Parenting in School-Based Sailing Programs: Gender and Social Class Reproduction

Abstract

Significant research has shown that gender and social class relationships can be problematic within the context of water-based leisure activities such as surfing, windsurfing, and sailing (Olive et al., 2016; Wheaton, 2003). More specifically, it has been argued that sailing is traditionally practiced and dominated by upper-class males who can determine social codes that exclude and devalue others (Créac'h & Sébileau, 2004). We develop these critical ideas about broader water sport activity through the lens of family involvement within the context of an international comparative qualitative study of sailing projects based within secondary schooling sites in California and France. A key line of analysis involved investigating how various forms of capital (Bourdieu, 1979) were reproduced through gendered and social class hierarchies. We found that parents played key roles in reinforcing gendered stereotypes and divisions that were operating in youths' daily practices and competitions (middle school and high school). Additionally, our data show that sailing was regularly utilized by families to maintain upper-class values and distinctive social status (Friedman, 2013). Thirty interviews and 113 hours of field observations with stakeholders such as coaches, teachers, youths (14 to 17 years old), and their parents frame these various lines of analysis around sailing activity.

Citation

Schmitt, A. and Atencio, M. (2023), "Parenting in School-Based Sailing Programs: Gender and Social Class Reproduction", Ortiz, S.M. (Ed.) Family and Sport (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 19), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420230000019004