FSW 261 - Exam 1: Ch. 1-4

Changing Demographics

• How are families/family changing?

  • Immigration

  • Changing gender roles

  • Pages 8-9 in textbook

• Fewer people are currently marries

• People are postponing marriage

  • 1970: Women - 21, Men - 24

  • 2018: Women - 28, Men - 30

• Cohabitation more common

  • From 1970 - now: 10 fold increase

  • Precedes more than 50% of first marriages

Children in Families

• Page 11

• About 69% of children live with 2 parents

• More than 40% of kids born to unmarried mother

• About half will live in single parents household

• About 16% live in poverty (> 11 million kids)

What is family?

• Nuclear family (5-6% today):

  • A couple with their dependent family

• U.S. Census Bureau:

  • “Group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoptions and residing together in a household

• Who is left out?

  • Foster families

  • Homeless families

• The authors of our textbook define family as: “Any sexually expressive parent-child or other kin (not necessarily related by blood) relationship in which people—usually related by ancestry marriage, or adoption—

  • Form an economic or otherwise practical unit and care for any children or other dependents,

  • Consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group, and

  • Commit to maintaining that group over time.

• Family today takes several forms:

  • Single-parent

  • Remarried

  • Dual-career

  • Communal

  • Traditional

  • Non-traditional

  • etc.

• Post-modern family:

  • Term acknowledges the fact that today’s families exhibit multiple forms as new or altered family forms continue to emerge

• No correct answer to question

Structure vs. Function

• Structure: the form a family takes

  • Who makes up the family

• What are some functions of families? What do families do for their members (ideally)?

  • Raise children responsibly

    • More and more performed by divorced, separated, never-married, or cohabiting parents, and sometimes by grandparents or other relatives

    • The majority of the U.S births today (about 60%) take place within marriage

  • Provide economic support

    • Historically, the family was primarily a practical economic unit rather than an emotional one

    • Virtually every family engages in activities aimed at providing for such practical needs as food, clothing, and shelter

    • Now consist of living outside the home, pooling resources, and making consumption decisions together

    • Create some sense of material security

  • Emotional support

    • Not just partners or parents but also children, siblings, and extended kin can be important sources for emotional support

    • Sometimes the family situation itself is a source of stress and pain—as in the case of parental conflict, alcohol and substance misuse, or domestic violence

    • Families and committed relationships are expected to provide emotional support

“Family Decline” Perspective

• Decrease in “traditional” nuclear family is bad

• Heterosexual marriage necessary for child socialization

• People too individualistic

• Believe that cultural change toward excessive individualism and self-indulgence has hurt relationships, led to high divorce rates, and undermined responsible parenting

“Family Change” Perspective

• Many family structures capable of child socialization

• Focus on family processes, not structure

• Families adapting to culture of rapid change

• Believe changes can be for the better

• Longer life expectancy can mean more positive years with parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents

• Easier access to divorce offers alternatives to enduring domestic violence

• Approval of marriage between Black and White people increased from 4% in 1958 to 94% in 2021

• Social scientists view the family as “an adaptive institution,” so it makes more sense to provide support rather than turn back the clock

American Families in Social Context: Historical Events

• The Great Depression

  • Delayed marriage and parenthood

  • Had fewer children

• WWII

  • Couples endured separation

  • Women encouraged to get jobs

  • Husbands/fathers were war casualties

  • Japanese American families sent to internment camps

• Post WWII

  • Divorce increased

    • PTSD of men

    • Women more independent

    • Distance

    • Hastily married before war

  • Marriage and childbearing increased

  • G.I. Bill helped (certain) veterans with home loans college tuition

    • Black Americans weren’t helped due to racism

• 1950s

  • Able to marry young and have larger families

  • Men earned “family wage”

  • Mothers able to stay home

  • Divorce rates slowed

    • #1 argument was finances

• 1960s and 70s

  • Social movements

    • Education increased

    • Marriage delayed

    • Divorce increased

  • War on crime and drugs

    • Mass incarceration began

• 1980s & after

  • Cultural & economic changes

    • Men less likely to earn “family wage”

    • Wives likely to seek employment

  • Covid-19

American Families in Social Context: Age Structure

• Increased life expectancy

  • 2019 & 2023: Almost 79 yrs

  • Dip in 2020 & 2021 —> Covid

• Birth rate decreasing

  • May mean less attention and fewer resources devoted to their needs

• Positives?

