Anthro:theoretical Approaches To Understanding Gender Relations

Front 1

Social Evolutionary approach (Herbert Spencer):

Back 1

Promiscuity& matrilineal descent evolved into monogamy & bilineal descent
•Women doing childcare & men working outside of home is best for survival of species.

Front 2

Materialist Approach (Marx and Engels):

Back 2

•Move from communal property to private property decreased women’s status–“The world-historical defeat of the female sex.”

Front 3

Psychological Approach (Freud and N. Chodorow)

Back 3

•Women naturally passive and dependent. Differences in male/female personality types stem from fact that women/mothers do most of childcare/socializing, Social Learning Theory-cultural learning shapes female & male personality types

Front 4

Structuralist Approach (Levi-Strauss & Sherry Ortner):

Back 4

Ideas people have about gender more important than material aspects of life for shaping gender relations.
Examines myth, language and symbols

Front 5

Discourse-Oriented Approach (Michelle Foucault):

Back 5

Discourse-systems of knowledge, supported by institutions and practices that create a picture of what is true and what is not