Culture And Media

• What is culture?


  The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a group of people in society.
• Culture and gender roles

  Cultural norms and values influence the development of gender identity and the expectations placed on individuals based on their assigned sex.Gender roles can differ across cultures, with some societies having more rigid expectations for males and females, while others may have more fluid or non-binary gender roles.Western cultures recognise 2 gender roles; masculine and feminine.In mexico - the muxe who view themselves as neither man nor woman, but instead a distinct "third gender."
• Mead (1935) AO3


  Conducted a cross-cultural study of 3 societies to investigate whether there were differences in gender roles. She used anon-participant observationcarried out overtly on 3 tribal communities on the island of New Guinea for a 6 month period. Whilst she discovered that the Arapesh tribe had similar gender roles to Western society, the others showed big differences such asfemale aggression, or thewomen were responsible for hunting and fishing. As each tribe had different patterns of gender roles, this supports social learning theory and the idea that Gender roles are affected by cultural variations.

  However, there is the possible issue of cultural bias as a Western researcher canonly understand what they see and hear from their own Western perspective(imposed etic). Mead may not have fully understood the cultures she was reporting on thereforelacking external validity.
• William & Best (1990) AO3


  Williams & Best (1990) studied gender stereotypes in 30 countries andfound universal attitudes towards masculinity and femininity.

  Gathering cross-cultural research can be problematic as some of the methods used to gather data from one culture are not necessarily applicable to another culture.
• Limitation of cultural explanation

  Cultural explanations of gender development arereductionistin that they fail to account for biological explanations.
• What is the media?

  Various methods for communicating information.TV, films, books, internet etc
• Media and gender roles

  The media has apowerful influence on our behaviouras we are continually exposed to it through newspapers, television and social media.The media will often portray males and females in particular ways depending on the culture or society they are in.The media providerole models with whom children identify and want to imitate. Many children select role models which are the same sex as they are and prefer to show gender stereotypical behaviour.The media can play a role in reinforcing widespread social stereotypes concerning gender appropriate behaviour.
• Williams (1986) AO3


  Williams reported evidence from anatural experiment conducted in a town in Canada.Prior to the introduction of TV in the town the amount of gender stereotypical views were relatively low.Two years after TV was introduced the difference between boys and girls had increasedand there weresignificantly more stereotypicalviews related to gender.However, natural experiment so it is difficult to establish cause and effect
• England et al (2011) AO3

  England et al (2011) show thattraditional Disney Princess roles were very femininebut recentlyDisney has produced more Princess roles that are balanced and less stereotypically female. for example brave and moana
• Limitations of media


  Some studies provide evidence for counter-stereotypes. Pingree (1978) found that gender stereotyping was reduced amongst school age children when they were shown TV adverts featuring women in non-stereotypical roles.

  Research into media effects on gender roles ismainly correlational, so cause and effect cannot be established.