In 2014, white American women, on average, made 79 cents to every white man’s dollar, a wage gap of 21% (AAUW 2014). This pay gap increases when including other possible intersections, especially age and race. While the pay gap has narrowed since the 1960s, America ranks lowly compared to other developed nations, having the 74th highest pay gap out of 165 countries (Kottasova 2015). Despite this, the narrowing of the pay gap has stalled, even though there has been a greater push for equality in modern American society and a widespread feminist protest against the current pay system (AAUW 2014). The pay system remains due to the conservation of traditional society, an effort to maintain social order, and how we learn and respond to gender in
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These theorists believe that a society is represented by their shared meanings and that what is beneficial for society is also beneficial to the individual. The functionality of the gender pay gap in our society allows it to continue in our modern experiences. The pay gap represents the society’s collective belief system, as the general society believes that a traditional family structure, which is enforced by the gender pay gap, is the best way to raise a family. The gender pay gap is beneficial to the whole society, as it enforces the traditional family structure and family life and maintains social order and class structure, so therefore should be beneficial to the individuals within the society. I will be using Durkheim’s theory on social rituals and Mary Douglas’ theory on grid and group to explain how the pay gap is beneficial to the whole society and, from that, everybody’s individual …show more content…
Douglas separates the social bonds into two categories: low group, which is a more individualistic society with little sense of community, and high group, which is a society with many personal relationships and like minded belief systems. Douglas also separates specialized work into two categories: low grid, which is a society with similar work and activities, which makes them less dependent on others, and high grid, which has highly specialized work, making it necessary to share and organize with each other. America fits somewhere in between fatalism and collectivism, which fits somewhere in between high and low grid, with a high group. Due to this societal structure, those who perform specialized work are more highly regarded in the society. Women, in general, take on jobs that require higher emotional labor, jobs that require more human relation and care, which are regarded as less specialized than jobs that men often do. Along with that, studies show that work that is primarily taken on by women is considered less prestigious than work done by men, even when the work was seen as prestigious before women started filling the positions. Outside of the workplace, people expect women to take on the ‘second job’ of taking care of the home without any extra compensation.
These theorists believe that a society is represented by their shared meanings and that what is beneficial for society is also beneficial to the individual. The functionality of the gender pay gap in our society allows it to continue in our modern experiences. The pay gap represents the society’s collective belief system, as the general society believes that a traditional family structure, which is enforced by the gender pay gap, is the best way to raise a family. The gender pay gap is beneficial to the whole society, as it enforces the traditional family structure and family life and maintains social order and class structure, so therefore should be beneficial to the individuals within the society. I will be using Durkheim’s theory on social rituals and Mary Douglas’ theory on grid and group to explain how the pay gap is beneficial to the whole society and, from that, everybody’s individual …show more content…
Douglas separates the social bonds into two categories: low group, which is a more individualistic society with little sense of community, and high group, which is a society with many personal relationships and like minded belief systems. Douglas also separates specialized work into two categories: low grid, which is a society with similar work and activities, which makes them less dependent on others, and high grid, which has highly specialized work, making it necessary to share and organize with each other. America fits somewhere in between fatalism and collectivism, which fits somewhere in between high and low grid, with a high group. Due to this societal structure, those who perform specialized work are more highly regarded in the society. Women, in general, take on jobs that require higher emotional labor, jobs that require more human relation and care, which are regarded as less specialized than jobs that men often do. Along with that, studies show that work that is primarily taken on by women is considered less prestigious than work done by men, even when the work was seen as prestigious before women started filling the positions. Outside of the workplace, people expect women to take on the ‘second job’ of taking care of the home without any extra compensation.