  • More yrs of education

  • Longer relationships

• Negatives?

  • Fewer caregivers for elderly

  • Policies for children?

• As the ratio of older retired people to working-aged people grows, so will the problem of funding Social Security and Medicare

American Families in Social Context: The Economic Context

• Unequal distribution of income and wealth

  • Median household income (2022): $75,000

    • Since the 1970s: growing income inequality

    • Highest earning 20% of families receive 50% of nations income

    • Lowest earning 20% of families receive 3%

  • Wealth disparities…

    • Can be caused by historical events with racism, generational wealth

      • Ex. G.I. Bill

  • Income & wealth disparities

    • “The two Americas”

• About 1 in 3 U.S. families struggle to meet basic needs

• Children: About 1 in 6 live in poverty (16%)

  • 2025 U.S. poverty line for family of four: $32,150

  • What is minimum wage?

    • $7.25/hr x 40hrs/wk = $290/wk x 52 = $15,080/yr x 2 = $30,160

• Robots and other forms of automation, along with job restructuring to employ fewer workers, and outsourcing have caused lower wages and diminished job security for middle- and working-class Americans, many of whom struggle to pay their bills even in today’s “strong” economy

• Women have gained more than men since about 1980, whereas men’s wages have been largely stagnant, but male wages are still an advantage

American Families in Social Context: Race & Ethnicity

• Race: a social construction with real implications (pg. 19)

  • Contextually and socially based; not biological, based on self reporting

  • 2023 estimates:

    • 58% White

    • 13% Black

    • 2% Native Peoples

    • 6% Asian

    • 19% Hispanic

    • 3% Multi-race

• Ethnicity: group’s identity based on shared culture, language, customs, etc.

• What role does race and ethnicity play in (your) family life?

  • Religion, food, race, define family differently, etc.

• Mulitracial population has increased from 9 million people to 33.8 million people from 2010 to 2020, a 276% increase

• The class position, race and ethnic characteristics of an individual’s parents, impact their childhood experiences, which will inform the decisions they make and how they experience the world as they mature into adulthood, as well as the advantages or disadvantages they encounter

  • Decisions on

    • Whether or when to marry

    • Where the family will live

    • Employment

    • Spouses’ work preferences

    • Preferred parenting practices

    • Caring for older parents

    • Etc.

Views About Race and Inequality in America

• Almost half: Very important for people to educate themselves about history of racial inequality in U.S.

• 2021: More than half (53%) of Americans said that increased public attention to the history of slavery was good for society

American Families in Social Context: Religion/Spirituality

• Influence family behaviors and attitudes

• Provide:

  • System of beliefs, morals, values

  • Emotional, instrumental, financial support

  • Rituals to “mark” and celebrate transitions

• U.S. among most religious of modern industrialized nations

• Research suggests that “religious couples are less prone to divorce because on average they enjoy higher marital satisfaction, face a lower likelihood of domestic violence, and perceive fewer attractive options outside the marriage than their less religious counterparts”

• Some studies show that prayer in relationships, especially praying together or for the partner’s well-being, is related to greater couple happiness and commitment

American Families in Social Context: Communication Technology

• What are the positive and negative ways that communication technology has impacted our family lives?

  • Pros: (Many more)

    • Can connect with distance

    • Safety; tracking

    • Work from home

    • AAC

  • Neg: (Many more)

    • Cannot talk in person

    • Talk with anyone (catfish)

    • Cannot understand tone

• Enables family members to remain in close contact & to have flexible work schedules, but…

  • Facilitate or impede socialization/relationships?

  • “Monitoring” vs. “invasion of privacy”

• Equal access for families

  • >85% of U.S. households have access to internet

  • Who’s not online? (graphic)

• Important factors:

  • Age, social class (income & ed. level), geographic locale

• “Digital Divide”

Sociological Imagination

Recognizing that economic and other policy changes have hurt many families involves placing an individual’s or family’s private troubles within a society-wide context

Facts about Families: Focus on Children

• About half of all American children are expected to live in a single-parent household at some point in their lives, most likely in a single-mother household

• Since the 1970s, the proportion of children living in grandparent-headed household have increased

  • In 2010, nearly 1 in 10 children lived in a grandparents household

• Children living in skipped-generation households are at higher risk of living below the poverty threshold

Biological Technologies

• Since the 1960s invention of the birth-control pill and the 1979 arrival of the first “test-tube baby” modern science has expanded options for both preventing pregnancy and enhancing fertility

• Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

  • Artificial insemination

  • Donor insemination

  • In vitro fertilization

  • Gestational surrogacy

  • Egg sale or donation

  • Embryo transfers

Wealth

• The accumulated sum as assets minus the sum of debt

• Wealth gaps have grown to higher and higher levels, resulting in what many economists describe as the shrinking of the middle class

Poverty

• The poverty rate has been rising since about 1974

• Today the poverty rate of the general population is again about 12%

• The child poverty rate is 16%

Life Chances

• The opportunities a person has for education and work whether a person can afford, to marry, the schools that children attend, and a family’s health care—all depend on family economic resources

• Money may not buy happiness, but it expands anyone’s options for nutritious foods, comfortable residences, better health care, education at quality universities, vacations, household help, and family counseling, among others

Minority or Minority Group

The idea that persons non-White and ethnic categories experience some disadvantage, exclusion, or discrimination in American society when compared to the politically and culturally dominant non-Hispanic White group

Family Policy

Involves all the procedures, regulations, attitudes, and goals of programs and agencies, workplace, educational institutions, and government that affect families

3 Ways Social Factors Influence Choices

• It is easier to make the common choice

• Expanding people’s options

• Continually offering new insights to their groups

Families as a Place to Belong

• Create a place to belong, serving as a repository or archive of family memories and traditions

• Family identity—ideas and feelings about the uniqueness and value of one’s family unit—emerge via traditions and rituals

• Families provide a setting for the development of an individual’s self concept—basic feelings people have about themselves, their characteristics and abilities, and their worth

Familistic Values vs. Individualistic Values

• Familistic Values such as family togetherness, stability and loyalty focus on the family as a whole; communal or collective values

• Individualistic values encourage people to thing in terms of personal happiness and goals and the development of a distinct individual identity

Science: Transending Personal Experience

• Although people “know” about family because they have lived in one, personal beliefs about the family based on experience may not tell the whole story

• Personal experience can create blinders; they may assume that their own family is normal or typical

Theoretical Perspectives

• Ways of viewing reality

• They are equivalent to lenses through which observers view, organize, and then interpret what they see

• Leads family researchers to suggest possible explanations for why patterns and behaviors are the way they are

9 Theoretical Perspectives

• Family ecology perspective

• Life course framework

• Structure-functional perspective

• Interaction-constructionist perspective

• Exchange theory

• Family systems theory

• Conflict and feminist theory

• Biosocial perspective

• Attachment theory

Family Ecology Perspective

• Explores how the surrounding environment influences a family

• Makes important contribution today by challenging the idea that family satisfaction or success depends solely on individual effort

• Turns attention to family social policy

Life Course Framework

• Focuses on how family context shapes the individual life course

• Each stage has requisite developmental tasks that family members must master before transitioning to the next stage

• Role sequencing is important

• Researchers study the various traditions, or “pathways” to family formation

• Encourages us to investigate various family behaviors over time

• Look at interactions among family members at different stages

• Critics say that this framework ignores the diversity

Structure-Functional Perspective

• Investigates how a given social structure functions to fill basic societal needs

• Encourages researchers to ask how well a particular family structure performs a basic family function

• Encourages a family researcher to thing in terms of functional alternatives—alternative structures that might perform a function traditionally assigned to the nuclear family

• The term “dysfunction” emerged from this perspective

Interaction-Constructionist Perspective

• Focuses on interaction, the face-to-face encounters and relationships of individuals who act in awareness of one another

• Sometimes explores family role-making as partners adapt culturally understood roles to their own situations and preferences

• Explores ways that people construct or create meanings, symbols, and definitions of events or situations

• Postmodern theory is a special focus

  • Analyzes social discourse or narrative

  • Purpose is to demonstrate that a phenomenon is socially constructed

• Gives us the idea that nothing is “given” or “natural,” but is socially constructed by humans

Exchange Theory

• Applies an economic perspective to social relationships

• People with more resources, such as education or income, have a wider range of options from which to choose

• Examines how individuals’ personal resources including physical attractiveness and personality characteristics, affect the formation and continuation of relationships

• According to this perspective, individuals’ dependence on and emotional involvement in a relationship affects their relative power in the relationship

• Focuses on how everyday social exchanges between and among individuals accumulate to create social networks

• Subcategory examines how social networks provide individuals with social capital or resources that results from their social contacts

