SOCI 210: Sociological perspectives

Socialization and gender

  1. Administrative
  2. Socialization
  3. Socialization of gender roles

Administrative

Worksheet deadline

  • The time of day that the worksheets are due has been changed to 11:59pm (23h59) to avoid confusion
  • Due dates remain the same

Worksheet anonymity

  • You should no longer put your names on the worksheets to maintain student anonymity in peer review
  • We will still be able to see which group is which

Socialization

Two kids wearing 19th-century style suits. One of them is pointing toward the horizon.

Socialization is …

Learning culture

  • Non-material culture (beliefs, practices, roles, behavior)
  • Material culture (significance and use of tools, structures, objects)
Photo from the bottom of three parallel escalators. The escalator on the left has everyone going down, the one on the right has everyone going up. The one in the center has nobody riding it, but painted on the steps is the message 'STAND ON THE RIGHT'

Internalizing norms

  • Unspoken and explicit rules of behavior
  • Roles and responsibilities become “natural”
Photo of two hands engaged in a handshake.

Developing self

  • Negotiating one’s place in society (roles, relationships, appropriate behavior)
  • Constructing identity in relation to society
Photo of a person dressed in a pilot's outfit, wearing a large mascot head shaped like a scowling bird with black spikey feathers.

Theories of socialization

An adult holding a small child in a large meadow, looking at an imposing granite mountain in front of them

Childhood development

  • The bulk of socialization occurs while one is “growing up”
  • Theories of socialization tend to focus on birth through teenage years

Psychological theories

  • Focus on developmental phases of relations, emotions, etc.
    (Freud, Erikson, Kohlberg, …)

Sociological theories

  • Focus on social expectations and roles
    (Cooley, Mead, …)
  • Looking-glass self (Cooley)
  • Roles as relations

Symbolic interactionism

  • Focus on roles, situated sense of self, and the generalized other
  • Tightly linked to theories of childhood development

Socialization of perception

Socialization shapes our fundamental experience of the world around us

Cognition

  • Spatial understanding
  • Color categories
  • Numerical reasoning
  • Musical harmony
Photo of a simple sidwalk chalk drawing of a rainbow

Judgement

  • Fairness
  • Disgust
  • Beauty
Photo of simple beef tartar, garnished with a sprig of parsley.

Communication

  • Spoken/written language
  • Body language
  • Facial expressions
Photo of a pug dog, wrapped in a tattered blanket with only their sad little face exposed. They look like they are experiencing deep existential malaise.

Socialization of roles

Two WWE wrestlers looking angrily at each other before a match. The referee stands in the background scowling.

Roles shape expectations

  • Often it is not a question of general behavior.
    “What is the right/wrong way to behave?”
  • Instead, a question of role-specific behavior.
    “What is the right/wrong way for people like me to behave?”
  • Moreover, role-specific behavior is sensitive to situational context.
    “What is the right/wrong way for people like me to behave toward people like you?”
Simple diagram showing two boxes, one labeled 'Roles' and the other labeled 'Behavior' with arrows pointing back and forth between them.

Reflexivity

  • Behavior is prescribed by situated roles
  • Roles are defined by characteristic behavior

Socialization of
gender roles

Close-up hoto of a Barbie doll posed in front of a window wearing a tanktop with the words 'Be Your Self'

Defining sex and gender

Gender vs sex

  • “Sex” and “gender” are commonly used interchangeably, but social scientists (and increasingly others) draw a distinction
  • Sex tends to be physiologically defined
    Genome; hormones; genitalia; reproductive role; secondary characteristics
  • Gender based on roles, expectations, behavior
    Social aspects of the gendered division of society:
    Clothing; mannerisms; language; values;
    interests; …
  • Sex and gender are closely linked, in particular (but certainly not exclusively) in Western societies
  • Children are most often gendered before or at the moment of birth based on visual determination of their genitals or chromosonal analysis
    Ambiguities often surgically “corrected” immediately after birth
  • One-to-one link between sex and gender is a social construction
Ms. Pac-Man logo from the 1980s. Features a drawing of a heavily feminized Pac-Man with a bow on her head, blue eyeshadow, long eyelashes, red cheeks, red lipstick, high-heal shoes, and doing a sexy pose. There is a red ghost oggling her.

