Transcript The Social Organization of Sexuality

Sociology 1201: Week
Three
1.
2.
3.
4.
Symbolic Interactionism
Because I am a (Fe)male
Conflict Theory
Sociology of sexuality
Sociology 1201
Symbolic Interactionism as a
sociological perspective
Our world is a social construction, built
through the web of social relationships and
meanings.
 We react to the meaning of social things
and not to the things themselves.
 Our self (selves?) also a social
construction

Sociology 1201
Pioneers of Symbolic
interactionism

Charles Horton Cooley
Looking glass self
 Primary and secondary groups


George Herbert Mead
The “I” and the “me”
 Which comes first, the individual or the
group?

Sociology 1201
Key concepts in the construction of
self and society



Culture: a design for living passed from one
generation to the next
Norms: rules defining expected situations and
appropriate behaviors
Socialization:
1. the process of learning the norms of your culture
 2. the process of learning who you are
Families particularly central to this process

Sociology 1201
Sex and gender
Sex the biological distinction between
male and female
 Gender the culturally elaborated distinction
between masculine and feminine
 Groups: “Because I am a Fe(male)

Sociology 1201
Conflict theory as a sociological
perspective




Competition between groups over material
goods, opportunities, values, and meaning the
normal condition of society
Sociology the study of the ways in which
inequalities generate group conflict and are
resolved
Inequalities of age, gender, and sexuality
particularly central to families
Families are also the typical units of race and
class conflicts.
Sociology 1201
Why did families change so rapidly
in the late 20th century?
Functionalism: Rapid changes in other
related institutions, including economy and
religion
 Conflict theory: Role of social movements,
including especially feminism and to a
lesser extent the gay and lesbian
movement

Sociology 1201
Discussion groups: Promises I Can
Keep
Chapter 3: How Does the Dream Die?
 Chapter 4: What Marriage Means

Sociology 1201
Sociology of sex

How do we learn about sex in the United States?







Families: reality or an idealized version
Schools: the facts but not the meanings
Church
Mass Media: commercialization of sex
Peers and lovers
Sex and the double standard
The sexual revolution: when, why, where, what?
Sociology 1201
How do sociologists study sex?

Survey Research
1st efforts: the Kinsey Reports
 Lauman et. al: The Social Organization of
Sexuality 1992 N=3,432 Adults
 National Survey of Family Growth: Sexual
Behavior and Selected Health Measures 1995
N=12,571 Ages 15-44


Qualitative research

Rubin: Erotic Wars. What did she learn about
teens and sexuality?
Sociology 1201
Rubin, Erotic Wars

a. In-depth interviews with 75 teens and 300 adults, age 18-48, plus a 13page questionnaire completed by 600+ college students

b. Background to her study

1). Double standard of her own growing up years: "For generations, the
words 'everything but' have told the story of teenage sexuality." girls as
emotional and relationship experts, boys as far more sexual and demanding

2). Sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Her daughter's experience,
vs. her own.

3). AIDs and STD epidemic of the 1980s and since: "We see women and
men, young and old, speak their fears about AIDs but act as if they had
nothing to fear."
Sociology 1201
Teen sex in Rubin’s study



1) Biggest change over time: teens facing issue of
intercourse at least five years earlier
2) Who waits?
3) Double standard still?



4) Most striking norms of teen sex



girls still more likely to "give in" to protect a relationship
Still sluts and studs
a) Sense of entitlement to make their own choices
my class at Mesabi Community College--"of course you lie to
your parents; that's what they want"
b) Sex within a relationship is a good thing (
5) Sex often tied up with getting drunk or high
Sociology 1201