Influence Of Culture On Gender Roles Flashcards
If universal features of gender role behaviour found what does this suggest
Suggests innate basis for gender and supports nature view
What would culturally specific features of gender role behaviour suggest
Gender is learned and support nurture view, influence of shared norms and socialisation is reason for difs
What do interactionalists believe
Gender differences are caused by innate tendencies that are modified by environmental factors
What did Mead find about behaviour of tribal groups
Carried out detailed ethnographic study by living with various tribes in New Guinea for six months
-Arapesh (gentle and responsive, both said to bear a child)
-Mundugumor (aggressive and hostile)
-Tchambuli (women were dominant and organised village life,men passive and considered incapable of making decisions)
-suggests there may not be a direct biological relationship between sex and gender and that gender roles may be culturally determined
Outline Buss’ study
Found consistent patterns in mate preference (kind of gender role behaviour) in 37 countries across all continents
-in all cultures women sought men who could offer wealth and resources whilst men looked for youth and physical attractiveness in potential partner
What did Furnham and Mak find (evaluation for culture/media)
Reviewed studies from 11 countries on sex role stereotyping in advertisements including UK, Hong Kong, Mexico
-found consistent patterns across countries of females presented in dependent roles in the home and user of products
-males in professional roles, outdoors and authority on the products
-suggests stereotypical display is common across countries and this may be leading to reinforcement of these gender roles by SLT so challenges cultural difs
Expand on limitation that there have been criticisms of Mead’s research
-criticised for not separating her own opinions from her description of Samoan life (observer bias) and for making sweeping generalisations based on relatively short period of study
-preconceptions of what she would find had influenced her reading of events, also language barrier
-challenges validity of finding that cultural difs in gender roles
Expand on limitation that there is imposed etic
-undertaken by western researchers who impose their own cultural interests and understanding upon the people they are studying
-western ways of doing research that are assumed to be universal may be largely meaningless when transferred to other cultures
-could have reduced cultural bias by including at least one member of the local population within the research team
Expand on limitation that cultural research does not solve nature-nurture debate
-it is practically and theoretically impossible to separate the two influences on the development of gender roles
-as soon as children are born their socialisation into a particular society starts, along with all the gender role expectations that come with it
-therefore difficult to determine where nature stops and nurture begins
-likely there is a complex and constant interaction between both influences so may be no practical value in separating the two
