Key Concepts in Gender and Structuralism

Sign

a unit of meaning. A sign consists of a signifier and the signified-it unites a concept and a sound-image.

Signifier

a sound-image.

Signified

the concept we generally associate with that sound.

Signification

the manner by which the signified and signifier interact to create a sign. Signification is a process.

Langue

the underlying system that enables language to function as a mode of communication. Langue is more abstract.

Parole

language as it is spoken in the present. Parole is dependent on langue.

Thick Description

a more nuanced description of a social act/utterance/gesture that takes into account its complexities and contextual meaning.

Structuralism

the study of underlying structures of human behaviour and society; it attempts to unveil and explain the systems that attempt to structure human life.

Deep structure

underlying structure and its mechanisms; deep structure has a universalizing and totalizing impulse.

Bricolage

the process of organizing disparate elements into entities through the available means.

Androgyny

cultural definitions of gender that recognize some gender differentiation, but also accept 'gender bending' and role-crossing according to individual capacities and preferences.

Binary model of gender

cultural definitions of gender that include only two identities-male and female.

Biologic sex

refers to male and female identity based on internal and external sex organs and chromosomes.

Hijra

A well-known example of a non-binary gender system is found among the Hijra in India.

Sex/Gender System

the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity.

Biological determinism

a theory that biological differences between males and females leads to fundamentally different capacities, preferences, and gendered behaviors.

Cisgender

a term used to describe those who identify with the sex and gender they were assigned at birth.

Dyads

two people in a socially approved pairing.

Gender

the set of culturally and historically invented beliefs and expectations about gender that one learns and performs.

Gender ideology

a complex set of beliefs about gender and gendered capacities, propensities, preferences, identities and socially expected behaviours.

Heteronormativity

a term that refers to the often-unnoticed system of rights and privileges that accompany normative sexual choices and family formation.

Legitimizing ideologies

a set of complex belief systems, often developed by those in power, to rationalize, explain, and perpetuate systems of inequality.

Matrifocal

groups of related females form the core of the family and constitute the family's most central and enduring social and emotional ties.

Matrilineal

societies where descent or kinship group membership is transmitted through women.

Matrilocal

a woman-centered kinship group where living arrangements after marriage often center around households containing related women.

Patriarchy

describes a society with a male-dominated political and authority structure.

Patrifocal

groups of related males and their male offspring form the core of the family.

Patrilineal

societies where descent or kinship group membership is transmitted through men.

Patrilocal

a male-centered kinship group where living arrangements after marriage often center around households containing related men.

Third gender

a gender identity that exists in non-binary gender systems offering one or more gender roles separate from male or female.

Transgender

a category for people who identify as a different gender than the one that was assigned to them at birth.

RSA

term coined by Louis Althusser that means repressive state apparatus.

ISA

Term coined by Louis Althusser that means ideological state apparatus.

Reciprocity and Repatriation

Not merely giving back; both are a process of negotiating/navigating encounters and relationships.