Division I Female Soccer Players: Development of the Self Across Time and Interactional Groups

Abstract

This study is intended to explore the interactive effect of various interpersonal groups and longitudinal maturation on the socialization of individuals within a culture. It will deal with conflict resolution and the formation of a transitory sense of self informed by George Herbert Mead's perspective with an emphasis on symbolic interaction. I have chosen as my sample group a division I female college soccer team in the eastern United States . My time as an assistant coach has given me access to the daily lives of these players for a two year period during which I have acted as a participant observer. Although the study is limited to a small group of elite athletes, it is presumed that similar processes are at work each time an individual enters a new social setting or attempts to reconcile conflicting norms between different groups. When such groups collide, the individual is forced to conform to one at the expense of the other(s). This creates what I will call deviant conformity