Examine the extent to which social divisions are socially constructed. Use either gender or ethnicity to construct and illustrate your argument. Society is constructed through several social divisions, one of these being divisions being gender. Gender can be defined as a ‘socially determined difference based upon the biological differences between the sexes’ (Marsh et al, 2006: 216). Fulcher & Scott (2011) believe gender to examine the differences between men and women in relation to feeling, thinking and behaving.
Once a child's gender is evident, others treat those in one gender differently from those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently. Pg. 122 The process of gendering and its outcome are legitimated by religion, law, science and the society’s entire set of values. Pg. 122 As a process, gender creates the social differences that define “woman” and “man.” In social interaction throughout their lives, individuals learn what is expected, see what is expected, act and react in expected ways, and thus simultaneously construct and maintain the gender order pg.
The evolutionary approach argues that gender role division is a consequence of the adaptation to the challenges and circumstances faced by our ancestors. This suggests that the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance and evolution than social factors acting on our behavior. As evolutionary theory is a biological approach to gender development, it suggests that our genes have coded aspects of human behavior because they were or are adaptive. However a debate to this approach is the nature vs. nurture approach, nature supporting the evolutionary approach being that we have evolved through survival and adaptation to the situations and therefore passing on the adaptive genes of the survivors. Nurture on the other hand is a view, is a view proposed by the social approach suggesting that behavior is affected by socialization and environment.
From the very moment we are born, our gender plays a vital role in shaping our lives. It determines our identity through our attitudes, our behaviours, and the path in which our life is going to take due to status, stereotyping, gender roles (McDermott & Hatemi 2011). Whilst gender and sex are commonly grouped together, they do not mean the same thing. A person’s sex refers to the biological characteristics distinguishing male and female, whereas gender refers to the social, cultural and psychological components of what it means to be feminine or masculine. This implies that all people can be placed into either category, when it isn’t in fact this simple.
Modelling, also known as social learning is where a child engages in gender role behaviour through observation of same-sex models, internalizing and imitating their behaviours and attitudes. However a child must be able to differentiate between gender role models in order to learn what is right or wrong to do in terms of gender appropriate behaviours. The key to social learning theory is that our understanding of gender comes from our social environment. Often it is our parents who are our main role models from a young age as they are with us from birth. Based on their understanding of their gender will then influence the behaviours and
By the time we reached late childhood and adolescence our concept of gender identity and sexual orientation is firmly entrenched (Wood, 2010). Our behavior, aspirations and attitudes is also strongly influenced by the gender role expectations in particular cultures. This essay will relate, contrast sex and gender in society and how important it is for sociologists to distinguish them both. The term “sex” is the natural biological genetic makeup that distinguishes males from females and in particular the sexual organs and their characteristics. Bodies are, so we think, natural, God- given, sacred, hardwired.
In Becoming members of society, Aaron Devor points out that the way we act or present ourselves in society had a great deal to do with our sense of a gendered self. He points out that our conception of what it means to be female or male are socially constructed. Furthermore, gender is “defined” differently in different cultures. He says that we start to acquire gender roles so early that we do not realize the difference in genders. In Two ways a Woman Can Get Hurt, Jean Kilbourne points out that ads affects us in potentially damaging ways than helping us informing us about the product.
Education functions as a key mechanism which glues children together and helps them by giving them a value consensus through the “hidden curriculum”. Parsons describes education as a bridge between the families and adult roles of society. Although functionalists think that socialization is important, they also think that it’s not the only purpose of education. Education also teaches the right skills needed for work and sorts people for appropriate jobs. Functionalists think that education gives students an equal chance to get the qualifications for their future jobs and if they rather choose to mess about, the only person to blame for their failure is themselves.
The same principle applies to the communication styles of men and women. Early on as children, the genders acquire their gender-specific styles of communication. In this world, males and females have learn to communicate in their specific style in order to survive. Despite these glaring differences in communication styles, humans are not creatures who are sustained by silence and isolation. Humans need communication and social interaction to survive and thrive.
Feminists believe that women are viewed as a socially subordinate, and disadvantaged group compared to men. A main belief of feminism is that men and women are socially formed. This social formation consists of certain social factors that influence how women and men should behave, and