Advocating for athletes or appropriating their voices? A frame and field analysis of power struggles in sport

Abstract

Although advocacy is central to cultural transformations, claims makers are social actors who struggle for meaning and power. This article focuses on Global Athlete (GA) to analyse the stakes behind advocacy. This sports advocate has engaged a frame keying, even fabrication, to gain recognition in the global sport landscape. GA’s activity is examined on two levels. First, the article analyses how, to become a credible actor, GA framed itself by claiming to be ‘the voice of the athletes’ and appropriating the athletes’ symbolic capital. Second, this appropriation’s economic, political and social resources are identified. This case study highlights the interest of combining Goffman and Bourdieu to understand how GA’s framing captures individuals’ symbolic capital and how keying a frame, as an advocate committed to protecting athletes’ rights, served power struggles within the sports field. The results further show the need for sociologists to question what can be at stake beneath advocacy for ‘noble causes’.