Introduction to Gender as a Social Construct
From the beginning of time, there has been a distinction between men and women. Although most are all able to recognize this social construct which has been present for thousands of years, why is this societal difference so prominent? And why do people unconsciously create it?
The Sociological Perspective on Gender
The sociology of gender examines the role that society has on our understanding of the difference between masculinity, what society deems acceptable to be a “man,” and femininity, what society deems as acceptable to be a “woman.” This constructs gender norms, the socially acceptable ways of acting out of gender. These norms are learned early in life through socialization as the child slowly becomes accustomed to this learned lifestyle based on what they are taught by their parents, school, media, and various prevalent institutions. Through time as these institutions evolve, so does this gender norm. This has allowed each gender to develop its own distinct set of norms, which sociologist Raewyn Connell dives into.
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Raewyn Connell's Theory of Masculinities
Connell notes that by the 1940s, the terms “sex role,” “male role,” and “female role” were used by the masses. She says that so as to talk about masculinities one must speak about the relations between genders, declaring how this word speaks about the position of men in society and not about a preconceived definition people simply follow. These gender relations are patterns of practices that groups of people engage in. Whether people realize it or not, they are the ones that dictate the term’s definition and give it the importance that it has. Society is largely based on whether people conform to this current meaning of such a primitive word and from this choose the importance of the individual. So now, let’s further discuss this idea of masculinity and the male role.
Connell states that masculinity’s change in history and that woman have a considerable role in creating them during their interactions with males. Her writing talking of her takes on masculinity in different social settings eventually led to her book Masculinities. Unlike other sociology works on men, the book focused on the numerous natural types of masculinity that have developed over time.
Hegemonic Masculinity and Gender Inequality
Out of this and her other works sprouted her idea of hegemonic masculinity, a practice that legitimizes powerful men’s dominance in society and justifies the lesser role of the common male population and women. It analyzes the opinions and practices among men that lead to gender inequality based on this social dominance. This theory has been debated because of its great possibility to figure out the reason for such distinct differences between men and women. It has led to many other studies and research that further dive into this idea of varying masculinities.
Global Perspectives on Masculinity
Another novel that divulges this idea is a set of studies by sociologists Michael S. Kimmel, Jeff R. Hearn, and of course Raewyn Connell. The Handbook of Studies of Men and Masculinities discusses the construct of masculinity under four perspectives: the social organization of masculinities in their global and regional iterations, the institutional reproduction and articulation of masculinities, the ways in which interactions between men and women lead to gender inequalities, and the ways in which men express and understand their gender roles. Overall, it explores the idea of gender identity as a constant process and how much this process depends on others to continue it. This idea of masculinity is greatly shaped by major institutions in society, such as the workplace, as stated previously by Connell. Yet a key need for gender research on men is the fact that the majority of studies focus on women and contemporary feminism, all researched by women. Luckily, these studies have led many sociologists to realize the need for male-dominated studies about how these social constructs affect them as well. This investigation of the different types of masculinities and their origins and structures has been active for a few decades now since the publishing of this novel. This search behind the reasoning of this social construct has been occurring all over the world, ranging from Canada to Australia, where Connell studies. Global debates have resulted from this prevalent research, a concept the Commission on the Status of Women commented on during their 48th session. They said that over the last several years, more people have been becoming interested in how males have been promoting gender equality. Now, they are taking increased responsibility for the correct ways they should engage with both men and women. This novel dives into this notion, where each chapter is written by experts in their field who are ready to teach the next generation about the era of their ways.
With this said, a specific section from the book, entitled “Social Theories for Researching Men and Masculinities” by Oystein Gullvag Holter focuses on three main problematic concepts based on scientific inquiry that may be causing this inequality: domination, patriarchy, and sexism. He also divulges two social theories: direct gender hierarchy which emphasizes the social primacy of male dominance and structural inequality which is more concerned with social structural relations of gender inequalities. What is interesting about these two ideas is that they greatly differ from the sociobiological assumptions that were made about these gender roles only a few decades ago. Instead, they focus on the sex-gender ways of defining this topic and rather rely on the social creation and construct of gender to relay this definition. Holter notes that research about gender questions the division between neutral and gendered and doesn’t question the difference between masculine and feminine. This means that sociologists instead need to focus on indirect forms of how we create structural inequality based on gender. Other emerging studies on men and masculinities have confirmed the significance of the social context for the different types of views on this subject that we are now seeing. This again brings up the fact that various institutions are having a major effect on the social construct, and this is causing problems because of this patriarchal critique.
