SOC275H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Midlife Crisis, Role Theory, Social Constructionism
Document Summary
Stories of isolated children (leading to damage or death) suggest that biology alone (anatomic composition) doesn"t determine our development as we might have thought: we need to interact, to be socialized, to be part of society. A social constructionist perspective: we have identified four elements of a social constructionist perspective on gender, definitions of masculinity and femininity vary, first, from culture to culture, and, second, in any one cultural over historical time. Third, gender definitions also vary over the course of a person"s life. Sex role theory cannot fully accommodate these differences: thus social constructionists speak of masculinities and femininities, third, sociologists challenge sex role theory. Gender is not only plural, it is also relational. Those different institutional contexts demand and produce different forms of masculinity and femininity: gender is not a property of individuals, but rather a specific set of behaviours that is produced is specific social situations.
