Question 1. Who is called a person? What is socialization?

Personality - a concept developed to display social nature a person, considering him as a subject of sociocultural life, defining him as a carrier of an individual principle, self-revealing in the context of social relations, communication and substantive activity. By "personality" they can understand either the human individual as the subject of relations and conscious activity("face" - in the broad sense of the word), or sustainable system socially significant features characterizing an individual as a member of a particular society or community.

Socialization is the process of assimilation by a human individual of patterns of behavior, psychological attitudes, social norms and values, knowledge, skills that allow him to successfully function in society.

Question 2. What obliges the position of a secondary school student? What prevents mutual understanding between teenagers and their parents?

Students have the right to:

To express their own views, beliefs and opinions.

Freedom to receive information.

Be listened to.

To freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

For respect for human dignity.

To receive free education in accordance with state educational standards; on the development of their personality, their talents, mental and physical abilities.

For homeschooling (for medical reasons) and for family education within the framework of the state educational standard.

On the extra help teachers in individual-group lessons, scheduled school work.

For additional fees educational services in accordance with the Charter and the School License.

For an open assessment of the knowledge and skills of the student, receiving an assessment in each subject solely in accordance with their knowledge and skills.

For advance notification of the timing and scope of control work in accordance with the schedule

Be aware of the grades given to him in both oral and written subjects.

To apply for the postponement of examinations after absences due to illness, confirmed by medical documents.

The amount of time for doing homework should not exceed 50% of the classroom load on the subject.

To rest in between lessons and during vacation time.

To participate in the cultural life of the school, events organized in it, appropriate to the age of the student.

To participate in the management of an educational institution in the manner determined by the Charter of the school (Student Council of the school).

To openly express your opinion, make proposals for changes in educational activities at the Student Council of the school.

For transfer to another educational institution that implements an educational program of the appropriate level.

Question 3. Compare the status of the wife and mother-in-law: which is attributed, and which is achieved?

Status achieved: wife. Prescribed: mother-in-law.

Question 4. What determines the status of a person?

Social status refers to the position that a person (or social group) occupies in society.

Each person is a member of various social groups and, accordingly, the holder of many different statuses. The whole set of human statuses is called a status set. The status that the person himself or those around him consider to be the main one is called the main status. This is usually professional or family status, or status in the group where the person has achieved the greatest success.

Question 5: How does prescribed status differ from achieved status?

Sociologists distinguish between assigned (prescribed) and achieved statuses. The first status belongs to a person from birth, the second is the result of the efforts made. Achieved status is what a person acquires through his own efforts: education, financial situation, political influence, business connections, qualifications, etc.

Sometimes status is divided into congenital and ascribed. Innate can be considered gender, age (although this is a variable, but biologically determined side of the status), ethnicity, race. Assigned status is also acquired from birth (or will necessarily be recognized by society), but is not of a biological nature. So, a member of the royal family from birth acquires certain titles.

Question 6. What are the features of the status position of young people in society?

As a rule, the transition from childhood to adulthood is divided into two stages: adolescence and adolescence (early youth).

In adolescence, as psychologists note, the need for communication, especially with peers, is especially pronounced. At the same time, at first, adolescents prefer communication with peers of the same sex, and at an older age, friendly companies already, as a rule, include both boys and girls.

Such communication plays an important role in human development: mastering social norms, ways of interacting with other people, gender roles (determined by established traditions, norms of the model of sexual behavior). There is also such a feature of adolescents as the desire to quickly move into the status of an adult. For some guys, a cigarette, a bottle of beer, or even vodka is a symbol of adulthood. They think that smoking and drinking alcohol makes them more independent, relaxed, sexy. A deep delusion that has to be paid for own health. Adulthood is, first of all, responsibility for oneself and one's loved ones, readiness and ability to constantly solve complex problems. life problems. Most begin to understand this in adolescence. And many are no longer in a hurry to grow up.

Young people are experimenting, “trying on” various adult roles, testing themselves in a variety of activities. At this age, people often say: "I decided to try ... (do a car business, work in a computer company, create a musical group, go to college, etc.), we'll see what happens." Youth as a period of searching for oneself, one's place in life is perceived and accepted by society as a normal phenomenon.

Question 7. What is included in the concept of "social role"?

The social status of a person gives him certain rights, imposes duties and requires appropriate behavior. The behavior expected from a person of a given social status is called a social role.

A social role is a model of human behavior that society recognizes as appropriate for the holder of this status.

Social role - a model of behavior focused on a certain status. It is also called the dynamic side of status. If the status indicates the position of the individual within the group, then the role indicates the behavior inherent in this status.

Question 8. What is gender?

Gender is a social gender that determines a person's behavior in society and how this behavior is perceived. This is the gender-role behavior that determines the relationship with other people: friends, colleagues, classmates, parents, random passers-by, etc.

Question 9. How are gender roles fixed?

Gender education starts from infancy. Parents communicate differently with girls and boys, even if they don't always realize it. Taking into account the gender, the first toys and clothes are selected. Children quite early realize their belonging to a certain gender and learn characteristic type behavior. So, a boy who fell during the game and hit hard, tries to hold back tears, because "only girls roar." Under the influence of the family, the immediate environment, television programs, children develop certain personal qualities, behaviors that will help them fulfill their gender roles.

To a certain extent, the school reinforces models of gender behavior. For example, classes in technology lessons are different for girls and boys.

The place where gender roles manifest themselves most often and very clearly is the home. A woman and a man do housework, as a rule, miscellaneous work. Women take care of children, clean the house, cook, do laundry, etc. Men are engaged in car repairs, household appliances, in the countryside - work in the yard. In general, the bulk of household chores falls on the woman.

At work, gender roles also remain important. The number of working women has increased all over the world. However, professional restrictions associated with belonging to a particular gender remain. This is partly due to the physical characteristics of the sexes, but to a lesser extent, and with the prevailing ideas and prejudices in society. There are professions predominantly male (pilot, steelworker, plumber, etc.) and female (educator kindergarten, seamstress, etc.). Women are less likely to occupy leadership positions, and often receive lower salaries for the same work as men.

