Influence of culture and media on gender roles

Outline and evaluate the influence of culture and media on

gender roles [16 marks]

AO1

Social learning theory assumes gender comes from observation and imitation of gender role models (vicarious reinforcement). For example, a boy may observe and imitate his father's behaviour.

⚫ Gender-typical behaviours may then be reinforced. For example, a boy may be praised for gender- typical behaviour (e.g. "wow, you're so strong!") or punished for opposite-gender behaviour (e.g. "stop acting like a girl!".

Influence of culture and media - bandura anf bussey

Influence of culture and media (Bandura and Bussey) 1999

o TV shows typically portray men as ambitious and having high-status jobs whereas women are typically portrayed as unambitious and occupying domestic roles or low-status jobs - Children observe role models in the media, identify with those of the same gender, and imitate their gender-typical behaviour.

⚫ If gender roles are socially constructed, you would expect greater variation between cultures because different cultures would create different social norms and values

media

Mead

⚫ Key study: Mead (1935)

o Examined social groups in Papua New Guinea and found evidence of cultural gender role differences. Arapesh men and women were gentle, responsive and cooperative while the Mundugumor men and women were violence, aggressive and power and position seeking. The Tchambuli displayed gender role differences with women the more dominant, impersonal and managerial whereas the men were more emotionally dependent

Stength

AO3 = Strengths

Supporting evidence - McGhee + Fruch and Bandura + Bussey demonstrate correlations between stereotypical representations of gender in the media and stereotypical views on gender, which suggests the media plays a role in teaching gender stereotypes.

AO3- Weaknesses low temportal validity

AO3- Weaknesses

X Low temporal validity - The studies linking media consumption and gender-stereotypical views were conducted in the 1980's and 1990's. However, modern portrayal of men and women in the media is much less gender-stereotypical than it was when these studies were conducted. Furthermore, the types of media that children consume has changed since these studies, with social media likely playing a bigger role than television. As such, the findings of these studies may lack temporal validity, with the role of the media on gender development being much different than it once was.

weakness Culture bias

X - Conducting cross-cultural research has issues with imposed epic, where researchers will use methods and tools relevant and applicable to their own culture, but alien and non-applicable to other cultures. This can result in flawed conclusions being drawn from the findings. The issue here is many replications of Western cultural studies in other cultures have involved an imposed epic.