Group-2-Ppt (GSPS)

CHAPTER 2:
THEORIZING GENDER
1. The gender lenses of androcentrism, gender
polarization and essentialism
 The first lens embedded in cultural discourses, social

institutions, and individual psyches is the lens of
androcentrism, or male-centeredness. This is not just
the historically crude perception that men are
inherently superior to women but a more treacherous
underpinning of that perception: a definition of males
and male experience as a neutral standard or norm,
and females and female experience as a sex-specific
deviation from that norm. It is thus not that man is
treated as superior and woman as inferior but that
man is treated as human and woman as "other."

 The second lens is the lens of gender polarization. Once again,
this is not just the historically crude perception that women and
men are fundamentally different from one another but the more
subtle and insidious use of that perceived difference as an
organizing principle for the social life of the culture. It is thus
not simply that women and men are seen to be different but
that this male-female difference is superimposed on so many
aspects of the social world that a cultural connection is thereby
forged between sex and virtually every other aspect of human
experience, including modes of dress and social roles and even
ways of expressing emotion and experiencing sexual desire.

 Finally, the third lens is the lens of biological essentialism,
which rationalizes and legitimizes both other lenses by treating
them as the natural and inevitable consequences of the intrinsic
biological natures of women and men. This is the lens that has
secularized God is grand creation by substituting its scientific
equivalent: evolutions grand creation. As we shall see, nothing
in this book denies biological facts, but I do argue that these
facts have no fixed meaning independent of the way that a
culture interprets and uses them, nor any social implications
independent of their historical and contemporary context.
2. Individual level theories (biological
fundalism) social roles and social learning.
 Individual-level theories such as social roles and social

learning are two major perspectives that explain human
behavior and development.
 Social roles refer to the expected behaviors, attitudes, and
responsibilities associated with a particular position or
status in society, such as gender, occupation, or cultural
background
WHAT IS SOCIAL ROLE
THEORY?
SOCIAL ROLE THEORY
 Social roles provide individuals with a sense
of identity and help to define their
relationships with others. They influence
behavior by providing expectations for how
individuals should act and interact with
others in different contexts.
 For example, the social roles associated with
being a parent involve providing love, care,

and guidance to children.
SOCIAL ROLE THEORY
 This theory emphasizes participation in
varied and more complex roles as a major
factor in human development. It traces a
process of socialization and personality
development through the persons
participation in increasingly diverse and
complex social roles.
 Social learning theory emphasizes the importance of learning
through observation, modeling, and imitation.
 According to this theory, individuals acquire new behaviors by
observing and imitating the actions of others. The theory posits
that behavior is shaped by the consequences that follow it,
including rewards and punishments.
 For example, a child may learn to be aggressive by observing
aggressive behavior in others and being reinforced for that
behavior through positive outcomes. In combination, social roles
and social learning theory provide a framework for
understanding how individuals learn and adopt behaviors in
social contexts.
THREE ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL THEORY:
 ROLE ENACTMENT - The specific

parts or various identities a person relates
with.
 ROLE EXPECTATION – The scripts or
shared expectations for behavior that are

linked to each part .
 RECIPROCAL ROLE – The role we
adopt in response to the role of the

opposite individual.
INTERACTIONIST THEORIES: DOING
GENDER
 The interactions perspective in sociology is one of

the four prominent perspectives on society. It
examines the social mores and cultural norms of
society through the interactions of individuals. It
also examines the interactions between and within
small groups.
 Integrationist theory is very important because it
informs, and is informed in turn, by other
sociological ideas.
 For example : Constructivism is influenced by
interactionism. Interactionism is also important

because it examines how individuals change through
their interactions and how social norms are created.
 One key interactionist theory of gender is the social
learning theory, which proposes that gender roles
and behaviors are learned through observation,
imitation, and reinforcement.
 According to this theory, individuals learn to
behave in ways that are considered appropriate for
their gender through the observation of role
models, such as parents, peers, and media figures
STRUCTURALIST THEORY
WHAT IS

