Sport, Hegemony and Subcultural Reproduction: The Process of Accommodaton in Bicycle Road Racing

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to show how the concept of hegomony has some purchase on micro levels of observation. This is done by clarifying the ways in which an hegemonic order seeks to secure consent among a subordinate group of male cyclists. There are three parts to the study. First, the dominant ideological themes of technological fetishism, individualism and collectivism are outlined in the context of professional cycling. Second, the practices of Canadian male amateur cyclists are discussed with respect to their attempts at subcultural reproduction and particularly an inherent ideological conflict over the primacy of individualism and collectivism within the competitive structure of road racing. Third, the subcultural responses negotiated by the cyclists are examined as a series of accommodations. As a subordinate group, the cyclists set the common sense of the dominant order against the practical concerns and concrete situations of the sport and reproduce a fragile and highly conditional version of that order.