Culture View
According to sociologist Cynthia Fuchs Epstein the
differences between the behavior of males and females are solely the result of
social factors specifically, socialization and social control. According to her
the anthropological record shows greater equality between the sexes in the
past. In earlier societies, women, as well as men, hunted small game, made
tools, and gathered food. In hunting and gathering societies, the roles of both
women and men are less rigid.
This proves that hunting and gathering societies exist in
which women are not subordinate to men. Anthropologists claim that in these
societies women have a separate but equal status. When these socially
constructed barriers are removed, women’s work habits are similar to those of
men. The types of work that men and women do in each society are determined not
by biology but by social arrangements.
This division of work by gender serves the interests of men,
and both informal customs and formal laws enforce it. Biology “causes” some
human behaviors, but they are related to re- production or differences in body
structure. Female crime rates are rising in many parts of the world. This
indicates that aggression, which is often considered a male behavior dictated
by biology, is related instead to social factors.
Biology View
Sociologist Steven Goldberg questions the premise that
anyone should doubt “the presence of core-deep differences in males and
females, differences of temperament and emotion of masculinity and femininity.”
Goldberg’s argument is that it is not environment but inborn
differences that give masculine and feminine direction to the emotions and
behaviors of men and women. The anthropological record shows that all societies
are patriarchies Stories about long-lost matriarchies are myths.
In all societies, past and present, the highest statuses are
associated with men. In every society, “hierarchies overwhelmingly dominated by
men” rule politics. Male dominance of society is “an inevitable resolution of
the psychophysiological reality.” Socialization and social institutions merely
reflect and sometimes exaggerate inborn tendencies.
Credit: Notes from James M Henslin, “Sociology- A Down to
Earth Approach”
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