Gender Theorists Flashcards
Penelope Eckert - Gender + Sociolinguistic Variation
Language is something which makes us who we are and reveals our identity uses Jocks + Burnouts to express this.
Jocks = middle class, active in school, good grades
Burnouts = working class, rebellious, not active in school, bad grades.
O’Barr + Atkins 1980
Tested Lakoff’s hypothesis
Concluded that women’s language features were more likely linked to power, social status + class.
Deborah Tannen - Use of conversation
Claimed that men grow up in a world in which conversation is competitive + therefore strive to ensure that they dominate others.
Whereas, women use conversation in gain support + confirmation rather than status.
Janet Holmes - Tag Questions
Either primary model or affective.
Primary model - uncertainty , genuine question.
Affective - used to soften the meaning.
Jennifer Coates - Topic Rejection (1980)
Men will often reject topics introduced by women but women will often accept topics brought up by men.
Men typically bring up topics e.g politics, economics or sports.
Women are more likely to initiate conversation than men, but are less likely to make the conversation succeed.
Janet Hyde - Gender Similarities Hypothesis
States that women + men are more similar than different on most psychological variables.
Contrast hypothesis with common view in media + areas of psychology emphasising gender differences.
Judith Butler - What is gender?
Gender is by no means tied to material bodily facts but is solely + completely a social construction.
Deborah Jones - Women’s gossip
Studied women’s gossip
1. House Talk - exchange of info + resources
2. Scandal - judging behaviour of others, especially women.
3. Bitching - expression of women’s anger
4. Chatting - everyday conversation, form of female small talk.
Pamela Fisherman - Dominance Model
Argues that conversation between the sexes sometimes fails but not because of how women talk but because of how men respond or don’t respond.
‘Conversational shift work’ (1977)
Mary Talbot - Language + Gender
Differences between in language use between men + women are genetically determined + therefore natural.
Zimmerman + West - Interruptions
By interrupting, men can prevent women from talking + can gain the floor for their own discussion.
Robin Lakoff - Deficit Model
‘Deficit Model’ refers to how women’s language use contributes to women’s lower status + weaker position in society.
Deborah Cameron - Communication
Boys + girls learnt their habitual way of communicating in single - sex peer groups and interactions between men + women are an instance of cross-cultural communication.
Dale Spender - ‘Man Made Language’
Beloved that by men being more active in their public life, they have been able to get their opinions heard.
Her argument is based on the belief that men have had more power than women over the years.
