1/17/2001
INTRODUCTION
Discussion regarding sociological concepts useful in studying sociology of gender: First we need to understand what we mean by sociology of gender.
Sociology is the study of people in groups. Sociologists pursue questions about people and social structure - the pattern of social relationships and behaviors - in the smallest and most transitory collections, such as strangers in public to the largest and most stable social groups such as institutions.
Statuses - every society places its members into a series of categories .It is a simply a position within a social system.
We acquires ours statuses by achievement through our own efforts (Achieved status )or by ascription as we are born into them or assume them involuntarily at some other point in our life. (Ascribed Status)
Role- The expected behavior associated with any given status is referred to as a role. It is behavior that is routinized and mutually oriented to another person
Norms - shared rules of behavior established by society
A social institution is a constellation of roles and ideas that addresses a major area of human need in a particular society. For example the institution of family addresses primarily sexual activity, reproduction and the physical care of and early socialization of children.
Next - what do we mean by gender? Distinguishing sex and gender
Sex is a designation based on biology, while gender is socially and psychologically constructed. A human is categorized as male or female based on such physical characteristics as external genitalia, chromosomes, and hormones. Our society only recognizes two categories of sex - male and female.
Gender involved those social, cultural and psychological aspects linked to males and females through particular social contexts. Likewise, we recognize only two genders -
Gender Roles are defined as those expected attitudes and behaviors that a society associates with each sex. Gender roles are relational (femininity and masculinity make sense in relation to each other), culturally and historically time bound.
A biological given sex (i.e. male or female) is used as the basis for constructing a social category that we call gender. This differentiation occurs not only on an interpersonal level between individuals, but also on a structural level within a given society. These prescriptions of how women and men should think and act are embedded in the institutions of the society - in its family, education system, language, religion, economy, etc.
This institutionalized pattern of gender differentiation referred to as a society's sex/gender system. Sex/gender systems vary historically and cross-culturally, but each system includes at least 3 interrelated components
1. The social construction of gender categories on the basis of biological sex.
2. A sexual division of labor in which specific tasks are allocated on the basis of sex
3. The social regulation of sexuality in which particular forms of sexual expression are positively or negatively sanctioned.
Why is the sociology of gender an important topic of inquiry?
All societies categorize members by status and then rank these statuses in some fashion, thereby creating a system of social stratification. Social stratification is the differentiation among categories of people, accompanies by differential access to scarce resources. Gender, race and ethnicity are significant ways in which members of society are identified and combined in various ways to result in unequal treatment.
Stereotypes - oversimplified conceptions that people who belong to the same group or category share certain traits in common. The categories of male and female are stereotyped such that members of the category are assumed to possess certain characteristics by virtue of their biological categories. This results in sexism , the belief that one category, female, is inferior to the other, male.
Sex/gender systems usually function as a system of social stratification, that is, the extent to which women and men, and the traits and behaviors respectively associated with them, are valued unequally in a society.
Gender is a social creation about the relationship between women and men and thus about the distribution of power. (Dana Vanoy)
A patriarchy is a sex/gender system in which men dominate women, and that which is considered masculine is more highly valued than that which is considered feminine.
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
Essentialist Perspective - On perspective on gender, which is not among the sociological perspectives, is that gender is somehow essential to being male or female; that is, gender is both innate and unchanging. In this perspective gender refers to characteristics of the individual person, assumed to be biological in origin.
Although fewer theorists have supported this view, we will see that large portions of people operate on this assumption. Over the next two weeks, we will discuss biological theories and sociological theories that have intersected with this assumption, for example socio-biology and structural functionalism. Sometimes the underlying assumptions of social-psychological research are consistent with this view. That is, the assumption that biological sex is the explanation for behavior differences may be implied even though it is not made explicit.
Social-psychological Perspective - According to this social-psychological perspective children learn gendered behavior through a variety of learning processed - for example, imitation, modeling, and the use of reward and punishment by others.
From this viewpoint gene is the result of social and cultural forces rather than biology, but gender is still something that operates at the level of the individual personality. This view emphasizing learning is better able to account for the diversity of traits and behavioral within both sexes, and it does imply that change in gendered personality characteristics and behaviors is possible if society's members choose to modify socialization practices.
Social-constructionist perspective. (also known as a symbolic interactionist) In this more sociological approach reality is created through ongoing human action and the understandings shared about those actions. In this view, gender resides neither solely in the person nor the situation but rather in both.
Social interaction requires some common definition of the situation on the part of the participants in the interaction. This perspective assumes that through all the ways of communicating people agree on a definition of the situation and thus create a shared interpretation of reality.
Men and women "do gender" (Candice West) and in doing gender, they choose certain options for behaving. These cumulative performances of gender are what create gendered institutions, so doing gender helps sustain the broader macro-level systems.
Social-structural Perspective -Finally a fourth way to view gender is to see it as built into social institutions or as a form of social structure itself. Gender is a characteristic of the social structure of society and not of the individual. Gender is one basis for the systematic allocation of resources and opportunities. A social-structural approach to gender looks at the gendered distribution of resources and power within social institutions, from families to larger organizations to the entire society, and studies how this distribution is responsible for shaping gendered behaviors.
This perspective emphasizes the profound effects of the pervasive system of male privilege whereby men as a category has systematic advantages over women whether men desire these advantages or not.
Men do not sit down and systematically decide how to oppress women. In fact, they may participate in oppressive arrangements without even realizing or recognizing they are doing so, and doing so may be against their wishes. The domination is built into the social structures in which people conduct their lives.
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