In my thesis I explain patterns and developments of current participation in sport and physical activity among a group of men and women in the transition to early mid-life (38-43 years of age). I examine their perceptions of the activity and sense of sporting identity over their lives. There is limited research on mid-life experiences of sport and physical activity and more often this takes a social survey approach. The interpretive research on mid-life is still an emerging field, previous research has often focused on a single sport sub-culture, those who are heavily involved in sport, or women only. In depth, topical life history interviews and written timelines were completed with a group of sixteen individuals in this life stage, with varied experiences of sport and physical activity. The data was analysed using Brown and Gilligan's (1992, 1993) `voice centred relational method' of analysis, followed by 'constant comparison' (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and coding (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). The major theme identified in this study was the complex construction of sport and participation, understood as it relates to the participants lives as a whole and its impact on their participation decision making. Sub-themes included; the different meaning and value of sport and self definition in relation to this, and changes in these across the life course (particularly the transition to midlife) and in relation to the ageing process and relationships. The research demonstrates the relationship between sport and the needs at this life stage, highlighting identity management, and values placed on the ethic of care and sport and physical activity as leisure. Conflicting feelings are experienced in relation to sport and physical activity due to constraints on and into participation. Further to this the thesis provides a grounded theory model of the construction of these activities in the transition to early midlife. The findings were interpreted with theoretical perspectives from: structuration (Giddens, 1979, 1984), dramaturgical (Goffman, 1971, 1972a), relational (Gilligan, 1993), role (Kelly, 1983; Turner, 1956, 1978; Zurcher, 1970, 1979), life cycle (Levinson et al, 1978, 1996), family life cycle (Rapoport & Rapoport, 1975), and role transition (Kelly, 1983) theories.

The goal of this study is to examine the dynamics under-pinning the reproduction or transformation of gender power relations within two sport organisations. Across society we have images of women making ground and experiencing far greater prospects than ever before. Yet, on the other hand, this is bound up with continuous examples of little progress in work. For instance, while there are more opportunities for women across work than at any other point in the 20th Century, they continue to be segregated from men in a large number of jobs. Similar gendered patterns of progress are reflected in sport. There are now far more female participants in sport, however they remain concentrated in 'appropriate' sports which reflect historical images of femininity. Broadly, sport and work also dictate stereotypical images for male participants. While broad levels of change are occurring across society, central to this thesis is whether dominant patterns of gender relations are transformed or reproduced at the micro level of sport- related work. Critically sport organisations are selected because sport's history continues to demonstrate patterns of male dominance. Secondly, the growth of sport provision has occurred in a service area, an arena traditionally dominated by women workers. Finally, sport is one of the few sectors which traverses both the public and private industries, providing the basis for a comparative study. Therefore, employment within sport provides an opportunity to examine the ways in which gender power relations are challenged or reproduced when two diverse sets of relations meet. The theoretical framework draws heavily from feminist theory, particularly radical, socialist feminist and post-structuralism. A qualitative research strategy provides the framework for a comparative case study methodology. Seventy-five interviews were conducted across the two case study organisations, which are located in the North. Past Times is a contracted out leisure centre and Sporting Goods a privately owned sports clothing and equipment firm. Both companies are in the service industry but come from two diverse backgrounds. Sporting Goods developed from a manufacturing heritage and Past Times is breaking away from direct local authority control as a result of CCT. At the time of the research both establishments were experiencing high levels of organisational change. While Past Times breaks with tradition in having a female manager and Sporting Goods contrasts with a traditional management structure, hegemonic masculinity dominated across both organisations. Overall gender power relations were reproduced through day-to-day practices that appeal to, and perpetuate, common sense understandings of men and women's roles at work. The sport environment provided a critical site for the strengthening of homosocial relationships among men and enabled the identification of three interacting components of gender: bodies, identities and sexualities. These components together contribute to the ongoing construction of a logic of difference which is more highly defined in the sport environment.