Sociology 2140 Lecture Notes - Glass Ceiling, Matriarchy, Escalator
17 Nov 2011
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Document Summary
Gender: the personal traits and life chances that a society links to being female or male. Sex: the biological distinction between females and males. Gender roles: rights, responsibilities, expectations, and relationships of women and men in a society. Gender stratification frequently takes the form of patriarchy (social patterns by which males dominate females) Sociologists see patriarchy - and the entire range of gender - as the creation of society itself. Matriarchy is a social pattern in which females dominate males. Most sociologists reject the idea that any behavior is hard-wired into human biology. Sexism is the assertion that one sex is innately inferior to the other. Sexism supports patriarchy by claiming that men are better than women and therefore should dominate them. Inequality between men and women is reflected in differences in income and in responsibility for housework, as well as in patterns of violence and even reproductive issues.
