 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 ] Next Last |
In sociology the term gender role denotes a set of behavioral norms. Gender role is a special case of the sociological concept of role. Society tries to impose these norms upon an individual through a process called socialization. During this process a person usually accepts these norms, acts according to them, and develops a matching sense of gender identity. To what degree an individual incorporates these norms into his or her behaviors and personality differs widely from one individual to another. In general, the differences in the personalities of two people are much larger than are the differences between the feminine and the masculine gender roles. There is a general understanding among sociologists that gender role differences are decreasing and that gender roles are changing.
In sexology, on the other hand, the term "gender role" describes an individual or socially prescribed set of behaviors and responsibilities. In essence, gender role comprises all the things that people do to express their individual gender identities. Gender roles are not norms that were established by some authority, but reflections of the changing habits and customs of concrete individuals in actual societies. Human behavior is there first, and then ideologies and norms grow by an inductive process that occurs informally within these societies and, later on, more formally by researchers. The sexologist John Money describes his reasons for borrowing the term " gender" to talk about the concrete behavior of individuals who were behaving in ways that stretched or breached society's norms for gender. Each person acts out a role that "he" or "she" creates by a complex process of self-understanding and understanding what other people in "his" or "her" society do to express their genders. Sexologists call the resulting complex of behaviors the person's gender role.
For the nuclear family, which is still a prevalent model of family organization today, Parsons 5 has developed a model in 1955. It represents the strictly traditional division of labor inside a family. Parsons believes that the feminine role is an expressive one whereas the masculine role is instrumental. Expressive activities of the woman fulfill 'internal' functions, for example to strengthen the ties between members of the family. The man represents the family towards the outside ('external' functions). For example, it is the man’s job to provide the financial means for the survival of the family by working in a job outside the house. The Parsons model is an abstract idea which today is hardly reflected on the behavioral level any more.
The Parsons model was used to illustrate extreme positions that are abstract concepts or ideal types of role differentiation. To describe total role segregation (Model A), activities are sorted into external and internal function — the result are two extreme role models, a feminine one and a masculine one. The other extreme position is a total disintegration of masculine/feminine role (Model B). 3
| Model A — Total role segregation | Model B — Total disintegration of roles | |
| Education | gender-specific education, high professional qualification is important only for the man | co-educative schools, same content of classes for girls and boys, same qualification for men and women |
| Profession | the workplace is not the primary area of women, career and professional advancement is unimportant for women | for women, career is just as important as for men, therefore equal professional opportunities for men and women are necessary |
| Housework | housekeeping and child care are the primary functions of the woman, participation of the man in these functions is only partially wanted | all housework is done by both parties to the marriage in equal shares |
| Decision making | in case of conflict man has the last say, for example in choosing the place to live, choice of school for children, buying decisions | man cannot dominate over woman, solutions do not always follow the principle of finding a concerted decision, this may lead to separate vacations, or living in different apartments |
| Child care and education | woman takes care of the largest part of these functions, she educates children and cares for them in every way | man and woman share these functions equally |
Both extreme positions are rarely found in reality. Actual behavior of individuals is somewhere between these poles. The most common 'model' followed in real life is the 'model of double burden' (see below, section feminism).
According to the interactionist approach, roles, such as gender roles, are not fixed, but are constantly negotiated between individuals.
Gender role can influence all kinds of behavior, such as choice of clothing, choice of work and personal relationships, e.g. parental status (see also Sociology of fatherhood).
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|