Greg Hardy: The Role Of Domestic Violence In Football

Domestic abuse continues to be an issue in today’s society. Mass media has helped raise awareness of this social issue. One of the most publicized realms of domestic violence can be found among members of the National Football League. The NFL’s most recently accused players is Dallas Cowboy’s Greg Hardy. In 2014, “Hardy was tried and found guilty of misdemeanor assault and communicating threats”, which led to his placement on the NFL exempt list and release from the Carolina Panthers almost immediately after (Almasy and Martin 2015). Hardy, being one of the most talented pass rushers in the league, was eager to get back into the game upon the lift of his suspension, and was quickly recruited by the Dallas Cowboys, “who signed Hardy in the

For Hardy, his aggression was targeted into the highly aggressive sport of football, which ultimately led to his success as a player. Being a professional athlete, the athlete is always in the public eye and open to public social media forms of scrutiny. The social norm is to not commit domestic violence, so with Hardy constantly being in the public eye, it was the social norm to behave while in public, and “this internal control was reinforced by the development of surveillance procedures” or “self-discipline” resulting in Hardy’s deviance being acted on when he knew he couldn’t be seen (Johnson 2008:417). When Hardy was unable to target his aggression in to football, he had to find another source of release, leading to his ex-girlfriend becoming his new outlet for aggression. Men like Hardy, who are extremely successful in their career, assume a sense of power that sometimes carries into their domestic relationships. In the case of domestic violence, this exertion of power can be, “linked to the origins of patriarchy with the beginning of private property” (Johnson 2008:443). This ideology of men controlling women as private property is what leads to most cases

Johnson (2008) states that “the goals of such transformation [of critical theory] should be to advance human rights, protect human freedom, and promote the highest possible level of human fulfillment”. Because the Dallas Cowboys are seen as one of America’s elite organizations, they have the ability to sway public opinion and “mass media plays a crucial role in this process” (Johnson 2008:403). According to Johnson (2008) one of the key point’s critical theory critiques is “how power elites are able to maintain their position, sometimes by neutralizing or coopting their opponents, in an environment of widespread public apathy”. So, by the Dallas Cowboys releasing their public statement claiming their intolerance towards domestic violence, they are able maintain their positive image and elite status. Because the powerful elite have such a public positive to uphold, “the activities and decisions of elites are not necessarily always widely publicized”, leading society as whole to having “little reason to question the pluralistic image” of a team like the Dallas