conclusion of gender socialization essay

We use cookies to enhance our website for you. Proceed if you agree to this policy or learn more about it.

• Essay Database >
• Essay Examples >
• Essays Topics >
• Essay on Social Issues

Gender Socialization Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Social Issues , Belief , Socialization , Family , Society , Media , Children , Women

Words: 1300

Published: 01/08/2020

ORDER PAPER LIKE THIS

Arguably, men and women have always had some sort of difference. This implies that despite the struggle to implement policies that boost gender equality, there would be some difference. As a matter of fact, every society expects behaviors and attitudes of girls and boys to be different. Even before a child is born it is clear that he/she has a distinguishable characteristic that is caused by gender. As the child grows, he/she undergoes socialization based on gender. In fact, this socialization process is asserted to affect individual later in life. Research shows that societies have ascertained gender roles based on sex-type divisions of labor, which makes gender socialization an interesting and universal are among social scientists. Gender refers to a range of characteristics of masculinity and femininity. Depending on its context the concept may refer to gender identity and gender roles. On the other hand, socialization means social experience in once entire life that individuals learn about culture and develop their potential as human beings. Therefore, gender socialization is a root of learning attitudes and social expectations, which is associated with one's gender. In fact, it is a tendency for girls and boys to socialize in a different manner. Conversely, girls are specialized in various ways to conform to female gender, whereas boys are raised to match the male roles or gender. Sociologists assert that it is through gender socialization that human females and male behave and act in different ways. In fact, as they grow and develop they gain knowledge on different social roles. In this case, it is evident that boys learn more about outdoor activities than girls, whereas girls become more knowledgeable on household chores (Cohen, 2004). The attitudes and behaviors mold boys to behave men and gilds to be like women. As a matter of fact, these attitudes and behaviors that drive individuals towards gender socialization are taught and learned from childhood. Gender socialization takes place in various ways, which include parental attitude, peer interaction, schools, mass media, as well as biological influence. The issue of biology having influence on issues related to gender socialization and gender roles has been controversial. This is because some scholars assert that biological differences have an impact on behavioral difference between men and women, on the other hand, others totally disagree on the issue. In simple terms, experts disagree on whether the difference between female and male is as a result of nurture or nature (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). A family has a lot of influence in gender socialization. In fact, family is the main socializing agent at the early age of human beings. Parents socialize children according to their culture. Perhaps, boys are taught how to take care of outside chores, as well as being bracket together with a range of aspects of male. The girl child is also taught how to carry out household chores. In most cases, socialization of children in gender related ways within the family does not put into consideration the path of the child. Family shapes the attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior of the child. Gender socialization is also influenced by education; this implies that in schools there are activities that enhance gender socialization. As children in society begin education system, the traditional expectation for girls and boys still continue. In the classroom, teachers would focus on boys to be challenging since they were viewed to be proficient in subjects such as science and mathematics. In fact, teachers would go further to advising the boys to choose careers that were related to mathematics and science, these included engineering courses and computer science. In the contemporary society, things are changing; girls are becoming smarter than boys. Some sociologist asserts that the current teaching skills and techniques favor girls so much. Hence, gender socialization has become an ore complex aspect among scholars (Chafetz, 2006). Mass media have taken grounds on gender socialization issues; Every aspect of media has a stereotype presentation of girls, boys, men, as well as women. For example, Disney movies demonstrate girls have the weaker sex in various issues, whereby they are always assigned roles that are pro-women. Probably, it is vital to comprehend that the media had gone to an extend of defining gender roles. Children are closer to the mass media than they are to their parents. This implies that media is becoming the most gender socializing agents (Cohen, 2004). Gender inequality is one of the issues than cannot be avoided when discussing gender socialization. In the developed world, people think that we are achieving gender equality. This is not the case; in fact, there are more gender inequality issues than in the past. Mass media content in the 21st century still present women and girls have been exploited (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). Moreover, men are presented as violent and always on the opposing end on issues of gender inequality. In fact, mass media have gone to an extend of inducing people some unrealistic beliefs on issues related to gender roles in social life and family. Studies show that there are many issues of differential treatment of boys and girls in society. The gender role privileging and differentiation of boys in society than girls is the main theme in society today. These sorts of differential treatment prepare us for the gendered division of paid work. As a matter of fact, gender roles that are defined during gender socialization has led to inequality issues in terms of payment and jobs. Therefore, the differential treatment that exists in society has prepared us for the gendered division of paid work. Gender socialization affects issues of gender roles and gender inequality. Perhaps, boys are advised in school to choose courses that are related to engineering. These are highly paid jobs; hence, this has prepared the boys to earn more money than girls in the near future (Chafetz, 2006). Gender segregation is believed to have begun due to gender socialization. The segregations in the labor market based on gender is fueled by discriminatory and gendered assumptions and practices. Gendered division of paid work is a main feature of issues related to gender inequality (Chafetz, 2006). Gender roles have lead to inequality in the paid work. For example, women social and economic roles are hindered by issues of gender socialization. In some cultures, boys were socialized to always dominate the girls; hence, in the political arena female are restricted in issues of leadership and other well paid work. Gender socialization has left men and boys with more career opportunities that are well paid. To blame on issues of gender inequality and roles are agents of gender socialization. The gendered division of paid work is influenced by gender socialization. The society view men to be economic providers instead of fathers. Hence, it prepares men and boys to be economic providers, instead of preparing them for fatherhood. On the other hand, women are associated to work that are not well paying. In society, this sort of differential treatment develops gender stratification, which is a gender based labor division, whereby men are remarkably responsible for work that is different to that of women (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). In conclusion, gender socialization prepares individuals in society according to cultures and beliefs. Evidently, most of the well paid jobs have been taken by men. This trend of gender inequality at work is changing since men are in support of gender equality. There are various agents of gender socialization that need to be addressed on how to socialize. These include educational institutions, mass media, parents, peers, and family. The government and other work stakeholders must focus on changing the trends of paid work. Perhaps, it should be convenient for both male and female.

Andersen, M & Taylor, H. (2007). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Balmont: Wadsworth Cohen, P. (2004). The Gender Division of Labor. California: University of California Press Chafetz, J. (2006). Handbook of the Sociology of Gender. London: Springer

Cite this page

Share with friends using:

Removal Request

Finished papers: 1537

This paper is created by writer with

ID 274945160

If you want your paper to be:

Well-researched, fact-checked, and accurate

Original, fresh, based on current data

Eloquently written and immaculately formatted

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

Get your papers done by pros!

Other Pages

Accessibility argumentative essays, saliva creative writings, fringe creative writings, pile creative writings, hug creative writings, wage increase creative writings, shawl creative writings, deviant creative writings, drinking water creative writings, reaction time creative writings, monologue creative writings, market value creative writings, bile creative writings, free critical thinking on definition of religion chapter 1, benefits of linkedin term paper examples, story literature review, do college rankings matter argumentative essay samples, free essay on the effects of poverty on children, dieting makes people fat essay examples, free collective critique of the 10 designated peer presentations essay sample, chrysler building and the empire state building research papers examples, caucasian questions and response book reviews example, positive psychology essay examples, good example of other article review, lifestyle assessment essay example, example of alternative incentives essay, specialties missing in our healthcare reform strategies article review, article review on the origin of old earth geology, good whether age group race marital status gender degree is matter for confidence research paper example, example of essay on ceasar chavez, free the quiz show course work sample, course work on carbon footprint, good eating disorders essay example 2, acute respiratory distress syndrome research paper examples, evidence based maternity care postoperative pain management after caesarean section essays examples, good example of developing professional identity essay, forman essays, easy task essays, customer response essays, thee essays, civil society essays, inner peace essays, antisocial behavior essays.

Password recovery email has been sent to [email protected]

Use your new password to log in

You are not register!

By clicking Register, you agree to our Terms of Service and that you have read our Privacy Policy .

Now you can download documents directly to your device!

Check your email! An email with your password has already been sent to you! Now you can download documents directly to your device.

or Use the QR code to Save this Paper to Your Phone

The sample is NOT original!

Short on a deadline?

Don't waste time. Get help with 11% off using code - GETWOWED

No, thanks! I'm fine with missing my deadline

Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences

Introduction.

People’s upbringing and assimilation in society mainly depend on their genders and the roles a particular social environment assigns to genders. While socialization as a process of acquiring a set of values and rules of behavior in a given society is essential for all groups, gender defines what specific expectations are implied for either male or female individuals. The influences that form one’s directions in gender socialization are rooted in the social domain’s essential elements, namely family, peers, school, and media. The attitudes, expectations, beliefs, and behavioral patterns concerning each of these elements will differ for males and females. Therefore, this paper is aimed at exploring and analyzing how a male individual experiences socialization processes under the influence of gender-assigned social norms.

From a sociological perspective, gender socialization is a complex phenomenon. According to Hoominfar, it is a process “by which individuals develop, refine and learn to ‘do’ gender through internalizing gender norms and roles as they interact with key agents of socialization” (1). Men at the stage of forming their social gender identity are exposed to influences that shape the ways in which they are expected to perform their gender roles. At an early age, the family environment and upbringing approaches introduce a boy to his expected masculinity. When a boy cries, his parents often say that boys do not cry and do not express their emotions very vividly. Similarly, family members might teach a boy to work physically, develop his body, and become strong, as well as express his strength. Parents buy toy cars, robots, and guns and choose blue, green, and dark colors for clothes, which form a masculine image of a boy from a young age. In response to such influences, boys tend to express their masculinity, control their emotions, and comply with expectations.

