Doing gender doing difference pdf

We act out gender roles from a continuum of masculine and feminine characteristics. In doing gender west and zimmerman refute the classic distinction between the social constructed gender as opposed to the biological sex. Doing gender is a socially required practice, and therefore we cannot not do gender, our assigned sex category is imposed on us and is perceived as essential, we can comply with is or rebel against it, but in either case we are always, west and zimmerman argue, doing gender. Greeting card communication reflects the highly gendered division of both emotional and domestic labor in us culture.

West, fenstermaker doing difference 9 references to gender, race, and class as intersecting systems, as interlocking categories, and as multiple bases for oppression. Lorbers main argument in the piece is that gender, like culture, is a human production that depends on everyone constantly doing gender. These differences are socially constructed and reconstructed through everyday interactions, but most people come to see them as essential, natural, innate biological differences. In the same anthology, we may find some chapters that conceive of gender, race, and class as distinct axes and others that conceive of them as concentric ones. Gender differences also occur in the realm of classroom behavior. West and zimmerman suggest that gender is something people do. Doing gender so because people draw on existing concepts or gender and reuse them, it forms an inescapable cycle of gender roles. Overall, this essay highlights that by doing gender is not just about behaving in a particular way, it is also about believing certain gender norms and engaging in practices that map on to those norms. But if any new book on the subject were to find a place for itself in the queer academic canon, doing gender diversity surely would be it.

We argued that doing gender involves acomplex of perceptual, interactional, and micropolitical activities that cast particular pursuits as expressions of manly and womanly natures. However, we contend that the notion of gender as a role obscures the work that is involved in producing gender in everyday activities, while the notion. Covering an array of topics, theories and approaches to gender studies, it introduces students to the study of gender. Doing gender is a classic sociological concept developed by candace west and don zimmerman.

It is generally thought that american men do not take as much responsibility for sending greeting cards as women, or display competence in this mode of communication. Using evidence on personal naming practices in the united. In terms of doing gender, the male was reinforcing an idea of gender through his actions in a particular social setting. Difference theorists contend that women are, or tend to be, more nurturing, caring, and cooperative, as opposed to men, who are more independent, detached, and hierarchical. Kop doing gender, doing difference av sarah fenstermaker, candace west pa. By doing gender, it in turn has the effect of reinforcing the notion of essential difference between females and males. We contend that the doing of gender is undertaken by women and men whose competence as members of society is hostage to its production. Calva march 10, 2009 doing gender doing gender is everyone being exactly what the gender they were born as. That said, as younger scholars are increasingly becoming. Doing difference is a concept that grew out of the authors earlier idea of doing gender, presented at the american sociological association in 1977 by candace west and don zimmerman and published in gender and society in 1987. With the publication of doing difference, west and fenstermaker. It describes the insights the approach offers for conceptualizing gender, and it assesses the specific contributions of doing gender in criminology. Zimmermann first introduced their notion of gender not as a trait, a social role or a societal representation, but rather as an accomplishment the product of daily social practices and behaviors which codify and manifest femininity of. Doing gender, doing class the performance of sexuality.

Gay fathers doing gender, family, and parenting % 31 shirley a. From sex roles to gender structure sage publications. Doing gender, doing difference inequality, power, and institutional. Doing gender, doing difference sarah fenstermaker, candace. Another variation focuses on the concept of doing difference. Doing gender was an article and concept coined by sociologists candace west and don zimmerman in 1987 published in gender and society. Researchers then examine variables that surround this difference, especially. Whats the difference between doing gender and butlers. The book will be essential reading for scholars coping with the theoretical difficulties of bringing together analyses of gender, race, and class. Pdf difference in the police department women, policing.

Gender is embedded so thoroughly in our institutions, our actions, our. For the past two decades, the work of sarah fenstermaker and candace west has revolutionized our understanding of gender and the notion of difference. Doing gender, doing difference is engaging and thoughtprovoking. The current distinction between the terms sex difference versus gender difference has been criticized as. Doing gender is then understood as creating gender difference while undoing gender would conversely mean to reduce gender difference. For the first time the anthologized works of sarah fenstermaker and candace west have been collected along with new essays to provide a complete understanding of this topic of tremendous importance to scholars in social science. Gender, class, and pay equity doing gender, doing difference is engaging and thoughtprovoking. In sociology and gender studies, doing gender is the idea that in western culture, gender, rather than being an innate quality of individuals, is a psychologically ingrained social construct that actively surfaces in everyday human interaction.

