influence of culture and media

• influence of culture

  • if a particular gender role appears to be consistent across cultures we might conclude that this represents an innate biological difference between males and females
  • if we find some gender roles culture specific we might argue influence of social norms and socialisation are significant
• cultural differences (nurture)

  • mead (1935) carried out a cross-cultural study into gender roles of cultural groups in Papua New Guinea
  • the arapesh were all gentle and responsive (stereotypically feminine)
  • the mutiguniar were aggressive and hostile (stereotypically masculine)
  • this suggests gender roles may be culturally determined
• cultural differences nature

  • there are many cross cultural similarities in gender roles
  • Buss (1995) found consistent patterns in mate preferences in 37 countries across all continents
  • in all countries women sought men who could offer wealth and resources
  • men looked for youth and physical attractiveness in a potential partner
• influence of media

  • social media, adverts, tv and film provide role models who children may identify with and want to imitate, children are more likely to select role models who are the same gender and who engage in typical gender-appropriate beahviour
• rigid stereotypes - Bussey and Bandura

  • evidence that the media provides rigid stereotypes
  • men are portrayed as independent and ambitious
  • women are seen as dependent and unambitious
• furnham and farrager

  did a study of tv adverts found that men were more likely to be shown in self sufficient roles in professional contexts whereas women were often seen occupying family roles in a domestic setting

  seeing other people perform gender-appropriate behaviours increase a child's belief that they are capable of carrying out such behaviours - known as self-efficacy
• strength - influence of media

  • has theoretical basis
  • cultivation theory - the more time an individual spends living in the media world the more likely they are to believe that it reflects social reality, positive correlation has been found between time spent watching reality tv programme jersey shore and non judgemental attitudes towards casual sex, effect was still found true when researchers controlled for influences of factors such as existing sexual attitudes, parental attitudes and religious beliefs.
  • suggests media cultivates perception of reality and this effects gender behaviours
• limitation - influence of media

  • may not be a causal relationship
  • norms within child's family may be bigger factor on the child's gender attitudes and behaviour, if media representations confirm existing gender norms held by the family then these are likely to be reinforced in the child's mind, if not then such representations are likely to be rejected
  • media influences are secondary to other influences such as family
• strength - influences of culture

  • supported by evidence
  • hofstede argues that in industrialised cultures the changing status and expectations of women are a function of their increasingly active role in the workplace and away from the domestic circle, led ot breakdown of traditional stereotypes in advanced industrial societies, in traditional societies women still occupy the role of the housemaker as a result of social, cultural and religious pressures
  • suggests gender roles are determined by cultural context
• limitation - influence of culture

  • research had since been criticised
  • mead has been accused of making generalisations based ona short period of study, freeman (1983) conducted a follow-up study of people from Papua New Guinea and argues that mead's findings were flawed as she had been mislead by some of the ppts and her preconceptions of what she would find influenced how she interpreted the events, example of observer bias and ethnocentrism
  • interpretations may not have been objective and calls into question the conclusions that she drew