Gender Ratio and Social Interaction among College Coaches

Abstract

Data from 947 Division I college coaches in the United States were used to examine three hypotheses concerning the impact of gender ratio on the frequency of social interaction between women and men coaches. These hypotheses were based on (a) the structural perspective characterized by the politics of optimism, (b) the institutional approach associated with the politics of pessimism, and (c) the common consciousness or subculture perspective represented by the politics of transcendence. Most support was shown for the politics of pessimism, which contends that an increase of women in a male-dominated occupation is associated with rising gender boundaries and sex segregation. Results are explored in the context of gendered homosociality.