SOCI 395 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: American Sociological Review, Longitudinal Study, Inferiority Complex
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOCI 495
February 12
Gender Inequality II
Is there a biological determinant?
Connellan et al.
• Se differees ad preferees eist i aies that ere just or eoatal
• Feale are ore likel to look at faes, ale aies ore likel to look at oiles
Critiques
1. Issue of replication
• No other study that has found similar results
• Stand alone study, quite a few other studies on neonates that found no differences
between male and female
• Lack of replication is important due to methodological issues
2. Experimenter bias
• The author knew the babies gender and this could have played a role in the results
• Projecting own reactions into experiment
3. Attrition
• 50% of babies didn't complete the study because of behaviour/sleeping
• Rate of attrition wasn't equal between male and female babies --> boys more likely to
drop out of the study
• This is the most significant finding in the study but it wasn't mentioned
4. Inter-sex v. intra-sex differences
• Much bigger difference within individual groups than differences in averages
• Very similar results for boys and girls
5. What does it all mean?
• Suppose there were no methodological problems, what does the study actually conclude?
• Does it tell us anything about propensity or skills?
• Study highlights the similarities rather than the differences
Udry: Biological Limits of Gender Construction
• Aeria Soiologial Reie --> leading journal in the field, by the ASA.
• Sociologists pay attention to this journal and its extremely hard to get into, 95% get
rejected
• Lengthy peer review process, can take years
Claims
• Ho iolog effets soializatio
• The soial ostrutio of geder is iologiall ostraied
• Bor ith o predispositios ad eerthig that e eoe later has to do ith soial
structure
• But e ad oe hae sustatial differees i ailities, tedeies, skills ad iterests
which are biologically determined
• Logitudial stud of omen 27-30 --> find 30 years later that differences are determined
mainly by level of exposure to certain hormones during pregnancy (androgens and testosterone)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Connellan et al: se(cid:454) differe(cid:374)(cid:272)es a(cid:374)d prefere(cid:374)(cid:272)es e(cid:454)ist i(cid:374) (cid:271)a(cid:271)ies that (cid:449)ere just (cid:271)or(cid:374) (cid:894)(cid:374)eo(cid:374)atal(cid:895, fe(cid:373)ale are (cid:373)ore likel(cid:455) to look at fa(cid:272)es, (cid:373)ale (cid:271)a(cid:271)ies (cid:373)ore likel(cid:455) to look at (cid:373)o(cid:271)iles. Issue of replication: no other study that has found similar results. Stand alone study, quite a few other studies on neonates that found no differences between male and female. Study highlights the similarities rather than the differences. Udry: biological limits of gender construction: a(cid:373)eri(cid:272)a(cid:374) so(cid:272)iologi(cid:272)al re(cid:448)ie(cid:449) --> leading journal in the field, by the asa. Sociologists pay attention to this journal and its extremely hard to get into, 95% get rejected. Not the first to make these claims --> religious, politicians, etc. measure which ignores prior work of what is considered masculine which changes across time and culture --> gender behaviour is social and changes when the social order changes. If it"s about biology, why do some societies men wear more makeup and dress up more than women.
