Social- Gender Socialisation theory

What are patterns of socialisation?

Sutherland argued that different patterns of socialisation experienced by boys and girls reinforce behaviour that may encourage primarily in boys & discourage it in girls. It argues that boys and girls are socialised differently, therefore resulting in boys becoming more delinquent

How are girls raised?

They’re more supervised and more strictly controlled

How are boys raised?

They’re encouraged to take risks & to be tough & aggressive

How are boys & girls socialised differently?

They’re taught to be or that it’s okay to be aggressive and risk taking whereas

Girls are taught to be calm, kind & caring- the opposite of how boys are

How do people learn from role models?

The influence of gender socialisation can also be explained using social learning theory. Bandura argues that all people (especially children) learn their behaviour by observing & imitating role models

What did Talcott Parsons find about roles in the family?

He believed there are clear & obvious gender roles within the nuclear family. Father performs roles which shows him to be more of the leader & provider whilst the mother performs the expressive role of giving emotional support & socializing children. Girls have a readily female role model at home (their mother) whereas boys have less access to their male role model as traditionally- fathers out to work. Boys reject mothers socialisation so see it from male peer groups or street gangs seeking extreme masculine traits like toughness & aggression

Differences in social control- how are girls socialised AWAY from criminal behaviour- control as kids

Girls are controlled at home as daughters, girls are dependant on the care & provision from their parents, especially their father. Girls can’t stay out as late as sons, required to do more housework & learn to develop socialising opportunities such as sleepovers

Whhy do women have fewer opportunities to commit crimes

Greater time & movement restrictions placed on them by their domestic roles eg: raising kids

The glass ceiling: women are less likely to go up in the job so less white collar crimes committed

The way media reports on crimes eg: rape increasing their fear of being out alone

Why are female criminals risking ‘double jeopardy’- prosecution or punishment of a person twice for the same offence

Women tend to be punished by the state by law & by society with things like “how could a woman do this” more expectations to do better just because they’re a woman. As though they’re rejecting society’s norms & rejecting their own femininity

Why do women commit crimes?

Their rationalised tend to be different. Women commit crimes to reclaim control over their OWN life eg: low salary. Commiting a crime seemed like the only choice available, their last resort as they little power to change the situations

Why are the crimes women commit different to men?

Men tend to commit crimes to claim control over other people Wheras women commit crime to reclaim control over their own lives

Weakness- The chivalry hypothesis

It’s stated women commit a lot more crimes than the official statists suggest. Police magistrates and judges all tend to be men. Men who have been socialised to act in a more chivalrous manner towards women. A psychologist claimed that men in the criminal justice system tended to have a protective attitude towards women, and as a result women were less likely to be arrested, charged, prosecuted or convicted. This suggests that it isn’t only the gender of the person demonstrating the criminal behaviour, but also the ‘gender’ of criminal justice system which may be responsible for the lower levels of females seen in crime statistics

Strength- men are less likely to be punished

System is actually biased against females. Reports when a women was perceived as a ‘good’ mother she was less likely to be inprisoned than a woman who had children in the care system- therefore it’s argued that it is often the assessment of the character of the woman in relation to traditional gender roles, rather than the severity of the offence,that determines the sentence handed out. Even though males may generally commit more violent and severe offences, they get let off comparatively lightly as they are only overstepping the expectations set for their gender; females who commit crimes are breaking their expected gender roles. This challenges chivalry hypothesis and suggests difference between men and women in terms of criminality is even greater than imprisons rates suggest

Strength- hormones in males

The gender difference in crim behaviour can be explained in terms of biology rather than social factors. One way in which males and females differ is through the production and levels of certain hormones. Testosterone is a hormone that, although found in both men and women, it’s shown to be secreted by men at a much higher level. Testosterone has been linked to aggressive behaviour in many studies. Including those within prison populations, eg: a psychologist found 9 out of 11 inmates with the highest testosterone concentrations had committed violent crimes. This suggests that testosterone is related to increased aggression and that difference in socialisation and social control may not be the only differences that are responsible for criminal behaviour of males and females