The social-symboliс construction of gender

MASCULINITY-FEMININITY

Masculinity (clearly differentiate d social gender roles) – Femininity (over­lapping social gender roles).

Characteristics of masculine culture:

a) A masculine culture is basically a performance-driven society where rewards and recognition for performance are the primary motivational factors for achievement.

b) In masculine cultures some major innovations are simply the outcome of financial rewards, prestige and a sense of accomplishment.

c) In societies that are dominated by masculine culture, people are supposed to be competitive, ambitious, and assertive and risk taking, in order to achieve their goals. This type of culture tends to give the utmost respect and admiration to the successful achiever who fulfills his or her ambition and demonstrates assertiveness and willingness to take risks in order to achieve goals.

Characteristics of feminine culture:

a) In feminine cultures, people tend to emphasize the quality of the “whole” life rather than money, success and social status, which are easier to quantify.

b) Organizations with a feminine culture are not as competitive as those with a masculine culture, because the former places higher priority on concern for others and little distinction is made between men and women in the same position.

Cultures differ in the extent to which gender roles are distinct or overlap. In a highly “masculine” culture men are viewed as assertive, oriented to material success, and strong; women, on the other hand, are viewed as modest, focused on the quality of life, and tender. In a highly “feminine” culture, both men and women are supposed to be modest, oriented to maintaining the quality of life, and tender. On the basis of Hofstede’s research (Hofstede, 1997), the 10 countries with highest masculinity score (from the highest) are: Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, Ireland, Jamaica, Great Britain, and Germany. The 10 countries with highest femininity score (from the highest) are: Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia, Finland, Chile, Portugal, and Thailand. Out of 53 countries, ranked, the United States ranked 15th most masculine.

Gender has a great deal of impact on human interaction. If you understand why feminine and masculine cultures differ and how each communicates, it's like­ly you won't have a great deal of trouble getting along with people of both genders.

Perhaps you have noticed that the terms femi­nine and masculine are used rather than women and men. The former refer to gender and the latter to sex, which are distinct phenomena. Women, men, male, and female are words that specify sexual identities, which biolo­gy determines. In contrast, feminine and masculine designate genders, which are socially constructed meanings for sex.

In summary, gender and sex are not synonymous. Sex is biological, while gender is socially constructed. Sex is established by genetics and biology, while gen­der is produced and reproduced by society. Barring surgery, sex is permanent, while gender varies over time and across cultures. Sex is an individual proper­ty, while gender is a social and relational quality which gains meaning from prevailing social interests and contrast with the other gender. What we've cov­ered so far explains the first relationship among gen­der, communication, and culture: We see that societies create meanings of gender that are commu­nicated through an array of cultural structures and practices; in turn, individuals become gendered as they embody social prescriptions in their personal identities.

There are also dif­ferences in male and female brains. Females general­ly have greater specialisation in the right hemisphere which controls integrative and creative thinking, while males typically have more developed left lobes, which govern analytic and abstract thought. Generally, females also have better developed bundles of nerves connecting the two brain lobes. This suggests women may be more able to cross to the left hemisphere than men are to cross to the right.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11