Functionalist sex role theory

    Cards (6)

    • Who is the theorist for the functionalist sex role theory?
      Parsons
    • What did parsons theory focus on?
      It focuses on gender socialisation and role models in the nuclear family to explain gender differences in crime
    • What role does the women play according to Parsons?
      They perform the expressive role, including primary socialisation. This give girls an adult role model, but boys reject feminine models of behaviour that express tenderness, gentleness and emotion
    • What role does the male play according to Parsons?
      They take the instrumental role, performed outside the home. This makes socialisation difficult for boys. Instead boys distance themselves by taking part in ‘compensatory, compulsory masculinity’ risk-taking, aggression and anti social behaviour
    • What did A.K Cohen say about the absence of adult male role models In the home?
      It means that boys are more likely to turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity. Here they can earn status through delinquent acts.
    • What do right realists argue about the absence of an adult male role models?
      They argue that the absence of a male role model in matriarcal lone-parent families leads to boys delinquency
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