Although the family plays a decisive role in shaping an individual’s social identity, the school also functions as an important agent in gender socialization. Through educational activities and interaction with teachers, boys are taught the values and behavioral patterns that are dominant in a given society. Teachers’ expectations toward boys’ diligence and high learning outcomes are not as high as toward girls because boys are commonly perceived as more reluctant to study. In addition, textbooks illustrate how the world functions and assigns gender roles to boys. Their behavior is shaped by introducing professions such as driver, builder, fireman, and other masculine occupations through textbooks and class activities.

In addition, peers with whom boys interact contribute to their gender socialization since they represent a group of individuals with similar features. Therefore, friends and classmates interact with each other using the dominant roles depending on the gender-related behavioral patterns they observe in others. The observation of gender roles also occurs through media. Boys watch films, programs, and advertisements, in which men are portrayed as strong, confident, and dominant in the world. Importantly, media forms gender roles in all ages, which is why men are encouraged to function to the imposed standards of masculinity throughout their lives.

In conclusion, socialization is an important aspect of human life, which predetermines people’s integration in society and the ability to function as social beings. Gender plays a pivotal role in this process since the norms, beliefs, and expectations about male and female roles significantly differ from one another. Boys at the early stage of gender socialization are typically assigned with the characteristics of masculinity through family, peers, school, and media. Thus, socially formed gender is formed under the influence of disseminated values and gender role expectations.

Hoominfar, Elham. “Gender Socialization.” Gender Equality, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals , edited by W. Leal Filho et al., Springer, 2019, pp. 1-10.

Cite this paper

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, February 22). Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences. https://studycorgi.com/gender-socialization/

"Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences." StudyCorgi , 22 Feb. 2022, studycorgi.com/gender-socialization/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) 'Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences'. 22 February.

1. StudyCorgi . "Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences." February 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/gender-socialization/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences." February 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/gender-socialization/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences." February 22, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/gender-socialization/.

This paper, “Gender-Assigned Social Norms: Male Socialization Experiences”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: April 29, 2022 .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal . Please use the “ Donate your paper ” form to submit an essay.

Module 9: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

Gender and socialization, learning outcomes.

• Explain the influence of socialization on gender roles in the United States
• Explain and give examples of sexism

Figure 1.  Traditional images of U.S. gender roles reinforce the idea that women should be subordinate to men. (Photo courtesy of Sport Suburban/flickr)

Gender Roles

As we grow, we learn how to behave from those around us. In this socialization process, children are introduced to certain roles that are typically linked to their biological sex. The term gender role refers to society’s concept of how people are expected to look and behave based on societally created norms for masculinity and femininity. In U.S. culture, masculine roles are usually associated with strength, aggression, and dominance, while feminine roles are usually associated with passivity, nurturing, and subordination.

Gender role socialization begins at birth and continues throughout the life course. Our society is quick to outfit male infants in blue and girls in pink, even applying these color-coded gender labels while a baby is in the womb. This color differentiation is quite new—prior to the 1940s, boys wore pink and girls wore blue. In the 19th century and early 20th century, boys and girls wore dresses (mostly white) until the age of 6 or 7, which was also time for the first haircut. [1]

Figure 2.  Fathers tend to be more involved when their sons engage in gender-appropriate activities such as sports. (Photo courtesy of Shawn Lea/flickr)

Thus, gender, like race is a social construction with very real consequences. The drive to adhere to masculine and feminine gender roles continues later in life. Men tend to outnumber women in professions such as law enforcement, the military, and politics. Women tend to outnumber men in care-related occupations such as childcare, healthcare (even though the term “doctor” still conjures the image of a man), and social work. These occupational roles are examples of typical U.S. male and female behavior, derived from our culture’s traditions. Adherence to them demonstrates fulfillment of social expectations but not necessarily personal preference (Diamond 2002).

The phrase “boys will be boys” is often used to justify behavior such as pushing, shoving, or other forms of aggression from young boys. The phrase implies that such behavior is unchangeable and something that is part of a boy’s nature. Aggressive behavior, when it does not inflict significant harm, is often accepted from boys and men because it is congruent with the cultural script for masculinity. The “script” written by society is in some ways similar to a script written by a playwright. Just as a playwright expects actors to adhere to a prescribed script, society expects women and men to behave according to the expectations of their respective gender roles.

Socialization

Children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls. Cross-cultural studies reveal that children are aware of gender roles by age two or three. At four or five, most children are firmly entrenched in culturally appropriate gender roles (Kane 1996). Children acquire these roles through socialization, a process in which people learn to behave in a particular way as dictated by societal values, beliefs, and attitudes.

Figure 3.  Although our society may have a stereotype that associates motorcycles with men, female bikers demonstrate that a woman’s place extends far beyond the kitchen in the modern United States. (Photo courtesy of Robert Couse-Baker/flickr)

For example, society often views riding a motorcycle as a masculine activity and, therefore, considers it to be part of the male gender role. Attitudes such as this are typically based on stereotypes, which are oversimplified notions about members of a group. Gender stereotyping involves overgeneralizing about the attitudes, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men. For example, women may be thought of as too timid or weak to ride a motorcycle.

Mimicking the actions of significant others is the first step in the development of a separate sense of self (Mead 1934). Recall that according to Mead’s theory of development, children up to the age of 2 are in the preparatory stage, in which they copy actions of those around them, then the play stage (between 2-6) when they play pretend and have a difficult time following established rules, and then the game stage (ages 7 and up), when they can play by a set of rules and understand different roles.

Like adults, children become agents who actively facilitate and apply normative gender expectations to those around them. When children do not conform to the appropriate gender role, they may face negative sanctions such as being criticized or marginalized by their peers. Though many of these sanctions are informal, they can be quite severe. For example, a girl who wishes to take karate class instead of dance lessons may be called a “tomboy,” and face difficulty gaining acceptance from both male and female peer groups (Ready 2001). Boys, especially, are subject to intense ridicule for gender nonconformity (Coltrane and Adams 2004; Kimmel 2000).

One way children learn gender roles is through play. Parents typically supply boys with trucks, toy guns, and superhero paraphernalia, which are active toys that promote motor skills, aggression, and solitary play. Daughters are often given dolls and dress-up apparel that foster nurturing, social proximity, and role play. Studies have shown that children will most likely choose to play with “gender appropriate” toys (or same-gender toys) even when cross-gender toys are available, because parents give children positive feedback (in the form of praise, involvement, and physical closeness) for gender normative behavior (Caldera, Huston, and O’Brien 1998). Charles Cooley’s concept of the looking-glass self applies to gender socialization because it is through this interactive, interpretive process with the social world that individuals develop a sense of gender identity.

Figure 4 . Childhood activities and instruction, like this father-daughter duck-hunting trip, can influence people’s lifelong views on gender roles. (Credit: Tim Miller, USFWS Midwest Region/flickr)

Gender socialization occurs through four major agents of socialization: family, schools, peer groups, and mass media. Each agent reinforces gender roles by creating and maintaining normative expectations for gender-specific behavior. Exposure also occurs through secondary agents such as religion and the workplace. Repeated exposure to these agents over time leads men and women into a false sense that they are acting naturally rather than following a socially constructed role.

Family is the first agent of socialization. There is considerable evidence that parents socialize sons and daughters differently. Generally speaking, girls are given more latitude to step outside of their prescribed gender role (Coltrane and Adams 2004; Kimmel 2000; Raffaelli and Ontai 2004). However, differential socialization typically results in greater privileges afforded to sons. For instance, sons are allowed more autonomy and independence at an earlier age than daughters. They may be given fewer restrictions on appropriate clothing, dating habits, or curfew. Sons are also often free from performing domestic duties such as cleaning or cooking and other household tasks that are considered feminine. Daughters are limited by their expectation to be passive and nurturing, generally obedient, and to assume domestic responsibilities.

Even when parents set gender equality as a goal, there may be underlying indications of inequality. For example, boys may be asked to take out the garbage or perform other tasks that require strength or toughness, while girls may be asked to fold laundry or perform duties that require neatness and care. It has been found that fathers are firmer in their expectations for gender conformity than are mothers, and their expectations are stronger for sons than they are for daughters (Kimmel 2000). This is true in many types of activities, including preference for toys, play styles, discipline, chores, and personal achievements. As a result, boys tend to be particularly attuned to their father’s disapproval when engaging in an activity that might be considered feminine, like dancing or singing (Coltraine and Adams 2008). Parental socialization and normative expectations also vary along lines of social class, race, and ethnicity. African American families, for instance, are more likely than Caucasians to model an egalitarian role structure for their children (Staples and Boulin Johnson 2004).

The reinforcement of gender roles and stereotypes continues once a child reaches school age. Until very recently, schools were rather explicit in their efforts to stratify boys and girls. The first step toward stratification was segregation. Girls were encouraged to take home economics or humanities courses and boys to take math and science. Studies suggest that gender socialization still occurs in schools today, perhaps in less obvious forms (Lips 2004). Teachers may not even realize they are acting in ways that reproduce gender differentiated behavior patterns. Yet any time they ask students to arrange their seats or line up according to gender, teachers may be asserting that boys and girls should be treated differently (Thorne 1993).

Schools subtly convey messages to girls indicating that they are less intelligent or less important than boys. For example, in a study of teacher responses to male and female students, data indicated that teachers praised male students far more than female students. Teachers interrupted girls more often and gave boys more opportunities to expand on their ideas (Sadker and Sadker 1994). Further, in social as well as academic situations, teachers have traditionally treated boys and girls in opposite ways, reinforcing a sense of competition rather than collaboration (Thorne 1993). Boys are also permitted a greater degree of freedom to break rules or commit minor acts of deviance, whereas girls are expected to follow rules carefully and adopt an obedient role (Ready 2001).

