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

Pacific Island food security: situation, challenges and opportunities

In recent years, there have been large and rapid increases in the prices of basic foods worldwide. Pacific island countries have not been isolated from the global food 'crisis'. This article shows that there are substantial differences in the impacts within and between Pacific island countries. To be effective and not counterproductive, policy and donor responses need to be tailored accordingly. This article recommends a combination of measures directed at mitigating the threats and empowering rural people to take advantage of the opportunities

‘We’re not run on Numbers, We’re People, We’re Emotional People’: Exploring the experiences and lived consequences of emerging technologies, organizational surveillance and control among elite professionals

The deployment of digital technologies and data analytics within contemporary organizations are continually seeking to capture vast reams of information to shape employee performance and guide behaviour. However, there is a need to further advance our understanding of the effects and unintended consequences of these technologies within differing organizational contexts. Drawing on the experiences of members connected to a UK-based professional Rugby Union club, we focus on the impact of emerging technologies and ubiquitous surveillance practices in governing employee behaviour, shifting workplace boundaries and providing the ability to resist a mode of organizational control governed by data analytics. Specific emphasis is placed upon exposing the lived consequences and tensions that emerge among employees subjected to an intensive mode of organizational surveillance. In doing so, this study highlights the manner in which emerging technologies and surveillance practices may contribute towards feelings of anxiety, precariousness and performance fatigue among their employees. Through this analysis, we aim to provide a critical understanding of managerial and leadership techniques of control, surveillance and knowledge production that may prove relevant for future research in wider organizational settings shaped by technological transformations and new forms of data-driven management

Goffman, Identity and Organisational Control: Elite Sports Academies and Social Theory

Traineeship within English professional football (soccer) has attracted much attention in recent years yet few studies have explored in any real depth the everyday workings of trainee footballing lives. This paper features the findings of two small-scale qualitative studies of football traineeship both of which were carried out at high profile English professional football clubs, one in 1993-94, the other in 2010-11. The paper uncovers the nuances of trainee experience in line with a series of theoretical assertions surrounding organisational discipline and control. It concludes by suggesting that whilst debate surrounding the design and delivery of traineeship within professional football has intensified over the past two decades, little appears to have changed with respect to the fundamental dynamics of organisational regimen

Expectancies and their consequences within the coach-athlete relationship : an athlete-centred investigation

Theoretical models of expectancy processes (e.g., Olson, Roese, & Zanna, 1996) have conceptualised the sources of information by which expectancies of others are formed, and suggest that expectancies have the potential to influence the cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses of both perceivers and targets. The main aim of this thesis was to examine expectancy effects within the coach-athlete relationship from the perspective of the athlete. Specifically, the aims were to examine: a) the sources of information that athletes deem influential when developing expectancies of a coach; b) the cognitive consequences of athletes' expectancies of coaches; c) the affective responses of athletes to initial expectancies of a coach; and d) the behavioural consequences of athletes' expectancies of their coach. In order to achieve these aims, the investigation employed a range of experimental methods including an explorative survey (study one); experimental designs, which involved obtaining athletes' ratings in response to a range of stimuli such as static photographs, written information, and dynamic video footage (studies two and three); and a field-based examination, which was assessed via a combination of notational analysis and questionnaire (study four). The main findings reveal that while static cues (e.g., gender) are deemed relatively unimportant during impression formation, dynamic cues (e.g., facial expressions) and third-party reports (e.g., reputation) are viewed by athletes as influential factors in the formation of expectancies about coaches. Specifically, the findings suggest that athletes' initial expectancies of an unknown coach's competency are influenced by the presentation of reputation information. Although the results show that coach gender also has a significant impact on athletes' expectancies, the effect of gender on athletes' expectancies was not as large as that of reputation information. In addition, reputation information is shown to significantly impact on athletes' positive affective responses to a coach. Finally, the results demonstrate that coach reputation impacts on athletes' attention, effort, and persistence during a training session. Overall, the research presented in this thesis provides support for the use of Olson et al.'s (1996) model of expectancy processes as a theoretical framework for the investigation of expectancy effects within the coach-athlete relationship. The thesis provides initial empirical support for the contention that athletes' expectancies of coaches impact on athletes' cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses. Such findings have important implications for coaching guidelines and the development of effective coach-athlete relationships. The proposal that third-party reports represent an influential source of information with regard to expectancy formation in sport has also received initial support.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

‘We’re not run on Numbers, We’re People, We’re Emotional People’: Exploring the experiences and lived consequences of emerging technologies, organizational surveillance and control among elite professionals

The deployment of digital technologies and data analytics within contemporary organizations are continually seeking to capture vast reams of information to shape employee performance and guide behaviour. However, there is a need to further advance our understanding of the effects and unintended consequences of these technologies within differing organizational contexts. Drawing on the experiences of members connected to a UK-based professional Rugby Union club, we focus on the impact of emerging technologies and ubiquitous surveillance practices in governing employee behaviour, shifting workplace boundaries and providing the ability to resist a mode of organizational control governed by data analytics. Specific emphasis is placed upon exposing the lived consequences and tensions that emerge among employees subjected to an intensive mode of organizational surveillance. In doing so, this study highlights the manner in which emerging technologies and surveillance practices may contribute towards feelings of anxiety, precariousness and performance fatigue among their employees. Through this analysis, we aim to provide a critical understanding of managerial and leadership techniques of control, surveillance and knowledge production that may prove relevant for future research in wider organizational settings shaped by technological transformations and new forms of data-driven management

Identity

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It’s hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a ‘Research in Action’ section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally