2. Sex and Gender Identity
• Sex – classification of
people as male or female
based on biological
characteristics
• Biological Determinism –
principle that behavioral
differences are the result of
inherited physical
characteristics
– This lacks scientific proof
– What few tendencies that are
biological are easily overruled
by society and culture
• Gender Identity – a sense of
being male or female based
on learned cultural values
3. Biology, culture, and behavior
• Research indicates that the brains of
men and women are slightly different
• The majority of sociologists argue
that gender-related behavior is not
primarily the result of biology
• Margaret Mead’s research (1950) on
New Guinean peoples
– The Arapesh – Men and women were
raised to be cooperative, unaggressive,
and empathetic. Traditional concept of
the female gender role
– Mundugumor – Men and women were
raised to be aggressive, ruthless, and
unresponsive to the needs of others
– Tchambuli – gender roles were
opposite of those in Western culture
4. Theoretical Perspectives on
Gender
• Functionalism and
Gender
– Any pattern of behavior
that does not benefit
society will become
unimportant
• Therefore the division of
responsibilities b/w male
and female benefited
human living
5. Theoretical Perspectives on
Gender• Conflict Theory and
Gender
– It is to the advantage of men
to prevent women from
gaining access to political,
economic, and social
resources
• “Gender Apartheid” in Afghanistan
– Conflict theorists see
traditional gender roles as
outdated
– Women who prefer careers
in fields formerly reserved
for men have every right to
6. Theoretical Perspectives on
Gender• Symbolic Interactionism
and Gender
– Focuses on how boy and
girls learn to act the way
they are “supposed to act”
• Gender socialization – the
social process of learning
how to act as a boy or girl
– The effect of the media is
very powerful
– Parents are vitally
important in gender
socialization
• Blue or pink clothes
• Trucks vs. dolls
• Mowing the grass vs. doing
7. Theoretical Perspectives on
Gender– Schools also aid gender
socialization
• Teachers encourage different
behaviors
• Clothing styles, school
functions, after-school activities
– Peers contribution to gender
socialization
• Kids who most closely
resemble the traditional roles
are typically given the most
respect
– Football players, cheerleaders
• Feminine boys and masculine
8. Gender Inequality
• Sexism – a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values
used to justify sexual inequality
• Occupational and Economic inequality
– In 1999 65% of women worked outside the home compared
to 77% of men
– Occupational sex segregation – the concentration of women
in lower-status positions
• Ex. – only about 11% of engineer positions are held by women, and
about 29% of attorney jobs
• When women are in high-status occupational groups, they are
concentrated in lower-prestige, lower-paid jobs
– In 1999 women who worked full-time earned only 72 cents
for every dollar earned by men
– In virtually every occupational category, men’s earning
power is greater than women’s
– Compared globally U.S. women are closer to the bottom of
the equality list than the top
9. Legal and political Inequality
–
–
– Women are participating in elective politics at an
increasing rate
– 1988, Geraldine Ferraro became the 1st female
vice-presidential candidate in the history of the
U.S.
– 1996, Madeleine Albright was named the first
female Secretary of State
– Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed the 1st
female Supreme Court Justice in 1981 by Pres.
Reagan
10. Ageism
• Age stratification – the unequal distribution of
scarce resources based on age
• Ageism – a set of
beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to
justify age-based prejudice and discrimination
11. 11
Functionalism and Ageism
• Elderly people in a given
society are treated according
to the role the aged play in
that society
• In many cultures the elderly
are treated with great respect
and honor
• Attitudes about aging
changed greatly as
industrialization changed the
nature of work
12. 12
Conflict Theory and Ageism
• Competition over
scarce resources is
the heart of ageism
for the Conflict
Perspective
13. • Symbolic Interactionism and Ageism
– Children learn negative images of older people
just as they learn other aspects of culture,
through socialization
– Stereotypes of the elderly
• Senile, forgetful, or “daft”
• Sexless
• Incapable of learning new things
14. Inequality in America’s Elderly
Population
• Sociologists believe that elderly should be viewed as a
minority group
• Economics of the Elderly
– The Federal Government assumes that elderly need less
money to live
– About 16% of those over the age of 65 are poor
– Most elderly in America do not have sources of income
beyond Social Security
– Poverty rates for minority elderly are higher than that of
white elderly
• Political Power and the Elderly
– Voting turn out increase w/ age in the U.S.
– Interest groups – a group organized to influence political
decision making
• AARP