The modern post-industrial society is characterized by a change in gender role attitudes. Women are increasingly mastering new roles for themselves - heads of large enterprises, politicians, judges, prosecutors, etc. The role range of men is also expanding, so many of them tend to spend more time with their families, are actively involved in raising children, and take on some of the worries at home.

Question 10. Express your opinion, is the statement true: "The higher the status, the greater the role freedom."

This statement is true because people with a low status are not valued in society, they have a more difficult role, because respect for them is much less than for those who are higher in status.

Question 11. According to one psychologist, from a biological point of view, the beginning of adolescence can be considered the loss of the last milk tooth, and the end - the appearance of the first gray hair. And what, in your opinion, is the social framework of this age stage?

The beginning of youth is, of course, a change of mood. at transitional age this happens quite often, so it's not hard to spot. The end is already the acquisition of some experience, wisdom.

Question 12. “And how boundless adolescence is, everyone knows ... These years make up a part in our life that surpasses the whole,” wrote B. L. Pasternak. Explain how you understand the words of the writer.

These lines indicate that in childhood we are formed faster and to a greater extent than in another age, for example, at the beginning of life, a person’s moral positions, his attitude to the world around him, his knowledge base (which will later determine success) are laid down.

Personal development involves its socialization, the development of a number of social roles that it may need in the present and future in order to become a member of society. In order to successfully self-realize, the child needs to master the roles that will be useful for him. professional self-determination- an attentive student, an accurate performer and a confident leader, a thoughtful researcher or a creator open to everything new. But no less important is personal self-determination, which, among other things, will require the development of gender roles.

The gender of a person is not only a set of specific chromosomes, but also a set of social roles assigned by society to men and women, and satisfaction with life is largely related to whether the self-perception of the individual and the requirements put forward to her and her behavior by society coincide.

When experts start talking to parents about the shaping of their children's gender behavior, parents often become worried because their minds confuse gender with gender and sexual orientation, and in such serious matters, most adults would like their child not to surprise them. . At the same time, modern researchers are inclined to believe that family education rarely influences a person’s perception of himself as a representative of a certain gender (gender identity) and his views on what gender of partners will suit him (sexual orientation). But on the formation of behavior and lifestyle, worldview and attitudes that allow a person to express himself in Everyday life as a masculine (masculine) or feminine (feminine) being, the family and immediate environment influence quite directly.

Parents give their children the first lessons of masculinity or femininity even before the child is able to realize himself not only as a person of a certain sex, but as a person in general. Color-coded clothing for boys and girls in our culture, gender-specific toys, children's room design are all designed to nurture a person in accordance with her or his biological gender. To early childhood your child already has time to get used to the fact that you constantly direct his or her behavior in line with your expectations: “Don't cry, you're a boy!”, “Don't fight, you're a girl!”. By the end of the period preschool childhood a person, as a rule, already has not quite conscious, but well-established ideas about the preferred way of life, about the ratio of sociability and isolation that is comfortable for himself, leadership qualities or gentleness of character are manifested. A six-year-old girl acting like a tomboy forces her parents to put up with the fact that she is the way she is, whether they like it or not.

What makes children deviate from the usual course of development within socially approved limits? First of all, the family environment influences the growing personality. A child may imitate, wittingly or unwittingly, the behavior of one of the parents, and not always the parent of the same sex. Children occupy those niches that the current family situation offers them. Mom works two jobs, manages to combine this with housework without any help, is she active, cheerful and in command of everyone? Dad is soft and withdrawn, spends a lot of free time on the couch watching TV, obeys mom implicitly, depends on her worries? Whose position will the child take? Regardless of gender, the child is highly likely to imitate the one for whom he feels positional superiority, the one who benefits from the family situation as it is. If the father manipulates his family, demonstrating his helplessness, the child will take a passive position, if the mother manipulates the rest, suppressing any attempts to overthrow her power, then the child will try to mirror her masculinity, if not in the family, then among peers.

In addition to direct imitation, the child's relationship with a significant adult plays an important role. A girl who receives encouragement from her father only when she behaves like a boy (achieves something in sports, demonstrates courage, fortitude, or, for example, a love of fishing), and her achievements in "women's disciplines" go unnoticed by him , will develop in a more masculine spirit than if her father encouraged her for any success. It is interesting that if the child does not receive extremely specific requirements from the parent in a form that is understandable to him, he strives to meet the expectations of the parent who is significant for him, guided by his own ideas about these expectations. For example, children left without parental care have mixed feelings towards anonymous relatives. It is not uncommon for such children to fantasize about a parent who was a socially significant figure, but could not take care of the child for objective reasons (the death of a parent, the abduction of a child, different kind dramatic events that separated them). Girls who fantasized about their father (pilot, film actor, criminal) showed more signs of masculinity, masculinity than girls who invented an imaginary mother (ballerina, wife famous person, singer). Thus, the significant adult required the child to meet his (the child's) expectations even in the complete physical absence.

Another important source of broadcasting the norms of gender behavior is becoming such a mouthpiece of public opinion as the media. In contrast to the direct influence of society, which offers adolescents a traditional view of the ideals of masculinity and femininity (a man must be strong, independent, courageous, active, strive for freedom and financial independence; a woman should be gentle, caring, strive to look good and honor family values above professional), the media do not pursue the goal of preserving traditions. Their goal is completely different - to sell goods, services, to form an opinion, to educate an ideal consumer from a young viewer. The media, in its own interests, imposes unrealistic patterns of behavior on young people, which is especially clearly seen in commercials. The young women in them have huge, perfectly furnished houses, in which exhibition cleanliness reigns, while stylishly coiffed children, elite animals and a successful husband run around the house, and the hostess looks like a supermodel, but has an important job, plays sports and spends a lot of time with friends. Thinking rationally, the girl understands that this picture cannot be an example to follow, it is unrealistic, but advertising is designed to offend the irrational, emotional sphere, cause a feeling of inferiority, a willingness to buy a product that will bring her closer to this beautiful, unattainable life of an ideal woman.

