Gender Gender Socialization Theories

Gender Gender Socialization Theories According to many sociologists, there exists difference between sex and gender. Sex is the biological classification and gender is the outcome of social construction of separate roles of males and females. According to Lorber (2005), masculinity and femininity is not inborn that is children are taught these traits. As soon as a child is identified as being a male or female then everybody start treating him or her as such. Children learn to move in gendered ways through the support of his environment. They are taught the gendered roles projected someone who is female or male. As the child grows up, he develops his identity, know how to interact with others and learn the role to play in the society. Lorber, Judith. 2005. Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender. In The Spirit of Sociology: A Reader, ed. R. Matson, 292-305.New York: Penguin. There are many drivers involved in the socialization process which transmits the traditional gender role to the children and henceforth leading to occupational segregation later on. One set of gender socialization occur between parents and offspring. Parents are considered to be the primary agency in the process of socialization. They are inclined to interact with boys and girls in discrete styles. For example, a one year old baby is considered to have no sex difference, and however, parents are likely to act with boys and girls in dissimilar ways. They react to boys, when they seek interest by being aggressive and girls when they use gestures. Such interaction have long term effect on girls and boys communication styles, leading boys to more assertive styles and girls with more emotive styles. Ann Oakley and Ruth Hartley (1974), studies point out four main ways in which socialization into gender roles occur. Firstly, applying diverse physical and verbal manipulations to the child, for example, dressing a girl in feminine clothes. Secondly, drawing the child attention towards gender-identified toys. This is known as canalization whereby, boys and girls are given certain toys, clothing, sports equipment, and other objects are often culturally identified more with one gender than the other. Boys toys tend to encourage physical activity, whereas girls toys tend to stress physical proximity and mother-child talk. According to Oakley (1974), the socialization process aid to the maintenance of male dominance and female subservience. The roles learn through the above process shape adult behaviour and hence, contribute to the reproduction of differences in behavior of males and females. Thirdly, Applies Different Verbal Descriptions to the Same Behavior: Even years later, working in professional careers, women might find that they have to deal with different standards for the same behavior, being called pushy, for example, for behavior at work that in men is admired for being aggressive. The same thing happens in childhood: A boy is encouraged for being active, where as a girl is rebuked for being too rough. Or a girl is complimented for beinggentle, but a boy is criticized for not being competitive enough. Encourages or Discourages Certain Stereotypical Gender-Identified Activities: As a boy, were you asked to help mother with sewing, cooking, ironing, and the like? As a girl, were you made to help dad do yard work, shovel snow, takeout the trash, and so on? For most children, its often the reverse. Note thatthe identification of girls with indoor domestic chores and boys with outdoorchores becomes training for stereotypical gender roles (McHale et al. 1990;Blair 1992; Leaper 2002; Shellenbarger 2006). The education system is also considered to be a major part of the gender socialisation process. The hidden curriculum is known for reinforcing the traditional model of how girls and boys look and act through the use of course material. For example, teachers reinforces gender roles by encouraging boys and girls to develop different skills. According to Thorne (1993), children also divide themselves along gender lines in the lunch room, claiming different spaces of the playground, and often sanction individuals who violate gender roles. Mass media are one of the most powerful tools of gender socialization because television, magazines, radio, newspapers, video games, movies, and the Internet are ubiquitous in American culture. Like other social institutions, mass media reinforce traditional gender roles. Magazines targeted at girls and women emphasize the importance of physical appearance as well as finding, pleasing, and keeping a man. While boys and mens magazines also focus on the importance of physical appearance, they also stress the importance of financial success, competitive hobbies, and attracting women for sexual encounters (rather than lasting relationships). These supposed masculine and feminine characteristics and behaviors are reinforced across the media system, from video games and movies that show athletic heroes rescuing thin and busty damsels in distress, to television programs that depict women as housewives, nurses, and secretaries and men as lawyers, doctors, and corporate tycoons. Print media a lso play an important role in socialization. In childrens literature, for example, boys typically are the protagonists, who use strength and intelligence to overcome an obstacle. When girls are included in stories, they are typically passive followers of the male leader or helpers eager to support the male protagonist in his plan. This state of affairs is undergoing change, however. An increasing number of television shows (Zena: Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, and Veronica Mars), movies(Laura Croft: Tomb Raider and Elektra), and books (Harry Potter) have crafted new visions of masculinity and femininity. It remains to beseen if these images take hold and affect gender socialization processes. Mass media They also learn gender roles, the behavior and activities expected of someone who is male or female. These expectations channel male and female energies in different gender- appropriate directions. As children learn to look and behave like boys or girls, most reproduce and perpetuate their societys version of how the two sexes should be. When children fail to behave in gender-appropriate ways, their character becomes suspect (Lorber 2005) Lorber, Judith. 2005. Night to HisDay: The Social Construction ofGender. In The Spirit of Sociology:A Reader, ed. R. Matson, 292-305.New York: Penguin. At the minimum people call girls who violate the rules tomboys and boys who do so sissies. The gender socialization process may be direct or indirect. It is indirect when children learn gender expectations by observing others words and behavior, such as the jokes, comments, and stories they hear about men and women or portrayals of men and women they see in magazines, books, and on television(Raag and Rackliff1998).   Raag, Tarja, and Christine Rackliff.1998. Preschoolers Awarenessof Social Expectations of Gender: Relationships to Toy Choices.Sex Roles: A Journal of Research38(9-10): 685. Socialization is direct when significant others intentionally convey the societal expectations to children. Agents of Socialization Agents of socialization are the significant people, groups, and institutions that act to shape our gender identity-whether we identify as male, female, or something in between. Agents of socialization include family, classmates, peers, teachers, religious leaders, popular culture, and mass media. Child development specialist Beverly Fagot and her colleagues (1985) observed how preschool teachers shape gender identity. Specifically, the researchers focused on how toddlers, ages 12 and 24 months, in a play group interacted and communicated with one another and how teachers responded to the childrens attempts to communicate. Fagot, Beverly, Richard Hagan, Mary Driver Leinbach, and Sandra Kronsberg. 1985. Differential Reactions to Assertive and Communicative Acts of Toddler Boys and Girls. Child Development 56(6): 1499-1505. Fagot found no differences in the interaction styles of 12-month-old boys and girls: All of the children communicated by gestures, gentle touches, whining, crying, and screaming. The teachers, however, interacted with them in gender-specifi c ways. They were more likely to respond to girls who communicated in gentle, feminine ways and to boys who communicated in assertive, masculine ways. That is, the teachers tended to ignore girls assertive acts but respond to boys assertive acts. Thus, by the time these toddlers were two, they communicated in very different ways. Fagots research was conducted more than 20 years ago. A more recent study found that early childhood teachers are more accepting of girls cross-gender behaviors and explorations than they are of boys. According to this research, teachers believe that boys who behave like sissies are at greater risk of growing up to be homosexual and psychologically ill-adjusted than are girls who behave like tomboys. This fi nding suggests that while American society has expanded the range of behaviors and appearances deemed acceptable for girls, it has not extended the range for boys in the same way (Cahill and A dams 1997). Childrens toys and celebrated images of males and females fi gure prominently in the socialization process, along with the ways in which adults treat children. Barbie dolls, for example, have been marketed since 1959 with the purpose of inspiring little girls to think about what they wanted to be when they grew up. The dolls are available in 67 countries. An estimated 95 percent of girls between ages 3 and 11 in the United States have Barbie dolls, which come in several different skin colors and 45 nationalities (Mattel 2010).

