Chapter 4 - Gender and Socialization

Ageism

prejudice or discrimination directed at a person or group based on their chronological or perceived age

Agents of socialization

the people, groups, and institutions doing the socializing

Androcentrism

the belief that masculinity and what men do in our culture is superior to femininity and what women do

Cognitive-development theory

a perspective on gender socialization that emphasizes the ways in which children acquire a sense of a gender identity and the ability to gender-type themselves and others

Ego boundaries

the sense of a personal psychological division between ourselves and the world around us

Enculturation

how culture comes to reside inside individuals

Gender congruency

in cognitive-development theory, the need for children to create cognitive consistency by lining up their gender with their behaviors

Gender constancy

the understanding that even changing the outward physical appearance of a person does not change his or her underlying sex category

Gender norms

sets of rules for what is appropriate masculine and feminine behavior in a given culture

Gender polarization

the way in which behaviors and attitudes that are viewed as appropriate for men are viewed as inappropriate for women and vice versa

Gender schema

a cognitive structure that enables us to sort characteristics and behaviors into masculine and feminine categories and then create various other associations with those categories

Gender schema theory

a theory of gender socialization that builds on the framework of both cognitive-development and social learning theory to formulate an explanation specific to gender socialization rather than to socialization as a more general process; it is influenced by feminism

Gender socialization

the process through which individuals learn the gender norms of their society and come to develop an internal gender identity

Gender stability

when children know that their gender is permanent and that it is the gender they will be for the rest of their lives

Gender transgression zone

any activities or behaviors that have the potential to be perceived as violating the gender norms in some way

Genital tubercle

undifferentiated embryonic tissue that develops into a penis in males and a clitoris in females

Intersex

individuals who, based on a variety of biological conditions, do not fit into the contemporary Anglo-European biological sex categories of male and female

Life-course perspective

looking at how key experiences and social roles influence individuals' lives through biographies that transform through exposure to new social settings, unfolding in an interactive trajectory

Primary groups

the intimate, enduring, unspecialized relationships among small groups who generally spend a great deal of time together

Primary socialization

the initial process of learning the ways of a society or groups that occurs in infancy and childhood and is transmitted through the primary group to which we belong

Psychoanalytic identification

the way in which a child modifies her own sense of self in order to incorporate some ability, attribute, or power she sees in others around her

Psychoanalytic theory

a theory of gender socialization drawing on Freud and feminism that emphasizes the ways in which gender becomes deeply embedded in the psychic structure of our personalities

Schema

a cognitive structure and network of associations that helps to organize an individual's perception of the world

Secondary groups

generally larger, more temporary, more interpersonal, and more specialized groups that also engage in socialization

Secondary socialization

the learning process that takes place each time we join one of these new secondary groups

Sex-typed behaviors

behaviors that are more expected and therefore perceived as appropriate when performed by one sex but less expected and therefore perceived as inappropriate when performed by the other sex

Social learning theory

a theory of gender socialization based in behaviorism that posits that we learn norms through the rewarding or withholding of rewards for certain behaviors

Socialization

the ways in which we learn to become a member of a group

Target of socialization

the person being socialized

Young male syndrome

the perceived, expected, and often necessary pressure to perform a tough, violent, and deviant manhood in order to receive and maintain respect

Youth control complex

an all-encompassing system of criminalization molded by the synchronized, systematic punishment meted out by socializing and social control institutions