Young men are also under pressure from the media, which besiege them with pictures of successful peers: a young man, in the view of commodity producers, barely out of the age of a teenager, begins to wear expensive suits, live in penthouses, and enjoy mass attention. beautiful women and buy only the best for yourself. The fact that even having a good education of such heights, a man of 21-25 years old, as a rule, is unable to achieve, is hushed up. There are no such forms of behavior that young people can embody in their lives screen ideals. All this information is capable of is to cause in the young man a sharp rejection of “long” paths to success, such as working in the real sector of the economy, to provoke him “not so much to be, but to be known”: not to strive for goals consistent with age, but to consume goods, which symbolize success before (and instead of) how they can afford it, look for "quick money" opportunities.

As a result, adolescents' ideas about the behavior and lifestyle of a representative of their gender and age are greatly distorted. Dissatisfaction with oneself keeps entire industries afloat, young people understand intellectually that their real life on the whole corresponds to what their peers live, but unconsciously they still join the race for unattainable images imposed from the outside. This often leads to the fact that adolescents master forms of behavior that are a reaction to the pressure of society, but do not help them achieve their gender and age goals.

Some peoples of the North have genders, i.e. the types of behavior assigned to social gender are not two, as in our culture, but ... five. Heterosexual women in women's clothing performing feminine functions; heterosexual men in men's clothing, with masculine responsibilities; homosexual men in women's clothing; heterosexual men in women's clothes doing women's work; heterosexual women in men's clothes doing men's work. Why so many roles? Mainly because it is necessary for the society, the tribe. A man is not asked if, as a boy, he wants to wear a woman's dress and look after the hearth. When he was born, there were already enough boys in the tribe, but there are noticeably fewer of those who will do women's work in 10-20-30 years. Therefore, society conducts its own rituals and gives the child a function that he will perform all his life, not caring about whether this will make him happy. In our society, such a dressing of an infant would look gross violation human rights and therefore not practiced. But anyone can easily imagine the sign of the late Soviet era - powerful masculine women working on road repairs (society needs them, because men do not want to do hard work for this money, and women agree and work conscientiously, besides, they drink less). It is also easy to understand why modern urban culture gives rise to the types of fragile and aesthetically verified male fashionistas of various kinds, and the larger the settlement, the more such characters are in it. This is what society needs, of course. The higher the building density and overcrowding, the more acute is the issue of regulation of aggression. Populations of non-aggressive, non-competing physical sense men who invest their strength not in a fight for resources, but in self-improvement in the intangible, intellectual, aesthetic, creative plan do big cities a safer place.

Thus, in order to meet the interests of society, it is not necessary to establish a separate gender, you can adjust the settings of those that already exist. At the same time, parents of children and adolescents with disabilities often make an attempt to turn their child into a being of zero gender - an ageless and sexless child. Working with adolescents with disabilities, we have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that they are subject to parental attempts to mask and suppress what is associated with behavior and appearance specific to a particular gender. Boys were often timid, gentle, obedient and dressed in what looked like a grandmother's jacket. The girls, in turn, were cut like boys and had no idea about jewelry, manicure and flirting, although their healthy peers were passionate about this and other aspects of life that were new for the growing girl. Adolescents with disabilities studying in the same groups, but without guardians, demonstrated a pronounced femininity and masculinity, not always in accordance with the biological sex, but with great enthusiasm inherent in age.

The concern of parents in charge of a special child is understandable. Some infantilism of their wards is also understandable: the one who is protected from society and surrounded by care, of course, will be more careless and childish. But there is something unfair in trying to oppose the femininity or masculinity of your child in the interests of the family. Perhaps you suspect that your child is not socially and intellectually mature enough to become a teenager, with all the consequences that entails. But that's how most teenagers are. Perhaps you think that your son or daughter will get into trouble because they do not have a clear understanding of the world of relationships. But if you keep him forever at your hem, he or she will never learn anything. Perhaps you think that having difficulties with health and development, your child will never succeed as a man or as a woman, and in this case it is better that the mother is there. And here you are wrong. Finding a person who can share sorrows and joys is equally difficult, but equally possible for young people with disabilities and for healthy people of any age.

Don't make life difficult for your children.

It is not always easy for them to understand that the gulf between what they are and what they are shown as a model is about the same scale as that of their healthy peers. Many young people do not even want to hear that they are guided by false images, writing off all hardships and hardships as a defect inherent in their health. “A man should have (hereinafter a list of luxury items), but I don’t have this and won’t have it”; “A woman should look like this, but I am the complete opposite” - this is a typical teenager’s idea of ​​​​his place in society as a representative of his gender. In addition to distorted ideas about themselves, the media and social networks form in adolescents an idea of ​​the desired behavior of a partner, which automatically makes any peer uncompetitive and unsuitable for relationships. “We met with him three times, but he didn’t give me anything significant,” a young girl complains to a psychologist, “I’ll have to break up with him, but it’s a pity, I really liked him, it was fun with him.” When asked how she knows about the obligation of gifts, the girl refers to the community in which she was “enlightened”.

Boys and girls trying to start dating trust the stereotypes spread by anonymous online counselors, and as a result, they are faced with the fact that their lives are out of control, that they are looking for in people not what they need, but something imposed by society. Teenagers discover that, having kissed a thousand frogs in search of their princess, it is difficult to remain a prince, since each new relationship breaks easier than the previous ones and it is almost impossible to meet “your man”.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the older generation can no longer serve as an example and source of information for their children, since the pace and content of the daily life of young people has changed radically since their parents were considered young. Boys and girls are trying to adopt the lifestyle they saw in American cinema and television, but this image has no cultural and historical roots in our country. For example, in American school a girl who has been on dates (meaning going out - a walk, going to the cinema, a cafe) with dozens of admirers and not choosing any of them is popular, causes a desire to imitate herself and the respect of her peers. In our culture, she will cause a mixed reaction - some of her fellow students will consider her popular, the other part will be sure that the girl has tarnished her reputation and needs to stay away from her. The same mismatch of gender stereotypes occurs in other areas of life, and it is increasingly difficult for young people to understand each other correctly. After all, the established rules that parents followed disappeared, and in their place there was a complete confusion.

