Gender and Culture Flashcards
What is the Biological Model of Gender?
Assumes that sex determines gender: innate biological differences leads to behavioural differences which further leads to social arrangements
What is the Psychological Model of Gender?
Assume that gender identity is the result of childhood development, which proceeds universally
Why do the Biological and Psychological Models of Gender fail?
Fail to account for the differences in gendered definitions around the world and their varying levels of gender inequality
What are the gendered consistencies across almost all cultures?
Gendered division of labour, Differences between men and women, and some form of male dominance
Who was Margaret Mead and what where her thoughts on gender?
An anthropologist who thought sex differences are learned. She exposed American gendered ethnocentrism
Where in the South Seas did Margaret Mead study?
Samoa, Polynesia, and Indonesia
What 3 cultures did Mead study in Sex and Temperament (New Guinea)?
Arapesh, Mundugamor, and Tchambuli
What are/were the Arapesh views on gender?
-Gentle, passive, and emotionally warm regardless of gender
-Lack of individualism, both men and women working in child rearing
-Female child Infanticide and polygamy not unknown, but overall marriage was content
What are/were the Mundugamor views on gender?
-Women and men as equally aggressive
-Women show little maternal instinct
-Violence between men and their sons
-A violent, competitive culture prone to jealousy, ready to see and avenge insult
What are/were the Tchambuli views on gender?
-Women and men are extremely different
-Polygyny
-Men as nurturing, dressed up, and gossipy consumers, while women were dominant, energetic and economic providers
What is Polygamy
Marriage to more than one spouse
What is Polyandry?
Women have more than one spouse
What is Polygyny?
Men have more that one spouse
What were some critiques of Mead’s work at the time?
-She relied on Cultural determinism (valid, she never really said why gender varies so much)
-She was tricked by the cultures she studies
What is Functionalism?
A school of thought which believes that as groups became larger and more complex, activities like hunting and gathering were divided between sexes. This division was natural and functionally necessary
How does the emergence of Plough Agriculture relate to Functionalism?
Some scholars believe it exacerbated it, since ploughing required upper body strength, which made it incompatible with women and child rearing
What are some major critiques of Functionalism?
Ignores the role of power in gendered society/culture and does not have solid scholarly agreement on why/if various groups adopted various divisions of labour
What are the origins of Gendered Conflict Theory?
1884, Friedrich Engels work “The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State”, based on the works of Karl Marx
What are the main points of conflict theory?
-Capitalism created the need for the nuclear family so men could work and women could take care of children
-Profit and Private Property needed to be passed down, and ended up being passed patrilineally
What was Eleanor Leacock and Karen Sack’s view on Conflict Theory regarding gender?
-The introduction of commercial economy to the Innu turned powerful women into homebound wives in Labrador, Canada
-Similar patterns happened in different African societies, turning egalitarian societies into dominant, market exchange ones.
Who was Marvin Harris as what did he study?
Anthropologists who studied Male domination and warfare. Societies rewarded most men with the services of women, which upped their solidarity
What do Descent Theorists believe?
Theorists like Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox believe that the mother-child bond is fixed, while men lack the connection to their children due the lack of biological patrilineality. To strengthen this connection requires Male Bonding between fathers, sons, and other men in the community. All this leads to male domination and centrality
What do Alliance Theorists believe?
Theorists like Claude Levi-Strauss are less concerned with the next generation as the ways relationships among men organize social life. Men turn women into sex objects whose exchange as wives cements their solidarity
What do Descent and Alliance theorists have in common?
They believe that the relationships between men and the way they subjugate women are natural, rather than the outcome of rapidly changing and varying historical relations
What role does Male circumcision play in gender inequality?
Rituals are important to upholding gender inequality. Circumcision creates a visible scar that binds men to each other and serves as a right of passage
What are the similarities and differences between male and female “circumcision”?
While both are prevalent where men’s status is highest, Female Genital Mutilation is done for “cleanliness” and to prevent promiscuity
What are the key determinants of women’s status (5)?
The division of labour around childcare and involvement of the father in children’s lives, women’s control over property after marriage as opposed to men, sex segregation, equal contribution and gendered rituals
What are the failings of an anthropological view on gender?
It fails to explain why male domination is so pervasive, so it requires a sociological perspective
