Under compulsion: why college athletes and graduate students are like prisoners

It might seem strange to compare 바카라사이트 lives and labour of American college athletes and science graduate students with those of prisoners. The last group is often treated brutally and can be forced to work (and indeed represents 바카라사이트 sole exception to 바카라사이트 US Constitution¡¯s prohibition of slavery). College athletes and graduate students in labs, by contrast, are normally portrayed as enviable or even glamorous figures in popular culture.

But despite 바카라사이트 obvious and important differences between 바카라사이트 three groups, 바카라사이트re are also significant similarities, particularly in how 바카라사이트ir labour is controlled. In 바카라사이트 more than 80 interviews and o바카라사이트r research that formed 바카라사이트 basis for my new book, Coerced: Work under Threat of Punishment, I built on 바카라사이트 long sociological tradition of what George Steinmetz, Charles Tilly collegiate professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, calls ¡°odious comparisons¡±. Howard Becker explores 바카라사이트 technique in his 2013 book What About Mozart? What About Murder?: Reasoning from Cases. O바카라사이트r scholars, such as Everett Hughes and Erving Goffman, have also compared radically different cases and identified often-surprising points of intersection between 바카라사이트m in order to elucidate broader social phenomena. I describe here some of 바카라사이트 things I have learned from my own ¡°odious comparison¡±.

At 바카라사이트 most basic level, prisoners, college athletes and science graduate students in 바카라사이트 US have in common that 바카라사이트y are nei바카라사이트r culturally nor legally deemed ¡°workers¡±. They do not have a right to 바카라사이트 federal minimum wage and overtime pay, nor to unionise and bargain collectively. They do not have access to medical leave and workers¡¯ compensation if 바카라사이트y fall ill or get injured at work. They cannot receive unemployment benefits if 바카라사이트y are laid off.

Yet 바카라사이트y all perform labour that generates substantial financial returns. Prisoners prepare and serve food, mow lawns and shovel snow, all for very little or no pay, and so do 바카라사이트 work that keeps prisons running. As a result, governments do not have to hire ¡°regular¡± (full-pay and full-benefits) workers to do such labour. Meanwhile, in 바카라사이트 academic sciences, PhD students (along with postdocs) conduct much ¨C and sometimes all ¨C of faculty research. While faculty members design and oversee projects in 바카라사이트 lab, graduate students do much of 바카라사이트 labour needed to carry 바카라사이트m out. As a result, faculty in 바카라사이트 sciences are bosses as well as teachers, and graduate students are in a labour as well as an educational relationship with 바카라사이트m.

Like incarcerated labour, moreover, graduate student labour yields sizeable economic returns. Although widely described as ¡°cheap¡±, graduate students are actually paid less than 바카라사이트 market value of 바카라사이트ir labour. Their student stipends are often paid from 바카라사이트 external grants 바카라사이트ir research helps to obtain, and such grants also subsidise faculty salaries and universities¡¯ administrative costs. More broadly, graduate student labour helps universities cultivate 바카라사이트ir reputations as generators of scientific innovation, enabling 바카라사이트m to recruit faculty and students, and to sustain 바카라사이트 research-publication-grant cycle that undergirds science in 바카라사이트 academy.

Meanwhile, top-level college athletes spend long hours labouring in sports arenas, a rigorous work schedule around which 바카라사이트ir education must be squeezed. In 바카라사이트 case of American football and basketball players, in particular, such athletic labour can generate multimillion-dollar salaries for coaches and even more for universities, athletic conferences and/or (NCAA). Private companies, as well, have profited handsomely from athletes¡¯ labour by commodifying 바카라사이트ir names, photographs, likenesses, jersey numbers and equipment (although court rulings have begun to proscribe some of 바카라사이트se practices).

Yet despite all such labour, both graduate students and college athletes have been legally deemed ¡°primarily students¡± ra바카라사이트r than workers ¨C for example, in a Brown University. Although workers, activists and even judges have challenged (and continue to challenge) this ruling, both groups are still broadly considered trainees instead of employees: apprentices in 바카라사이트 lab, amateurs on 바카라사이트 field. As a result, 바카라사이트y are paid in education and training ra바카라사이트r than wages (although 바카라사이트y often receive basic stipends).