The only way out for teenagers who have reached a dead end in search of ideal relationship, it becomes necessary to listen more to your heart than to public opinion, and look for people who share their own ideas about how they should live modern men and women. After all, only an independent choice and acceptance of responsibility for it make a child a mature person who controls his life.

Kropivyanskaya S.O.

In modern sociology, the concept of "gender role" has acquired two meanings.

In the first case, the gender role understood as the way in which a person expresses his gender identity. In other words, how much he is a real man or an ideal woman. In some cases, a person finds it difficult to identify himself with which gender, alternately playing the role of a man, then the role of a woman. Then they use the term "third sex" or talk about transsexuals and transgender people.

In the second sense, gender role implies role repertoire , i.e. a set of different behaviors, occupations or functions that a person has to perform who has already decided on his gender identity. Let's say modern woman(social role) should be a housewife, mother, wife, worker (role repertoire).

It is known that in addition to biological differences between people belonging to the two sexes, there are also social differences due to the division of labor, the delimitation of social roles, the distribution of activities and occupations. Anthropologists, ethnographers and historians have long established the relativity of ideas about "typically male" or "typically female". What in one society is considered a male occupation (behavior, character trait), in another may be defined as female. To be a man or a woman in society means not just to have certain anatomical features. This means to fulfill certain prescribed to us gender roles- models of behavior that society prescribes for men and women, as well as a set of expectations that others place on people who perform these roles. The external signs that make it possible to distinguish subjects of one, female, from another, male, role are biological differences between the two sexes, as well as features of speech (tone, pitch, volume, intonation of voice) and language (a set of words used), demeanor, observance of etiquette, culture of gestures, clothing, orientation of interests, attitudes, inclinations and hobbies.

Male and female gender roles are, according to experts, mutually exclusive, and in some societies role patterns may even be polarized.

Gender roles determine, for example, that it is appropriate for human beings with female sexual characteristics to paint their lips and cook cabbage soup, and not endowed with such, to wear a tie and earn money. On the contrary, in contemporary culture the so-called universal style of dress and behavior is formed - unisex(English unisex - [about fashion] asexual), which is equally characteristic of men and women, and therefore is not able to clearly distinguish between representatives of different sexes.

Today, the relationship between the sexes, the definition of the roles of each of them are changing radically. New conditions, on the one hand, ensure greater equality of the sexes, and on the other hand, blur the differences between them. Passivity, patience, loyalty and altruism are no longer considered only female features. They are very beneficial for men who have learned to exploit these qualities, but who do not always show equal masculine virtues in response - chivalry or nobility. Ambition, activity and independence are increasingly becoming feminine traits as well. And the introduction of men to the process of childbearing and the responsibilities of motherhood forms in them features that have traditionally been considered purely feminine: tenderness, affection, the desire to take care of babies.

It is much easier for women today to enter public life than it is for their mothers and grandmothers. Now they have more freedom of movement: gone are the days when a woman could leave the house only with a companion, friend or relative. But it looks like they have to pay for that too. Statistics show that young women often become victims of sexual aggression by men.

According to the Russian sociologist I. S. Kon, the gender role refers to the normative prescriptions and expectations that the corresponding culture imposes on the “correct” male or female behavior and which serve as a criterion for assessing the masculinity / femininity of a child or adult. The prescriptions accepted by society in relation to each role are determined by gender and age division and different participation women and men in economic life. That's how it used to be.

In particular, exclusively male activities in traditional society everything that was connected with the religious and magical side of the life of the community was considered: the administration of religious rites and rituals, the assimilation and transmission to other generations of sacred myths, magic spells, religious chants. All sacred rituals are performed by men in secret from women and severely punished (up to murder) those men who cannot keep a secret, and those women who show excessive curiosity. Women are forbidden to approach the places of sacred rituals, look at cult emblems, touch objects involved in rituals, know sacred myths, songs, and the history of the tribe. According to the ideas of primitive people, men, during their religious activities, communicate with the spirits of their ancestors, sacred animals, creatures - the patrons of a tribe or clan, in a word, they mediate between the world of people and sacred peace seeking to ensure the well-being of all team members. Witchcraft, black magic are also run by men. With their help, both ensuring success in various endeavors and revenge on enemies are carried out.

Predominantly male business is the organization of intra-communal life. AT men's houses, separately from women, men make decisions related to the most important issues in the life of the team. This is the distribution of food, and the use of communal territory, and the organization of festivities, the resolution of marriage issues, the settlement of internal disputes and conflicts, the control of members of the team and the punishment of the guilty, etc.

Since ancient times, men have monopolized the sphere of intercommunal and then international relations, turning a purely female (by name) field of activity - diplomacy - into their fiefdom. Whether it was the establishment of friendly intertribal relations and the following multi-day feast, where again only males were allowed, or a declaration of war and distant conquests, all the burdens of which could only be endured by the stronger sex. Primitive men searched and explored new territories, were the first to master the places of future parking, and were the first to plow land. Men, to a greater extent than women, are bound by external obligations: they are involved in a complex of kinship and community relations that involve the exchange of food, things, or certain services. Women, as a rule, are not involved in these cases.

It is not surprising that men have occupied all the most important occupations for the community - from politics, religion, economics to the solution of purely social problems. That's why they made nucleus primitive society, which performed a cementing function, organizing the primitive team from the inside. The whole life of women is concentrated within the community, and they cement it from the inside not with organizational decisions and control, but with numerous interpersonal contacts and connections.

Women's sphere peripheral and is limited mainly to family, home, care of children and husband. If the position of a man is dual: he is, as it were, between the community and the family, then the position of a woman is definite - she belongs to the family, being its center. The purpose of all her activity is the well-being of this "female" world. It is achieved by maintaining the economic support of one's own family, as well as establishing proper interaction with similar groups (women's cells) within the community, in particular through the exchange of food, mutual assistance in caring for children, participation in joint work with other women to deliver water and fuel, and other collective activities.

