넬 나딩스의 배려윤리 관점에서 본 스포츠선수의 표현 = Athletes' Expression from the Perspective of Nel Noddings' Ethics of Care

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to examine the conflicts surrounding athletes' expression in the new media environment and to reexamine athletes' expressive acts from a relational perspective through Nel Noddings' Ethics of Care. In modern society, new media strengthens the bonds between athletes and fans while simultaneously revealing the decontextualization of expression and the distortion of relationships; however, existing scholarly discussions on freedom of expression presuppose the expressive subject as an already-completed individual prior to relationship, leaving unanswered the question of how an athlete's expression operates within a relationship with a concrete other. Accordingly, this study draws on the core concepts of Noddings' Ethics of Care—engrossment, motivational displacement, and completion—as an analytical framework, arguing that athletes' expressive acts should be understood not as an exercise of rights but as a matter of "caring expression," a practice that attends to relationships with others. Applying this framework to the case of Athlete L's SNS controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a sequential review of the incident's unfolding revealed a cascading structure in which the absence of engrossment prior to expression led to an incomplete motivational displacement, which in turn resulted in a failure to complete the relationship. Accordingly, this study suggests that authentic expression by athletes in the new media era must be achieved not through the unilateral exercise of rights or the retrospective fulfillment of obligations, but through caring practice. It is expected that this paper will serve as a theoretical foundation for reflecting on athletes' expression from the perspective of care in the new media environment, and contribute to the structural change through which athletes, sport organizations, and media and society jointly construct the conditions for caring expression.