Power and Authority: Moral Consensus and Conformity in Sport

Abstract

This study examined the moral rationales of 109 male and female coaches, athletes and non- athletes. Subjects read a series of sport scenarios in which a conflict arose between an athlete and a member of the athletic establishment. Five categories of moral rationales emerged from the data, two of which, the ethic of care and of self-interest, predominated. Females employed the ethic of care significantly more often than males, while males used the self-interest rationale significantly more often than females. Results are discussed in terms of the asymmetrical power relationship which characterizes athletics and the different moral orientations men and women bring to sport.