Clothing, gestures, manner of speech are also elements of the gender role. The wardrobe, as well as the system of rules, can change for one person throughout the day: in the morning she is a housewife (robe, curlers, nervous preparations for work), in the afternoon she is a business woman (strict suit, bossy tone, make-up), in the evening she is a theater spectator (evening dress, loose manners, other image) or caring mother(Fig. 8.2).

In marriage, a woman performs whole line roles needed by a man: the role of a friend who can be consulted on important vital matters and "pour out the soul", spend together free time or a vacation with which you can share everyday problems, trust her; the role of a quasi-mother who gives him attention and care, the role of a hostess who takes care of order, comfort, cleanliness. One of the important roles of a woman is the role of a mistress.

The topic of gender roles will be incompletely disclosed if we limit ourselves to two sexes and begin to consider the role

Rice. 8.2.

only as a model of behavior set by the biological boundaries of one sex. The phenomenon has been known since ancient times. sex change, which can occur both surgically (through operations on the genitals) and symbolically (by changing clothes and changing the cultural image). In anthropological and sociological literature this phenomenon received the generic name of the "third sex".

Ritual dressing of men in women's clothes has been preserved to this day in various tribes that inherited the customs of ancient cultures. So, for example, in the Namshi tribe, young men wear skirts for the rite of initiation, and in the tribes of the Maasai people, boys wear skirts from the moment of the circumcision ritual until the wounds are completely healed. Katakali dancers in Ceylon put on precious jewelry and make up, trying in this way to invoke the mercy of the gods, the Zulus in such robes cause rain, and the Indian bhots dance in women's to scare away the scarlet spirits.

Female performers in Japanese kabuki theater put on very elaborate make-up, speak in falsetto, and move in imitation of women's walking and gestures. The culture of Kabuki men is so high that many japanese women, paradoxically, they still come to the theater to learn from men the art of being a woman. They try to adopt their manner of holding their back, copy gestures and much more.

Around the 16th century in many European countries there was a tradition of dressing boys in dresses and calling them by their maiden names until they were seven years old. In this way, apparently, the parents tried to protect their sons from evil spirits. Only after the age of seven, the boys were allowed to change their dresses for pantaloons and become members of the male society. This tradition extended to all classes of society. So, in family portraits depicting children, it was possible to distinguish who it was, a boy or a girl, only by the toys that the children held in their hands. For boys it was either a whip or a wooden horse, for girls it was a chrysalis. This tradition was so stable that in some places it survived until the middle of the 20th century.

• Cm.: Badinter E. Decree. op. S. 56.
• See more: History primitive society. The era of the primitive tribal community. M., 1986; Manager L. N. Gender like cultural and historical phenomenon: the era of primitiveness. URL: irbis.asu.ru
• maya.cltn.ru

Gender roles are roles determined by the differentiation of people in society on the basis of gender. gender role- differentiation of activities, statuses, rights and obligations of individuals depending on their gender; refers to the type of social roles, is normative, expresses certain social expectations (expectations), manifests itself in behavior. At the cultural level, they exist in the context of a certain system of gender symbolism and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Gender "roles are always associated with a certain normative system that a person learns and refracts in his mind and behavior" .

Thus, gender roles can be seen as external manifestations of patterns of behavior and attitudes that allow other people to judge whether an individual is male or female. In other words, it is the social manifestation of an individual's gender identity.

Gender roles refer to a type of prescribed roles. The status of a future man or a future woman is acquired by a child at birth, and then, in the process of gender socialization, the child learns to play one or another gender role. Gender stereotypes that exist in society have big influence on the process of socialization of children, largely determining its direction. Under gender stereotypes standardized ideas about behavior patterns and character traits that correspond to the concepts of "male" and "female" are understood.

The gender stereotype regarding the consolidation of family and professional roles in accordance with gender is one of the most common stereotypes that prescribe standard models of role behavior for men and women. In accordance with this stereotype, for women, family roles (mother, housewife) are considered the main social roles, for men, professional roles (worker, worker, earner, breadwinner). Men are usually evaluated by professional success, women - by the presence of a family and children. Folk wisdom says that a "normal" woman wants to get married and have children and that all other interests they may have are secondary to these. family roles. To fulfill the traditional role of a housewife, a woman must have sensitivity, compassion and caring. While men are required to be achievement-oriented, women are required to be people-oriented and seek close interpersonal relationships.

One of the bases for the formation of traditional gender roles is the division of labor based on gender. The main criterion in this division is the biological ability of women to bear children. In modern societies, that has long disappeared social necessity division of labor based on the reproductive ability of women, which existed in archaic societies. Most women work in the manufacturing sector outside the home, and men have long ceased to be only “warriors and hunters” who protect and feed their families. And, nevertheless, stereotypes about traditional gender roles are very stable: women are required to concentrate on the private (home) sphere of activity, and men - in the professional, public sphere.

An important role in the approval of the gender stereotype about the consolidation of social roles in accordance with gender was played by the concept of "natural" complementarity of the sexes by Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales, who considered the differentiation of male and female roles in structural and functional terms. According to their point of view, spouses should play two different roles in the modern family. The instrumental role is to maintain communication between the family and the outside world - this is a professional activity that brings material income and social status; the expressive role involves primarily caring for children and regulating relationships within the family. How is the distribution of responsibilities between spouses based on these two roles? Parsons and Bales believe that a wife's ability to bear children and care for children unequivocally determine her expressive role, and a husband who cannot perform these biological functions becomes an instrumental role performer.

This theory contributed to the integration into a single scheme of socio-anthropological and psychological data. However, feminist criticism has shown that the instrumental and expressive dichotomy, for all its empirical and worldly persuasiveness, is based not so much on natural gender differences as on social norms, adherence to which hampers the individual self-development and self-expression of women and men.

