Study Sociology: Gender Relations Flash Cards

 
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Sociology: Gender Relations

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Do Wives Matter?
--over last 2 decades, husbands and wives have increasing factors in wives characteristics in assessing their class position
--husbands attach more importance to their own characteristics when assigning themselves to a class, while wives weigh both characteristics equally
Parental Divorce, Life Course Disruption and Adult Depression
--association between adult depression and childhood parental divorce
--childhood parental divorce may have consequences for adult well-being because of lowered SES and interpersonal relationship problems
--individuals whose parents divorced have lower levels of education, occupational status, and income, but the same levels of social support
--more education is associated with lower levels of ddpression
Family Structure, Gender, and Parental Socialization
--parents gender did not account for family structure variations in parental socialization
--male and female single parents reported less restrictive rules, and step parents had reported less frequent activities with the children
--two adults may be more effective than one, and stepparents are basically strangers
Patriarchy: Radical Feminism
--the base of patriarchy is the system of gender relations in society
--mode of reproduction determines everything in life
--argue that it is a system that can never be changed, except by a fundamental revolution of some kind
--separatism is the only way for liberation of women (any intimate relationship is considered rape, even romance)
Patriarchy: Sociobiology
--life is about the struggle for existence and ensuring that genes will transfer on to next generation
--female has only one chance per year to transfer her genes to the next generation, males have multiple chances
--female strategy for choosing mates is based on intelligence and power (max possibility for ensuring survival of child)
--male strategy for selecting mates is focused on physical and sexual attractiveness
Patriarchy: Marvin Harris' Theory
--calls himself a cultural materialist (this material is an ecological factor i.e. the balance between population and resources)
--everything in society has a rational basis
--female infanticide is most efficient means of population control (fewer females in the past)
Patriarchy: Sex Ratio Theory
--in the past, societies have had more men than women, but in the 2nd half of the 20th century, there have been more women
--when there are less women than men: women become a prize, marriage becomes very valuable, traditional sex roles are prevalant
--when there are more women: marriage loses its significance, men lose interest in taking economic responsibility for women, and traditional sex roles are replaced by egalitarian sex roles
Patriarchy: Marxist Theory
--capitalism is the institution which creates and encourages patriarchy; eliminate patriarchy by eliminating private property
--BUT, they argue that the only relevant basis of difference among people is ownership of property, all other particularistic differences are irrelevant
Patriarchy: Neo-Freudian theory
--early stages: no concept of self besides identification with mother
--when developing self, kids identify with a same-gendered adult, so girls have a smooth transition, while boys have to break down their identity formation and identify with father
-the father are often less involved, and this identity that a boy develops may be a negative identity
-boys have increased tendency for violence and less capacity for compassion and communication
Income Gap: Human Capital Theory
--labor market does not engage in discrimination
--income gap due to differential human capital
--most important factor: marriage
--women must deal with pregnancy, they are also more likely to change jobs more often to take care of children, which means they don't build seniority (high rate of job turnover)
Income Gap: Discrimination Thesis
--income gap is the product of conscious discrimination based on sexism
Empirical Trends: Women and Income
--incomes of those people who are employed year round: in 2005, the Female to male median income ratio was 79%, as opposed to 47% in 1971
Empirical Trends: Women and Occupation
--convergence: the types of occupations are becoming more similar for men and women, different from when occupations were very gendered, although that still exists a little bit today
Empirical Trends: Women and Labor Market Participation
--increasing movement toward convergence in last 50 years
--move women in the labor force, including women who have children under 5 years old
--full time employment is still greater among males
Empirical Trends on Women and Educational Attainment
--1950's: 95% of graduates were male, which directly influenced income, occupation
--now, women have a significant advantage in terms of educational attainment (many more women graduated in 2004)
--implications: harder for women to find spouses with similar educational levels; men are becoming disconnected and less aware of society
--traditionally male-dominated professions are more equally distributed (although men in medical school tend to specialize in certain things over other)
Patriarchy
-generally refers to male dominance
-Two ways of looking at partriarchy:
-discussions about differential incomes, education, occupations, etc.
-patriarchy reflects itself in personal aspects of life: sexual harassment, violence against women, mental calculations about safety of going out
Transformations of Marriage: Parson's Thesis
-because authority and scope of family has declined, the power and significance of marriage and family has increased
-family and marriage gives people some sense of individuality and emotional intimacy
Transformations of marriage: functional/structural differentiation
-in early societies, little specialization and division of labor
-the father was the military, political, and economic head of the family
-increasing differentiation has led to more unity because people are interdependent
-decline in functionality of the family
-social institutions take away the authority and power of the family
-significance of marriage and family has become less significant
Transformations of marriage: extended to nuclear family
-in the past, many generations would live together
-economic changes meant that work and home became increasingly separated
-while living with your extended family made sense in the past, there is now increasing mobility in society
-children don't necessarily have to do the sae thing as their grandparents
-individualism is a dominant feature of modern society
Objections against marriage and family
-they are patriarchal and objejctify women, although not universally
-we need to move toward more egalitarian marriages
Sexual Revolution
-argument that sexual exclusivity is evil
-Reich: the only meaning of life is the moment of climax, people should try to obtain that moment in more and more diverse ways
Family and Marriage: Radical Feminist Theory
-marriage represents patriarchy and male dominance
-recently, though, the critique is solely of the patriarchal for of marriage, not egalitarian marriages
-assumption that women would be equal in a society without marriage, but this is probably false
-two sovereign selves should be able to agree to exclusivity
Marriage and Family: Marx (part of Plato-Marxst)
-marriage is an example of private property (ownership of woman's body)
-property is defined by the systematic exclusion of rights of other people
-marriage represents commodification of women
--state and society enforces this exclusion
Marriage and Family: Plato (part of Plato-Marxist)
-marriage is opposed to a virtuous society (less concern for universal interest)
-encourages particularism
-state should decide who sleeps with whom, etc.
-Romantic Love is enemy of society
-children should be raised collectively
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