‘Silver Cups Versus Ice Creams’: Parental Involvement With the Construction of Gender in the Field of Their Son’s Soccer

Abstract

This study explores parents’ gendered meanings in their involvement with their son’s soccer participation. We use Bourdieu’s (1985; 1990; 2012) theoretical perspective of fields, positions, habitus and taking positions to examine the way in which parents in two Dutch soccer clubs reconstruct and negotiate gendered meanings through expressions, positioning and power relations within the field of their son’s soccer. The findings suggest that, within this field, a subdivision exists between the ‘main’ field, represented by masculine meanings, and the subordinated ‘serving-the-main’ field, represented by feminine values. The study contributes to a better understanding of the processes involved in the construction of gender in both subfields and highlights the way in which women who enter the ‘main’ field can be theorized as ‘space invaders’.