Traditional gender roles hinder the development of the individual and the realization of the existing potential. This idea was the impetus for the development of Sandra Bam androgyny concepts, according to which a person, regardless of his biological sex, can have both masculine and femininity features, combining both traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine qualities. This allows you to highlight the masculine, feminine, androgynous models of gender roles. This idea was developed further, and J. Plec in his works began to talk about the splitting, or fragmentation, of gender roles. There is no single male or female role. Each person performs a number of different roles (wife, mother, business woman, etc.), often these roles may not be combined, which leads to an intrapersonal role conflict.

Gender roles can be studied at three different levels. At the macrosocial level, we are talking about the differentiation of social functions by gender and the corresponding cultural norms. To describe the “female role” at this level means to reveal the specifics of the social position of a woman (typical activities, social status, mass ideas about a woman) by correlating it with the position of a man within a given society, system.

At the level of interpersonal relations, the gender role is derived not only from general social norms and conditions, but also from the particular system of joint activity being studied. The role of a mother or wife always depends on how the responsibilities are specifically distributed in a given family, how the roles of father, husband, children, etc. are defined in it.

At the intra-individual level, the internalized gender role is a derivative of the characteristics of a particular personality: an individual builds his behavior as a husband or father, taking into account his ideas about what, in his opinion, a man should be in general, based on all his conscious and unconscious attitudes and life experience.

: the first concept describes social expectations external to a person in connection with his gender, the second - the internal self-perception of a person as a representative of a particular gender. A person's gender identity and gender role may not match - particularly in transgender and intersex people. The alignment of gender role with gender identity is part of the transgender transition.

Gender roles in different cultures

In modern societies, a binary gender system dominates - a way social organization in which people are divided into two opposite groups - men and women. The binary gender system implies a strict correspondence between sex assigned at birth and gender role, as well as other parameters (in particular, gender identity and sexual orientation). As anthropological studies show, the establishment of such a correspondence is not universal: in many cultures, biological, in particular anatomical sex, does not play a role. key role in defining gender role or gender identity. Not universal and the allocation of only two genders. For example, many native North American cultures have three or four genders and corresponding gender roles. In West African Yoruba culture, gender is traditionally not a significant social category, and social roles are determined primarily by age and kinship.

Even within close cultures or within the same culture, gender roles can differ markedly. For example, in European secular culture In the 18th and 19th centuries, women were expected to be weak and fragile, and in most peasant cultures, women were considered to be naturally strong and hardy. In Western (North American and Western European) middle-class cultures since the 1950s, the female gender role has been that of the housewife, and participation in productive work for women has been excluded. Yet at the same time and in the same societies, working outside the home was an expected and self-evident element of the gender role for working-class women. Women's gender role in socialist societies also involved a combination of work outside the home, housework, and family care.

Historical aspect

The ratio of gender roles has changed significantly over the course of human history. In particular, historians note a significant increase in the social role of women in Europe during the late Middle Ages (1300-1500).

Gender Development Explanations

There are two main points of view in the debate about the origin of gender roles and differences: biological determinists suggest that gender differences are determined by biological, natural factors, and supporters of social constructivism - that they are formed by society in the process of socialization. Various theories of gender development have been put forward in science. Biologically based theories explaining differences in gender roles by evolution have not found convincing empirical evidence. Empirical Research also refuted psychoanalytic theories that explained gender development through the relationship of the child with parents. The strongest empirical evidence exists for cognitive and socio-cognitive theories that explain gender development as a complex interplay of biological, cognitive, and social factors.

Viewpoints on the origin of gender roles

Ordinary consciousness often represents existing in this society in a particular historical period, gender roles are both natural and natural. There is also a plethora of research seeking to uncover the biological basis for gender roles—in particular, to establish biological origin gender differences between men and women, and find the biological causes of gender nonconformity. But the historical and anthropological knowledge accumulated to date does not support this point of view, since the diversity of ideas about gender and gender roles in the cultures of the world and throughout history is too great. At the same time, in modern social sciences collected a lot of data on how gender roles are formed under the influence of various social processes.

Biological determinism

The point of view that social phenomena determined by biological factors biological determinism. A related concept is naturalization social practices- describes the process of interpreting social practices as facts of nature. Biological determinism in relation to gender roles is expressed, for example, in the widespread assertions that motherhood is a woman's natural destiny, or that men are not naturally emotional.

Since the end of the 19th century, scientists from various scientific fields have conducted many studies of gender differences between men and women. Until the 1970s, the main purpose of these studies was to confirm the biological nature of gender differences and to substantiate the content of existing gender roles. However, the results of most studies show that there are much more similarities between men and women than differences. In a widely cited review study, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin cite four dimensions in which differences between men and women have been found: spatial awareness, mathematical ability, language skills, and aggressiveness. But even these discovered differences are small and strongly depend on the methodology and conditions of the study.

Since the 1970s, scholars have also become interested in the causes of gender non-conformity, i.e. violations of gender roles. In particular, research has been carried out to determine biological causes transsexuality. There are currently theories linking transsexuality to genetics, brain structure, brain activity, and androgen exposure during fetal development. At the same time, the results of these studies are also controversial - for example, the identified features of the structure of the brain of transsexual people are not unique (similar differences are observed in homosexual people compared to heterosexual people), and there is evidence that the structure of the brain can change under the influence of life experience.

social constructivism

The view that gender roles are formed, or constructed, by society belongs to the theory of social constructivism. The basis for studying the social nature and processes of constructing gender roles was laid, in particular, by theoretical work Simone de Beauvoir and Michel Foucault. Studies of the social construction of gender roles show how, in the process of socialization and interaction between people, those gender differences and expectations are formed that are perceived as natural and natural in everyday consciousness.

According to latest research found differences between men and women are largely due to social factors. For example, research reveals several reasons why women are less successful in mathematics than men: firstly, they lack confidence in their abilities, and secondly, they consider math classes inappropriate for their gender role and refuse them even when show excellent abilities in this area, thirdly, parents and teachers encourage girls to do mathematics much less than boys. Thus, as noted by some researchers, gender stereotypes work like self-fulfilling prophecies: in the course of socialization, people are provided with information about gender roles, which forms their expectations from themselves, and as a result they show gender-conforming behavior.

