Culture & Gender

1. Culture & Gender PSYCH 101 Prof. Gregg Fall, 2007

2. Reproduction of MotheringNancy Chodorow • Revised Freud’s theory of psycho-sexual development: emphasized “pre-Oedipal” period (birth to about 3) • Attachment & identification, not sexual attraction • Both M & F begin “as if” female: develop “feminine” sense of self in experiencing world with & through mother

3. Reproduction of MotheringNancy Chodorow • Females: develop by continuity -- sustaining identification with mother • Males: develop by discontinuity -- separating from mother and creating new identity  Misogyny: “masculinity” created via repression / expulsion of “feminine”

4. In A Different VoiceCarol Gilligan

5. Gilligan: Research • Student of Lawrence Kohlberg: children’s development of moral reasoning • Investigated differences in men’s and women’s reasoning about moral dilemmas

6. Lawrence Kohlberg • Investigated children’s moral development • Inspired by Piaget’s stage theory • Devised moral dilemmas • Categorized not answer to dilemma, but form of reasoning

7. Kohlberg moral dilemma In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. the drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug.

8. Kohlberg moral dilemma The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from if." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

9. Kohlberg Stages of Moral Development Preconventional Conventional Post-Conventional

10. In a Different Voice • Men: conflicts of rights value autonomous perspective universal judgments • Women: competing responsibilities value maintenance of relationships relativistic judgments

11. Gilligan’s theory of Ethics • Men: Ethic of autonomy • Women: Ethic of care

12. In a Different Voice • Men’s sense of self based on separation & autonomy – live by universal principles • Enter adulthood prepared for independent, competitive action • Poorly prepared for intimacy & nurturance

13. In a Different Voice • Women’s sense of self based on building & sustaining empathic ties – weaver of relationships • Poorly prepared for competitive achievement • Fear success will cost them personal relationships

14. In a Different Voice Is Gilligan an essentialist or a constructivist? Male – female differences fundamental or socialized? Will women carry ethic of care into male world, or become like men?

15. Culture & Child-Rearing

16. John Whiting Child-Training & Personality Child-Training & Male Development

17. Child-Training & Personality Child Training Fixation (indulgence or frustration) Projection (myth & ritual)

18. Child-Training & Personality • Indep. Variable: fixation (indulgence or frustration) Five areas: oral, anal, sexual, dependence, aggression • Dep. Variable: illness explanations

19. Initial Indulgence Age of Training Severity Oral 2nd lowest 2nd earliest weaning upper quartile Anal 3rd lowest 2nd earliest most severe (tied) Sex lowest among earliest most severe (tied) Dependence slightly below median slightly earlier than median at median Aggression near median near median slightly above median Child Training and Personality U.S. vs. 72 non-Western cultures – early 1950s

20. Child Training & Personality • Oral: ingestion verbal spells & incantations • Anal: defecation, feces, urine, etc. carelessness with excretions charms, curses, spells, incantations failure to perform ritual

21. Child Training and Personality • Sexual: sexual behavior sexual excretions menstrual blood • Dependence: soul loss spirit possession

22. Child Training & Personality • Aggression: aggressive wishes disobedience to spirits poison magical weapons

23. Child Training and Personailty • Found: negative fixation (frustration) statistically associated with illness explanations

24. Robert LeVine Child-Rearing Studies In Kenya & West Africa

25. Kenya ethnic groupsGusii

26. Ecology and Infant Care • Pre-industrial: “pediatric” models high infant-mortality protect & nurture • Modern: “pedagogic” models survival assumed prepare for school & achievement

27. High Infant Mortality Infant on mother’s body; nursing on demand; co-sleeping Seeks quiet baby: dampen excitement Low infant mortality Separation alternating with high interaction Seeks responsive baby: elicit excitement Pediatric vs. Pedagogic Models

28. Mothering Behavior

29. Objectives of Mothering • Pediatric (pre-industrial): minimize caloric expenditure foundation of life-long attachment • Pedagogic (modern): elicit interest & engagement in world prepare for school & achievement prepare to separate from family

30. Whiting’s Theory of (Male) Gender Development

31. Sling vs. Cradle Cultures • Slings: warmer climates • Cradles: colder climates

32. Gusii (Kenya)

33. Morocco

34. Native American

35. Native American

36. Native American

37. Dark: cradle White: sling

40. Sling vs. Cradle Cultures • Sling cultures: • “cross-gender” identity conflict • resolved via masculinizing ritual • Cradle cultures: • “dependency” conflict • resolved via solitary vision quest & guardian spirit (Native America)

41. Whiting theory of Masculine Development • Long exclusive mother-infant co-sleeping leads to…  Stronger “feminine” identification  Greater need for “masculinizing” ritual  Puberty rituals with genital mutilation • Excising “femaleness” • Creating “male” bodies & persons

42. Manhood in the MakingDavid Gilmore • Provides world tour of cultures, showing great range of “masculinity” • Adopts version of Chodorow – Whiting theory of masculine development • Adds: importance of warrior role

43. Manhood in the Making • Truk: drinking and brawling to prove masculinity • Sambia: ritual bleeding de-feminizes fellatio masculinizes • Tahiti & Semai: greater gender equality and androgyny

44. Gilmore Theory “Man-the-Impregnator-Protector-Provider” • Basis in “symbiotic” mothering & early “feminine” identification (Chodorow & Whiting) + • Harsh environment & scarce resources = greater warrioring  rejection of “femininity”