SOC 1020 – Article Response Assignment #1: Sex and Temperament The chapter I chose was chapter 16: Sex and Temperament. The chapter analyzes Margaret Mead’s study of gender in three societies in New Guinea. There are differing opinions among societies and cultures around what constitutes male and female traits. In the first society (the Arapesh), Mead found stereotypical female behaviours in both males and females. In the second society (the Mundugumor), stereotypical male behaviours were prominent in both male and female interactions. In the last society (the Tchambuli), Mead found gender roles that are considered to be a reversal of ours in the Western society. Mead’s comparison to Western society made me think about our gender stereotypes
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Every culture has different attitudes and beliefs that shapes what is considered to be the “norm” in each society, therefore what one culture considers to be the “norm”, may not be the case for another cultural society. Symbolic interactionism is “the theory that focuses on the way people attach meaning to things in the course of their everyday communication” (Brym, 2013). One of the things that people attach meaning to is what it takes to be a man or a woman in their particular culture. In the first culture, “Mead called the Arapesh cooperative, orientated to the needs of the next generation, gentle, responsive, carefully parental, and willing to subordinate themselves in caring for those who were younger and weaker” (Ward,1999). This is the norm for the Arapesh society, and those who deviated from this norm were not accepted. The Mundugumor people are described as “virile, actively masculine, positively sexed, jealous, violent, hard, and arrogant” (Ward, 1999). How any infant survived babyhood is beyond me. They were constantly put into harsh situations just to see if they could overcome them; that is how the strong survive in this society: by being tough. Alternatively, the Tchambuli culture depicts role reversal of our Western society. Women portray dominance, while men were seen as uneasy, wary, and definitely not in control. Men who could not take this lifestyle grew violent and neurotic, a true example of deviance in the Tchambuli culture. Many may have preconceived notions of these three societies mainly because they are different from our society, and that is wrong. Gender roles in different societies can be considered fluid and
Every culture has different attitudes and beliefs that shapes what is considered to be the “norm” in each society, therefore what one culture considers to be the “norm”, may not be the case for another cultural society. Symbolic interactionism is “the theory that focuses on the way people attach meaning to things in the course of their everyday communication” (Brym, 2013). One of the things that people attach meaning to is what it takes to be a man or a woman in their particular culture. In the first culture, “Mead called the Arapesh cooperative, orientated to the needs of the next generation, gentle, responsive, carefully parental, and willing to subordinate themselves in caring for those who were younger and weaker” (Ward,1999). This is the norm for the Arapesh society, and those who deviated from this norm were not accepted. The Mundugumor people are described as “virile, actively masculine, positively sexed, jealous, violent, hard, and arrogant” (Ward, 1999). How any infant survived babyhood is beyond me. They were constantly put into harsh situations just to see if they could overcome them; that is how the strong survive in this society: by being tough. Alternatively, the Tchambuli culture depicts role reversal of our Western society. Women portray dominance, while men were seen as uneasy, wary, and definitely not in control. Men who could not take this lifestyle grew violent and neurotic, a true example of deviance in the Tchambuli culture. Many may have preconceived notions of these three societies mainly because they are different from our society, and that is wrong. Gender roles in different societies can be considered fluid and