A03

• What are the strengths of the influence of culture on gender roles?

  1. Supporting evidence
• What are the limitations of the influence of culture on gender roles?

  1. Imposed etic
  2. Criticisms of Mead’s research
• Strength = supporting evidence

  • Hofstede (2001) argues that in industrialised cultures the changing status and expectations of women are a function of their increasingly active role in the workplace and the shift away from the domestic sphere
  • Has led to a breakdown of traditional stereotypes in these societies
  • In traditional societies women still occupy the role of housemaker and primary caregiver due to social, cultural and religious pressures
  • Gendered division of labour varies between cultures = the influence of culture on gender roles
  • This concept is not culturally universal
• Limitation = imposed etic

  • Cross-cultural research is typically undertaken by those from Western societies
  • Berry et al. (2002) suggests that early anthropological research was “extractive rather than collaborative and that the instruments used were likely to be biased, both procedurally and conceptually“
  • To enhance the validity of cross-cultural research findings Berry et al. suggests at least one member of the local population should be included within the research team as a way of guarding against carrying out research assumed to be universal when in other cultures it is meaningless
• Limitation = criticisms of Mead’s research

  • Derek Freeman published 2 books and numerous papers criticising Mead’s early research into the life of Samoan women and girls
  • Freeman raised concerns over apparent anomalies in the research and claimed she did not place enough emphasis on the role biology plays in human behaviour
  • Also argued Mead did not spend enough time in Samoa and had created a false picture of their behaviour
  • Believed her findings were flawed and that her preconceptions of what she would find had influenced her reading of events
  • Suggests research is ethnocentric