Cultural Explanations of Gender
- Created by: rhallett
- Created on: 21-09-15 18:31
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- Cultural Explanations of Gender
- Margaret Mead studied New Guinean tribes in the 1930s; different gender roles than in the West
- Tchambuli: opposite gender roles - females were masculine and males were feminine
- Mudugumor: both males and females were masculine - violent and powerseeking
- Arapesh: both males and females were feminine
- Gender is not shaped by biological factors; view is called cultural determinism
- Mead eventually changed her mind and concluded that there was shared gender roles across cultures
- Freeman argued that Mead had been misled by some of her RPs in other research - which means were results may not be reliable.
- Others argue that her methods weren't scientific
- Other Research
- Williams & Best - studied gender in 28 cultures - gave RPS 300 adjectives and had to classify them as either male or female, ie: Independent, Sympathetic, Moody, Sensitive - broad agreement between cultures
- Doesn't show behaviour
- Used on university students; less population validity
- Large sample this lots of data
- Buss studied
37 cultures -
questionnaire
- about mate
preference - in
90% females
valued earning
potential and
men valued
physical
attractivenes
more than
women
- Differences could be due to culture or social factors - women often financially disadvantaged; could explain why key value was earnings
- Large sample thus lots of data
- Williams & Best - studied gender in 28 cultures - gave RPS 300 adjectives and had to classify them as either male or female, ie: Independent, Sympathetic, Moody, Sensitive - broad agreement between cultures
- Margaret Mead studied New Guinean tribes in the 1930s; different gender roles than in the West
- RPs had no choice to say both or neither; perhaps less valid
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