Untenability of binary sex

Criteria for sex determination are neither unambiguous nor consistent:

Genitalia

  • About one in 1,500–2,000 humans is born with ambiguous genitalia
  • About one in 500–1,000 receive “corrective” surgery at birth

Chromosomes

  • Many more than two possibilities (XX or XY)
  • Frequently does not match lived experience

Hormone levels

  • Arbitrary and contradictory

Secondary sex characteristics

  • De facto standard of sex determination
  • Also ambiguous

Reproductive role

  • Many people cannot reproduce regardless of sex (e.g. children)
  • Mutable
Black and white line drawing showing a naked idealized European man and woman standing in front of various geometric diagrams.

Gendered socialization

Closeup photo of two cupcakes. One is decored in blue with the word BOY, the other decorated in pink with the word GIRL.

Gender is among the most overtly

socialized institutions

  • “Primary cultural frame” (Cecilia Ridgeway)
    Frames allow us to negotiate situations in everyday interactions and relations
  • Gender is present in virtually every domain
    Language, sexuality, employment, education, finance, …

Gendered socialization of children

  • Begins very early, often before birth
    Gender reveal parties, nursery/clothing colors, names, …
  • By age three, most children can identify gender in photographs and engage in gendered play
    Gender identity based on clothing/behavior rather than sexual characteristics
  • Boy/girl divide present in children’s preferences, behavior, and social structures

Gendered socialization

Gender role reinforcement in children

  • Toys and marketing
  • Clothing and marketing
  • School dress codes
  • Language used to talk to and about children
    “Boys will be boys” “sugar and spice” “pretty” “brave”
  • Media representations
A baby's onesie with the text 'Lock up your daughters' written on it along with a drawing of a padlock.
screenshot from Disney's Frozen. Anna and Hans hold hands in a boat gazing into each others' eyes

Role modeling

  • Interactionist framework: children learn about gender roles by watching the behavior of others
  • “…nearly half of all three- to six-year-old girls worry about being fat”
    Bloom, Lisa. “How to Talk to Little Girls.” Huffington Post (blog), June 22, 2011.

Gendered socialization

Reflexivity of gendered socialization

  • Gender categories and gendered expectations mutually reinforce one another
diagram showing two boxes with arrows pointing back and forth between them. First box: 'Gendered expectations; The way people act, look, and present themselves is shaped by their gender identity'. Second box: 'Gender categories; Gender of others is assessed by the way they act or present themselves'

“Doing gender”

  • Gender categories are maintained by relying on gender distinctions to selectively enforce gendered presentation

Image credit

Two kids wearing 19th-century style suits. One of them is pointing toward the horizon.

Photo via Wikimedia

Photo from the bottom of three parallel escalators. The escalator on the left has everyone going down, the one on the right has everyone going up. The one in the center has nobody riding it, but painted on the steps is the message 'STAND ON THE RIGHT'

Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash

Photo of two hands engaged in a handshake.

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

Photo of a person dressed in a pilot's outfit, wearing a large mascot head shaped like a scowling bird with black spikey feathers.

Photo by yogurt on Unsplash

An adult holding a small child in a large meadow, looking at an imposing granite mountain in front of them

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Photo of a simple sidwalk chalk drawing of a rainbow

Photo by Alex Jackman on Unsplash

Photo of simple beef tartar, garnished with a sprig of parsley.

Photo by Call Me Fred on Unsplash

Photo of a pug dog, wrapped in a tattered blanket with only their sad little face exposed. They look like they are experiencing deep existential malaise.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Image credit

Two WWE wrestlers looking angrily at each other before a match. The referee stands in the background scowling.

Photo from WWE

Close-up hoto of a Barbie doll posed in front of a window wearing a tanktop with the words 'Be Your Self'

Photo by Sandra Gabriel on Unsplash

Ms. Pac-Man logo from the 1980s. Features a drawing of a heavily feminized Pac-Man with a bow on her head, blue eyeshadow, long eyelashes, red cheeks, red lipstick, high-heal shoes, and doing a sexy pose. There is a red ghost oggling her.

Image by Midway/Bally via Arcade Marquee.com

Black and white line drawing showing a naked idealized European man and woman standing in front of various geometric diagrams.

Image by NASA via Wikimedia

Closeup photo of two cupcakes. One is decored in blue with the word BOY, the other decorated in pink with the word GIRL.

Photo by kgroovy on Flickr

A baby's onesie with the text 'Lock up your daughters' written on it along with a drawing of a padlock.

Product image from StoykoTs on Etsy

screenshot from Disney's Frozen. Anna and Hans hold hands in a boat gazing into each others' eyes

Still from Frozen (2013) via Animated Film Reviews