Transcript Lecture Four

Examining the
Intersection of
Gender and Work
Powell ix-xx
In-class exercise 4
COLOR BLIND
In this provocative program, five students
from a variety of cultural and ethnic
backgrounds speak with candor about racial
harassment at their high school in an effort to
encourage teenagers to examine their own
attitudes and behaviors.
What causes the problems in
society?
• Prejudice
• Discrimination
• Segregation
Prejudice
• Attitude
• Based on false generalizations of
properties attributed to racial-ethnic
groups rather than one’s own
• May or may not be used to continue
inequality
• May or may not lead to discrimination
Two types of Prejudice
• Stereotypes
– Cognitive aspect
• Come to know by judgment
– Exaggerations of behavioral traits
– Examples??
• Social distance
– Affective aspect
• Emotional aspect
– Discomfort with social relations
– Examples??
In-class activity 5
What did it mean to be prejudice?
Are you???
Discrimination
• Acting on one’s prejudice
• Verbal or nonverbal acts that bring about
negative consequences for the minority
group
• Aimed at denying equal access to societal
rewards
Four types of Discrimination
• Individual
– Intentional attempts to harm (act on prejudice)
• Direct Institutional
– Incorporation of limitations into the legal structure
– Jim Crow Laws
• Statistical
– Based on a belief that members of a certain group
are “more likely” to behave in a particular way
• Structural
– Outcome of different groups not taking advantage
of available opportunities
Two ways discrimination can take
place
• Indirect (Covert)
–
–
–
–
equal treatment
equal circumstances
Unequal social conditions
Cafeteria not taking into consideration the needs of
Vegans
• Direct (Overt)
–
–
–
–
Unequal treatment
Equal circumstances
Unequal social conditions
No Asians are allowed in that restaurant
Segregation
• Physical separation due to negative
feeling
• Complete elimination of the minority group
or thing
The other here has had
negative connotations…
“Other” doesn’t have to be
negative
Men-Women
Relationships Through
Time
Past to present
(Blau p 12-29)
Men & Women’s Roles in
Society are Changing
• Past
– Man is hunter (breadwinner)
– What characteristics would be seen here?
• Leader, decision maker
– Female is housekeeper and mother
– What characteristics would be seen here?
• Compliant, noncompetitive, nurturing, not
instrumental
– Females position is to “help the man”
Who has the power?
• Men and Women do have Physiological and
Psychological differences but why are women
seen as inferior?
• Ernestine Fried (anthropologist)
– Technology employed by society within the
production process tends to determine the division
of labor
– Man has the power because he leads the
production process
• Other Scientists
– Disagree because slaves in the past were the
main players in the production process…but did
they have power?
Hunting and Gathering
Societies
• Men were the hunters of the meat
• Women were gatherers of fruits and
vegetables (some small animals)
• Clear division of labor
• Male and female were equal partners in
gathering the meal
Horticultural Societies
• Men hunted and protected land
• Fruits and vegetables grown on plots of
land near home (thus no real “gathering”
for female just pick it)
• Female tended the home and cooked
• All other chores split equally
Pastoral Societies
• Men herded large animals (usually farther
away from home)
• Women tended to the home
• Women seen as secondary
Agriculture Societies
• Women “helped” in the field
• Men “worked” the land
• Men received a dowry for the woman
when they were married
• Woman seen as secondary in the family
• Responsibilities depended on gender (for
children too)
Industrialization
• Shift from working the land to working in a
factory
• Women only worked to subsidize family income
or save money for dowry
• Woman’s position is caretaker of family
• Labor force participation rates at the end of the
19th century
– Male = 84%
– Female = 18%
– Married Female = 5%
Early “Traditional Family”
• Male as primary income earner
• Female as primary household caretaker
• Shift from production unit to consumption
unit
• Each now had Economic Roles
– Male’s role was to earn high enough wage for
family
– Female’s role was to tend to the household
Early “Traditional Family” Cont.
• Woman working was seen by society as:
– Inadequacy of her husband
– Selfishness of the woman
Circular Nature
Men and Women as equal partners
Hunting and Gathering
Horticulture
Pastoral
Men and Women as unequal partners
Agriculture, Industrialization, Early Traditional