State championship Essay -- Personal Narrative Sports Hockey Papers

State championship Bzzzza, Bzzzza, Bzzzza; â€Å"alright here we go†, I think to myself, as I sleepily roll out of bed at 8:00am, on March, 4 2001. I put on some pants, a shirt, shoes and grab a coat. As quick as I am up, I am out (of) the door. I get in my car and make my way towards the hockey rink, for a team breakfast. The eight minute car ride to the rink, I am thinking of only one thing, to take home a state championship this afternoon. I walk into the rink and I see my teammates sitting in a circle not talking, just slowly eating their carefully planned out carbohydrate loaded breakfast. I sit in the circle and look around as they all give me reassuring looks. I say nothing as I slowly eat my bagel and raisons; I am just thinking about the task in hand. When everyone is done eating the coach orders us to the locker room. Twenty, young, determined hockey players file into the Shaker Raiders locker room, sit down quietly and patiently wait for the coach to make his speech. â€Å"Padua†, he starts, â€Å"we are Familiar with their line up†. We were very familiar with their line up because we had played them four times earlier this season. In all four matches we lost. â€Å"What has happened earlier this season, does not matter†, he goes on. â€Å"We are going to win this afternoon. I have put together a film of highlights from our previous games against them, which I think will help us today†. We watched the film, which went over specific plays we were supposed to run, and key players on Padua’s team. One player, the film focused on a lot was their goalie. The film showed a play where their goalie, Wolf, let in consecutive goals over his left shoulder. We watched the play over ... ...so hard to get. The period kept winding down slower and slower, until finally there was 5 seconds-4-3-2-1, â€Å"YEAAAAH†, â€Å"WHOAAAAH† as we all ransacked our goalie. There was a huge pile and hugging on the ice which lasted for what seemed an hour. It had all paid off. We did it, we accomplished our goal we were state champions. If it were not for all the hard work and determination there would have been no way that we could have pulled off this feat. It has changed me forever. Winning has done so in many ways. One I am a lot more confident, whether it is from the benefits of being a state champion or knowing that I accomplished a goal I set out to do. Also it has affected me because I know that if you are determined and work hard you can achieve anything you want to. I learned this through a game, a game that has changed my life.