Mass media serves as another significant agent of gender socialization. In television and movies, women tend to have less significant roles and are often portrayed as wives or mothers. When women are given a lead role, it often falls into one of two extremes: a wholesome, saint-like figure or a malevolent, hypersexual figure (Etaugh and Bridges 2003). Gender inequalities are also pervasive in children’s movies (Smith 2008). Research indicates that in the ten top-grossing G-rated movies released between 1991 and 2013, nine out of ten characters were male (Smith 2008).

Television commercials and other forms of advertising also reinforce inequality and gender-based stereotypes. Women are almost exclusively present in ads promoting cooking, cleaning, or childcare-related products (Davis 1993). Think about the last time you saw a man star in a dishwasher or laundry detergent commercial. In general, women are underrepresented in roles that involve leadership, intelligence, or a balanced psyche. Of particular concern is the depiction of women in ways that are dehumanizing, especially in music videos. Even in mainstream advertising, however, themes intermingling violence and sexuality are quite common (Kilbourne 2000).

Watch the following video to think more about the social construct of gender.

Further Research

Watch this CrashCourse video to learn more about gender stratification .

Gender stereotypes form the basis of sexism. Sexism refers to prejudiced beliefs that value one sex over another. Like racism, sexism has been a part of U.S. culture for centuries. Here is a brief timeline of “firsts” in the United States:

• Before 1809—Women could not execute a will
• Before 1840—Women were not allowed to own or control property
• Before 1920—Women were not permitted to vote
• Before 1963—Employers could legally pay a woman less than a man for the same work
• Before 1973—Women did not have the right to a safe and legal abortion
• Before 1981—No woman had served on the U.S. Supreme Court
• Before 2009—No African American woman had been CEO of a U.S. Fortune 500 corporation
• Before 2016—No Latina had served as a U.S. Senator
• Before 2017—No openly transgender person had been elected in a state legislature

While it is illegal in the United States when practiced as overt discrimination, unequal treatment of women continues to pervade social life. It should be noted that discrimination based on sex occurs at both the micro- and macro-levels. Many sociologists focus on discrimination that is built into the social structure; this type of discrimination is known as institutional discrimination (Pincus 2008).

Figure 4.  In some cultures, women do all of the household chores with no help from men, as doing housework is a sign of weakness, considered by society as a feminine trait. (Photo courtesy of Evil Erin/flickr)

Like racism, sexism has very real consequences. Stereotypes about females, such as being “too soft” to make financial decisions about things like wills or property, have morphed into a lack of female leadership in Fortune 500 Companies (only 24 were headed up by women in 2018!). We also see gender discrepancies in politics and in legal matters, as the laws regarding women’s reproductive health are made by a largely male legislative body at both the state and federal levels.

The Pay Gap

One of the most tangible effects of sexism is the gender wage gap. Despite making up nearly half (49.8 percent) of payroll employment, men vastly outnumber women in authoritative, powerful, and, therefore, high-earning jobs (U.S. Census Bureau 2010). Even when a woman’s employment status is equal to a man’s, she will generally make only 81 cents for every dollar made by her male counterpart (Payscale 2020). Women in the paid labor force also still do the majority of the unpaid work at home. On an average day, 84 percent of women (compared to 67 percent of men) spend time doing household management activities (U.S. Census Bureau 2011). This double-duty keeps working women in a subordinate role in the family structure (Hochschild and Machung 1989).

Figure 5 . In 2017 men’s overall median earnings were $52,146 and women’s were $41,977. This means that women earned 80.1% of what men earned in the United States. (Credit: Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor)

The Glass Ceiling

The idea that women are unable to reach the executive suite is known as the glass ceiling. It is an invisible barrier that women encounter when trying to win jobs in the highest level of business. At the beginning of 2021, for example, a record 41 of the world’s largest 500 companies were run by women. While a vast improvement over the number twenty years earlier – where only two of the companies were run by women – these 41 chief executives still only represent eight percent of those large companies (Newcomb 2020).

Why do women have a more difficult time reaching the top of a company? One idea is that there is still a stereotype in the United States that women aren’t aggressive enough to handle the boardroom or that they tend to seek jobs and work with other women (Reiners 2019). Other issues stem from the gender biases based on gender roles and motherhood discussed above.

Another idea is that women lack mentors, executives who take an interest and get them into the right meetings and introduce them to the right people to succeed (Murrell & Blake-Beard 2017).

Women in Politics

One of the most important places for women to help other women is in politics. Historically in the United States, like many other institutions, political representation has been mostly made up of White men. By not having women in government, their issues are being decided by people who don’t share their perspective. The number of women elected to serve in Congress has increased over the years, but does not yet accurately reflect the general population. For example, in 2018, the population of the United States was 49 percent male and 51 percent female, but the population of Congress was 78.8 percent male and 21.2 percent female (Manning 2018). Over the years, the number of women in the federal government has increased, but until it accurately reflects the population, there will be inequalities in our laws.

Figure 6 . Breakdown of Congressional Membership by Gender. 2021 saw a record number of women in Congress, with 120 women serving in the House and 24 serving in the Senate. Gender representation has been steadily increasing over time, but is not close to being equal. (Credit: Based on data from Center for American Women in Politics, Rutgers University)

Global Sexism

Gender stratification through the division of labor is not exclusive to the United States. According to George Murdock’s classic work, Outline of World Cultures (1954), all societies classify work by gender. When a pattern appears in all societies, it is called a cultural universal. While the phenomenon of assigning work by gender is universal, its specifics are not. The same task is not assigned to either men or women worldwide. But the way each task’s associated gender is valued is notable. In Murdock’s examination of the division of labor among 324 societies around the world, he found that in nearly all cases the jobs assigned to men were given greater prestige (Murdock and White 1968). Even if the job types were very similar and the differences slight, men’s work was still considered more vital.

In parts of the world where women are strongly undervalued, young girls may not be given the same access to nutrition, healthcare, and education as boys. Further, they will grow up believing they deserve to be treated differently from boys (UNICEF 2011; Thorne 1993).

Think It Over

• In what way do parents treat sons and daughters differently? How do sons and daughters typically respond to this treatment?
• How is children’s play influenced by gender roles? Think back to your childhood. How “gendered” were the toys and activities available to you? Do you remember gender expectations being conveyed through the approval or disapproval of your playtime choice?
• What can be done to lessen the sexism in the workplace? How does it harm society?
• Maglaty, J. 2011. "When did girls first start wearing pink?" The Smithsonian. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/ . ↵
• Revision, Modification, and Original Content. Authored by : Sarah Hoiland and Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Gender. Authored by : OpenStax CNX. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:IThELyrX@5/Gender . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected].
• Gender Equality: Now. Provided by : WorldFish. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4viXOGvvu0Y . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Gender Roles. Provided by : OpenStax. Located at : https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/12-1-sex-gender-identity-and-expression . Project : Sociology 3e. License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/1-introduction
• Is Gender Real? -8-bit Philosophy. Provided by : Wisecrack. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkilQ87UUj8&index=50&list=PL93FF46F5BC6A27CF . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

Conclusions: Gender, Nature, Development

• First Online: 06 May 2022

Cite this chapter

• Sutapa Chattopadhyay 20  

Part of the book series: Mobility & Politics ((MPP))

121 Accesses

Feminist scholars have for long analyzed gender, class, ethnicity, race, and caste, arguing the importance of the social categories in social science research. The chapter follows an empirical analysis of violence of development on gendered bodies and nature. Reflecting on the lack of acknowledgement to women, who are exploitable or labeled as irrational and vulnerable and non-human environment that is objectified as surplus or expendable—explaining how the organization of capital facilitate and relay on violent ways to accumulate through development projects. To establish this argument, the chapter follows narratives collected from women on social transformation due to the changes in their surrounding environment and livelihood practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

The word displacee is used to describe the people affected by the SSP, whether displaced or due to be displaced in the future.

For Hindus, the Narmada is the river of bliss, born from the body of Shiva, so every stone on the bed of the river is a miniature shiva linga (is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva). A shiva linga looks like a well-polished stone that looks like male phyllus. A lingum is worthy of worship as Shiva (the god of destruction and regeneration in the Hindu sacred triad). The people along the banks hold her to be more sacred than the Ganges (Baviskar, 1995).

The common forestland extensively cultivated by the villagers is called kharaba . They do not own these lands legally, and the R&R policies did not compensate the villagers for the encroached lands. Gradually, the R&R policies were modified with prolonged resistance from the locals and the NGOs. Now, all encroacher displaces are compensated with two hectares of land in Gujarat—if the lands were encroached before April 1984, and if this encroached land was submerged.

The LAA is a statutory statement of the state’s power of eminent domain, which allows the state to have ultimate control over lands within its territory. Hence, the LAA permits acquisition of land for public purposes regardless of the owner’s choice as to whether he or she is willing to move from his or her land.

A majority of the farmers were in this category. The overall land quality was not good, so crop productivity was low. Sometimes they grew double crops in the monsoons and nothing in winter.

According to the LAA ( 1984 ), no compensation was given to those who were unable to produce legal land titles. Through this policy, not only the legal landholders lost land, but the marginal farmers and landless laborers who encroached on government forestlands or common lands were converted to landlessness.