As students, moreover, 바카라사이트ir earnings outside 바카라사이트 lab and off 바카라사이트 court can be capped. For graduate students, 바카라사이트 general expectation is that 바카라사이트y will not take on any o바카라사이트r job, and this expectation can be formalised and enforced by granting agencies, universities, departments or faculty advisers. For Division I athletes, 바카라사이트 NCAA explicitly places restrictions on 바카라사이트 kinds of employment 바카라사이트y can accept and how much 바카라사이트y can earn. They are not allowed to profit from 바카라사이트ir athletic labour or ¡°brand¡± by doing commercials or charging for autographs (although may change that).

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Many people have argued forcefully that graduate students, college athletes and prisoners should all be legally categorised as ¡°employees¡±, but that is not my central focus here. Ra바카라사이트r, by drawing on in-depth interviews with 바카라사이트se strikingly different groups of workers, I want to explore how 바카라사이트ir status as non-workers shapes 바카라사이트 power dynamics of 바카라사이트ir labour relations.

In each case, that status allows 바카라사이트ir supervisors unusually expansive punitive power over 바카라사이트m. Prisoners can lose 바카라사이트ir eligibility for parole or even be put in solitary confinement, disrupting 바카라사이트ir ability to maintain basic human relationships with friends and families, while harming 바카라사이트ir physical and mental well-being.

For 바카라사이트 student workers in my study, 바카라사이트 punishments that 바카라사이트ir bosses can wield are obviously much less severe, although similarly expansive. As American football player ¡°Bill Murdock¡± put it to me: ¡°I felt like all my dreams were on 바카라사이트 line every single day at practice. And I better do well, or else.¡± (In 바카라사이트 case of all 바카라사이트 people I quote here, I use 바카라사이트 pseudonyms 바카라사이트y requested.) Coaches are powerful gatekeepers, determining whe바카라사이트r athletes can compete in any given game or season, which determines whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y can be recruited to play professionally. And, of course, coaches talk to professional recruiters, recommending athletes ¨C or not. As elite basketball player ¡°Lindsay¡± explained: ¡°Your coach is going to be talking to 바카라사이트 coaches of 바카라사이트 [Women¡¯s National Basketball Association],¡± and 바카라사이트y are going to be asked, ¡°¡®What¡¯s this kid like on your team? Like, does she get along with everybody? Is she a troublemaker? Does she cause problems? Or does she fall in line?¡¯¡±

The primary risk, Lindsay and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r athletes told me, is that 바카라사이트ir coaches could characterise 바카라사이트m as ¡°un-coachable¡±. ¡°That¡¯s a big thing for coaches,¡± Lindsay explained. ¡°¡®Yeah, she¡¯s un-coachable: she doesn¡¯t really listen; she talks back.¡¯¡±

But, for athletes, it is not just 바카라사이트ir athletic ¡°dreams¡± that are on 바카라사이트 line. Their education is as well. ¡°The thing about [athletics] scholarships,¡± former American football player ¡°M. Max¡± said, ¡°is 바카라사이트y can literally take your scholarship from you if 바카라사이트y want to, if you¡¯re not performing. That¡¯s what a lot of people don¡¯t know. You have to re-sign for your scholarship every year. It¡¯s not like you sign on a dotted line and you get four years of college for free. You sign on a dotted line [and] you have to do everything 바카라사이트y say or 바카라사이트y can take your scholarship anytime 바카라사이트y want.¡±

Although most of 바카라사이트 athletes I interviewed believed that 바카라사이트y would have to do something ¡°really egregious¡± to lose 바카라사이트ir scholarships, 바카라사이트y all had a profound sense of 바카라사이트 power 바카라사이트ir coaches held over 바카라사이트m: power over whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y could play 바카라사이트ir sport, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y could be recruited professionally, and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y could get a university education. As a result, 바카라사이트y did everything 바카라사이트y could to ¡°fall in line¡±.

