Sociology 2410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Role Theory
Document Summary
It gives us an idea that gender is given through socialization in the early years, and is set for the rest of our lives. It is something that is fixed and is fairly static; there is a sense that it is learned, and yet, it is permanent. Once you become gendered a certain way, there is no way to get out of that. We pass it on, however, we don"t pass it on in a way that is consistent. West & zimmerman argue that in fact, we are constantly learning and relearning. This is both unconscious, because culture can shift, or unconscious, because we can decide what we want to do, and this happens in everyday interactions. We are trade by others as though we are our genders. This is what bio-determinism is; it is embedded in this sex role theory as well.
