SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gender Role

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Stephan Larose

Document Summary

Gender differentiation: first and most fundamental social division. All societies have divided humanity in gender terms. It is both uncommon and unacceptable to not define the newborn"s gender. For example: about 7 years ago a family in toronto refused to tell the sex of the baby as according to the parents its up to their child to decide. What was significant is the responses to the story, where 8000 people replied most responses were negative. From an early age we learn gender roles, the attitudes, behaviors, and activities that are socially defined as appropriate for each sex. Ex: boys have to behave in a certain manner and exhibit certain attitude, same for girls. Throughout this process, individuals develop what is known as gender identity, which is defined as one"s perception of self as either male or female. Gender identity is something that develops early on in the individual"s life.