Socialization and Gender Roles

Description

Gifts presented to little kids in their teens.

Sociological Interpretation

The pictures above best understood is a form of primary socialization, which is the "acquisition of a basic knowledge of a society’s values, norms, folkways, and mores and thus including learning things like language, eating practices, everyday rules of conduct, and etiquette”, (Knuttila, 97). Through a myriad of actions and activities knowingly or unknowingly, children are socialized and taught what it is means to be a boy or a girl in the society.

In our western society, we determine our future expectations of teens with the type of gifts and cultural practices we expose them to, in their early years of life. Such gifts are differential toys like we see above: the boy child presented with a truck and the girl child, a Barbie doll. These gifts and many others are socializing agents, thus informing the child what cultural practices his or her gender stereotype demands and permits within the social structure.

The girl child presented with a Barbie doll and other gifts such as miniature cooking pot, irons, and lipstick is been taught that her beauty is paramount in her life. She has to be a replication of the doll in shape, height and clothing style. She is also been socialized to her domestic department in the house, where in she has to do the cooking, laundry and more. Her room is also most often painted pink, a color which have been ascribed a feminine tag by society, and as such reflects her salient position. On the other hand, the boy child presented with a truck and other gifts such as football and working tools is been socialized to his expected roles. He is taught to be strong, powerful, intelligent, skilled and rich in order that he should control and maintain the beauty of the woman, because he is the head of the woman. His role in the house is also been taught as to more of maintenance chores such as, painting and mowing the lawn. This assignment of household tasks by gender then leads children to link certain types of work with gender.

As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by other elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood and on into adolescence (Martin, Wood, & Little, 1990). The girl child goes on maintaining her beauty by application of several body adoring lotion and oil and more especially, she keeps slim and trendy. The domestic chores become her preoccupation at home. And the boy on the other hand is seen becoming more muscular, doing his maintenance chores and always do things that shows off his masculinity over the girl child.

The parents of children are the primary influence on their gender role development and other social actors in the social structure do also play a vital role by re-emphasizing those expected norms and values. Through all these socialization agents, children learn gender stereotyped behavior. As children develop, these gender stereotypes become firmly entrenched beliefs and thus, are a part of the child's self concept.