Surveillance, Disciplinary Power and Athletic Identity: A Sociological Investigation into the Culture of Elite Sports Academies

With the exception of work conducted by Parker (1996a) research concerning identity construction, surveillance practices and power relations within the context of a professional sports academy institution appears limited. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with staff and athletes at two Premiership academies (one rugby, one football), a Foucauldian framework is utilised to provide a sociological analysis of disciplinary power and its impact upon the experiences and development of elite athletes. Foucault’s (1979) concept of panopticism is employed to explore the impact of surveillance as a disciplinary tool within the academies. The concept of surveillance as a disciplinary mechanism is furthered with the application of Latour’s (2005) ‘oligopticon’ and Deleuze and Guttari’s (2003) ‘rhizomatic' notion of surveillance networks. Foucault’s (1979; 1994b) normalising judgment and the concept of self and ‘lateral’ surveillance are employed to understand how the athletes internalise the values, attitudes and behaviours witnessed within the academies. An analysis of the regulation of the social space and time is accompanied by an application of Weber’s (1978) ‘domination by authority’ to explore the authoritative role of the coaches and their relationships with the players. The Foucauldian approach is accompanied by the work of Erving Goffman (1959; 1961a; 1961b) to understand how the role of ‘elite athlete’, bound by the notion of ‘professionalism’, is constructed and managed by the players on a daily basis. By adopting both a Foucauldian and interactionist perspective the thesis explores how the structure of the academies impacts upon the development and socialisation of those housed within them, whilst also maintaining focus upon the construction and management of identity and the presentation of ‘self’ in an institutional setting

If Reflections Could Talk

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College

PALMsiever: a tool to turn raw data into results for single-molecule localization microscopy

During the past decade, localization microscopy (LM) has transformed into an accessible, commercially available technique for life sciences. However, data processing can be challenging to the non-specialist and care is still needed to produce meaningful results. PALMsiever has been developed to provide a user-friendly means of visualizing, filtering and analyzing LM data. It includes drift correction, clustering, intelligent line profiles, many rendering algorithms and 3D data visualization. It incorporates the main analysis and data processing modalities used by experts in the field, as well as several new features we developed, and makes them broadly accessible. It can easily be extended via plugins and is provided as free of charge open-source software. Contact: [email protected]

A3_3 When Roasted Pigs Fly

This paper investigated the excess energy produced when propane is used to lift a hot air balloon by testing if you could roast a pig while the balloon is flying. We found that the balloon would be able to fly as the propane releases 24.0MW, which is more than enough to roast the pig and fly the balloon

A3_2 If a Tree Falls...

In this paper we are investigating the distances a person can be away from a tree to still be ableto hear it fall. We have calculated that the furthest away a listener can be, with no noise fromthe surrounding area, to still be able to hear a tree fall is approximately 1000km and the furthestdistance they can stand and still hear the noise in a city with traffic is 100m

A3_5 1.21 Jigawatts!?!

In this paper we are investigating how much power it would take for the DeLorean from Back tothe Future to reach the 88mph speed required to travel in time. We calculated that when theDeLorean is flying it requires less power than when it is driving on a road to reach the targetvelocity, and in both cases it requires far less power than the 1.21GW that the flux capacitor canprovide

A3_1 Distortion: The Maths Behind The Magic

In this paper, we are investigating and creating mathematical models for two different distortion types. We have succeeded in creating these models, as proven from our plots, and have explored the idea of applying these models to a simple speaker circuit

A3_4 Fly High, Gyroid!

In this paper, we investigated whether a small rocket in the game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate would be viable, based on whether it could hold the amount of fuel required to reach its maximum altitude. We found that the volume of liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen fuel required is less than the volume of the rocket booster, so the rocket would be viable in this sense