A Report on the Economic Recovery in Britain in the 1930s

A report on the economic recovery in Britain in the 1930s In the 1930s Britain’s workers was experiencing signs of affluence. All this extra money was due to the living standard going up by 15 percent. This meant the money didn’t come from wages being increased but the cost of living decreased. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) The affluence also came from the gross domestic product rate. In 1922 to 1938 the rate rose to the average of 2. 1 percent per annum. The rates were a lot better than the years before the war which were at 1. 1 percent in 1900 to 1913.However, growth rates were very similar to the rates of the second half of the nineteenth century; this rate was at 2 percent in the 1856 to 1899. In the 1930s, the rate grew faster than the 1920s as between 1932 and 1937 the rate nearly rose to 4 percent per annum. This mean that Britain held her place and held on her own in the thirties which meant Britain picked herself up compared to the twenties when she lost her pl ace. Housing Act The housing boom was just one of the ways that the affluence affected Britain. The housing act was also evidence of the affluence which could be seen for it.By 1939 one in three families were living in houses which were built since 1929. Between both wars a massive four million houses were built. However, nearly half of the houses were built by private developments. The private developments were growing mainly in the south east. All the houses were built with a new standard of living, even the other half of the houses built, which were council houses. The council houses were put up for rent. As all houses had a new standard of living, the fitments included baths, hot water and proper kitchen. Particularly in the private sector, the houses came to form the new suburbs.Each home would also have a garden of a decent size and quality. Motor Vehicles Motor vehicles were just one of the industries which led the way. This was even included in a new range of industries that emerged and played an important part in the growth of Britain. In fact in 1924 USA was the world’s main manufacturer by a wide margin. France was Europe’s largest producer with 145,000 vehicles, leaving Britain trailing along second with the 116,000 vehicles being produced. However, by 1937 British production had tripled to 379,000 and Britain took the lead in Europe, followed by Germany with 277,000.Oxford (Morris) and Birmingham (Austin) were the main manufacturing centres. Electrical engineering Electrical engineering grew at between 4 and 5 percent per annum throughout the inter-war period. Electrical engineering was just another new industry for Britain. In the 1930s electricity consumption increased by 70 percent per head. This was fire to the creation of the central electricity board in 1926 and the national grid. Both of these electricity supplies gave a boost to the industry. Britain and France led Europe and USA wasn’t far behind.Examples of the incre ase of consumption were that in 1919 there were 730,000 consumers and then in 1938 the number of consumers grew to nine million. Other developments grew and reflected the fact that more and more people were spending money, which meant they had money. Most towns would have their own Woolworths and Marks and Spencer’s and new magazines like ‘Woman’s Own’ in 1932. These new magazines appeared which included features on clothes and consumer durables. Wireless industry Wireless manufacturers created the British Broadcasting Corporation which is now known as the BBC in 1922.This was to provide programs that would encourage people to buy their products and spend. The BBC became part of the government charter which then started to be financed by a license fee in 1927. The BBC broadcasted to most areas of Britain but they were focused in Daventry in a radio station in 1925. By 1938 around 2 million radios were sold each year. This was known as wireless. The price h ad decreased from ? 30 in 1920 to around ? 7. Other electrical goods which found a mass market were vacuum cleaners and electric irons. Entertainment The cinema took the entertainment industry by a storm. In 1934 there were 4300 cinemas in Britain. 0 million people per week were attending the films on through the weeks. Audiences were huge, some cinemas were able to seat 1000 people, and some were as big as 4000 seats. The larger cinemas were based in Glasgow and Croydon. The four biggest companies which controlled the marker by the 1930s were Gaumont-British, the Associated British Picture Corporation, Odeon and Granda. Even though there was a British industry, American films were preferred. This was because Hollywood had already dominated the world’s film industry and audience surveys usually showed that American films were preferred.Even the unemployed could afford to go to the cinema as the tickets were so cheap. 80 percent of the unemployed youth of Liverpool and Glasgow went to the cinema at least once a week. An unemployed Londoner told a researcher in 1932, â€Å"The pictures (cinema) are my first choice because they make you think for a little while that life is alright†. At least 14 percent of British industrial production in 1924 had been accounted for by these new industries. This proportion increased to 20 percent by 1935. The proportion of the staple industries in the same period had decreased from 37 percent to 28 percent.

Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay Stream of...

Stream of Consciousness in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a uniquely styled piece of literature. In this poem Eliot employs a literary method of writing called stream of consciousness. This is a difficult method to grasp outside of the literary genre to attempt to understand it within the context of the higher language of poetry can further confuse readers. Stream of consciousness is simply how our brain thinks. Perhaps as the teacher reads through this poem we hear the word Mermaid. Our minds see the singing mermaids on the rocks in Jason and the Argonauts and then jump to Peter Pan and from Peter Pan to Mary Poppins. The idea of stream of consciousness†¦show more content†¦His pen wanders and jumps from place to place with no apparent pattern. I think this style of writing is also a reflection of Eliots feelings about the time. Eliot was more of a Modernist than Victorian poet and as such held to beliefs like: there is no higher power in the universe, man is alone on this planet to govern his own affairs, everyone is truly alone, there is no unity, no support, for we live in a godless heartless world (Stacey Donohue). The floating, confusing, jumbled mix of emotions and directions in this poem mirrors the modernist image of society. Though he was a modernist I believe this poem is a reflection of what he saw during the Victorian period. He says, Do I dare/Disturb the universe? (Eliot, Longman 2419 ll. 45-46). He speaks here, not of the universe as you and I think -- a celestial body -- but of the universe in the sense of the Victorian period itself. The world where everything is a mask of propriety, manners, and tradition; this can be seen in his reference to the popular Victorian custom of afternoon tea, Before the taking of tea and toast. (Eliot, Longman 2419 l. 34). A word or simple action could topple a system as balanced as this one and Prufrock struggles with the question, Do I dare? (Eliot, Longman 2419 l. 38). Does he dare to disturb the Victorian culture with what he has seen? His struggle is represented by the yellow smoke/fog. This representsShow MoreRelatedThe Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay1362 Words   |  6 Pagesthe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock launched T.S. Eliot’s statu s as the influential poet of the twentieth century. The poem narrates the self-analysis of a man, Prufrock, who exposes the void and soulless quality of the modern world through his experiences. The morbid outlook of his life stems from his inability to find meaning in his existence. He is entrapped in a constant cycle of overwhelmingly negative emotions -- anxiety, hopelessness, and despair -- haunted by his fears and regrets. Prufrock’sRead MoreThe Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock Essay4201 Words   |  17 PagesThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock T. S. ELIOT Questions for Discussion 1. How does the epigraph from Dante’s Inferno help Eliot comment on the modern world inâ€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock†? What does it tell us about the setting of this poem? How is Montefeltro’s miscalculation related to the poem? Prufrock laments that the mermaids will not sing to him. Prufrocks dilemma represents the inability to live a meaningful existence in the modern world.[24] McCoy and Harlan wrote For manyRead MoreBrief Survey of American Literature3339 Words   |  14 Pagesto the â€Å"New world†. - Anglo (New England) settlers’ books, sermons, journals, narratives, and poetry Native American / American Indian oral literature / oral tradition creation storiesï ¼Ë†Ã¨ µ ·Ã¦ º Ã§ ¥Å¾Ã¨ ¯ Ã¯ ¼â€° trickster talesï ¼Ë†Ã¦  ¶Ã¤ ½Å"å‰ §Ã¨â‚¬â€¦Ã¤ ¼  Ã¥ ¥â€¡Ã¯ ¼â€° rituals / ceremoniesï ¼Ë†Ã¥â€¦ ¸Ã¤ » ªÃ¯ ¼â€° songs / chantsï ¼Ë†Ã¦â€º ²Ã¨ ¯ Ã¯ ¼â€° Anglo Settlers’ Writings Highly religious and pragmatic - John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia; Pocahontas - John Winthrop, â€Å"A Model of Christian Charity†: â€Å"†¦ We shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all peopleRead MoreStudy Guide Literary Terms7657 Words   |  31 Pagesgreed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning 4. allusion- A reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work. T. S. Eliot, in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock alludes (refers) to the biblical figure John the Baptist in the line Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, . . . In the New Testament, John the Baptists head was presented to King Herod on a platter