The objective of this article is to understand how the specific interactions between actors involved in the production of performance influence the socialization process by which cyclists learn their job. In particular, we try to understand how these interactions determine the reported attitudes towards doping products and methods. We focused on the interactions within the work group to understand how young cyclists learn their job. While analysing this organization of work, our goal is to understand how it influences the perception of the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). We compared socialization of young elite and U23 cyclists in Belgium, France and Switzerland. We analysed the economic, legal and organizational conditions in each country, and we conducted 70 semi-structured interviews with cyclists and their staff.

Politics of Apolitism. On the autonomization of sport's field Jacques Defrance Apolitical attitudes are characteristic features of sport's culture. «Apolitism», «neutralism», «pacifism», «third stream», «anti-parlementarism», constitute the different ways to withdraw from critical situations, controversies and political struggles. The meaning of these kinds of withdrawal, their extent, their strength, vary during the XXth century. They grow as the field of physical activities and sports gets more autonomy. They assert themselves in front of the strengthening of civic norms which require to involve oneself in public matters. Socio-historic analysis shows how this forms of distanciation can be coupled with forms of commitment into politics and sport, or can be contradicted by an historical situation which requires to take a stand.

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Découvrir la revueCiter cet article DEFRANCE, J. (1995). L'autonomisation du champ sportif.

The works of Pierre Bourdieu contribute to the establishment of a true sociology of culture and open prospects for the sociology of sport. A review of the genesis of this sociology shows that it has been constructed through breaks with French sociology’s way of approaching culture in the 1960s. The presentation of some of Bourdieu’s concepts is intended to show how they illuminate the social coherence of cultural behaviors and how the latter fit together. Finally, the paper emphasizes the relevance of such cultural analyses for those who study the social uses of the body, sport culture, or physical education.