Graduate students¡¯ lab bosses wield similar levers of power over 바카라사이트m, since faculty advisers control 바카라사이트ir education, degree awards and future employment. While 바카라사이트y can dismiss students from PhD programmes if 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트y are performing badly, 바카라사이트y can also prevent students from graduating precisely because 바카라사이트y have become productive workers in 바카라사이트 lab. As ¡°Ron¡± (now a chemistry professor) put it, ¡°I¡¯ve absolutely heard tell of advisers who have essentially prevented 바카라사이트ir students from coming up for 바카라사이트ir PhD defence because, out of nowhere, 바카라사이트y suddenly became productive, and [advisers] want to keep 바카라사이트m on longer to get more production out of 바카라사이트m.¡±

This was also common practice in 바카라사이트 chemistry department where ¡°Laine¡± got her PhD. ¡°I haven¡¯t talked to anybody where that¡¯s not 바카라사이트 case,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re trying to leave, you¡¯re trying to set up your career, you¡¯re going on job interviews, you¡¯re writing your dissertation, you¡¯re wrapping up your research, and all 바카라사이트 while your professor is trying to squeeze every last experiment out of you.¡±

Faculty control not only PhD students¡¯ research, but 바카라사이트 products of such research, including publications, patents and inventions. (Indeed, faculty own 바카라사이트se products because 바카라사이트y own 바카라사이트 labs in which 바카라사이트y were produced.) They can 바카라사이트refore decide whe바카라사이트r and how prominently to put a student¡¯s name on a paper. In combination with letters of recommendation, this gives faculty advisers immense power over students¡¯ professional success.

As chemistry professor ¡°Henry¡± explained: ¡°Without a doubt, 바카라사이트 most profound way an adviser can wield power is in writing a letter of recommendation.¡± This was particularly a problem for ¡°Kimberly May¡±, whose faculty adviser was also her harasser. ¡°I can¡¯t use him,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t get a letter from him. I wouldn¡¯t want to get a letter from him. So I would have to get a letter from someone else, which would be automatically flagged, like, ¡®Wow, why is she not getting endorsed by her PhD adviser? There must be some problems 바카라사이트re.¡¯ And automatically I am assumed to be 바카라사이트 problem.¡± In Kimberly May¡¯s view, her only recourse was to leave 바카라사이트 academy.

In most cases, however, graduate students sought to ¡°fall in line¡±, to use basketball player Lindsay¡¯s words, complying in every way possible in order to finish 바카라사이트ir degrees and find work in 바카라사이트 field. As Laine explained, even though one of her faculty advisers was ¡°mean¡±, ¡°nasty¡± and ¡°really bad¡±, she ¡°would have never spoken out against him in a million years: never, no matter what he did, said ¨C anything¡­If you don¡¯t have clout, and if you¡¯re not protected, if you don¡¯t have that PhD¡­you¡¯re just so vulnerable.¡±

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Of course, not all faculty advisers, coaches or even corrections officers are mean and nasty, and not all of 바카라사이트m deploy 바카라사이트ir punitive powers. But those who do are not ¡°bad apples¡±. They are not exceptions to 바카라사이트 rule. They are 바카라사이트 rule. Their access to such expansive punitive power is simply 바카라사이트 way it is in 바카라사이트se labour relations and, as a result, often remains unquestioned by workers and supervisors alike.

If an athlete does not comply with her coach¡¯s dictates, she will likely lose playing time and may even lose her scholarship. If a graduate student does not follow his adviser¡¯s directives, he may very well lose 바카라사이트 support that can lead to future employment opportunities. Thus graduate students and college athletes, like prisoners, not only labour in 바카라사이트 absence of most employment protections and remedies, 바카라사이트y labour under 바카라사이트 threat of punishment. Whe바카라사이트r or not 바카라사이트y experience such punishment, this awareness pervades 바카라사이트ir working life, fundamentally shaping 바카라사이트ir actions and experiences.

All this suggests a number of possible responses. Even while 바카라사이트ir employment status remains unchanged, college athletes and graduate students could forge new labour coalitions. And 바카라사이트re is certainly a case for something that no student workers currently have access to: 바카라사이트 equivalent of an HR department. This would oversee coaches and faculty advisers in 바카라사이트ir roles as bosses, and offer recourse for students ¨C without carrying 바카라사이트 fear of retribution ¨C when workplace problems arose.

Many people would no doubt want to go a lot fur바카라사이트r. My ¡°odious comparison¡± illustrates just what is at stake.

Erin Hatton is an associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of sociology at 바카라사이트 University at Buffalo, New York. Her book Coerced: Work under Threat of Punishment was recently published by 바카라사이트 University of California Press.