Test 2 Flashcards
What is social constructionism?
What is considered knowledge is seen as constructed via language and social interaction processes that often reflect society’s norms
Difference in talk between men and women
Women talk more. Women talk to relate, men to get things done.
Mark Liberman’s challenge to The Female Brain
whatever the average female versus average male difference turns out to be, it will be small compared with the variation among women and among men
fashion over time: female and male
1900-1950s corsets everywhere
1960s-2000s Androgynous and boyish
1900s-1960s Began to lose muscles because they were not doing hard labour, adverts to not be the skinny guy
1970s onwards longer hair and more female styles
‘Intersex’ people
Intersex- genitalia that are ambiguous, range of sex/genetic variations
Issues for intersex people
Harsh social effects of not fitting gender norm Health services issues Well-being Issues with gender reassignment surgery Importance of support
What does “non-binary” gender mean
Having no gender (e.g., gender neutral)
Incorporating aspects of both man and woman or being somewhere between those ( mixed gender, androgynous)
Being to some extent, but not completely, one gender (e.g., demi-man/boy/woman/girl, femme man)
Responses to non-binary people
reclassify them so no longer anomalous
eradicate them
avoid contact if at all possible
categorize them as dangerous to normal people
incorporate them into myth and story as ways to access other levels of existence
Too fast for a woman’: The case of Caster Semenya
Performance questioned on basis of gender
supposedly gender tested by officials -> ridiculous
Judith Butler on gender
gender is not something we have (identity) but something that is performed (enacted) and performative (i.e through repetitions of acts that are constructed to mean feminine or masculine we come to think of ourselves as a particular gender)
a phenomenon being produced and reproduced all the time
Five main forms - code for sex
Sustinance Sport Animals War/violence Transportation/mechanics
Construction of Sexuality through the male sex drive
Biological male sex drive: sex as almost overwhelming hormonal driven male need that must be satiated
Man is the desiring one and the woman is the object i.e. women activate the interest and need
Sexuality on a spectrum: the Kinsey Scale
First published by sexologist Alfred Kinsey in 1948 in an attempt to encompass a range of human sexual behaviours
Applied both in terms of sexual attraction and actual sexual activity
Problems with the Kinsey Scale
The base value “0” is heterosexual, presented as the norm (reinforces the pathologisation of non-heterosexual behaviours)
No axes for spectrum of asexuality
Nonbinary/intersex relationships to sexual orientation unclear
Judgments are shaped by biases & heuristics
Biases – systematic shift from objective data
Heuristics - shorthand rule of thumb
Decisions: Framing
• Framing: 2 alternative framings of a choice
logically the same,
but people favour one option
Solution: opt out system
Decisions: Nudges
Thaler & Sunstein 2008
Nudge: ‘any aspect of a choice that alters people’s behavior predictably’
Without changing economic incentives
e.g. School café - put healthy foods at eye level
Also rebrand veges with catchy names
Decisions:
Sunk cost fallacy
Businesses often invest more money in a losing enterprise
Company has spent $50 million on a project
Forecasts of future returns are poor
To give the project a chance, need $60 million more
An alternative new project costs the same and looks likely to have higher returns
Most companies stay with the initial project
Decisions:
losses & gains differ
Losses loom larger than gains: Changes in price
when prices drop - customers buy more. when prices rise - customers buy less
the effect of price rises [losses] is stronger
Endowment effect - When we sell stuff, we ask more than we’d pay for the same good