Sociological Theories relating to Gender

Question 1

studies human social relationships and institutions. It covers topics like crime, religion, family, state, race, social class, shared cultural beliefs, social stability, and societal change.

Answer 1

sociology

Question 2

understanding how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures

Answer 2

Sociology’s purpose :

Question 3

Provided a key perspective in sociological research in the twentieth century, significantly influencing the social sciences, including gender studies.
Views the family as the most integral component of society, with assumptions about gender roles within marriage playing a prominent role in this perspective.

Answer 3

Structural Functionalism

Question 4

Argues that gender roles were established well before the pre-industrial era, with men handling responsibilities outside the home (e.g., hunting) and women managing domestic tasks.
These roles were seen as functional because physical constraints of pregnancy and nursing limited women’s ability to leave the home for extended periods.

Answer 4

Functionalism

Question 5

Society is a struggle for dominance among social groups
(like women versus men) that compete for scarce resources.

Answer 5

Conflict Theory

Question 6

It is difficult for women to rise above men, as dominant group members create the rules for success and opportunity in society (Farrington and Chertok 1993)

Answer 6

Conflict Theory

Question 7

-German sociologist
-studied family structure and gender
roles

Answer 7

Friedrich Engels

Question 8

“owner-worker relationship seen in the labor force is also seen in the household, with women assumin the role of the proletariat”

Answer 8

Friedrich Engels

Question 9

• type of conflict theory that examines inequalities in gender-
  related issues.
• uses the conflict approach to examine the maintenance of gender roles and inequalities

Answer 9

Feminist Theory

Question 10

aims to understand human behavior by analyzing the critical role of symbols in human interaction.

Answer 10

Symbolic Interactionism

Question 11

meanings attached to symbols are socially created and not natural, and fluid, not static, we act and react to symbols based on the current assigned meaning.

Answer 11

Symbolic Interactionism

Question 12

Gender is something we do or erform, not something we are (West and Zimmerman ,1987)

Answer 12

“doing gender”

Question 13

refers to the way in which socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior shape the way people see and experience sexuality.

Answer 13

The social construction of sexuality