By doing gender it makes institutionalized or structural arrangements based on sex category appear normal and legitimate. Concentrating on the processes of doing or negotiating gender made sense of otherwise confusing findings. Unlike a research approach that accepts sexual differences as an aggregation of qualities and deals with the qualitative behavioral tendencies of women and men, ethnomethodologically oriented studies produced a new focus of research. This is because, as west and fenstermaker stress, doing difference is an ongoing interactional accomplishment, where accountability to gender and other norms is judged according to specific social circumstances. Doing this requires that we suspend what we are used to and what feels. It marks a gender difference because the gesture was either a sign of respect or assumption that women are the weaker sex and need help from men. Doing gender, doing class the performance of sexuality in. The purpose of this article is to advance a new understanding of gender as a routine accomplishment embedded in everyday interaction. In the field of gender and language use, this performance of gender is referred to as doing gender. Conclusion to the gender factory sarah fenstermaker. That is, these gendered activities are not so much expressions of natural gender differences but the very act of the production of these differences. We argue that recognition of the analytical independence of these concepts is essential for understanding the interactional work involved in being a gendered person in society. However, we contend that the notion of gender as a role obscures the work that is involved in producing gender in. Doing gender essay shimone robinson english composition.

However, they conclude that the simultaneous doing of gender and hierarchy requires further empirical investigation. It is everpresent in conversation, humor, and conflict, and it is called upon to explain everything from driving styles to food preferences. The concept of doing gender recognizes that gender both structures human interactions and is created through them. For instance, lorber explains how in india, if a task is done by a woman, it is considered easy, whereas if a task is done by a man, it is considered difficult even if it is an identical task. Jul 10, 2017 names, as proper nouns, are clearly important for the identification of individuals in everyday life. Names, as proper nouns, are clearly important for the identification of individuals in everyday life. These allegedly principal differences between sexes are supported by the division of labor and are characterized by female and male behaviors, which have deep psychological and social implications. The authors call these situations as resources for doing gender. In a profession where men surgeons traditionally do dominance while women nurses do deference, female surgeons are sanctioned for displaying the dominant and agonistic behavior exhibited by their male colleagues.

While research on gender in organizations has not only documented sustained gender inequality, it has also offered an understanding of how gender is enacted through doing and undoing gender. Doing gender means creating differences between girl and boys and women and men. Doing gender by west and zimmerman summary consider the. In other words, gender may be challenged and revised. Doing gender is a paradigm first articulated by west and zimmerman for theorizing gender as socially produced in ongoing interactions of everyday life. Difference in the police department women, policing, and.

The social construction of gender, an essay written by judith lorber takes a deep look at how western society creates gender and sexuality. In sociology and gender studies, doing gender is the idea that in western culture, gender. Here are summary points about doing gender, based on their article. Doing gender is necessary because appropriate performances of gender. Doing gender involves a complex of socially guided perceptual, interactional, and micropolitical activities that cast particular pur.

Pdf doing gender the sage encyclopedia of psychology and. Doing crime as doing gender masculinities, femininities. In the present article, i argue that forenames and surnames need also to be recognized as doing words, important in the categorization of sex at birth and in the ongoing management of gender conduct appropriate to sex category. Gender differences in the classroom educational psychology. To do so entails a critical assessment of existing perspectives on sex and gender and the introduction of important. Readings in theory and realworld experience 1st edition. After a while, these gender differences become ordinary and a part of what we. An underexplored aspect concerns how men can do and undo gender to support or hinder gender equality processes in organizations. Such an approach complements traditional theories, which. Doing gender article summary essay example graduateway. Critically evaluate the understanding of gender as discourse. Doing gender is basically creating differences between men and women. Gender builds on biological sex, but it exaggerates biological difference, and.

Doing gender refers to process of creating gender through interactions in particular social settings. By doing gender, we reinforce the notion that there are only two mutually exclusive categories of gender. This essay assesses the strengths and limitations of doing gender for understanding crime. This article explores determining gender, the umbrella term for social practices of placing others in gender categories. We draw on three case studies showcasing moments of conflict over who counts as a man and who counts as a woman. An introduction to gender we are surrounded by gender lore from the time we are very small. Doing gender in media, art and culture, 2nd edition is a comprehensive gender studies textbook with an international focus and relevance across a broad range of academic disciplines.

Doing gender, doing difference is a fascinating and coherent collection showing the development, spanning 25 years, of theorizing about the social construction of gender and other inequalities. A central issue in the study of gender is whether women and men are fundamentally different or essentially the same. This term was used by candace west and don zimmerman in their article doing gender, published in 1987 in gender and society. For example, doing gender is a guy doing things that boys are supposed to do base on what society says.