Purchase Solution

the concept of gender as structure

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Consider Judith Lorber's "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender."

If you had to summarize in ordinary language the concept of "gender as structure," what would you say? (How would you explain "gender as a social institution" to a relative or a friend?)

How did Judith Lorber demonstrate the different significance gender categories have for the individual and for society? (Hint: It may help to recall Lorber's discussions of "sameness" and "difference.")

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

This guide discusses gender as a social institution" using specific examples to validate.

Solution Preview

Welcome back to BM! Your business is valuable to me! Thank you so much for using BrainMass.com!

1. As you explicate the idea of "gender as structure," like a building, it is created. The article clarifies, "Most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life. Yet gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly "doing gender" (West and Zimmerman 1987)."

Instead of unifying us, gender as a structure hinders us: "gender divides work in the home and in economic production, legitimates those in authority, and organizes sexuality and emotional life (Connell 1987, 91-142)." It is also dangerous since it breeds inequity as "When gender is a major component of structured inequality, the devalued genders have less power, prestige, and economic rewards than the valued genders."

However, to me, this concept does embody some hope as well as it means that when we see an athlete like Hines Ward dance on Dancing With The Stars, it shows how the notion of what is acceptable as male can be reinvented is an example of gender as structure.

The article's example shows how this structure is thankfully not set in stone as society can reinvent what we deem as gender appropriate with this illustration: "Seeing men taking care of ...

Solution provided by:
Stacy Shaneyfelt, MA
Education
  • BS , Slippery Rock University
  • MA, Slippery Rock University
Recent Feedback
  • "thk u"
  • "Thank you. Posted one more.. if you are online pls help. "
  • "thk u"
  • "thk u"
  • "thnk you"
Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Sociology: Socialization & Social Groups

A refresher quiz on socialization.

Research Methods for Data Collection

This quiz is designed for students to help them gain a better understanding of the different types of research and when to appropriately use them.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Gender

    364002 Gender questions 1. If you had to summarize in ordinary language the concept of "gender as structure," what would you say? (How would you explain "gender as a social institution" to a relative or a friend?) 2.

  • Action Research in the Real World

    For instance, she asserts that traditional policy decisions are based on claims of differentiation between the sexes. As Worell further explains, in both research and theory, gender is a multifaceted concept.

  • gender, race, and culture and self esteem

    The authors also claim how gender was a strong factor as well as socioeconomic status since "Household income and gender were the strongest predictors of dimensions of self-concept.

  • Occupational Stratification

    The concept of OS began with the expansion of non-manual and urban occupations during the postwar period that led to the reduction in manual and agricultural work; which caused a marked change in the structure of the workforce (occupation stratification

  • Gender-specific toys

    In addition to illustrating how Elena's mom is developing a gender schema, this example also highlights Vygotsky's concept of scaffolding (see Section 2.3).

  • Paper Advise: Gender Inequality & Race Relations

    The functional perspective is more about the framework that creates structures we see in societies. In the case of gender, this structure has changed some, but not as much as it could.

  • Social Structure and Wife of Bath

    Because of the rigid gender divisions within the social structure of the middle ages, I see the Wife of Bath as a challenge to those social and gender norms.

  • Queer, Race and Practice Theories

    Giddens looked at how structuration forms: the interaction of the subject with the structure- so that the subject is produced by the structure, who then reproduces the structure through their routine of actions. Think of it as a constant loop.

  • Gender equity experiment: probability to estimate

    The chances of gender equity is the chance of the selected employees having one man and one woman, which is ((█(6@1))*(█(3@1)))/((█(9@2)) )=18/(9*8/2)=18/36=1/2. The concept of probability here is combination.

View More Related Solutions