Family Systems Perspective

• Views the family as a whole or system comprising interrelated parts (the family members) and demarcated by boundaries

• Originated in natural science

• Like an organic system, the parts of a family compose a working system that behaves fairly predictably; the ways the family members respond to each other can evidence patterns

• Systems seek equilibrium

• Interested in how family systems process information, deal with challenges, respond to crises, and regulate contact with the outside world

• Researchers have elaborated and explored concepts such as family boundaries (ideas about who is in and who is outside the family system)

• Very useful when working with families in therapy

• Critics say that it tends to diffuse responsibility for conflict by attributing dysfunction to the entire system rather than to culpable family members within the system

Conflict and Feminist Theory

• Began to change that oversight as they brought issues of latent conflict and inequality to the open

• The opposite of structure-functional theory

• Calls attention to unequal power

• Explains behavioral patterns such as the unequal division of household labor in terms of the distribution of power between spouses

• Central focus on feminist theory is on gender issues such as race, discrimination in wages, sexual harassment, divorce laws that disadvantage women, rape and other sexual and physical violence against women and children, and reproductive issues

• Promotes recognition of women’s unpaid work, the greater involvement of men in housework and childcare, efforts to fund quality childcare, and paid parental leaves; and transformations in family therapy so that counselors recognize the reality of gender inequality in family

Biosocial Perspective

• Characterized by “concepts linking psychosocial factors to physiology genetics and evolution”

• Argues that human physiology, genetics and hormones, predispose individuals to certain behaviors; biology interacts with the social environment to affect much of human behavior and many family-related behavior

• Much of contemporary human behavior evolved in ways that enable survival and continuation of the human species; successful behavior patterns are encoded in the genes, and this evolutionary heritage is transmitted to succeeding generations

• Offers evolutionary explanations for many contemporary family patterns

• Emphasize that biological predisposition does not mean that a person’s behavior cannot be influenced or changed by social structure

• Researchers have employed this pov to examine such phenomena as gender differences, sexual bonding, mate selection, jealousy, parenting behaviors, marital stability, and male aggression towards women

Attachment Theory

• Posits that during infancy and childhood a young person develops a general style or attaching to others

• 3 basic attachment styles

  • Secure

  • Insecure/anxious

  • Avoidant

• Children who trust caregiver develop a secure attachment style

• Children who feel uncared for either develop an insecure/anxious or an avoidant attachment style

• In adulthood, a secure attachment style involves trust that the relationship will provide ongoing emotional and social support

• An insecure/anxious attachment style entails concern that the beloved will disappear; “fear of abandonment”

• Someone with an avoidant attachment style dodges emotional closeness either by avoiding relationships or demonstrating ambivalence, seeming preoccupied, or establishing distance

• Combine this perspective and life course framework to look at stability or variability of attachment styles throughout an individual’s life

• Prompts us to look at how personality impacts relationship choices

• Critics argue that an attachment style might depend on the situation rather than on a consistent personality characteristic

Cross Sectional Studies

• Gather data just once providing a snapshot onetime view of behaviors and attitudes

Longitudinal Studies

• Provide long-term information as researchers continue to gather date over an extended period of time

Deductive Reasoning

Begins with a hypothesis a researcher has derived from a theoretical point of view

Inductive Reasoning

Observes detailed facts and then induce, or “reason up,” to arrive at generalizations grounded in the observed data

Quantitative Research

The scientists gathers, analyzes, and reports data that can be quantified or understood in numbers

Qualitative Data

The scientist gathers, analyzes, and reports data primarily in words or stories

Data-Collection Techniques

• Interviews and questionnaires

• Naturalistic observation

• Focus groups

• Experiments

• Laboratory observation

• Case studies

Sex

• Biological, physiological aspects of being “male” or “female”

• Like gender, sex is a social construction and is assigned at birth by, for the most part, a medical professional’s examination of a baby’s external genitalia

  • This way of determining sex is incomplete because it does not take into account of genetics or hormones

  • Also ignores social factors that shape a person’s sexual expression

Gender

Psychological and social aspects of being “boy/man” or “girl/woman” or other gender i.d.