Most of the poor or middle-class peasants worked as temporary laborers, and/or collected minor forest products and timber on a contract basis.

Initially, monetary compensation given by the government was in accordance with the land owned legally. Thus, those who cultivated common lands or those who were unable to produce legal land titles, such as women-led households, major sons and landless laborers, were seldom entitled to land or monetary compensation. Before the R&R policy was modified that is considered providing land compensation, house plots, draught animals, and some public amenities to the rehabilitated villages. Some villagers who owned large tracts of land chose to take monetary compensation to purchase land of their choice within 10 miles of their submerged villages. This willingness to relocate in nearby villages was due to their familiarity and affinity with the land, surrounding environment, cultural networks, and social relations with villages in the area (Joshi, 2000 ).

Some categories of landless villagers were encroachers, shop-owners, fisherfolks, artisans, dairy farmers, and so on.

All affected villagers risked socio-cultural disarticulation, i.e., socio-cultural and economic losses incurred through dislocation and resettlement. So, Cernea ( 1990 ) proposed that the state governments should provide economic opportunities, community infrastructure, and material assets in the new sites to all the displaced populations (Cernea, 1990 ; Cernea & Guggenheim, 1993 ; World Bank, 1994 ).

Acronymically Madhya Pradesh is termed as MP, see previous chapters.

Bhen means sister and was used after most married or aged women. Lakshmi Bhen was one of my respondents.

The Adivasis, who never sold anything for cash but bartered their forest produce for necessary items, like grains, tools, and clothes, were exposed to many changes in their social as well as economic lives after rehabilitation.

Take for example the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, young males, workers, and peasants revolted against social and economic oppression. To suppress the mass revolts, state authorities turned the anger of antagonistic men toward the women of the lower classes. Women were raped, gang raped, or sexually assaulted openly in the streets. This continued unabated, leading up to the decriminalization of rape, open violence over women, the legitimation of prostitution, and the growth of brothels. In fact, these developments were also considered remedies for homosexuality. Those who engaged in these nefarious sports were young journey men, domestic servants, workers, and insolvent sons of the wealthy class, while the targeted women were the poor proletariat, maids, or mistresses of their masters. Even the church viewed prostitution and rape as legitimate. The state functioned as the supreme manager of class relations (Federici, 2004 , 47–50).

In Federici’s accounts, the social decline of the midwife and the healer, the extermination of bodies of single, widowed women, and the portrayal of women who dared to speak or protest as ‘heretics’ or the enchantress as witches. Witch-hunting undermined women’s control over their property and reproduction, specifically their access to birth control and generally their freedom to choose the fate of their own bodies. Therefore, this mass institutionalization of the state’s control over the female body was a precondition for the demotion of women’s position, autonomy, and pride. The genocidal proportions formulate an alternative understanding of knowledge and morality for capitalist patriarchal rationalization.

During the Enlightenment and pre-Enlightenment (see Merchant, 2006 ) periods, metaphors and metonymies emerged from an ethnocentric reductionism of science and language (Mies & Shiva, 1993 )—where nature was conceived as a benevolent and nurturing mother, au contraire as sterile, inert, and dead—at the disposal of technocratic resource managers for industrial growth.

Reflexivity is often based on the essence of becoming a “transparent” researcher through thorough scrutiny of the researcher–researched relationship, based on their identities which are seldom generated. Having said that I would add that there is a gap in qualitative research is created by the lack of analysis of reflexivity as a relative process, dealt differently by scholars of different identities, by the ontology, methodology and theory of particular research, and by the context- and historical-specificity of that research. In addition, researchers’ priorities to “institutional, geopolitical and material aspects of their positionality”, as well as to the geographical and political situation of the researched (Nagar, 2002 , 182), are add to the discussions on reflexivity. Moreover, identity-based reflexivity necessitates that the categories and labels of researchers be uncovered, and this requirement needs to be challenged.

Baviskar (2005) explains the vicious construction of a power-knowledge dichotomy by the Hindu fundamentalist political party known as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP is not apparently combating Adivasi exclusion by Hinduizing them but building a reserve of marginalized tribes to meet their political ends of cleansing other religious minorities. The Hindutva ideology very significantly constructs a particular discourse on Hinduism that is producing a specific knowledge that cannot be presupposed or generated without power (Foucault, 1979 ).

According to Patnaik ( 1995 ) accumulation by encroachment as analytically different from accumulation by expansion. Accumulation by encroachment is a useful concept as it links to the current phase of globalization through the privatization of state assets and common property resources.

Almott. T., & Matthaie, J. (1991). Race, class, gender and women’s work: A conceptual framework. In T. Almott & J. Matthaie (Eds.), Race, gender and work: A multicultural economic history of women in the United States . South End Press.

Google Scholar  

Amin, S. (1974). Accumulation on world scale: A critique of the theory of underdevelopment . Monthly Review Press.

Bondi, L. (2003). Meaning-making and its framings. Social and Cultural Geography, 4 , 323–327.

Cain, M., Khanam, R., & Nahar, S. (1979). Class, patriarchy, and women’s work in Bangladesh. Population and Development, Review 5 , 405–438.

Cernea, M. (1990). Internal refugee flows and development-induced population displacement. Journal of Refugee Studies, 3 (4), 320–339.

Article   Google Scholar  

Cernea, M. M. (1997). The risks and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations. World Development, 25 (10), 1569–1588.

Cernea M. M., & Guggenheim, S. E. (Eds.). (1993). Anthropological approaches to resettlement: Policy, practice and theory . Westview Press.

Cernea, M. M., & McDowell, C. (2000). Risks and reconstruction experiences of resettlers and refugees . World Bank.

Chattopadhyay, S. (2014). Postcolonial development state, appropriation of nature, and social transformation of the Ousted Adivasis in the Narmada Valley, India. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 25 (4), 65–84.

Chattopadhyay, S. (2015). Three decades of reflections on drudgery—Review essay of Silvia Federici’s revolution at point zero. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 26 (1), 121–123.

Chattopadhyay, S. (2019). Introduction to the special issue. Violence on bodies: Space, social reproduction and intersectionality. Gender, Place and Culture, 25 (9), 1295–1304.

DallaCosta, M., & James, S. (2012 [1972]). The power of women and the subversion of the community. The Commoner, 2 , 57–87.

Das, B. (1982). Studies on Rehabilitation of Submerging Villages . Vadgam. Centre for Social Studies, India.

Dhagamwar, V., Thukral, E. G., & Singh, M. (1995). The Sardar Sarovar project: A study in sustainable development. In W. Fisher (Ed.), Towards sustainable development: Struggling over India’s Narmada River (pp. 265–319). M. E. Sharpe.

Domosh, M. (1997). Geography and gender: The personal and the political. Progress in Human Geography, Progress Reports, 21 (1), 81–87.

Dube, S. C. (1964). The tribal world of Verrier Elwin. The Eastern Anthropologist, 12 , 134–136.

Dwivedi, R. (1999). Displacement risks and resistance: Local perceptions and actions in the Sardar Sarovar. Development and Change, 30 (1), 43–78.

Elwin, V. (1943). The aboriginals . Oxford University Press.

Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the Witch . Autonomedia.

Flobre, N. (1988). Hearts and spades: Paradigms of household economics. In D. Dwyer & B. Judith (Eds.), A home divided: Women and income in the third world (pp. 248–262). Stanford University Press.

Floro, M. S. (1991). Market orientation and women’s role in Philippine agriculture. Review of Radical Political Economics, 23 (3, 4), 106–128.

Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish . Vintage Books.

Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and the power. In Michael Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (H. Dreyhus, & P. Rabinow, Trans.) (pp. 208–260). University of Chicago Press.

Glen, E. N. (1992). From servitude to service work: Historical continuities in the racial division of paid reproductive labor. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 18 (1), 1–43.

Government of India (GOI). (1984). Land Acquisition Act. 161.

Guha, R. (1996). Savaging the civilized: Verrier Elwin and the tribal question in late colonial India. Economic and Political Weekly, 31 , 2375–2389.

Harvey, D. (2003). The new imperialism . Oxford University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Harvey, D. (2009). Reshaping economic geography: The world development report. Development and Change, 40 (6), 1269–1277.

Holub, R. (1992). Antonio Gramsci: Beyond marxism and postmodernism . Routledge.

Hooks, B. (1981). Ain’t I a woman: Black women and feminism . Southend Press.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom . Routledge.

Jackson, P., & Penrose, J. (Eds). (1993). Constructions of race, place and nation . University of Minnesota Press.

Joshi, V. (2000). Rehabilitation is possible: The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Project . Navprabhat Printing Press.

King, Y. (1995). Healing the wounds: Feminism, ecology and nature/culture dualism. In N. Tuana & R. Tong (Ed.), Feminism and philosophy: Essential readings in theory, reinterpretation, and application (pp. 353–373). Westview Press.

Kovel, J. (2009). Ecological marxism and dialectic. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 6 (4), 31–50.

Lawson, V. (1998). Hierarchical households and gendered migration: A research agenda. Progress in Human Geography, 22 , 32–53.

Lawson, V. (2000). Arguments within geographies movement: The theoretical potential of migrants’ stories. The Progress in Human Geography, 24 (2), 173–189.

Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space . Blackwell Publisher.

Massey, D. (1994). Space, place and gender . University of Minnesota Press.

McDowell, L. (1993). Space, place and gender relations: Part 1. Feminist Empiricism and the Geography of Social Relations, Progress in Human Geography, 17 (2), 157–179.