Biological theories

Biologically based explanations of gender development and differences are widespread. One of the most influential such theories, evolutionary psychology, explains gender differentiation by heredity. The hereditary origin of gender roles is analyzed through preferences in the choice of sexual partners, reproductive strategies, the contribution of parents to the care of offspring, and the aggressiveness of men. From the point of view of this theory, modern gender roles are due to the successful adaptation of the ancestors of modern man to differences in reproductive tasks men and women.

Empirical evidence refutes the main tenets of biological theories of gender development. Many researchers also criticize the methodology of biologically oriented research. Nevertheless, biological theories continue to enjoy great popularity, including among the general public. According to some authors, this is due to the fact that in many societies, ordinary consciousness ascribes to biology the status of absolute truth. In addition, the provisions of biological theories correspond to gender stereotypes.

Reproductive strategies

According to evolutionary psychology, in the process of evolution, different reproductive strategies have been fixed at the genetic level in men and women, dictated by the need to ensure the survival of man as a biological species. The reproductive strategy of men is aimed at maximizing the spread of their genes, so men prefer to have many sexual partners and not spend time caring for offspring. The reproductive strategy of women is to have few sexual partners who will be able to provide themselves and their offspring with the necessary resources for survival.

Many researchers question the very concept of reproductive strategy. In terms of the general theory of evolution, natural selection is determined by direct practical use, not future goals. The claim that ancient men sought to become fathers as much as possible more children, and ancient women to find reliable breadwinners, suggests that they had a conscious or unconscious purpose, which, according to some authors, contradicts the Darwinian functional explanation.

Other authors point out that the evolutionary psychology hypothesis is not supported by empirical evidence. In particular, the assumption that ancient women did not have enough food during pregnancy and lactation, looks quite convincing, but with the same success, based on this, it can be assumed that in connection with this, women developed increased abilities for orientation in space and memory , which would allow them to find and remember the location of food sources. Additional information is needed to substantiate any hypothesis about specific adaptive mechanisms. Such information could be data from molecular studies of fossilized human remains or data from archeology, but evolutionary psychology does not offer such data. Some authors point out that the concept of reproductive strategies is an attempt to "hindsight" explain modern gender stereotypes.

Anthropological evidence also speaks against the hypothesis of reproductive strategies. They show, in particular, that reproductive behavior is influenced by cultural beliefs about the human body and reproduction. In cultures where it is believed that multiple partners are required to reproduce, women have sexual contact with different partners, and these partners are not jealous of each other.

Choice of sexual partners

Evolutionary psychology states that men tend to choose young and physically attractive mates because such mates are more likely to bear healthy offspring, and women tend to choose financially wealthy men who can feed them. In confirmation of these data, the results of surveys are given, in which men and women named the most attractive characteristics of potential partners for themselves. However, numerous studies show that what people say is significantly different from how they actually behave: in fact, physical attractiveness affects the choice of partners in men and women in the same way. On the other hand, indicators of physical attractiveness are extremely diverse in terms of different cultures world, and most of these characteristics are not related to fertility. Some authors also point out that evolutionary psychology only explains heterosexual behavior and suggest that evolutionary psychologists avoid looking at research data on non-heterosexual people because their behavior and gender roles do not match gender stereotypes and thus undermine evolutionary explanations.

Aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic theories

Although psychoanalytic theory has had a major impact on the development of developmental psychology, empirical evidence does not support it. Research has not found a strong relationship between same-sex parent identification and gender role learning. Children's role models are much more likely to be caring or socially powerful adults than to be threatening adults with whom the child has a competitive relationship.

The lack of empirical support for classical psychoanalytic theory has led to the emergence of various updated versions of it. In the field of gender development, one of the most influential latest versions This is Nancy Chodorow's theory. According to this theory, gender identity is formed during infancy and not during the phallic phase, as Freud claimed. Both boys and girls initially identify with their mother, but because daughters are the same sex as their mother, identification between daughters and mothers is stronger than between sons and mothers. In the course of further development, girls retain identification with their mother and psychologically merge with her. As a result, the self-image of the girl and the woman is characterized by a strong sense of interdependence, which translates into a desire for interpersonal relationships and encourages the woman, in turn, to become a mother. The development of the boy is determined by the desire to separate from the mother and further define himself through difference from women, which leads to the debasement of femininity.

But the empirical evidence does not support Chodorow's theory either. Research does not find a stronger bond between mothers and daughters than between mothers and sons. There is also no evidence that women's needs for interpersonal relationships are met only through motherhood. On the contrary, studies show that women whose only social role is that of mother and wife are more prone to the appearance psychological problems than childless married or unmarried women and working mothers.

Cognitive and social theories

Cognitive and social theories of gender development include theories of cognitive development, gender schemas, social learning, and social cognitive theory. Although at the initial stages these theories differed significantly from each other, and their supporters had heated discussions among themselves, modern versions of these theories have much in common. In general, cognitive and social theories view gender development as difficult process interactions of biological, social and cognitive factors. All of them pay great attention social source m of gender development and the active role that a person plays in their own gender development.

Social sources of gender development

The social sources of gender development include, in particular, the influence of parents, other significant adults and peers, as well as information pressure from the media, cinema, literature, etc.

Influence of parents

Differences in the upbringing of boys and girls are described by the concept of "differential socialization". Differential socialization is not necessarily expressed in the form of direct instructions or prohibitions. As studies show, differential socialization begins even before the birth of a child, as soon as its sex is determined using ultrasound. Mothers who learn the sex of their unborn child in this way describe boys as "active" and "mobile", and girls as "calm". From birth, babies tend to be surrounded by gender-specific toys, diapers, and other items; male infants are described as "big", "strong" and "independent", while girls are referred to as "gentle", "delicate" and "beautiful", even if there are no objective differences in the appearance or behavior of the infants. Thus, the ideas and expectations of children related to gender are formed by adults on the basis of gender stereotypes long before the child can begin to show this or that behavior.