Gender Identity

• Person’s psychological sense of their own gender

• Gender scholars today see gender identity as fluid, largely socially constructed and existing along a continuum—an imaginary line along which individuals vary between the opposite poles of femininity and masculinity

Gender Expression

How you express your gender on the outside

Gender Role

Socially expected behavior for one’s gender

Stereotypical Gender Expectations: Expressive Traits

• Warm

• Sensitive

• Able to express tender feelings

• Often put others above self

Stereotypical Gender Expectations: Instrumental Traits

• Confident

• Ambitious

• Independent

• Competitive

• Assertive

• Achievement oriented

What is expected of women…

• “His helpmate”

• “Good mother” —> child’s needs are met before her own

• “Professional women”

• “Strong Black women”

• “Superwoman” —> do it all

• “Satisfied single” —> expiration date though

What is expected of men…

• “No sissy stuff”

• “Big wheel” —> be successful and high up in work

• “Give ‘em hell” —> dominate and aggressive

• “Sturdy oak” —> not emotional

• “Liberate male” —> can show some emotion, but not too much

Sexism/Gender-Based Discrimination: Traditional

Belief that women’s roles should be confined to wife/mother due innate capabilities

Sexism/Gender-Based Discrimination: Modern

• Women: well-suited for some careers/positions (e.g., teachers, caretakers) but not others (e.g., leadership roles)

• Men: well-suited for some careers/positions (e.g., leadership roles) but not others (e.g., childcare workers, nurses)

• Denies that gender discrimination persists

Cisgender

Gender identity is as typically expected given sex designated at birth (i.e., those who are not transgender)

Transgender/trans

• Gender identity not as typically expected given sex designated at birth

• Sub-categories

  • Binary transgender

    • “Trans girl/woman” or “girl/woman” (designated male at birth)

    • “Trans boy/man” or “boy/man” (designated female at birth)

  • Non-binary

    • e.g., “queergender,” “gender-fluid,” “agender”

Transgender Children and Youth

• Many realize trans identity around puberty but some much younger

• Elevated risk for negative health outcomes

  • Depression, anxiety, suicidal behavior

  • Why?

    • Feel lonely, stigma, lack of acceptance

• Family acceptance/support critically important

• An community (peer, school, etc.) support too

• Affirmation/transition:

  • Social, legal, and/or physical process undertaken to live according to one’s gender identity

  • Process is different for each individual and depends upon many factors, such as age and best practice

Sexual Orientation and Sexual Identity

Refers to the gender of the individuals to whom one is sexually attracted

Gender Expectations

Describes societal attitudes and behaviors expected of and associated with an individual’s sex assigned at birth

In the United States, the Navaio have a four gender system:

• Male

• Female

• Male with a female essence

• Female with a male essence

Intersex

• About 2% of live births

• The infants have some anatomical, chromosomal, or hormonal sexual variation from what is considered “normal”

• In 1950s, the intersex babies were assigned gender identity by doctors, and parents were advised to treat them accordingly

• Today, intersex children are still frequently subjected to surgical or other procedures to make their appearance conform to a binary sexual identity

• Procedures can cause permanent infertility and lifelong mental suffering

• The surgeries are often performed without the informed consent of the person because they are too young to make decision

Gender Confirmation Surgery

• A medical transition that involves surgically altering a person’s anatomy to resemble that of their gender identity

• Can also use less invasive measures such as hormone therapy, electrolysis (hair removal) or breast or calf implants, among others

Gender Differentiation

• Cultural expectations about how men and women should behave

• Humans are to some extent differentiated, or thought of as separate and different, according to gender

Masculinities

• Refers to the idea that there are varied ways to demonstrate masculinity

• Three major culturally defined obligations for men involve

  • Group leadership

  • Protecting group territory and weaker or dependent others

  • Providing resources, typically by means of occupational success

• Many expectations for masculinity are positive

  • Bonding with others and managing conflict through shared activities

  • Humor and fun

  • Caring for others by providing for and protecting them

  • Developing self-reliance and inner strength

  • Bravery, courage, heroism

  • Banding together toward common goals

Femininities

• Culturally defined ways of being a woman

• The plural conveys the idea that there are varied models of appropriate behavior

• Expected:

  • Physically attractive

  • Not too competitive

  • Good listener

  • Adaptable

  • Male’s helpmate

  • Good mother

• American women spend significantly less time engaging in leisure activities than do men, which is called the “leisure gap”

• Women’s free time is often “contaminated” by household chores and childcare

Bifurcated Consciousness

• Divided perception where they are aware of and troubled by two conflicting messages

  • Ex. Told childcare is important, BUT it is not as valuable across society as a career success

Dramaturgy

• A theoretical subcategory within the interactionist-constructionist perspective

• Sees individual behaviors based on scripts and roles in front of others (everyday-life audiences)