McDowell, L. (1999). Gender, identity and place: Understanding feminist geographies . University of Minnesota Press.

Merchant, C. (1993). Ecological revolutions: Nature, gernder, science in New England . University of North Carolina Press.

Merchant, C. (2006). The scientific revolution and the death of nature. Focus, 97 , 513–533.

Mies, M. (1986). Patriarchy and accumulation on a world scale: Women in the international division of labor . Zed Books.

Mohanty, C. (1988). Under western eyes: Feminist scholarship and colonial discourses. Feminist Review, 30 , 61–88.

Mohanty, C. T. 2006. US empire and the project of women’s studies: Stories of citizenship, complicity and dissent. Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 13 (1), 7–20.

Nagar, R. (1997). Exploring methodological borderlands through oral narratives. In J. P. Jones III, H. J. Nast, & S. Roberts (Eds.), Thresholds in feminist geography: Difference, methodology, representation (pp. 203–224). Roman and Littlefield Publishers.

Nagar, R. (2002). Footloose researchers, ‘traveling’ theories, and the politics of transnational feminist praxis. Gender, Place and Culture, 9 , 179–186.

Nagar, R., & Geiger, S. (2007). Reflexivity and positionality in feminist fieldwork revisited. In A. Tickell, E. Sheppard, J. Peck, & T. Barnes (Eds.), Politics and practice in economic geography (pp. 267–278). Sage.

Narayan, U. (1998). Essence of culture and a sense of history: A feminist critique of culture essentialism. Hypatia, 13 , 86–94.

Narayan, U. (2000). Undoing the ‘packing picture’ of cultures. Signs, 25 , 1083–1086.

Nayak, R. (1995). Displacement and human rights: The Kisan of Orissa. The Fourth World: Journal of Marginalised People , (2), 8–38.

Nayak, R. (2000). Risk associated with landlessness: An exploration towards socially friendly displacement and resettlement. In M. M. Cernea & M. Christopher (Eds.), Risks and reconstruction: Experiences of resettlers and refugees .

Patnaik, U. (1995). On capitalism and agrestic unfreedom. International Review of Social History, 40 (1), 77–92.

Radcliffe, S. (1990). Ethnicity, patriarchy, and incorporation into the nation: Female migrants as domestic servants in Peru. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 8 , 379–393.

Radcliffe, S. (1991). The role of gender in peasant migration: Conceptual issues from the Peruvian Andes. Review of Radical Political Economies, 23 , 129–147.

Radcliffe, S. (1992). Mountains, maidens and migration: Gender and mobility in Peru. In S. Chant (Ed.), Gender and migration in developing countries (pp. 30–48). Belhaven Press.

Raghuram, P. (2007, April). Feminist qualitative methods . Paper presented at the panel on qualitative feminist research: Ethics and practice at Association for American Geographers, San Francisco, CA.

Raghuram, P., & Madge, C. (2006). Towards a method for postcolonial development geography? Possibilities and challenges. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 27 , 270–288.

Rahman, R. I. (1986). The wage employment market for rural women in Bangladesh. Research monograph (Vol. 6). Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies.

Rose, G. (1993). Feminism and human geography . University of Minnesota Press.

Safilios-Rothschild, C., & Mahmud, S. (1989). Women’s roles in agriculture: Present trends and potential growth. Bangladesh agriculture sector review . UNDP and UIFEM.

Saldanha, I. M. (1986). Tribal women in the Warli Revolt: 1945–47: Class Gender in the left perspective. Economic and Political Weekly, 20 , 41–52.

Scott, J. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance: Hidden transcripts . Yale University Press.

Seamon, D. (2012). Merleau-ponty, perception, and environmental embodiment: Implications for architectural and environmental studies. In R. McCann & P. M. Locke (Eds.), Carnal echoes: Merleau-ponty and the flesh of architecture (pp. 425–448). Routledge.

Sheppard, E., & Nagar, R. (2004). From east-west to north-south. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 36 , 557–563.

Shiva, V. (1993). Monocultures of the mind—Understanding the threats to biological and cultural diversity. Indian Journal of Public Administration . https://doi.org/10.1177/0019556119930304

Sivaramakrishnan, K. (1995). Colonialism and forestry in India: Imagining the past in present politics. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 37 (1), 3–40.

Stewart, L. (1995). Bodies, visions, and spatial politics: A review essay of Henri Lefebvre’s Production of Space. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 13 , 609–618.

Tiffin, H. (1991). Introduction. In I. Adam & H. Tiffin (Eds.), Past the last post: Theorizing post-colonialism and post-modernism (pp. vii–xvi). Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Warner, M. W., Al-Hassan, R. M., & Kydd, J. G. (1997). Beyond gender roles? Conceptualizing the social economic lives of rural peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa. Development and Change, 28 , 143–168.

Warren, K. (2000). Ecofeminist philosophy: A western perspective on what it is and why it matters . Rowman & Littlefield.

Whitehead, J. (2003). Space, place and accumulation in Narmada Valley and beyond. Economic and Political Weekly, 38 (34), 4224–4230.

Whitehead, J. (2010). Development and dispossession in the Narmada Valley . Pearson.

Whitehead, J. (2010). John Locke and the Governance of India’s Landscape: The Category of Wasteland in Colonial Revenue and Forest Legislation. Economic and Political Weekly, 45 (50), 83–93.

Williams, S. J., & Bendelow, G. A. (1999). The lived body: Sociological themes, embodied issues . Routledge.

World Bank Report. (1994). Resettlement and development: The bank-wide review of projects involving resettlement 1986–1993 . The World Bank Environment Department.

Further Reading

Agrawal, A., & Sivaramakrishnan, K. (2000). Agrarian environments: Resources, representations, and rule in India . Duke University Press.

Albion, R. G. (1926). Forests and sea power . Harvard University Press.

Alvares, C., & Billorey, R. (1988). Damming the Narmada . Third World Networks/AAPEN Malaysia.

Arch Vahini. (1991). Resettlement and rehabilitation in SSP: Are the critics right . Mimeo.

Baviskar, A. (1997). Displacement and the Bhilala Tribals of the Narmada Valley. In J. Dreze, M. Samson, & S. Singh (Eds.), The Dam and the Nation: Displacement and resettlement in the Narmada Valley (pp. 136–168). Oxford University Press.

Bayart, J. (2000). Global subjects: Political Critique of globalization . Polity Press.

Bennholdt-Thomsen, V., & Mies, M. (2000). The subsistence perspective: Beyond the globalized economy . Zed.

Beteille, A. (1986) The concept of tribe with special reference to India. European Journal of Sociology , xxvii.

Blaike, P., & Brookfield, H. (2015). Land degradation and society . Routledge.

Boyle, P. (2002). Population geography: Transnational women on move. Progress in Human Geography, 26 (4), 531–543.

Brass, T. (1994). The politics of gender, nature and nation in the discourse of the New Farmers’ Movements. The Journal of Peasants Studies, 21 (3–4), 27–71.

Bruce, J. (1989). Homes divided. World Development, 17 , 979–991.

Castells, M. (1983). The city and the grassroots: A cross-cultural theory of urban social movements . University of California Press.

Cernea, M. M. (1993). Anthropological and sociological research for policy development on population resettlement. In M. M. Cernea & E. G. Scott (Eds.), Anthropological approaches to resettlement . Westview Press.

Cernea, M. M. (1999). The economics of involuntary resettlement: Questions and challenges . The World Bank.

Chant, S. (Ed.). (1992). Gender and migration in developing countries . Belhaven Press.

Chattopadhyay, S. (2009). Narrating everyday spaces of the tribal migrants in Sardar Sarovar. Population, Space and Place, 16 , 85–101.

Clark, J. P. (2012). Political ecology. In R. Chadwick (Ed.), Encyclopedia of applied ethics (2nd ed., pp. 505–516). Academic Press.

Clifford, J. (1983). On ethnographic authority. Representations, 1 (2), 118–146.

Corboridge, S. E. (2000). Competing inequalities: The Scheduled Tribes and the reservations systems in India’s Jharkhand. Journal of Asian Studies, 59 (1), 62–85.

Corboridge, S. E., & Harris, J. (2000). Reinventing India: Liberalization . Oxford University Press.

Craing, M., & Thrift, N. (Eds.). (2000). Introduction. In M. Craing & N. Thrift (Eds.), Thinking space . Routledge.

Cresswell, T. (1996). In place/out of place geography, ideology, and transgression . University of Minnesota Press.

Cresswell, T. (2010). Towards a politics of mobility. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 28 (1), 17–31.

Crush, J. (1995). The power of development . Routledge.

Crush, J., & James, W. G. (1995). Crossing boundaries: Mine migrancy in a democratic South Africa . IDASA/IDRC.

Curry, M. (1995). On space and spatial practice in contemporary geography. In C. Earle, K. Mathewson, & M. Kenzer (Eds.), Concepts in human geography . Rowman & Littlefield.

Das, B. (1996). Dislocation and rehabilitation: Defining a field. Economic and Political Weekly, 31 (24), 1509–1514.

Dharmadhikary, S. (1991). The Narmada Dams controversy: Issues for energy policy. Urja, 29 , 5.

Dharmadhikary, S. (1995). Hydropower at Sardar Sarovar: Is it necessary, justified, and affordable. In W. F. Fisher (Ed.), Towards sustainable development India’s Narmada River . Routledge.

Dwivedi, R. (2001). Environmental movements in the global South: Issues of livelihood and beyond. International Sociology, 16 (1), 11–31.

