Chapter 5

Summary:

  Chapter five aims to discuss the concepts of socialization and gender roles in the context of the family. It begins by reminding the reader that socialization is a means by which our social identity is established, we are taught role taking, and which ultimately shapes our behavior. In an opening section on myths about gender, the author points out that stereotypes assigned to females are often associated with weakness and stereotypes assigned to males are often associated with strength. For example, a male might be described as honest where a female with the same trait may be described as opinionated. The author then defines the major concepts associated with gender and the family. First, sex refers to the biological characteristics that we are born with, while gender refers to the learned attitudes and behaviors that characterize people of one sex or the other. Consequently one’s gender identity is one’s perception of themselves as one gender or another. Further, gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes and characteristics that society expects of females and males.

            The next concept tackled by chapter five is the issue of the nature v. nurture debate. First, the chapter posits how important nature is. The author puts forth documented health differences, the effects of sex hormones, and unsuccessful sex reassignment as evidence for the nature side of the debate. To address the nurture side of the argument the author notes cross-cultural variations in gender roles, cross-cultural variation in male violence, and successful sex reassignment surgeries. The author concludes by stating that what can be learned from this debate is that there are some sex-related genetic differences between males and females but that cross-cultural research has shown much variation in the characteristics that are stereotyped as male and female.

            The subsequent section of the chapter delves into different theories’ take on gender roles. The author begins by defining sociobiology, which is the study of how biology affects social behavior. However, sociobiological theory can be controversial because it is hard to find a behavior that is not influenced at least partially by social factors. The chapter goes on to touch upon social learning, cognitive development, symbolic interaction and feminism. Each theory’s view of gender roles can be found in table 5.3 on page 113.

            The next section focuses on how we actually learn gender roles. There are many different sources noted, the first of which is parents. Parents socialize their children through talking/communication, setting expectations and providing opportunities. The next vehicle of socialization is through play and peer groups. Then there is the socialization brought about by teachers and school. Finally, the media and popular culture are important agents of socialization. The chapter continues with a discussion of traditional gender roles and the costs and benefits of holding these views. Then the chapter discusses gender roles in adulthood and closes with a discussion of variations in gender roles across the globe. This section discusses the global gender gap index, which rates nations on women’s status and quality of life within these nations. Interestingly, the U.S. does not fall into the top ten nations.

 Something new/interesting

 Something very interesting and pertinent to our everyday lives as college students is the glass ceiling that is currently preventing many women from reaching full-time faculty positions at Universities. The textbook cited that “women face more obstacles as faculty than they do as managers and directors in corporate America”. For example women received almost 49% of all PhD degrees in biology but only make us 14% of full-time biology faculty.

 I can’t help but wonder if this has something to do with the tenure system that is currently in place in the U.S. In order to gain full time faculty status one must bring in so much grant money and publish so many papers that I wouldn’t be surprised if many women who have their PhDs by 27 and begin to have families right around when they need to achieve tenure, find it hard to juggle their responsibilities. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the current system and make it more possible and family friendly for a person to achieve tenure. Maybe then we’ll see a more even distribution of women to men in tenured positions.

 Discussion Point

I once had a professor who stated that if all of the governments in the world were comprised of only women, there would no longer be any wars. Do you think it’s harmful to make such a statement? Do you think it is saying something positive or negative about either men or women?

 Or could an argument be made for some kind of truth in this statement? 

-Ali Mosser