Analysts have found evidence of gender differences in…

• Motor performance, especially in boys’ greater throwing distance and speed

• Sexuality, for instance in men’s greater incidence of masturbation, use of pornography, and acceptance of casual sex

• Physical aggressiveness, with men generally more violent than women

• Use of language

• Emotional intelligence, with girls typically scoring higher

Intersectionality

• Often associated with gender theory, the idea that various social categories such as race/ethnicity, sex, gender, social class, sexual orientation, and immigrant status, among others, are interconnected and cannot really be examined separately from one another

• In critical feminist theory intersectionality emphasizes ways in which these social categories interact to create systems either of privilege or oppression

Immigration Impact

• Tends to change masculine-feminine roles among cultures where family life involves women’s dependence on and acceptance of decisions of men

• Male household heads typically lose status when masculine privilege and authority in the US is not what it was in their home country, and they may have to take jobs of much lower status than they had at home

• Women who enter labor force after coming to the US begin to experience an independence and autonomy that carry over into the negotiation of new gender roles and decision-making patterns

Gender Roles in Hispanic Communities

• Two traditional gender scripts among Hispanic men and women, machismo and marianismo

• Marianismo refers to the expectation that Hispanic girls and women should be virtuous and chaste, the family and spiritual pillar, and subordinate to others, especially husbands

• Hispanic boys and men are expected to follow the machismo cultural ideal of hypermasculinity and dominance, although it is important to acknowledge posititive attributes, such as caballerismo, which includes social responsibility, being chivalrous, nurturing, and emotionally connected to others

Gender Roles of Asian Americans

• Asian women are considered a forgotten minority in the glass ceiling discussion

• Even though Asian women are most likely to have graduate degrees, they are the least likely to be promoted from non-manager professionals to executives

• Although Asian Americans are the most successful US demographic based on the median income, many Asian American and Pacific Islander women face a “bamboo ceiling” that prevents Asian women from reaching leadership roles in the workforce

• Patriarchal beliefs, beliefs in hierarchical social systems of male dominance, are an important variable in understanding Asian American people

• Found that women were more likely to distance themselves from traditional gender roles in family relations as they acculturated

• Men were more likely to more strongly believe in gendered domestic roles

• Women focus on the more gender egalitarian aspects, whereas men still hold on to patriarchal aspects

Gender Roles in Native American Societies

• Native Americans have a complex heritage that varies by tribe and may include an organizational structure in which women own the family’s house, tools, and land

• An important aspect of Native American culture is collectivism and community, and balance and harmony

• Sole parenting has provided women with greater power in family life

• Although poverty abuse, and mental health problems are a persistent problem, Native Americans are resilient due to their spirituality, strong extended families, and sense of humor

Gender Roles in Black Communities

• Black men are often viewed as aggressive, hypersexual and dangerous

• Black women are often characterized as unfeminine and physically tough

• Black families tend to be communal-oriented and child-centered with permeable family boundaries

• Due to history of slavery in which all genders labored and post slavery discrimination against Black men in the labor force, Black women have had higher employment rates than their White counterparts

• Black couples experience and prefer high levels of role flexibility and power sharing, a situation that enhances their relationship

• Studies show that Black children are fairly equally socialized in employment skills, domestic skills such as cooking and childcare

• Interestingly, this situation may be related to the fact that many Black families see the ability to have male breadwinner and female caregiver gender relationships as evidence of economic success

Socialization

• The process by which society influences members to internalize attitudes, beliefs, values, and expectations

• Gender socialization creates the stereotypes of men and women

Social Learning Theory

• A theory within the interaction-constructionist theory

• Says that children learn gender roles from parents, teachers, peers, friends, partners, and the media

• Children imitate models for behavior and are rewarded by parents and others for whatever they perceived as gender-appropriate behavior

• Words “sissies” and “tomboys” communicate parent’s ideas about appropriate behavior for boys and girls

• In one national survey of adolescents…

  • 53% of girls said they look in the mirror and “imagine how others must see them” and 1 in 3 do so many times a day

  • 2/3 of girls said they are exposed to unrealistic female bodies at least several times a week, and over half say they see female characters on TV or in movies whose bodies are more important than their brains and abilities; over 1 in 4 said they see this everyday

Self-Identification Theory

• Some psychologists thing that what comes first is not rules about what children should do, but rather the child’s awareness of being a boy or girl

