Social Role Theory
Social Role Theory And How It Relates To Women Athleticism
The conflict and feminists believe that stereotyping athletes will increase misrepresentation of social realty. Stereotypes are unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group (Schaefer, 2006).An example of this is how many women are portrayed as baseball greats, even though women and young girls play baseball. Baseball is considered a “man’s sport.” These generalizations continue to divide America today, but are being challenged on a daily basis. More and more baseball teams that teach young children the sport are allowing girls to participate.
In high school I went to school with a girl named Marlena she was on the all guy’s wrestling team. Her ascribed status made it difficult for her to succeed in the sport. Ascribed status is assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics. It’s is based on gender, race and age. (Schaefer 2006). Many of the kids at school gave her non formal sanctions, such as making fun of her, alienating her from their subculture, and someone even spray painted her locker. The boys mostly picked on her, but some of their picking on could be considered sexual harassment. Her wrestling team however embraced her; she was one of the best, if not the best. Many of the competing teams refused to wrestle her, usually ending in a forfeit. When that would happen Marlena would display face-work. Face work is a term used to refer to the efforts people use to maintain the proper image and avoid public embarrassment (Schaefer 2006). She would just smile, wave her hands to the crowd and take her win. Her determination and perseverance placed her 2nd in the state competition.
In 2001 a longitudinal study of kindergarten, first and third graders demonstrated that young boys are more likely than young girls to believe that they are good at sports, that
The conflict and feminists believe that stereotyping athletes will increase misrepresentation of social realty. Stereotypes are unreliable generalizations about all members of a group that do not recognize individual differences within the group (Schaefer, 2006).An example of this is how many women are portrayed as baseball greats, even though women and young girls play baseball. Baseball is considered a “man’s sport.” These generalizations continue to divide America today, but are being challenged on a daily basis. More and more baseball teams that teach young children the sport are allowing girls to participate.
In high school I went to school with a girl named Marlena she was on the all guy’s wrestling team. Her ascribed status made it difficult for her to succeed in the sport. Ascribed status is assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics. It’s is based on gender, race and age. (Schaefer 2006). Many of the kids at school gave her non formal sanctions, such as making fun of her, alienating her from their subculture, and someone even spray painted her locker. The boys mostly picked on her, but some of their picking on could be considered sexual harassment. Her wrestling team however embraced her; she was one of the best, if not the best. Many of the competing teams refused to wrestle her, usually ending in a forfeit. When that would happen Marlena would display face-work. Face work is a term used to refer to the efforts people use to maintain the proper image and avoid public embarrassment (Schaefer 2006). She would just smile, wave her hands to the crowd and take her win. Her determination and perseverance placed her 2nd in the state competition.
In 2001 a longitudinal study of kindergarten, first and third graders demonstrated that young boys are more likely than young girls to believe that they are good at sports, that
Cited: 1. Colker, R., & Widom, C. (2001). Correlates of female athletic participation: masculinity, femininity, self esteem, and attitudes toward women. 2. Eagly, A. H., Wood, W., & Dieckman, A.B. (2000). Social role theory of sex differences and similarities: The developmental social psychology of gender. 3. Harrison, Linda (2005). Sex roles: A journal of research: Social role theory. 4. Koivula, N. (2001). Perceived characteristics of sports categorized as gender- neutral, feminine and masculine. Journal of Sports Behavior. 5. Schaeffer, Richard T., “Sociology- A Brief Introduction’” McGraw Hill, New York NY, 2006