‘Team androcentric’? An investigation of symbolic subversion of male domination and representation of sport in university print media using a mixed methods research design

Abstract

Sport is predominantly masculine and male dominated. This study used a portrayal approach to investigate how a UK university’s print media symbolically represented gender and hierarchies in sport, with reference to sociological topics such as the body and construction of identity. Qualitatively based mixed methods were used with triangulation and a parallel design. This involved a content and discourse analysis to analyse textual and photographic features of print media. Significant quantitative findings were calculated using the chi square statistical test. The majority of photographs were found to be female and team orientated (chi square = 16.66, p<0.01). Photographs of male tended to be active, and the majority of female photographs were non-active (chi square = 6.96, p<0.01). Asymmetrical gender marking of sports teams and an emphasis of female stereotypes were also apparent. How the combined quantitative and qualitative findings contributed to the symbolical subversion of male domination within sport university print media was discussed. An interpretation of the findings were related to Michel Foucault’s (1972; 1980) concept of discourse and Pierre Bourdieu’s (1992; 2001) notion of symbolic violence.