Skip to main content
Log in

Race, Risk, and the Emergence of Gender Boundaries: Kids Crossing Boundaries in Summer Camps

  • Published:
Qualitative Sociology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

My study explores how children established and crossed gender boundaries in four recreational settings with different racial compositions and patterns. Children generally marked boys' gender boundary crossing as more deviant than girls' crossing. However, the amount of gender salience structured into each setting and the salience of race in each setting affected campers' perceptions of the risks from gender boundary crossing and, thus, their strategies for crossing. My findings suggest that the perceived race of the actor may be less important than the race of the audience. Also crucial are the ways in which race category membership gives meaning to gender boundaries and to gender deviance in a particular situation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Cahill, S. (1986). Childhood socialization as recruitment process: Some lessons from the study of gender development. In P. Adler & P. Adler (Eds.), Sociological studies of child development (pp. 163-186). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, C. L. (1998). Tomboy resistance and conformity: Agency in social psychological gender theory. Gender & Society, 12, 528-553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1993). The big picture: Masculinities in recent world history. Theory and Society, 22, 597-623.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corsaro, W. A. (1997). The sociology of childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, B. (1991). The accomplishment of genderedness in pre-school children. In L. Weis, P. G. Altbach, G. Kelly, & H. G. Petrie (Eds.), Critical perspectives on early childhood education (pp. 83-99). Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • D'Emilio, J., & Freedman, E. (1988). Intimate matters: A history of sexuality in America. NY: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, M. (1993). What is hegemonic masculinity? Theory and Society, 22, 643-657.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eder, D. (with Evans, C. C., & Parker, S.) (1995). School talk: Gender and adolescent school culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, G. A. (1987). With the boys: Little League baseball and preadolescent culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerson, J. M., & Peiss, K. (1985). Boundaries, negotiation, consciousness: Reconceptualizing gender relations. Social Problems, 32, 317-331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, S. A. (1999). African American children: Socialization and development in families. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, S. J., & McKenna, W. (1978). Gender: An ethnomethodological approach. NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. (1996). Manhood in America: A cultural history. NY: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitsuse, J. I. (1962). Societal reaction to deviant behavior: Problems of theory and method. Social Problems, 9, 247-256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, S. E., & Jurik, N. C. (1996). Doing justice, doing gender: Women in law and criminal justice occupations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, V. A. (2002). The collaborative emergence of race in children's play: A case study of two summer camps. Social Problems, 49, 58-78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1986). Racial formation in the United States: From the 1960's to the 1980's. NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orcutt, J. D. (1975). Deviance as a situated phenomenon: Variations in the social interpretation of marijuana and alcohol use. Social Problems, 22, 346-356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, M. F. (1988). Parenting in black families with young children: A historical perspective. In H. P. McAdoo (Ed.), Black families, third edition (pp. 167-182). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierce, J. L. (1995). Gender trials: Emotional lives in contemporary law firms. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, P. T., & Trotter, K. H. (1993). Children's self-presentations with infants: Gender and ethnic comparisons. Sex Roles, 29, 171-181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smedley, A. (1993). Race in North America: Origin and evolution of a worldview. San Francisco: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, C., & Fenstermaker, S. (1993). Power, inequality, and the accomplishment of gender: An ethnomethodological view. In P. England (Ed.), Theory on gender/feminism on theory (pp. 151-174). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, C., & Fenstermaker, S. (1995a). Doing difference. Gender & Society, 9, 8-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, C., & Fenstermaker, S. (1995b). Reply: (Re)doing difference. Gender & Society, 9, 506-513.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, C., & and Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1, 125-151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, C. L. (1989). Gender differences at work: Women and men in nontraditional occupations. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moore, V.A. Race, Risk, and the Emergence of Gender Boundaries: Kids Crossing Boundaries in Summer Camps. Qualitative Sociology 26, 173–198 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022915028704

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022915028704

Navigation