Gender 3

Question 1

Culture and Media - What is culture?

Answer 1

• The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society.

Question 2

Culture and Media - What is media?

Answer 2

• Communication channels, such as TV, film and books, through which news, entertainment, education and data are made available.

Question 3

Culture and Media - Explain Margaret Mead’s (1935) study of tribal groups on cultural differences of gender.

Answer 3

• New Guinea
• Arapesh = gentle and responsive (similar to western stereotype of femininity).
• Mundugumor = aggressive and hostile (similar to western stereotype of masculinity).
• Tchambuli women = dominant and organised village life.
• Tchambuli men = decorative and passive.
• Suggests may not be a direct biological relationship between sex and gender, gender roles culturally determined.

Question 4

Culture and Media - Explain David Buss (1995) study of mate preference on cultural similarities of gender.

Answer 4

• Found consistent patterns in mate preference in 37 countries across all continents.
• All cultures, women sought men who could offer wealth and resources.
• Men looked for youth and physical attractiveness in a potential partner.
• Showing some gender roles are the same across cultures, suggesting it could be biological.

Question 5

Culture and Media - Discuss evaluation of culture and gender roles.

Answer 5

• Imposed etic = Cross-cultural research undertaken by Western researchers who take indigenous populations to be their object of study. John Berry et al (2002) refers to imposed etic, idea that Western ways of doing research assumed to be universal, may be meaningless.
• Criticism of Mead = Observer bias. Sweeping generalisations based on short period of study. Freeman (1983) found differences among Samoan people, Mead’s conclusions flawed, misled some participants. Outdated.
• Nature or Nurture = Impossible to separate the two in gender roles, difficult to say where nature stops and nurture begins.

Question 6

Culture and Media - What are rigid stereotypes in the media?

Answer 6

• There is evidence that the media do provide very clear gender stereotypes that are rigid: men are independent , ambitious ‘advice-givers’ (Bussey and Bandura 1999).
• Similarly a study of men were more likely to be shown in autonomous roles within professional contexts whereas women were often seen occupying familial roles within domestic settings.

Question 7

Culture and Media - Information giving.

Answer 7

• There is also evidence that children who have more exposure to popular forms of media tend to display more gender stereotypical views in their behaviour and attitudes.
• Media does more than confirm gender-typical behaviour