Engel-Di Mauro, S. (2006). From organism to commodity: Gender, class, and the development of soil science in Hungary 1900–89. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24 (2), 215–229.

Escobar, A. (1991). Anthropology and the development encounter: The making and marketing of development anthropology. American Ethnologist, 18 (4), 658–682.

Esteva, G. (2010). Development. In W. Sachs (Ed.), The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power (pp. 6–25). Zed Books.

Findlay, A., & Graham, E. (1991). The challenge facing population research. Progress in Human Geography, 15 , 149–162.

Fishman, J. A. (1966). Language loyalty in the United States: The maintenance and perpetuation of non-English mother tongues by American ethics and religious groups . Mouton.

Foucault, M. (1973). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of medical perception . Random House.

Gandhi, M. K. (1951). Towards non-violent socialism (B. Kumarappa, Ed.). Navajivan Publishing House.

Glassman, J. (2006). Primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, accumulation by ‘extra-economic’ means. Progress in Human Geography, 30 (5), 608–625.

Government of Gujarat. (2000). Sardar Sarovar Project on River Narmada, Gandhinagar .

Government of Maharashtra (GOM). (1989, June 29). Revenue and Forest Department Resolution (RPN 3188/CR-130/88/R-5).

Goyal, S. (1996, June 15). Economic perspective on resettlement and rehabilitation. Economic and Political Weekly, 31 (24).

Graham, E. (1999). Breaking out: The opportunities and challenges of multi-method research in geography. Professional Geographer, 51 , 76–89.

Graham, E., & Boyle, P. (2001). Editorial introduction: (Re)theorising population geography: Mapping the unfamiliar. International Journal of Population Geography, 7 (6), 389–394.

Greetz, C. (1983). Blurred genres: The refiguration of social thought. In C. Greetz (Ed.), Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology (pp. 19–35). Basic Books.

Guha, R., & Martínez Alier, J. (1997). Varieties of environmentalism: Essays North and South . Earthscan Publications.

Hakim, R. (1996). Vasava identity in transition: Some theoretical issues. Economic and Political Weekly, 31 (24), 1492–1499.

Hakim, R. (2000). From corn to cotton: Changing Indicators of Food security among resettled Vasavas. In M. M. Cernea & C. McDowell (Eds.), Risks and reconstruction . The World Bank.

Hardiman, D. (1987). The Bhils and Shahukars of Eastern Gujarat. In R. Guha (Ed.), Subaltern studies V: Writings on South Asian history and societ . Oxford University Press.

Harvey, D. (2005). The sociological and geographical imaginations. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 18 (3/4), 211–255.

Lawrence, B., & Dua, E. (2005). Decolonizing antiracism. Social Justice, 32 (4 (102)), 120–143.

Luxemburg, R. (1968). The accumulation of capital . Monthly Review Press.

Mahler, S. J., & Pessar, P. R. (2001). Gendered geographies of power: Analyzing gender across transnational spaces. Identities (yverdon, Switzerland), 7 (4), 441–459.

Marx, K. (1974 [1858]). Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie [Outlines of the critique of Political Economy] (M. Nicolaus, Trans.). Penguin.

Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1975). Collected works (Vol. 5). International Publishers.

Mills, S. (2003). Michel Foucault . Routledge.

Mukerjee, M. (2010). Churchill’s secret war the British empire and the ravaging of India during World War II . Basic Books.

Multiple Action Research Group (MARG). (1991). Sardar Sarovar Oustees in MP: What do they know? (Vols. 1–5). Multiple Action Research Group.

NAI (National Archives of India). (1845). Bhopawar Political Agency (Unpublished).

Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award (NWDTA). (1978). The Report of Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal with its Decision (Vol. II). Government of India.

NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan). (1991). Towards sustainable and just development: The peoples’ struggle in the Narmada Valley . Mimeo.

Neumann, R. P. (1998). Imposing wilderness: Struggles of livelihood and nature preservation in Africa . University of California Press.

Peet, R., & Hartwick, E. (1999). Theories of development . The Guildford Press.

Peet, R., & Watts, M. (1996). Liberation ecologies environment, development, social movements . Routledge.

Pieterse, J. N. (2002). My paradigm or yours? Alternative development, post and reflexive development. Development and Change, 23 (2), 343–373.

Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the mastery of nature . Routledge.

Pranjype, V. (1990). High Dams on the Narmada . INTACH.

Rabinow, P., & Sullivan, W. M. (1987). Interpretive social science: A second look . University of California Press.

Sachs, W. (1992). The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power . Zed Books.

Scudder, T. (1989). Supervisory report on the rehabilitation and rehabilitation component of SSP . World Bank.

Scudder, T. (1993). Development-induced relocation and refugee studies, 37 years of change and continuity among Zambia’s Gwembe Tonga. Journal of Refugee Studies, 6 (2), 123–152.

Scudder, T., & Colson, E. (1982). From Welfare to development: A conceptual framework for analysis of dislocated people. In A. Hansen & A. Oliver-Smith (Eds.), Involuntary migration and resettlement: The problems and responses of dislocated people . Westview Press.

Shah, A. A. (1995). A technical overview of the flawed Sardar Sarovar project and a proposal for sustainable alternative. In W. F. Fisher (Ed.), Towards sustainable development India’s Narmada River . M. E. Sharpe.

Silvey, R. (2004). Power, difference and mobility: Feminist advances in migration studies. Progress in Human Geography, 28 , 490–506.

Silvey, R., & Lawson, V. (1999). Placing the migrant. Annals of Association of American Geographers, 89 , 128–129.

Singh, K. S., (Ed). (1983). Tribal movements in India (Vol. 2). Monohar.

Singh, K. S. (1992). People of India . Anthropological Survey of India.

Spivak, G. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? Speculations on widow sacrifice. In C. Nelson & G. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). Macmillian.

Spivak, G. (1998). Gender and international studies. Millennium, 27 (4), 809–831.

Srinivasan, B. (1993). Repression in the Narmada Valley. Economic and Political Weekly, 28 (49), 2640–2641.

Srinivasan, B. (1994). Dissent and democratic practice: Attack on NBA office. Economic and Political Weekly, 29 (18), 1058–1059.

Stacey, J. (1988). Can there be a feminist ethnography? Women Studies International Forum, 11 , 1.

Staeheli, L. A., & Thompson, A. (1997). Citizenship, community, and struggles for public space. Professional Geographer, 49 , 28–38.

Sundar, N. (2001, November). Diving Evil: The State and Witchcraft in Baster. Gender, Technology and Development, 5 , 425–448.

Sundar, N. (2004). Teaching to hate: RSS’ pedagogical programme. Economic and Political Weekly, 39 (16), 1605–1612.

Tata Institute for Social Sciences (TISS). (1993). The Sardar Sarovar: Experiences with Resettlement and Rehabilitation (A summary by Monitoring and Evaluation of Resettlement and Rehabilitation Team) . Paper presented at Narmada Forum: A workshop for Narmada Project (with special reference to Sardar Sarovar), Bombay, Delhi School of Economics and Institute of Economic Growth.

Taussig, M. T. (1980). The devil and commodity fetishism in South America . University of North Carolina Press.

Thukral, E. G. (Ed.). (1992). Big dams displaced people-rivers of sorrow, rivers of change . Sage.

Towards a Policy Resolution. Social Science and Medicine, 16 , 179–1136.

Tyner, J. (1996a). Constructions of Filipina migrant entertainers. Gender, Place, and Culture, 3 , 77–93.

Tyner, J. (1996b). The gendering of Philippine international labor migration. Professional Geographer, 48 , 405–416.

Tyner, J. (2002). Narrating interracial relations and the negotiation of public spaces. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 20 , 441–458.

Udall, L. (1998). The World Bank and public accountability: Has anything changed? In J. A. Fox & L. D. Brown (Eds.), The struggle for accountability: The World Bank, NGOs and grassroots movements . MIT Press.

Vasudevan, A., McFarlane, C., & Jeffrey, A. (2008). Spaces of enclosures. Geoforum, 39 , 1641–1646.

Watkins, J. F. (1988). Life course and spatial experiences: A personal narrative approach in migration studies. In K. Pandit & S. D. Withers (Eds.), Migration and restructuring in the United States: A geographic perspective . Roman & Littlefield.

Watson, D. (1998). Against the mega machine: Essays on empire and its enemies . Autonomedia.

Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory . Blackwell.

Westwood, S., & Bhachu, P. (1988). Enterprising women: Ethnicity, economy and gender relations . Routledge.

White, P., & Jackson, P. (1995). (Re)theorizing population geography. International Journal of Population Geography, 1 (2), 111–123.

Whitehead, J. (1999, July). Statistical concoctions and everyday lives: Queries from Gujarat resettlement sites. Economic and Political Weekly, 34 (28), 10–16.

Whitehead, J. (2000, November 4). Monitoring of Sardar Sarovar resettlees: A further critique. Economic and Political Weekly .