• Vast majority of children categorize themselves as male or female, typically by age 3

• They then identify behaviors in their families, in the media, or elsewhere that are appropriate to their gender and adopt these behaviors

Gender Schema Theory

• Posits that children develop a framework (a gender schema) about what girls and boys typically do

• Children then use this schema to organize how they interpret new information and think about gender

• Once children developed a gender schema, their schema influences how they process new information

• They remember gender-consistent information better than gender-inconsistent information

Gender Variance

• An umbrella term referring to gender identity, attitude, or behavior that falls outside gender norms

• Expansive concept that includes people dressing and behaving more like the “other” gender

Gender Socialization: The Process

• Teachers refer to students as “friends” or their first names rather than “boys and girls”

• American parents of transgender children can find themselves battling schools so that their children may dress how they would like

• Sometimes parents let the child dress as they like at home but limit what’s presented in public

• As a preadolescent’s potential transgender identity becomes an issue, some parents consider hormone blockers that suppress female estrogen or male testosterone production and hence delay puberty, allowing a child more time to come to understand their gender identity

• The health plans of at least 150 colleges and universities cover hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries for transitioning students

• Many have established gender-neutral restrooms, housing, and other accommodations, such as initiating programs to prevent discrimination against trans students

Transfamilies

Families in which one or more family members is a transgender individual

Everyday Gender Socialization

• Home, school, childcare, doctor’s offices, and anyplace where children interact with others influence their gender attitudes and behavior

• The toys chosen by parents when children are very young deliver the earliest gender messages

• Parents more often allow girls to express feelings of anxiety or sadness; boys, on the other hand, are more commonly allowed to express anger

Borderwork

• The process, or work, of monitoring and maintaining the conceptualized border between appropriately masculine boys or men and acceptably feminine girls or women

• The most common punishments designed to keep classmates within appropriate gender boundaries were laughter, homophobic name-calling, and social exclusion

• Researchers and policy makers emphasize gender stereotypes as one of the primary explanations behind gender gaps in STEM fields

• Girls frequently report lower feelings of self-efficacy in math and science than boys

• Studies have shown that teachers pay more attention to male than female students, and male students tend to dominate learning environments

• Boys have been more likely to receive a teacher’s attention, to call our in class, to demand help or attention from the teacher, to be seen as model students, or to be praised by teachers

• Boys are more likely to be disciplined harshly by teachers

• On average, boys have poorer study habits and less concern about doing well in their studies; more boys fall behind grade level, are suspended, and are placed in special education classes

• Boys have a greater incidence of diagnosis of emotional disorders, learning disorders, and ADHD, as well as a greater incidence of teen deaths

Following Traditional Gender Expectations Can Be Costly

• Women live an average of 5 years longer than men, with a life expectancy of 81 compared to 76 for men

• Men are far more likely than women to engage in dangerous and risky behaviors such as fast driving, doing drugs, and drinking alcohol

• Men are also more likely to own guns and are averse to seeking mental health care

• Men have higher rates of deaths from motor vehicle accidents, chronic liver disease, drug overdoses, homicide, and suicide

• Women tend to work poor, which refers to individuals who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force but whose incomes still fell below poverty level

Gender Identities in Social Context

• Socially structured opportunities have an effect on men’s and women’s choices and behaviors

• Gender differences that people see—or think they can see— often involve men and women being assigned to divergent roles

• Gender is embedded in all institutional structures—family, church, state, the economy, and education—influencing the ways that people enact, or “do” gender

Gender Structure

Way in which gender roles are influences by a society’s sociocultural environment

Patriarchy and Masculine Dominance

• In which masculine men exercise authority over women and people they perceive as not masculine enough

• On a personal level, masculine dominance involved wielding greater power in a heterosexual relationship

• On the societal level, masculine dominance is the assignment to men of greater control and influence over society’s instructions and benefits

Religion

• Taken as a whole, the institution of religion evidences male dominance

• Studies found that religious individuals tend to show less interpersonal comfort and greater negative opinions toward transgender people than nonreligious people

• Individuals with higher religiosity may express more prejudiced attitudes toward transgender people due to their strong belief against gender variant behavior

• There is evidence of change; women have been elected as rabbis, bishops, and denomination leaders in many religions

• The idea of mutual submission (rather than simply a wife’s submission to her husband) levels to more egalitarian decision making in day-to-day family life

Government and Politics

• According to political strategists, voters “have grown more accustomed to women in powerful positions”