Differential socialization continues into the later life of the child. For example, multiple studies show that parents are more stimulating and more responsive to motor activity in infant boys than in girls. Another illustrative experiment concerns the influence of adult gender stereotypes on the choice of toys for children. The experiment was initially carried out with the participation of a three-month-old child, and later again with the participation of several children aged from three to 11 months. Three groups of adults were asked to play with the child, while the first group was told that the child was a girl, the second group that it was a boy, and the third group was not informed about the gender of the child. The adults had three toys at their disposal: a doll, a ball, and a gender-neutral tooth ring. Most of the adults who considered the child to be a boy offered him a ball, and the majority of those who considered the child to be a girl - a doll, without trying to find out which of the toys interests the child more.

Peer Influence

As it expands social peace peer groups become another important source of gender development, as well as social learning in general. In interaction with peers, children, starting at the age of three or four, encourage each other for gender-typical behavior, as well as for playing in gender-homogeneous groups, and punish for behavior that is considered inappropriate for their gender.

Information pressure

Finally, the media play a significant role in gender development, especially television, as well as literature, cinema and video games. In these sources from which children learn about gender roles, men and women are often portrayed in exaggerated stereotypes: men are portrayed as active and adventurous, while women are portrayed as dependent, unambitious and emotional. Image professional life men and women often do not match real situation affairs: men are portrayed as representatives of various professions, leaders and bosses, and women - either as housewives or as working in low-status positions. Such a portrayal does not correspond to the actual statistics of the professional employment of men, nor to the wide involvement of women in professional activity. Studies show that gender stereotypes in the media and culture have a big impact on children: those who watch a lot of TV form more stereotyped ideas about gender roles. On the other hand, the non-stereotypical depiction of representatives of different genders expands the range of desires and aspirations in children, as well as the options for roles that they consider acceptable for their gender. The recurring image of equal participation of representatives of different genders in certain activities contributes to the steady softening of gender stereotypes in young children.

Active human role in gender development

Social sources of gender development often provide conflicting information about gender roles and impose conflicting expectations on the child. This requires the child, from a very early age, to actively seek and build their own own rules and perceptions of gender as a new and significant social category. Activity in the formation of ideas about gender is manifested, in particular, in selective attention and memory, as well as in the formation of preferences - for example, gender-typical or atypical toys, games with peers of one's own or another gender.

The Importance of Gender Roles

see also

Notes

1. Nanda, Serena. Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations. - Waveland Pr Inc, 1999. - ISBN 978-1577660743.
2. Roscoe, Will. Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America. - Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. - ISBN 978-0312224790.
3. Oyewumi, Oyeronke. Conceptualizing gender: the eurocentric foundations of feminist concepts and the challenge of African epistemologies // Jenda: a Journal of Culture and African Woman Studies. - 2002. - Vol. 2.
4. Connell R. Gender and Power: Society, Personality, and Gender Politics. - M.: New literary review, 2015. - ISBN 978-5-4448-0248-9.
5. hooks, bell. Rethinking the Nature of Work // Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center . - Pluto Press, 2000. - ISBN 9780745316635.
6. Zdravomyslova E., Temkina A. (ed.). Russian gender order: a sociological approach. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House European University in St. Petersburg, 2007. - ISBN 978-5-94380-060-3.
7. , Gender Roles in Late Medieval Europe, p. 297.
8. Bussey, K., Bandura, A. Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation // Psychological review. - 1999. - T. 106, No. 4. - S. 676-713.
9. Fausto-Sterling A. Beyond difference: A biologist's perspective // ​​Journal of Social Issues. - 1997. - V. 53, No. 2. - S. 233–258.
10. Martin, C.L., et al. Cognitive Theories of Early Gender Development // Psychological Bulletin. - 2002. - T. 128, No. 6. - S. 903-933.
11. Burn Sean. Gender psychology = The Social Psychology of Gender. - St. Petersburg: Prime Eurosign, 2002.
12. Maccoby, E. and Jacklin, C. The Psychology of Sex Differences. - Stanford University Press, 1974. - ISBN 9780804708593.
13. Hare, L; Bernard, P; Sanchez, F; Baird, P; Vilain, E; Kennedy, T; Harley, V (2009). “Androgen Receptor Repeat Length Polymorphism Associated with Male-to-Female Transsexualism” . Biological Psychiatry. 65 (1): 93-6. DOI:10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.08.033. PMC. PMID.
14. Kruijver F. P., Zhou J. N., Pool C. W., Hofman M. A., Gooren L. J., Swaab D. F. Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus // The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. - 2000. - No. 85(5). - P. 2034-2041.
15. Berglund, H.; Lindstrom, P.; Dhejne-Helmy, C.; Savic, I. (2007). “Male-to-Female Transsexuals Show Sex-Atypical Hypothalamus Activation When Smelling Odorous Steroids.” Cerebral Cortex. 18 (8): 1900-8. DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhm216. PMID.
16. Schneider, H; Pickel, J; Stalla, G (2006). “Typical female 2nd–4th finger length (2D:4D) ratios in male-to-female transsexuals-possible implications for prenatal androgen exposure.” Psychoneuroendocrinology. 31 (2): 265-9. DOI:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.07.005 . PMID.
17. LeVay S (August 1991). “A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men.” Science. 253 (5023): 1034-7. DOI:10.1126/science.1887219. PMID.
18. Byne W, Tobet S, Mattiace LA; et al. (September 2001). “The interstitial nuclei of the human anterior hypothalamus: an investigation of variation with sex, sexual orientation, and HIV status.” Horm Behav. 40 (2): 86-92. DOI:10.1006/hbeh.2001.1680. PMID.
19. Eccles, J.S. Bringing young women to math and science // Gender and thought: Psychological perspectives / Crawford, M., and Gentry, M.. - New York: Springer, 1989.
20. Kimball, M.M. A new perspective on women "s math achievement // Psychological Bulletin. - 1989. - T. 105, No. 2. - S. 198-214.
21. Dweck, C. S. et al. Sex differences in learned helplessness: II. The contingencies of evaluative feedback in the classroom and III. An experimental analysis // Developmental psychology. - 1978. - V. 14, No. 3. - S. 268-276.