Wiles, J. L., Rosenberg, M., & Kearns, R. (2005). Narrative analysis as a strategy for understanding interview talk in geographic research. Area, 37 , 89–99.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Departments of Women’s and Gender Studies and Development Studies, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada

Sutapa Chattopadhyay

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sutapa Chattopadhyay .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Chattopadhyay, S. (2022). Conclusions: Gender, Nature, Development. In: Politics of Development and Forced Mobility. Mobility & Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93901-4_6

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93901-4_6

Published : 06 May 2022

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-93900-7

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-93901-4

eBook Packages : Political Science and International Studies Political Science and International Studies (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Academic Master

• Free Essays
• Latest Essays
• Pricing Plans

Gender Socialization Essay

• Author: arsalan
• Posted on: 15 Sep 2018
• Paper Type: Free Essay
• Subject: Sociology
• Wordcount: 1378 words
• Published: 15th Sep 2018

Introduction

Gender socialization begins when a child is born. The process of gender socialization continues with age, and the process reaches its maximum intensity when the child reaches the age of adolescence. It is a significant contributor to the unequal treatment of individuals based on their genders at educational institutions, at the workplace, in terms of employment opportunities, and in general empowerment.

The central concept of the process of gender socialization is the expectation of society toward females and males to behave and act differently. Also, such a phenomenon tends to treat girls and boys differently through different socialization. The boys are raised by society to behave in the manner that males are expected to act. On the same note, the girls are raised in such a manner as to conform to society’s established role of the female.

The Process of Gender Socialization

Gender socialization has become a part of our daily lives. It is a process through which specific gender roles are assigned to individuals, and they are expected to be strictly followed by the individuals. It internalizes the values of the society to effectively adapt to the culture of the individuals.

In a vast majority of cultures around the world, society clearly categorizes the meaning of the terms male and female. This process of categorizing or defining gender roles translates into the individuals defining themselves as girls or boys. Furthermore, these assigned gender roles are strict in nature, and people of both genders are expected to behave in conformity to their assigned genders. For instance, males have been traditionally assigned roles that are based on the characteristics of strength, aggressiveness, and domination. On the other hand, females are expected to be sensitive, understanding, passive, emotional, and nurturing. From the birth of a child, she or he is taught these gender values. These values are further strengthened as the child grows and views people of certain genders acting and behaving in certain ways. It can also be observed in the kind of toys that the boys are given. These toys are often large in size, noisy, and represent aggressiveness and violence. On the contrary, the girls are given toys that are gentle, like dolls and dollhouses, that emphasize the aspects of nurturing. Therefore, as the children grow and play with these toys, consciously and subconsciously, they begin to behave according to society’s expectations of their gender.

The establishment of gender identity takes place when the child reaches the age of two years. According to Sigmund Freud, it is the age when the child begins to imitate a parent of the same gender as the child. Therefore, if the parents strictly behave in conformity to their expected gender roles, the child begins to feel it is her or his responsibility to act the same way.

The Agents of Gender Socialization

The process of gender socialization further intensifies as the child grows. A number of agents influence the child to conform to certain gender roles.

The first agency that influences that influences a young child is the immediate family. In itself, it can be considered a whole world, and the child learns while living in this world. The family life of the child is not merely characterized by biological tasks, like protection from the outside world or feeding, but it also plays a vital role in impacting the child to develop certain behaviors according to the gender assigned at birth.

The family of a child serves as the first platform of socialization. The child develops a sense of her or his gender roles. The family members, especially the parents, treat the child according to her or his assigned gender. A notable example of this fact can be the different kinds of toys that the boys and the girls are made to play with. The toys of the boys represent strength and aggressiveness, like robots and cars. While the girls are given toys that tend to enhance their feminine characteristics and the ability to nurture, like dolls or other things like that.

In a majority of the cases, the gender roles incorporated into the minds of the children through their parents remain embedded in their minds, and they act in the manner that is acceptable to society throughout the remainder of their lives.

As the child grows up, she or he goes to school to gain an education. However, educational institutions act as the second agency to influence these children to act in accordance with the societal expectations of their gender. In addition to teaching the children how to read and write, the schools also assist in the character development of the children. They are instilled with the teachings of cooperation with others and obeying the rules set by society.

The teachers at the school play a vital role in setting expectations for the children according to their genders. They instill the belief that when children mature, they have to necessarily pursue certain careers or professions depending on their particular genders. Therefore, they influence and even sometimes force the children to act as per their gender. Furthermore, the friends that they make at school also impact the process of gender socialization. Through interaction with friends and peers, the children learn to conform to the behavior that is accepted by their gender.

In addition to the family and schools, the children also learn from the media, either print or electronic. The rapid rise of media over the years has significantly impacted the learning process of children. The programs displayed on television represent different genders in specific ways. The women are shown to be emotional and sensitive, while the men are shown to be strong, aggressive, and supporting the women. These programs and advertisements further influence children to act in a specific manner.

Negative Impact of Gender Socialization on Females

The females are the ones that are the most adversely affected by gender socialization. They are assigned the role to be the nurturing ones. Females are expected to be responsible and always be there for the males in their lives. Such a characterization of the female gender has an adverse effect on the development of girls. They are limited to certain roles and are considered inferior to men. Also, they are expected to be the ones responsible for caring for the children. This thinking puts a lot of pressure on the working women as they have to work very hard by coming home and not being able to get any rest.

Such a phenomenon is unfair to females. The employment opportunities are limited for them. The jobs requiring high physical labor, like engineering, are considered unsuitable for women. As stated earlier, since their birth, girls are treated by their parents in a manner that perceives them as sensitive and prone to damage. They are not allowed to stay outside for long as it is thought they cannot protect themselves. Also, women are sexually harassed in schools and at the workplace due to their gender and are generally paid less than their male counterparts.

It is not an adequate treatment, as it puts a lot of pressure on females to prove themselves. This pressure may result in affecting the health of the women in terms of the onset of depression or other impacts on physical health.

In conclusion, it can be efficiently said that gender socialization is a negative phenomenon. It predetermines the roles an individual is expected to conform to according to her or his gender. Women are the ones most adversely affected by it, as they are not considered equal to men and are supposed to be the nurturing ones. Furthermore, females are put under a lot of pressure to prove their worth to society, and still, job opportunities are very limited for them.

• 100% custom written college papers
• Writers with Masters and PhD degrees
• Any citation style available
• Any subject, any difficulty
• 24/7 service available
• Privacy guaranteed
• Free amendments if required
• Satisfaction guarantee

Calculate Your Order

Standard price, save on your first order, you may also like, where to obtain medical insurance policy for entering into ukraine.

What is medical insurance for foreigners in Ukraine? Health insurance policy for foreigners in Ukraine serve as a vital safety net, offering immediate financial support during

Finding Your Place: Tips for a Successful Move to a New Neighborhood

Moving to a new neighborhood can seem like an intimidating and overwhelming process. From all of the research that goes into selecting the right area

Accessing ssstik.io’s Potential To Improve Your Video Downloading Experience

Platforms such as Facebook and TikTok function as centres for a variety of content creation and consumption within the ever-changing social media environment. However, the

Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Gender Roles — Gender Roles In Society

Gender Roles in Society

• Categories: Gender Roles Society

About this sample

Words: 534 |

Published: Mar 13, 2024

Words: 534 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Sociology

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 734 words

3 pages / 1325 words

3 pages / 1391 words

5 pages / 2085 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Gender Roles

Edith Wharton, a famous American novelist, and playwright, is known for her works that depict the life of the upper class of New York during the early 1900s. Her writing style often highlights the themes of love, marriage, and [...]

Gender norms and roles have been a part of society for centuries, shaping the way that individuals perceive themselves and interact with others. Despite notable progress in challenging traditional gender norms, society continues [...]

Gender stereotypes have long influenced career choices, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. This qualitative essay undertakes an in-depth analysis of the impact of gender stereotypes [...]

James Joyce is a prominent Irish writer whose works are celebrated for their modernist techniques and exploration of the human condition. His short story, "Eveline," is a prime example of his writing style and themes. It [...]

The ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta were powerful and influential societies in the classical world, each with its own unique customs and traditions. While both city-states valued the contributions of women to [...]

The kid’s TV show that I decided to analysis for this essay was Nickelodeons “SpongeBob SquarePants.” This show gives children various perspectives utilizing stories with data for their creative mind and offers hints about the [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

5 Powerful Essays Advocating for Gender Equality

Gender equality – which becomes reality when all genders are treated fairly and allowed equal opportunities –  is a complicated human rights issue for every country in the world. Recent statistics are sobering. According to the World Economic Forum, it will take 108 years to achieve gender parity . The biggest gaps are found in political empowerment and economics. Also, there are currently just six countries that give women and men equal legal work rights. Generally, women are only given ¾ of the rights given to men. To learn more about how gender equality is measured, how it affects both women and men, and what can be done, here are five essays making a fair point.

Take a free course on Gender Equality offered by top universities!

“Countries With Less Gender Equity Have More Women In STEM — Huh?” – Adam Mastroianni and Dakota McCoy

This essay from two Harvard PhD candidates (Mastroianni in psychology and McCoy in biology) takes a closer look at a recent study that showed that in countries with lower gender equity, more women are in STEM. The study’s researchers suggested that this is because women are actually especially interested in STEM fields, and because they are given more choice in Western countries, they go with different careers. Mastroianni and McCoy disagree.

They argue the research actually shows that cultural attitudes and discrimination are impacting women’s interests, and that bias and discrimination is present even in countries with better gender equality. The problem may lie in the Gender Gap Index (GGI), which tracks factors like wage disparity and government representation. To learn why there’s more women in STEM from countries with less gender equality, a more nuanced and complex approach is needed.