STRUCTURALIST
THEORY?
STRUCTURALIST THEORY:
 Structuralist theories of gender or sex are generally

based on, or attempt to demonstrate, a relationship
that is expressed in terms of the structural formula.
 Society is like hexagon. There are number of

institutions which joinly run a society;
INSTITUTIONAL THEORY
 In sociology and organizational studies,
institutional theory is a theory on the deeper and
more resilient aspects of social structure. It
considers the processes by which structures,
including schemes, rules, norms, and routines,
become established as authoritative guidelines for
social behavior.
 It focuses on the roles of social, political and
economic systems in which companies operate
and gain their legitimacy.
 They have an impact on the decision-making
process in giving indications of what would be

acceptable or not, and in determining the
individual socialization of norms and
behaviors in a given society.
Critical theory on gender?
 Gender is merely a social construct. The idea that there
are only 2 genders that are defined by human. A genital is
an arbitrary concept created and perpetuated by society.
 Assigning the male gender to a baby born with a penis is
and a female baby with vagina is wrong. Any human born
with penis can be male or female and also the vagina it
can be male or female also or no gender at all (non-
binary)
 Gender is “performed”. Human gender is not part
of existence. Gender is performed by the
individual, either by choice or by conforming to
pressure of historical societal norms.
HOW IS CRITICAL GENDER
THEORY PRACTICED?
 Guidance to eliminate gender terms from normal
communication.
 Not allowing dividing students into boys lines and girl
lines.
 Guidance to not address students as “BOYS AND
GIRLS”, use generic terms instead.
 Asking students for their pronouns
 Allowing bathrooms use based on gender identity.
 Building gender neutral bathrooms.
WHAT IS
INTERSECTIONALITY
?
HISTORY CONCEPT
OF
INTERSECTIONALIT
Y
• Intersectionality theory’ was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, but many others
have advanced similar thoughts before that.
• DeGraffenreid vs General Motors ( Crenshaw 1989) - “With Black women as the starting point,
it becomes more apparent how dominant conceptions of discrimination condition us to think
about subordination as disadvantage occurring along a single categorical axis … in race
discrimination cases, discrimination tends to be viewed in terms of sex- or class – privileged
Blacks; in sex discrimination cases, the focus in on race- and class-privileged women:”
(1989,57).
• Intersectionality and domestic
violence (1991)
• Structural intersectionality
• - Political intersectionality
• - Representational intersectionality
Intersectionality theory’ was coined by
Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989, but many
others have advanced similar thoughts
before that.
Intersectionality is an analytic
framework that addresses identify
how interlocking systems of power
impact those who are most
marginalized in society. Taking an
intersectional approach means looking
beyond a person’s individual identities
and focusing on the points of
intersection that their multiple
KIMB ERL E
identities create. C RE NSHA
W
“That man over there says that women
need to be helped into carriages, and
lifted over ditches, and to have the best
place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me
into carriages, or over mud-puddies, or
gives me any best place! And ain’t I a
woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I
have ploughed and planted, and gathered
into barns, and no man could head me!
And aint’t I a woman?” Sojumer Truth,
Sojumer Truth, 1851
1851
• Quantitavie survey with male and female farmers to
examine how factors such as age, ethnicity, gender and
marital status affect the uptake of improved farming
practices.
• Results indicate no significant difference between male
and female farmers. However, ethnicity, age and
marital status are found to determine levels of uptake
of improved farming practices: EXAMPLE 1.
• Gender - so significant difference between men and
women
ADOPTION OF
• Ethnicity - farmers from ethnic group A more likely to
IMPROVED
adopt than farmers from group B FARMING
• Age – youth less likely to adopt . PRACTICES
• Marital status – farmers who are married and live
together are more likely to adopt than unmarried,
divorced/widowed
THANK
YOU!
I hope you can get helpful knowledge from
this presentation. Good luck!

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CHAPTER 2:

 The first lens embedded in cultural discourses, social

 Individual-level theories such as social roles and social

being a parent involve providing love, care,

 ROLE ENACTMENT - The specific

shared expectations for behavior that are

adopt in response to the role of the

 The interactions perspective in sociology is one of

interactionism. Interactionism is also important

 Structuralist theories of gender or sex are generally

 Society is like hexagon. There are number of

process in giving indications of what would be

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