GENDER (CHAPTER 12)

(CHAPTER STARTS WITH Naomi Wolf's BEAUTY MYTH: WHY?)

OUR POINT: GENDER IS A *SOCIAL CONSTRUCT*
--Look at chart on 284: Norm violations as an example of gender roles

GENDER IDENTITY AND SEX ROLES:   SOCIETY IS ORGANIZED AROUND A
HIERARCHY OF STATUS AND REWARD SYSTEMS BASED ON SEX
 
GENDER IDENTITY:  THE  SELF-CONCEPT ONE HAS OF  BEING MALE OR FEMALE. 
(EG - TRAITS SUCH AS BEING TOUGH, GENTLE, EXPRESSIVE, ETC)

SOCIALIZATION IS A KEY IN DETERMINING GENDER ROLE,
NOT BIOLOGY (BUT DOESN'T  MEAN BIOLOGY  ISN'T IMPORTANT--JUST  MOLDED BY
SOCIALIZATION & SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS).

MARGARET MEAD  (ANTHRO)  FOUND TWO SOCIETIES  (NUMDUGUMOR AND
ARAPESH)  WHERE THERE  WAS NO DRAMATIC SEX  ROLE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN MEN & WOMEN.

THREE VIEWS:

FUNCTIONAL--SOCIAL STABILITY 

CONFLICT--SEX-ROLES EQUAL POWER RELATIONSHIP/RESOURCE STRUGGLE

INTERACTION--HOW PEOPLE CREATE GENDER  ROLES THROUGH INTEACTION
(These DON'T REALLY EXLAIN IT,  JUST DESCRIBE  HOW IT WORKS AND THE
CONSEQUENCES) (EG, LANGUAGE/INTERUPTING, TOUCHING, ETC)

ARE WOMEN OPPRESSED?  (DISCUSS) (POINT: WHY DOES SCHAEFFER CALL
THEM AN "OPPRESSED MINORITY?"

WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE:
  A) INCREASING
     IN 1980, 50 PERCENT OF MARRIED WOMEN
       WORKED OUTSIDE THE HOME (43% IN 1970).
  B) STIL UNDERPAID FOR SAME WORK
  C) STILL IN SEX-TYPED JOBS (SECRETARIES)
     AND UNSKILLED LABOR
SEXUAL HARASSMENT: (DESCRIBE)
WOMEN & SOCIAL CHANGE:
   A) EMPLOYMENT CHANXGES
   B) CIVIL RIGHTS
   C) CHANGING ROLES
M
   D) SOCIAL PSYCH CHANGES
   E) ROLE CHANGES
   F) FAMILY PATTERNS (?)

SUMMARY:

"In modern industrial society, as apparently in all others, sex is at the
base of a fundamental code in accordance with which social interactions and
social structures are built up, a code which also establishes the
conceptions individuals have concerning their fundamental human 
nature (Goffman, 1977: 301)."

DEF SOCIAL SITUATION: 
"I define a social situation as a physical arena anywhere within which an
entering person finds himself exposed to the immediate presence of
one or more others; and a gather, all persons present, even if only bound
together by the norms of civil inattention, or less still, mutual 
vulnerabilty" (Goffman, 1977: 301).

In all societies, infants at birth are placed in one of the two
sex CLASSES similar to the placment of domestic animals. The
placement by physical configuration allows a sex-linked label of
identification (Goffman, 1977: 302).

"     In all societies, initial sex-class placement stands at the
beginning of a sustained sorting process whereby members of the two
classes are subject to differential socialization" (GOffman, 1977:303).

"     Insofar as the individual builds up a sense of who and what he
is by referring to his sex class and judging himself in terms of the
ideals of masculity (or feminiity), one may speak of
GENDER IDENTITY (orig ital). It seems that this source of
self-identification is one of the most profound our society
provides, perhaps even more so than age-grade, and never is its disturbance
or change to be anticipated as an easy matter" (Goffman, 1977: 304)

"On should think of sex as a property of organizms, not as a class of 
them (Goffman, 1977: 305)."

Notes five examples of institutional reflexivity, of social organization,which "have the effect of confirming our gender
stereotupes and the prevailing arrangment between
the sexes:

  --sex class division of labor
  --siblings as socializers
  --toilet practices
  --looks and job selection
  --identification system

How in modern society do such irrelevant biological differences
between sexes take on such significations, and "how, without
biological warrant, are these biological differences 
elaborated socially?" ( goffman, 1977: 319)

Not an environment that dictates it, but an environment in some
sense designed for the purpose of this evocation (so how does this occur
in prisons?)

"...every physical surround, every room, every box for
social gatherings, necessariliy provides materials that can be used in
the display of gender and the affirmation of gender identity."
(Goffman, 1977: 324"

Membership in a sex/gender catetory sorted by biology provides a neat and
tidy device (goffman, 1977: 330).

Return to JT's homepage