combined with intense pressures to perform often leave many of them unhappy, confused and susceptible to all sorts of deviant behavior (some of which makes the news).  We talk then about the role of religion in helping players cope with these changes.  Our discussion looks at what factors might help players make adjustments to their new environments, including: a religious upbringing; the support networks they have access to at college; and religious role models in the locker room.  Eric notes that the current regime of “free agency” in the NFL makes it difficult for players to develop tight relationships and may limit the effect that positive role models like Chris Carter or Kurt Warner may play.  At the very end of the podcast, Tony reveals his Super Bowl XLV picks.  Eric hedges his bets a bit more.  Recorded: December 28, 2010.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Eric Carter’s website at Georgetown College (Kentucky).

Boys Gone Wild: Fame, Fortune, and Deviance among Professional Football Players by Eric M. Carter.

RELATED PODCASTS

Byron Johnson on Religion & Delinquency.

POSTSCRIPT:  In this podcast, your host makes a prediction that the Bears and Patriots would meet in Super Bowl XLV.  Had both the Patriots and Bears won their respective division championships he would  have been correct.  Barring that small and insignifcant prediction, your host showed an immense amount of foresight!

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3 Responses to “Eric Carter on Religion & the NFL”

1. High rate of arrests among NFL players? | Legally Sociable says:

   February 6, 2011 at 9:03 am

   […] Going into the Super Bowl, everyone knows about the legal issues Ben Roethlisberger has faced in recent years. But one sociologist has found that behavior that breaks the law is not unknown to NFL players. One website suggests that sociologist Eric Carter found “nearly 35% of all players in the league have been arrested.” Elsewhere, Carter goes into more detail about why so many NFL players are arrested at some point and how religion could help players deal with ano…: […]

2. Research On Religion | Timothy Dalrymple on Religion, Sports, and Jeremy Lin says:

   September 10, 2012 at 4:00 am

   […]  Eric Carter on Religion & the NFL. […]

3. Research On Religion | Timothy Dalrymple on Religion and Sports says:

   February 2, 2014 at 4:00 am

   […] Eric Carter on Religion & the NFL. […]