Another area of the book explores the ways constructions of masculinity rely on local culture and the collisions of those local cultures with the outside world. There is a new present need for a global perspective in studies of men and masculinity, which this next chapter divulges into. The main focuses of similar research, as the author states, have had a common characteristic focus and style, mostly consisting of the making of masculinity in a particular moment or place. This style has made use of ethnographic ways of constructing research that brought up this issue of masculinity. It made evident that studies correlate to this idea of “sex roles.” What is so significant about these types of studies is that they show these “sex roles” from the perspective of both a local and global perspective. After all, masculinities are largely shaped by global society and global structures.
The Impact of Globalization on Gender Constructs
It is imperative to understand that masculinities and femininities are produced together in the same process. Now, this connects to the concept of the globalization of gender. Having to shift from picturing gender as a global attribute as opposed to an individual one is very difficult. However, gender on a global scale is largely what produces this concept. Because social institutions are the basic principles of sociology, social institutions also greatly affect the sociology of gender. These institutions include global markets, state corporations, and large-scale institutions. Because most people interact with these organizations on a daily basis, they have proven to be about gender politics, which leads sociologists to be able to recognize the existence of a world gender order. Therefore, changes in the global economy, for example, can greatly change this social construct. A key element of this concept is that globalization revolves around economic changes that lead to the current state of capitalism. So with these continuous and inevitable changes comes an altered global view of gender. Globalization refers to a very large-scale process, and it has effects that appear great in this social construct. This novel as a whole discusses the various factors that change the idea of masculinities, including this idea of globalization but also the social theories for this phenomenon.
Judith Lorber's Feminist Perspective on Gender
Now that the male theory on gender inequalities and the social causes of this, let’s focus more on the female take on the subject. Sociology’s first feminist Judith Lorber also used her theories on this issue to develop her book entitled Paradoxes of Gender. In this novel, she examines the most basic assumptions of gender and challenges their thought process. The text acknowledges female significance in the contribution to gender inequality while also celebrating women based on the improvements they have made in recent society. She shows her view on the face that gender as a whole is a product of socialization, subject to human agency, organizations, and interpretation. Her paradigm states that yes, gender is an institution, but one comparable to the economy, family, and religion. She uses this paradox of gender to question society, asking various things such as why society has developed this idea of two completely opposite genders. According her, she argues that the gender system is there to maintain structure and inequality, producing a natural hierarchy of a lower and higher being. Ahead of her time, she concludes by describing a world where there is complete equality and where people view others separate of their race, gender, and social class. With this in mind, key elements of her book add to her hypothesis of gender and her reasoning for questioning the basic elements of what is known as “gender.”
Conclusion: Challenging and Reimagining Gender Norms
The first line says that talking about gender is like fish talking about water. This initial thought highlights the premise of the question of why has gender become so structured and for what purpose? Gender has become a routine activity that has slowly morphed into a social norm, equivalent to fish talking about an object that consumes that at all times. Water is essential for their existence and there is no getting around this fact, just as there is seemingly no way to get around this image of another person’s gender. This social construct, as Lorber notes, is taken for granted and no longer questioned. However, this is of course what she intends to do, highlighting the reason for people doing so and why this barrier between the two sexes has been drawn without examination. Although this novel was written over twenty years ago, this idea still applies. Baby showers are still featuring this color scheme depending on the sex of the unborn baby. Therefore, gender has been implemented in us since before we were born. It is a part of our social life. Yet people are the ones who produce and constantly depend on these gender norms in order to feel safe in an ordered environment.
“Doing gender” is something that is done without thought and without thinking twice. Every day, men and women are expected to act in a certain fashion. Lorber points out that gender signs and signals have become so commonplace that many no longer even realize that they are there. Over time, this issue has developed to the point where many have failed to realize that these boundaries exist unless they deviate from the norm. They are uncomfortable until they are let right. This sociologist, however, also notes that two other genders exist: transvestite, a person who dresses in opposite gender clothes, and transsexual, a person who has had sex-change surgery. People of this type change their gender and construct their status by speaking, acting, and dressing in the socially acceptable way of the sex they were not born as. This book is so relevant to this question of why gender norms are created because she is able to talk about the issue from both an unbiased sociology perspective and as a woman greatly affected by this issue.
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