Sexuality as social status

While investigations in Expectation States Theory (EST) examine the effects of broad social statuses such as gender and race, they neglect sexuality and gender performance (i.e., masculinity). Drawing upon data from student pairs in a laboratory experiment, I extend the literature by considering whether status orders develop around sexuality and gender through similar processes as these other statuses. I examine how knowing (or perceiving) a male partner's sexual orientation impacts others' performance expectations for him and their behavior toward him during online perceptual tasks not related to either status. Because this dissertation manipulates both the partner's sexual orientation and masculinity, it assesses how individuals aggregate status information. Thus I assess the scope of EST along several dimensions: the scope of social statuses, the effects of face-to-face interaction and the spread of status effects to future interactions.; This research finds that sexual orientation does act as a diffuse status for university students. Gay men hold an interactive disadvantage when it comes to group decision-making because their partners (both same-sex and opposite-sex partners) are significantly more likely to reject their suggestions than students working with straight or control partners. Gender performance shows similar effects. Masculine male partners hold a significant advantage, while less masculine partners hold little influence over group processes. Comparisons reveal that gender nonconformity leads to a greater disadvantage than homosexuality. Analyses also reveal that individuals conflate gender and sexuality. However, in encounters where individuals work with status inconsistent partners, gender status information "undoes" the influence of sexuality. These findings are consistent with arguments that the root of homophobia lies in people's belief that homosexuals are gender deviants. While not significant, findings suggest that individuals may be more likely to draw on status differences during virtual interaction over face-to-face encounters.