Sc2220 lecture 3 2012

SC2220: Gender Studies

Lecture 3: Becoming Male or Female

Eric C. ThompsonSemester 2, 2011/2012

Enculturation & Socialization• Enculturation: The process of learning a

culture (system of beliefs and associated practices).

• Socialization: Learning group norms and values from others.

• Often used interchangably.– Enculturation emphasizes the influence of a

general cultural system of beliefs.– Socialization emphasizes the sources of

information (parents, peers, media, etc.).

Gender Socialization: 3 ModelsModel 1:

Direct Teaching/Rewards & Punishment

Model 2:Indirect Teaching/

Identification & Modeling Behavior

Adults set the agenda, provide rewards or punishment

Children identify with adults/parents of same sex and imitate their behavior

Gender SocializationModel 3 (Maccoby):

Peer-to-Peer Socialization

Children learn gender roles & behavior from

each other

Gender SocializationUp to age 2

Equal Same-Sex, Cross-Sex Interaction

18 Interactions9 Same Sex9 Cross Sex

Gender SocializationAge 3 to 6

Same-Sex 66%, Cross-Sex 33%


Gender SocializationAge 6 to 10

Same-Sex 75%, Cross-Sex 25%*


*These are all rough estimates, based on the research cited in Maccoby,

pp.15-29

From the perspective of an individual (child), we see how children’s worlds become segregated as they grow up.

Increasingly, they are learning, playing, growing in “male” and “female” cultures.

Children’s Worlds become Gender Segregated

AgeTwo

Boy’s WorldGirl’s World


AgeFour



AgeSix



AgeEight



AgeTen


Children Reinforce Segregation, Stereotypes and Styles of Play between each other


Don’t sit with the

girls!

Only sissy’s play with dolls.

Look at my new Power

Rangers™ toy!

Let’s go play football

Ewwww… boys

are yucky!

That dress is so cute,

can I borrow it?

I’m so glad Barbie™ finally

dumped Ken™!

Poor Ken

Let’s go play football

Boys are so mean!

“Distinctions between males and females are of the group contextual kind.” Maccoby, p.12

In other words, children grow up in different gendered cultures.

Becoming Male or Female*Children are active agentsSocial positioning

Striving to “get gender right”Discursive positioning – asserting

feminine/masculine identities (e.g. through clothing)

Social conditioningSocial sanctioning; approval or disapprovalFixing categories

*Based on Browwyn Davies, 2002 (1989)

Socialization Involves Multiple,Complex Influences (Four Sources)

PEER SOCIALIZATION

DIRECT TEACHING

MODELING BEHAVIOR

TVGENERALCULTURALINFLUENCES

Socialization of Difference (Points to Remember)Gender/Sex segregation is almost never

absolute (for example, in the studies cited by Maccoby, a significant minority of interactions are still cross-gender).

Within a culture or society, a range of socialization and identities are always available to different individuals.

In the peer-to-peer socialization model (and all three models), messages, attitudes, status relations, etc. from the culture/society in general play an extremely important role. They provide the content of socialization.

Falling Back on BiologyDavies mentions how parents and others

revert to biology (“it must be genetics”), when girls act like girls and boys act like boys

Hormones may have some role in sex segregation and in preference for play-styles.

But, socialization is far more influential and complex.

Explaining through biology (“it must be genetics”) is a cultural simplification – “fixing” categories and behavior by reference to simple binaries.

A Final Thought:

“Partitioning genes from environment, nature from

nurture, is a scientific dead end, a bad way of thinking about

human development”(Fausto-Sterling pg.235).

Bye-bye . . .See you next

week

Sc2220 lecture 3 2012

Education

Transcript of Sc2220 lecture 3 2012