Biological Determinism Research Paper

Decent Essays
“There are in fact real and measurable differences between women and men as groups in things like emotions, empathy, spatial ability, physical activity level, violence, and interests that are documented at a very young age. Sociobiologists have also documented many differences across species. Biological determinism is exactly that: the belief that biology determines such characteristics as behavior, ability, likes, dislikes, etc. Biological determinism is the theory behind the phrase: “boys will be boys.” which we can all easily identify, that are believed to be essential and natural in boys. Social constructionism, on the other hand, is the theory that social identifiers, like race and gender, among others, are created by society rather than biology.”(Eliot) …show more content…
One of the ways we can see how society creates differences between men and women is the way we are socialized at birth. The way parents interact with their babies and children can exacerbate those differences. It may make sense to say that because there are such common traits associated with men and women that are true for many people, that biology must be the answer as to why these differences exist. However, the connection does not imply a relationship. Just because girls tend to have certain traits and boys tend to have certain traits does not prove that these differences are based in biology. when people know the sex of a baby, they interact with it very differently. People are often more animated with girl babies than they are with boy babies. that social constructionism, rather than biological determinism, is a more solid cause for many differences between men and women than pure biology. It is very possible that biology and social constructionism both play a hand in the development of behavior. It is just a matter of how much, and at what period of

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