'We are not long-haired hippies ' Civilising offensives, suffering, doping and professional cycling

Abstract

This paper examines the subject of resistance to civilising offensives drawing on the case of ‘doping’ in professional cycling. I argue that the specific form of mutual identification that emerged between cyclists, the similarity of experience that fostered such mutual identification, and its deeply embedded nature and continuity within the habitus, stood in many ways as a counter to the civilising offensive directed at doping. Combined with a situation where the apparatus of control for the prevention of doping was fragmented, and slow in attaining sufficient legitimacy amongst professional cyclists, it meant the habitus of professional cyclists was capable of moderating the internalisation of greater social constraints.