Transcript Ch. 10 Inequalities of Gender and Age

Ch. 10
Inequalities of
Gender and
Age
Sex and Gender Identity
• Sex – classification of people as
male or female based on
biological characteristics
• Biological Determinism –
principle that behavioral
differences are the result of
inherited physical
characteristics
– This lacks scientific proof
– What few tendencies that are
biological are easily overruled by
society and culture
• Gender Identity – a sense of
being male or female based on
learned cultural values
Biology, culture, and behavior
• Research indicates that the brains of
men and women are slightly different
• The majority of sociologists argue that
gender-related behavior is not primarily
the result of biology
• Margaret Mead’s research (1950) on
New Guinean peoples
– The Arapesh – Men and women were
raised to be cooperative, unaggressive, and
empathetic. Traditional concept of the
female gender role
– Mundugumor – Men and women were
raised to be aggressive, ruthless, and
unresponsive to the needs of others
– Tchambuli – gender roles were opposite of
those in Western culture
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
• Functionalism and
Gender
– Any pattern of behavior
that does not benefit
society will become
unimportant
• Therefore the division of
responsibilities b/w male
and female benefited
human living
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
• Conflict Theory and Gender
– It is to the advantage of men
to prevent women from
gaining access to political,
economic, and social resources
• “Gender Apartheid” in Afghanistan
– Conflict theorists see
traditional gender roles as
outdated
– Women who prefer careers in
fields formerly reserved for
men have every right to make
that choice, whether or not it
is “functional” for society
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
• Symbolic Interactionism and
Gender
– Focuses on how boy and girls
learn to act the way they are
“supposed to act”
• Gender socialization – the
social process of learning how
to act as a boy or girl
– The effect of the media is
very powerful
– Parents are vitally important
in gender socialization
• Blue or pink clothes
• Trucks vs. dolls
• Mowing the grass vs. doing the
dishes
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
– Schools also aid gender
socialization
• Teachers encourage different
behaviors
• Clothing styles, school functions,
after-school activities
– Peers contribution to gender
socialization
• Kids who most closely resemble
the traditional roles are typically
given the most respect
– Football players, cheerleaders
• Feminine boys and masculine girls
are typically assigned low status
Gender Inequality
• Sexism – a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to
justify sexual inequality
• Occupational and Economic inequality
– In 1999 65% of women worked outside the home compared to
77% of men
– Occupational sex segregation – the concentration of women in
lower-status positions
• Ex. – only about 11% of engineer positions are held by women, and about
29% of attorney jobs
• When women are in high-status occupational groups, they are
concentrated in lower-prestige, lower-paid jobs
– In 1999 women who worked full-time earned only 72 cents for
every dollar earned by men
– In virtually every occupational category, men’s earning power is
greater than women’s
– Compared globally U.S. women are closer to the bottom of the
equality list than the top
Legal and political Inequality
–
–
– Women are participating in elective politics at an
increasing rate
– 1988, Geraldine Ferraro became the 1st female vicepresidential candidate in the history of the U.S.
– 1996, Madeleine Albright was named the first female
Secretary of State
– Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed the 1st female
Supreme Court Justice in 1981 by Pres. Reagan
• Age stratification – the unequal
distribution of scarce resources
based on age
• Ageism – a set of beliefs,
attitudes, norm, and values
used to justify age-based
prejudice and discrimination
• Functionalism and Ageism
– Elderly people in a given society
are treated according to the role
the aged play in that society
– In many cultures the elderly are
treated with great respect and
honor
– Attitudes about aging changed
greatly as industrialization
changed the nature of work
Ageism
• Conflict Theory and Ageism
Ageism
– Competition over scarce
resources is the heart of
ageism for the conflict
perspective
• Symbolic Interactionism and
Ageism
– Children learn negative images
of older people just as they
learn other aspects of culture,
through socialization
– Stereotypes of the elderly
• Senile, forgetful, or “daft”
• Sexless
• Incapable of learning new things
Inequality in America’s Elderly
Population
• Sociologists believe that elderly should be viewed as a
minority group
• Economics of the Elderly
– The Federal Government assumes that elderly need less money to
live
– About 16% of those over the age of 65 are poor
– Most elderly in America do not have sources of income beyond
Social Security
– Poverty rates for minority elderly are high than that of white
elderly
• Political Power and the Elderly
– Voting turn out increase w/ age in the U.S.
– Interest groups – a group organized to influence political decision
making
• AARP