Sociological Theories relating to

Gender
(Theoretical Perspectives on Gender)

Objective:
Identify the appropriate theories relating
to how people behave and relate to
gender issues.
Think about the following and write down your
thoughts about it.

My Strengths’ __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Areas where I can improve _______________________________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
My aspirations in life ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

How I see myself ______________________________________________

__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
What is Sociology?

• Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions.

Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion,
from the family to the state, from the divisions of race and social class
to the shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social stability to
radical change in whole societies.
• Sociology’s purpose : understanding how human action and
consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural
and social structures.
https://sociology.unc.edu/undergraduate-program/sociology-major/what-is-
sociology/
 Sociological theories

EX.
EX.
A scholar might proceed from
a sociologist studying why the conflict perspective to
middle-school girls are investigate why women are
more likely than their male underrepresented in political
counterparts to fall behind office, and an interactionist
grade-level expectations in might examine how the
symbols of femininity interact
math and science might use with symbols of political
a feminist perspective to authority to affect how women
frame her research. in Congress are treated by
their male counterparts in
meetings.
Structural Functionalism
• Viewing the family
as the most
• provided one of the most important
perspectives of sociological research integral
in the twentieth century and has been component of
a major influence on research in the society,
social sciences, including gender assumptions
studies.
about gender
roles within
marriage assume
a prominent place
in this
perspective.
Functionalism
• Roles were considered
• Argue that gender roles functional because women
were established well were often limited by the
physical restraints of
before the pre-industrial pregnancy and nursing and
era when men typically unable to leave the home
took care of for long periods of time.
Once established, these
responsibilities outside of roles were passed on to
the home, such as subsequent generations
hunting, and women since they served as an
effective means of keeping
typically took care of the the family system
domestic responsibilities functioning properly.
in or around the home.
• When changes occurred in the social and economic
climate of the United States during World War II,
changes in the family structure also occurred. Many
women had to assume the role of breadwinner (or
modern hunter-gatherer) alongside their domestic role
in order to stabilize a rapidly changing society. When
the men returned from war and wanted to reclaim their
jobs, society fell back into a state of imbalance, as
many women did not want to forfeit their wage-earning
positions (Hawke 2007).
ACTIVITY:
Create infographics
summarizing your
understanding of
theoretical perspectives
on gender
as discussed in this
lesson.
 Conflict Theory ❖ Consider the Women’s
Suffrage Movement or the
debate over women’s “right to
• Society is a struggle choose” their reproductive
for dominance futures.
among social groups
(like women versus ❖ It is difficult for women to rise
men) that compete above men, as dominant
for scarce resources. group members create the
rules for success and
opportunity in society
(Farrington and Chertok
1993).
 -German sociologist
Friedrich Engels -studied family structure and gender
roles

“owner-worker relationship seen in

the labor force is also seen in the
household, with women assuming
the role of the proletariat”

“when women become wage

earners, they can gain power in
the family structure and create
more democratic arrangements in
the home”
 • radical feminism, considers the
1. Feminist Theory role of the family in
perpetuating male dominance.
• type of conflict theory that
examines inequalities in gender- • “In societies some consider to
related issues. be matriarchies (where women
comprise the dominant group),
• uses the conflict approach to women and men tend to work
examine the maintenance of cooperatively rather than
competitively regardless of
gender roles and inequalities whether a job is considered
feminine by U.S. standards”.

-(Sanday 2004) on the study with

Indonesian Minangkabau
 Symbolic Interactionism
Ex.
• aims to understand human If you meet with a male loan officer,
you may state your case logically by
behavior by analyzing the listing all the hard numbers that make
you a qualified applicant as a means of
critical role of symbols in appealing to the analytical
human interaction. characteristics associated with
masculinity.
If you meet with a female loan officer,
you may make an emotional appeal by
stating your good intentions as a
means of appealing to the caring
characteristics associated with
femininity.
• meanings attached to
Gay
symbols are socially
created and not • “cheerful”
natural, and fluid, not • homosexual (1960s)
static, we act and react
to symbols based on • “careless”
the current assigned • “bright and showing”
meaning.
masculinity or femininity

"doing gender"

Gender is something we do or perform, not

something we are (West and Zimmerman ,1987)
Gender and sexuality are socially constructed.

The social construction of sexuality refers to the

way in which socially created definitions about
the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked
behavior shape the way people see and
experience sexuality.
contrast to theories of sex, gender, and
sexuality that link male and female
behavior to biological determinism, or
the belief that men and women behave
differently due to differences in their
biology.
Being Male, Being Female, and Being Healthy
In 1971, Broverman and Broverman conducted a
groundbreaking study on the traits mental health workers
ascribed to males and females. When asked to name the
characteristics of a female, the list featured words such as
unaggressive, gentle, emotional, tactful, less logical, not
ambitious, dependent, passive, and neat. The list of male
characteristics featured words such as aggressive, rough,
unemotional, blunt, logical, direct, active, and sloppy (Seem
and Clark 2006). Later, when asked to describe the
characteristics of a healthy person (not gender specific), the
list was nearly identical to that of a male.
This study uncovered the
general assumption that being
female is associated with being
somewhat unhealthy or not of
sound mind.
To which theoretical perspective does the following statement most
likely apply: Women continue to assume the responsibility in the
household along with a paid occupation because it keeps the
household running smoothly, i.e., at a state of balance?
a. Conflict theory
b. Functionalism
c. Feminist theory
d. Symbolic interactionism
• According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, we “do gender”

a. during half of our activities

b. only when they apply to our biological sex
c. only if we are actively following gender roles
d. all of the time, in everything we do
REFERENCE:
• Reading: Theoretical Perspectives on Gender | Sociology | | Course
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