• Nevertheless, statistics point to the fact that women, although slightly more than 50% of the population, are significantly underrepresented in high government positions

  • This is likely to change

Education

• Gender impacts women’s experiences in higher education

• To maintain gender balance, some colleges actively recruit men, and college readiness programs have been developed to specifically target socioeconomically disadvantaged population of men

• Sexual harassment is increasingly being recognized as a problem for women pursuing degrees in male-dominated fields

• Women faculty and students suspected as not being truly deserving to be in the department were noticed and remarked on for their appearance

• Uncomfortable in this climate of “invisible masculinity,” female faculty and students reported feeling marginalized

Economics

• Some people have argued that men’s earnings are higher, partly because of employers; assumptions—and perhaps women’s own assumptions—that women will opt out of the labor force to take care of their children or other family members

• It’s also possible that even ambitious women may pull back from pursuing the high leadership positions, feeling pressured to choose between succeeding at work and being a “good” wife and mother

• The male-female earnings difference is partly related to women’s choice of occupation

• An economists claims that one of the major factors is childcare because many women need time and flexibility to take care of their kids, and childcare often prevents them from taking demanding positions

• Found that women earn about 8% less than their male colleagues for the same occupation

• Unconscious biases against women in the workplace can limit their occupational success

• Reported having to “work harder than male team colleagues to garner recognition and praise” and “feeling constantly under scrutiny for the way they dress”

• Evidence that women’s lifelong socialization to expected personality characteristics adds to the gender pay gap

• “Nice” women are more hesitant to ask for a raise

Male and Female Perceptions of Gender Inequality

• Have different perceptions, with women’s perceptions closer to the truth

• Men underestimate women’s time on household tasks and childcare

Feminism and Women’s Rights

• Feminists, who can be any gender, advocate for social, political, economic, and intellectual equality between people regardless of their gender identity

• The “first wave” of feminism in the US began with an 1848 convention on women’s rights at Seneca Falls, NY, and came to an end when a major convention goal, voting rights for women, was achieved in 1920

• Betty Friedan’s book “The Feminine Mystique” (1963) captured this dissatisfaction and made it a topic of public discussion or discourse, setting off the beginning of the “second wave” of feminism

• Early on, National Organization for Women (NOW) (1966) had multiple goals: opening educational and occupational opportunities to women and establishing support services, such as childcare.

• Today, the organization has expanded their political agenda to include reproductive rights, immigration, equal pay, domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault

• The “third wave” of feminism began in the early 1990s, marked by the testimony of Anita Hill in front of Congress at the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. Her claim was that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked for him as a young lawyer fell on deaf ears (he was confirmed), but it encouraged working women in the US to demand more rights

• This stage was about issues surrounding sexuality, personal expression, and fashion choices

• The idea that feminism should stress intersectionality and inclusiveness is characteristic of third-wave feminism

• “Fourth wave” when Donald Trump was running for President in 2016

• #MeToo Movement founded in 2006

Microaggressions

Commonplace and subtle verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative feelings toward a marginalized group

Gender Today and in the Future

• Support for the breadwinner-homemaker model of families is declining

• The percentage of Americans who agreed that “a preschool child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works” declined from about half in 1986 to 28% in 2016

  • A gender gap still exists, with 32% of men and 24% of women agreeing with this statement

• More of women in nontraditional roles

• Men have moved into traditionally female occupations such as nursing or elementary school teaching, and married men are doing more at home than they used to

• Many fathers are examining how they themselves were fathered and are committing themselves to be more emotionally present, contributing to heightened levels of caring among male adolescents

• Although most Americans believe making money and cooking family meals should be equally shared, wives are still far more likely to do the laundry and husbands do the yard work

• Millennials have largely retained traditional gender expectations

• Millennial and Gen Z workers are more diverse than previous generations in their family structure, race, and ethnicity, and immigration status, among other factors, and are demanding inclusive and family-friendly workplaces and safe places for women

• Men are beginning to push for more available paternity leave in the US workplace

Public Sphere

World outside someone’s home

Private Sphere

Word inside someone’s home

Sexuality

• Multifaceted concept: feelings, cognitions, and behaviors

• Private and public dimensions

Sexual Orientation

• Feelings and cognitions

• Dimension of sexuality (desires/attractions, identity)

• Heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, asexual, pansexual, etc.

Nearly __ in 10 U.S. adults identifies as LGBTQ, survey finds

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