“Men’s health is better, too, in countries with more gender equality” – Liz Plank

When it comes to discussions about gender equality, it isn’t uncommon for someone in the room to say, “What about the men?” Achieving gender equality has been difficult because of the underlying belief that giving women more rights and freedom somehow takes rights away from men. The reality, however, is that gender equality is good for everyone. In Liz Plank’s essay, which is an adaption from her book For the Love of Men: A Vision for Mindful Masculinity, she explores how in Iceland, the #1 ranked country for gender equality, men live longer. Plank lays out the research for why this is, revealing that men who hold “traditional” ideas about masculinity are more likely to die by suicide and suffer worse health. Anxiety about being the only financial provider plays a big role in this, so in countries where women are allowed education and equal earning power, men don’t shoulder the burden alone.

Liz Plank is an author and award-winning journalist with Vox, where she works as a senior producer and political correspondent. In 2015, Forbes named her one of their “30 Under 30” in the Media category. She’s focused on feminist issues throughout her career.

“China’s #MeToo Moment” –  Jiayang Fan

Some of the most visible examples of gender inequality and discrimination comes from “Me Too” stories. Women are coming forward in huge numbers relating how they’ve been harassed and abused by men who have power over them. Most of the time, established systems protect these men from accountability. In this article from Jiayang Fan, a New Yorker staff writer, we get a look at what’s happening in China.

The essay opens with a story from a PhD student inspired by the United States’ Me Too movement to open up about her experience with an academic adviser. Her story led to more accusations against the adviser, and he was eventually dismissed. This is a rare victory, because as Fan says, China employs a more rigid system of patriarchy and hierarchy. There aren’t clear definitions or laws surrounding sexual harassment. Activists are charting unfamiliar territory, which this essay explores.

“Men built this system. No wonder gender equality remains as far off as ever.” – Ellie Mae O’Hagan

Freelance journalist Ellie Mae O’Hagan (whose book The New Normal is scheduled for a May 2020 release) is discouraged that gender equality is so many years away. She argues that it’s because the global system of power at its core is broken.  Even when women are in power, which is proportionally rare on a global scale, they deal with a system built by the patriarchy. O’Hagan’s essay lays out ideas for how to fix what’s fundamentally flawed, so gender equality can become a reality.

Ideas include investing in welfare; reducing gender-based violence (which is mostly men committing violence against women); and strengthening trade unions and improving work conditions. With a system that’s not designed to put women down, the world can finally achieve gender equality.

“Invisibility of Race in Gender Pay Gap Discussions” – Bonnie Chu

The gender pay gap has been a pressing issue for many years in the United States, but most discussions miss the factor of race. In this concise essay, Senior Contributor Bonnie Chu examines the reality, writing that within the gender pay gap, there’s other gaps when it comes to black, Native American, and Latina women. Asian-American women, on the other hand, are paid 85 cents for every dollar. This data is extremely important and should be present in discussions about the gender pay gap. It reminds us that when it comes to gender equality, there’s other factors at play, like racism.

Bonnie Chu is a gender equality advocate and a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur. She’s the founder and CEO of Lensational, which empowers women through photography, and the Managing Director of The Social Investment Consultancy.

You may also like

15 Examples of Gender Inequality in Everyday Life

11 Approaches to Alleviate World Hunger 

15 Facts About Malala Yousafzai

12 Ways Poverty Affects Society

15 Great Charities to Donate to in 2024

15 Quotes Exposing Injustice in Society

14 Trusted Charities Helping Civilians in Palestine

The Great Migration: History, Causes and Facts

Social Change 101: Meaning, Examples, Learning Opportunities

Rosa Parks: Biography, Quotes, Impact

Top 20 Issues Women Are Facing Today

Top 20 Issues Children Are Facing Today

About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

The Impact of Socialization on My Life Essay

Introduction.

Socialization is a process of acquiring other people’s Ideas and norms providing a person with necessary abilities for building him/herself and for societal participatory. On the other hand socialization may not be normative as “it also describes processes which may or may not affect the reflexive agents, and which may or may not lead to desirable or moral outcomes. Individual views on certain issues, such as race may again be socialized within a society” (Mathews, 2002).

Socialization also prepares an individual for the roles he/she is to play, providing him with the necessary repertoire of habits, beliefs, and values, the appropriate patterns of emotional response and the modes of perception, requisite skills and knowledge. It also provides persistence and culture (Chinoy, 1961).

Conformity to socialization is the way a person tends to have the same behaviors of a group of people he or she is attached to. Conformity and obedience to authority in socialization is responsible in shaping or bringing up a morally upright person. The impacts of this can have diverse influences on a individuals in the ways of his/her living. Therefore this paper is going to discuss on the issues of the impact that my socialization in conformity and obedience to authority and how has affected my life. The paper will also show how these issues influenced my attitudes towards the general ways of life, choice of occupation, and other important aspects in my life. The paper will then conclude by highlighting on how socialization affects individuals.

My initial socialization

My first socialization came about when I was still a little kid. I started learning the outlooks, values, and measures needed off me as a member of my family and community. An example of this is when my mother used to guide me in treating other kids as equals and not to show any discriminatory remarks or any other immoral behaviors towards them. These aspects mould me into knowing that it was acceptable and in order to treat the people around me as brothers and sisters. Socialization also taught me to learn from them as they learn from me. In addition these aspects have been permanently put into my conscience as I still have these opinions to date.

Secondary, developmental, anticipatory and occupational socialization

My next step in socialization was in relatives, friends in the neighborhoods, friends at school and people who I interacted with directly. This stage comprised of schooling and learning to get conversant to the important behaviors as an individual in a small group of a bigger community.

In growing development wise my socialization comprised of ways of learning behavior in the several organizations and institution I went through that taught me how to develop my skills socially.

My anticipatory socialization on the other hand covered my social rehearsals for the future occupations that I intended to pursue and the societal relationships that would accompany them.

The choice of occupation in regards to socialization has been positive because I have passed through knowledge-based communities which have influenced the right choice of occupation and modeled my occupational requirements as well. In this capacity, and taking into consideration personal preference about profession and occupations there has been an evident enveloping social effects. “Thus, it is necessary to expand the standard view about the process of occupation choice by adding non pecuniary factors, influence of social networks and the role of information and guidance policies” (Chinoy, 1961). My choice of occupation therefore has been affected by socialization which includes family, friends, the society and economic aspects.

Re-socialization

This process has had a major impact in my life as it has been responsible for the change of my social status. Re-socialization helped me to shade my previous ways of behaviors and come up with new ones to cope up with the ever changing world. “This again occurs throughout a human beings life cycle. Re-socialization can be an intense experience, with the individual experiencing a sharp break with their past making him or her need to learn and be exposed to radically different norms and values” (Schaefer & Lamm, 1992).

Social agents

“Agents of socialization are the people and groups that influence our self-concept, emotions, attitudes, and behavior” (Chinoy, 1961). My family and friends have been on the fore front of determining my attitudes in regards to responsibility, choice of religion and determining my occupational goals. They did this through my education which is an important agent responsible for socializing people in specific values and skills in the community. This is also responsible for my choice of occupation as it shapes an individual towards that direction. They also influenced my choice of religion that is an important aspect in socialization as it makes people obedient to authority when they follow certain rules and principles of religion. My friends have also been very influential; this was brought out through peer groupings when we used to contribute to our social characteristics in the process influencing each other. It is also evident that socialization plays a major role in influencing emotions which comprise of romance and lust. These emotions are in turn responsible for marriage especially when love strikes in a social setting. In the event of such marriages the sustenance and child rearing will be based on the instilled social norms which were shaped by socializing.

The impacts of my socialization

Socialization has evidently influenced my life in the sense that it helped me conform to authority by being shaped towards the right direction from a young age. This brought me up as a morally upright person and also helped me in the selection of an occupation of choice. The realization of this was brought about by socializing with the right people who instill the right characters in individuals. On the other hand socialization can instill the wrong characters in individuals particularly when they socialize with bad characters. This is highlighted by Zimbardo (2007) who says that a good person can be changed by socialization if he/she is not in conformity with social norms. The author gives an example of “Palestine and Iraq, where young men and women become suicide bombers who were initially good people, (Zimbardo, 2007).

Therefore as shown in this paper, new inspirations are brought about by social influence which are instilled in an individual particularly when they are consistent from a young age. It is also true that social influence does not only support moral uprightness but can also produce bad social habits.

• Chinoy, M. (1961). Socialization. New York NY: Oxford University Press.
• Mathews, W. (2002). Society and socialization. Journal for socialization community development 24 (2), 62-69.
• Schaefer, D., & Lamm, T (1992). Re-socialization. Brisbane, QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.
• Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect : Understanding how good people turn evil. New York: Random House.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 30). The Impact of Socialization on My Life. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-socialization-on-my-life/

"The Impact of Socialization on My Life." IvyPanda , 30 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-socialization-on-my-life/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'The Impact of Socialization on My Life'. 30 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "The Impact of Socialization on My Life." October 30, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-socialization-on-my-life/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Impact of Socialization on My Life." October 30, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-socialization-on-my-life/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Impact of Socialization on My Life." October 30, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-impact-of-socialization-on-my-life/.

• Socialization as a Lifelong Process
• Challenges of Prisoner Re-Entry Into Society
• The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Its Socialization Practices
• Race and Ethnic Minorities in the U.S.
• Socializing Agents in Shaping One's Life
• The Discussion of the Piranha River Story
• The Necessity of Anti-drug Activities in Newark
• Education and Recidivism in the US and Scandinavian Nations
• The Drug Policy and Criminalization
• The Giddings State School Capital Offender Program
• Divorce: Advantages and Disadvantages
• Self-Reflection About Life Questions
• US Work Experience: Personal Analysis
• Chesapeake Colony: The Only Place to Be
• Learning to Ride. Personal Experiences