The athlete as widget: how exploitation explains elite sport

Abstract

The subject position of elite athletes has become increasingly clear as sport becomes more commercialized and spectacularised. Elite athletes are exploited and relatively power-less in their chosen fields of endeavour because of the reserve army of athletes attempting to play at the elite level. The exploitation continues with the burden of injury and medical intervention falling upon them as well as sole responsibility for their performance-enhancing drug status. I critique the figurationalist view of the elite athlete in this essay and demonstrate that an exploitation model, combined with aspects of subject-based research gives a better understanding of the athlete position. I posit that elite athletes are essentially interchangeable, a widget in the commercial machine that is modern sport. I further support my argument by demonstrating the poor success rate for aspiring elite athletes and the financial and social cost that once elite athletes pay for a chance to compete at the top tier of competition. As sport is increasingly commercialized, we must draw upon critiques and theoretical explanations that explore capitalism and apply them rigorously to sport.

Notes

¹ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’.

² Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 239–40.

³ Waddington and Murphy, ‘Drugs, Sport and Ideologies’.

⁴ For example; Dunning and Rojek, Sport and Leisure; and Wilson, ‘Cleaning up the Game’.

⁵ Horne, Sport in Consumer Culture, 162.

⁶ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 248.

⁷ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 248

⁸ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 248

⁹ Pringle, ‘Masculinities, Sport, and Power’.

¹⁰ Hughson, Inglis and Free, The Uses of Sport, 116–37.

¹¹ Bourke, ‘The Dream’, 408.

¹² Carter and Carter, ‘A Social Psychological Analysis of Anomie’, 244.

¹³ Carter and Carter, ‘A Social Psychological Analysis of Anomie’, 253.

¹⁴ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 251–2.

¹⁵ For example, Collins, Interaction Ritual Chains; Barbalet, Emotion, Social Theory; Hochschild, The Managed Heart; Katz, How Emotions Work; Connor The Sociology of Loyalty; and for sport and emotion, Maguire, ‘Towards a Sociological Theory of Sport’.

¹⁶ Barbalet, ‘A Macro Sociology of Emotion’, 151.

¹⁷ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 250.

¹⁸ Nixon, ‘A Social Network Analysis’.

¹⁹ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 243.

²⁰ Drewe, ‘Coaches, Ethics and Autonomy’, 150.

²¹ Drewe, ‘Coaches, Ethics and Autonomy’, 154.

²² Frey, ‘Deviance of Organizational Subunits’, 112.

²³ Murphy and Waddington, ‘Are Elite Athletes Exploited’, 244.

²⁴ Nixon, ‘A Social Network Analysis’, 127.

²⁵ Nixon, ‘A Social Network Analysis’, 130.

²⁶ http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/forum/archive/index.php/t-568.html.

²⁷ afl.com.au, the home page of the Australian Football League.

²⁸ aflxmen.com, a lobby group formed to promote the plight of former players, especially in regards to ongoing injury treatment.

²⁹ Bourke, ‘The Dream’, 399.

³⁰ Bourke, ‘The Dream’, 411.

³¹ Bourke, ‘The Dream’, 402.

³² Sweet, ‘Will Soccer's Beckham Bounce Continue?’.

³³ Connor, The Sociology of Loyalty.

³⁴ Murray, The Old Firm.

³⁵ Wilson, ‘Cleaning up the Game’, 76.

³⁶ Frey, ‘Deviance of Organizational Subunits’, 119.

³⁷ Nixon, ‘A Social Network Analysis’, 133.

³⁸ Connor, ‘Towards a Sociology of Drugs in Sport’Ibid., 131.

³⁹ Horne, Sport in Consumer Culture, 161.

⁴⁰ Pringle, ‘Masculinities, Sport, and Power’, 257.