Body Factory

“Body Factory makes a strong case that ‘collegiate jock capitalism’—the incredible pressure within gendered and racialized big-time college athletic departments to protect their power to generate revenue—consistently overwhelms the standard of care that should be provided to college athletes. The organizational issues identified in Body Factory result in athletic administrators, coaches, athletic trainers, and even athletes redefining what it means to be ‘injured’—negatively affecting the care college athletes receive. This book is a must-read for anyone who purportedly cares about and cares for college athletes.”—Richard M. Southall, Director of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of South Carolina “For anyone questioning if college sports have gone too far, Kaitlin Pericak artfully illustrates the extensive colonial terrain of the neoliberal campus, then reveals deeply hidden roots that belie the overgrown enterprise of college sports today. Careful observations and interviews are woven together, skillfully illuminating the assumptions about football that silently ripple unnoticed throughout athletic programs. The result is a powerful case study, bringing to the surface a wake of control permeating the entire college sports landscape. In this moment, when athletes are challenging generations of practices over financial control in the courts, Body Factory vividly captures the most visceral characteristic of control—control over the health of their bodies.”—Jennifer Lee Hoffman, Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Policy at the University of Washington, and author of College Sports and Institutional Values in Competition: Leadership Challenges