Shifting moral stances : Morality and gender in same-sex and cross-sex game interaction

• In this study, I explore same-sex and cross-sex game interaction in foursquare, looking in particular at how the production of moral actions is adjusted in relation to the diverse configuration of players. The game was played among preadolescent girls (and boys) with low-income and ethnically mixed backgrounds (Syrian, Kurdish, Chilean) in an elementary school setting in Sweden. In the analysis, I demonstrate that the girls who had acquired physical skills in throwing engaged in extended disputes about game outcomes to justify the status of moves and hold one another accountable. The same girls downplayed their skills and mitigated fouls in interaction with less skilled girls. In cross-sex games, the girls reorganized their participation to playfully challenge the boys' (physical) domination. The girls shifted behaviors as the configuration of players changed across game contexts to realize multiple, contradictory, and shifting (moral) stances (ranging from a "morality of rights," to a "morality of responsibility" and a "morality of play"). Overall, the findings challenge a unitary (and separate) view of feminine morality and suggest that research on gender and morality should be grounded in detailed analyses of interactions across (game) contexts.

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SOCIAL SCIENCES

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

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