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Hannah Yeager
4/11/13
Sociology 101
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quiet and gentle (Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum & Carr, 2011). Other traits
are also stereotypically feminine or masculine; for example, being
affectionate, compassionate, loyal, and soft-spoken are generally classified
as womens traits, whereas leadership, being competitive, individualistic, and
analytical are mens traits (Giddens, Duneier, Appelbaum & Carr, 2011).
Exhibiting such traits can be a symbol that indicates gender, along with more
obvious physical characteristics like dress, hairstyle, etc. Such symbols
contribute to the functioning of society by indicating a persons gender,
which can lead to predictions about their behavior, personality, and life
choices. All of this is processed in a single glance, making judgments clearer
when meeting someone new for the first time.
The functionalism theory can be applied by looking at gender divisions
and unions among young, elementary-age children. The social activity the
children are engaging in would be something simple, such as playing on a
school playground. Social structures are often divided by gender; from
preschool on, children tend to interact more with others of the same gender,
a tendency that increases throughout elementary school. Ratings of the
opposite gender also decrease during this time, and children become
increasingly negative toward the opposite gender (Lewis & Phillipsen, 1998).
The classroom or school is the social institution where children interact with
same- and opposite-gender peers. The manifest function of gender division
in schools is simply to separate the genders; since most children have
developed a disdain for the other gender by late kindergarten, they want to
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Works Cited
Corrado, C. (2009). Gender identities and socialization. In J. O'Brien
(Ed.), Encyclopedia of Gender and Society (Vol. 1). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Gay, R. (2012). Bad feminist. Virginia Quarterly Review.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., & Carr, D. (2011). Gender
inequality. In K. Bakeman (Ed.),Essentials of Sociology (4 ed.). New
York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Hopcroft, R. L. (2009). Gender inequality in interaction- an evolutionary
account. Informally published manuscript, University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, Available from ERIC.
Lewis, T. E., & Phillipsen, L. C. (1998). Interactions on an elementary school
playground: Variations by age, gender, race, group size, and
playground area. Child Study Journal.
Page, M. C., Bailey, L. E., & Van Delinder, J. (2009). The blue blazer club:
Masculine hegemony in science, technology, engineering, and math
fields.
Sayer, L. C. (2005). Gender, time and inequality: Trends in women's and
men's paid work, unpaid work and free time. Informally published
manuscript, Ohio State University.
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