Chapter 1b: Defining the Sociology of Gender

Kramer Chapter 1b

Views gender as
socially
constructed
Pursues
questions about
social structure
Understands
social life as
gendered
Examines
gender at all
levels of analysis
Focuses on the
impact of
socialization

•Way in which a society is organized into
predictable relationships
• Occupying these positions shapes how we think
and act and what resources we have access to
Statuses Roles Groups
Institutions
Culture

Beliefs
Behavior
Culture or
Subculture
Material
objects
Symbol
(language)

Socialization
Anticipatory
socialization
Resocialization
The process
through which
one learns
how to act
according to
the rules and
expectations
of a particular
society.
Occurs when
individuals are
preparing for the
statuses they will
occupy later in life.
It can occur at any
age, but it is the
primary task of
childhood.
The process of
learning new values,
norms, and
expectations when
leaving an old role and
entering a new one.
Total institutions are
places where
individuals are cut off
from the wider society
to undergo forced or
intense resocialization.

•Differences between men and women based
on social factors (“nurture”), not biology
(“nature”)
•“Facts” about gender are shaped by beliefs
about gender

• Human behavior and social relations are
patterned by social forces
• External to the individual, not personal or
psychological factors
• Opportunity structures determine access to
social positions
• Social context draws out “appropriate” gender
behaviors and reinforces beliefs about
• Individuals have some agency in coping,
negotiating, and resisting social structure
• Such behavior can influence the structure itself

•Experiences, opportunities, and burdens are
different for men and women
•Definitions of gender contribute to social
stratification
• (Differentiation of people based on their
membership in socially significant categories)
•Race, class, and gender are used to justify
unequal social treatment

Middle
level
Macrosocial
level
Microsocial
level

•Socialization is the process of learning the
rules of the social group and learning to
define oneself in relation to that social group
•Social control is the set of rewards and
punishments that is used to enforce social
norms
•Culture is the established beliefs and practices
that establish a design for living