Re-defining gender-role socialisation Flashcards
1
Q
Gender-socialisation has now been refined in two key ways:
A
- The experiences of men and women vary greatly, especially due to the huge differences in experience of ethnicity, age, class etc. Most accounts of gender-role socialisation ignore these differences (IMPORTANT ANALYSIS TO USE AND EXPAND).
However Connolly’s (1998) work DOES draw upon this interaction between gender socialisation and other factors, namely ethnicity. Connolly’s study of identity formation at an ethnically mixed inner-city primary school led to him understanding that children brought in expectations about masculinity and femininity that did not necessarily fit in with those of the teacher or peers but emerged through the family. This led to Asian families having a more traditional and hegemonic sense of identity compared to that of other ethnic groups. Some black girls were also willing to challenge the ideas that boys will be dominant in school. - It is assumed that women passively accept their traditional gender identity and that it is imposed on them. However, in contemporary society, Postmodernists argue that this ignores the choices available to people in the construction of their identity. Many women actually resist attempts to make them conform to hegemonic stereotypes, such as being nurturing or a housewife etc.
Primary and secondary agents of socialisation establish traditional gender roles and mould males and females into these hegemonic (dominant) gender identities. (Note that there are hegemonic masculine and hegemonic feminine identities).