Chapter 4 Early Childhood Gender Socialization. Socialization The lifelong process by which people...

Chapter 4

Early Childhood Gender Socialization

Socialization

• The lifelong process by which people learn– Values and Norms– Who and what we are

• Begins at birth– Gender socialization can be conscious or

unconscious– Even toys in the nursery can have an impact– Research shows a very early impact of

gender identity

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Gender

• Socialization

• Psychoanalytic Theories– Identification theory– Castration anxiety– Oedipus complex– Penis envy


Learning Gender

– Womb envy

• Social Learning Theories– Reinforcement– Behaviorism– Modeling

• Cognitive Developmental Theories


Learning Gender

– Schema– Preoperational stage– Conserving variance– Bem’s Enculturated Lens Theory of Gender

Formation• Gender polarization


Learning Gender

• Androcentrism• Biological essentialism• Enculturation• Metamessages• The implications of Bem’s theory for social change

are fairly obvious


Table 4.1 Theories of Gender Socialization

Psychoanalytic Views

• Freud is the most famous psycho analytic theorist– Theory developed in Austria in the 1800’s– Subjected to multiple criticisms – Called attention to the importance of

childhood– Many aspects subject to criticism

• No way of gaining objective evidence of the correctness of the theory

– Behaviors change over time


• Freud had a definite antifemale bias• Substantial revisions in the 20th century• Modern theorists continue to reinterpret and

revise theories of gender development.– Karen Horney– Erik Erikson– Melanie Klein– Kai Erikson


• Modern psychoanalytic theory also has flaws

• But we are studying sociological ways of learning about gender roles and sexual identity and behavior.

Social Leaning, Cognitive Development and the Enculturated Lens

• Modern psychoanalytic theory also has flaws• But we are studying sociological ways of

learning about gender roles and sexual identity and behavior.

• Social Learning– Children are rewarded for gender appropriate

behavior and punished for gender inappropriate behavior.

– The impact of role models-parents, friends, other adults are also teaching mechanisms for gender appropriate behavior.


• Cognitive development– This is based on the work of Jean Piaget and

Larry Kohlberg studied the mental processes children use to organize the world around them.

• Helps to explain preferences for sexed stereotyped toys, and behavior.

• Children see the world as basically unchanging.• Technical term for the process is schema, things

that make the world organized into structures.– Like men and women, family and others.


• Enculturated lens is based on work by Sandra Bem and combines social learning and cognitive development.– It consists of three major aspects:

• Gender polarization-males and females are different and are a basic organizing principle of social life

• Andro centrism meaning that men are superior to women

• Biological essentialism means that biology is at the base and that there are inevitable differences between men and women


• Bem’s theory treats this as part of the socialization process.– Successful socialization into society pre-

programs daily experiences to fit the expectations of the culture

– There also a meta-messages which teach what is valued and important and that there are differences between people

– Gender polarization takes place in childrenfrom the time they are born


• Examples given are:– the different color blankets in maternity wards– Colors of children’s rooms– Toys

• The meta-message is that gender differences are inherent in us– Children observe how parents behave differently

example given is who drives a car• The consequence is that by time children

become adults they conform to the gender differences they learned as children


• Androcentrism is inculcated into development.• Our society is so thoroughly organized from a

male perspective that gender neutral policies• Changing this will be extremely difficult.

– It involves a total transformation of a cultures basic ideas.

– It has to be taught by parents, and even parents who try be gender neutral have been shown in some research to remain androcentric.

Cultural preferences for sex and gendercide

• Many cultures prefer male children.• Theoretically the genders should be almost

equal at childbirth• Places such as China, India, Pakistan, and

others skew the live birth rates towards males by female infanticide and selective abortions

• Cultural practices also put female children at risk by healthcare practices

Differential Socialization

• Parents have gender specific expectations of the children’s behavior.

• While there are few physiological differences at birth, they develop rapidly.

• Clothing is an important differentiator and impacts socialization

Parent-child interaction

• This is an ongoing process in which different behaviors have been observed for boys and girls.

• Parental communication also seems to vary by sex-Young girls using more emotion in their communications and reading facial and other behavioral expressions

• Even play time with children seems to differ by sex

Parent-child interaction

• It is essential to recognize that much of the research in this field has been done only on white middle-class two-parent heterosexual families.

• Some research has indicated that black children regardless of sex learn more financial responsibility earlier than white children.

• Little research on gender identification in gay and lesbian families

The role of toys

• Researchers have consistently find that children play with different kinds of toys depending on their sex.

• Boys play with action figures etc.

• Girls play with dolls and household models

• The advertising industry is really based on this

Children’s literature

• Over the past 50 years children’s literature has become much less androcentric.– This shouldn’t be limited only to literature but

also to media such as television and movies

The role of peer groups

• Playgroups tend to be sex specific

• Children playing with children of the opposite sex and have fewer friends.

• By the time children turned five and are ready to begin school gender identity in most cases, and awareness of social norms, have been made part of children’s personality


Growing up Feminine or Masculine

• Where Have All the Young Women Gone? Sex Preference and Gendercide

• Research shows that parents do have different expectations of their babies:– And treat them differently

• Clothing plays a significant part in gender socialization simply on the basis of sex



• Clothing clearly serves as one of the most basic ways parents organize: – Their children’s world along gender-specific

lines

• Parent-Child Interactions– Researchers found parents communicate

differently with sons & daughters



– Research indicates that mothers are warmer toward daughters than fathers are

– Parents tend to engage in rougher, more physical play with infant sons v. daughters

• Toys and Gender Socialization– Toys for girls still revolved around the themes

of domesticity and motherhood



– Toys for boys focused on action & adventure– Toy stores and manufacturers’ websites are

mostly gender specific– Toy catalogs and websites are directed

primarily to parents

• Gendered Images in Children’s Literature



– Traditionally, children’s literature ignored females or portrayed males and females:

• In a blatantly stereotyped fashion

• in the vast majority of children’s books: – Females are presented in supporting roles – Very few female characters are brave,

athletic, or independent


Early Peer Group Socialization

• Socialization is not a one-way process from adults to children– Childhood socialization is a collective process

• Children socialize one another through their everyday interactions: – In the home and at play


Early Peer Group Socialization

• Research shows one of young children’s first attempts at social differentiation is: – Through increasing sex segregation

• Boys & girls who have gender-appropriate toys are more liked by their peers:– And have a better chance of getting other

children to play with them


By the Time a Child is Five

• During early childhood, boys and girls:– At least those from White, middleclass, two-

parent, heterosexual families:• Are socialized into separate and unequal genders

• Children themselves reinforce and respond to adults’ socialization practices

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