| Gender is one of the most potent social categories and principles by which people organize and understand the complex world in which they exist. What are recognized as valuable contributions to society; how a society's resources are distributed; and the judgments as to what attitudes and behaviors should be rewarded or punished, are in part, a function of psychological and social gender. Gender plays an important role in shaping and orchestrating individual activities as well as group experiences. These activities and experiences include sports.;Historically, sport activities, events, and experiences have played an integral part in influencing societies throughout the world. In particular, the United States has seen an increasing growth in the sports industry, evidenced by the billions of dollars spent and generated by professional, collegiate, and amateur sports. Contributing to the overall growth of the sport industry has been the explosion of women's sports since the inception of Title IX in 1972. This is evidenced by the recent formation of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) and the Women's Professional Football League (WPFL). Gender and sport are interdependent concepts with important behavioral and marketing outcomes.;Sports and gender influence social, economic and political issues, yet there is an absence of gender-related research and study in the marketing literature. Few studies have addressed the multidimensional nature of gender in any context. Most gender studies have produced a limited exploration of the sex category as a major segmenting variable. Many of these studies assert that men and women are different and unique from one another in all situations, or that segmenting by biological sex shows no significant differences between men and women. To date, the marketing literature has not been able to take advantage of a richer understanding of gender as more than a biological sex category.;This dissertation explores the effects of gender, a social-psychological construct, on involvement and attitudes towards sports consumption, two critical determinants of behavior. |
