Gender and Interaction
Sociological tradition has deep roots in pragmatism; social forces should be observable if they are true. Furthermore, the ultimate way to achieve true verstehen is to understand the interaction from the perspective of the actor. Thus, this qualitative analysis of social interaction will focus on the actors and how they are constructed in the ongoing performance of social life. Goffman's book on advertising and gender offers a basis for an analysis of the social world inundated by media images, begging the question "How does advertising affect social interaction between the genders?" Adding to Goffman's constructionist view of society are Durkheim and Simmel. Both saw society as a web of patterned interactions; Durkheim upheld the idea of the primacy of the social, while Simmel's mixed bag of sociological theory was unified by the notion of society, and more specifically the dyad, existing through interaction. Through my observations I will argue that gender is a social construct, that advertising is an agent in this construction, and that the way gender is "done" in advertising effects interaction between men and women. Over a weekend I gathered friends together under the guise of celebrating my birthday in an extended
When I asked the women in my group about their actions at the restaurant, they all expressed the shared belief that the men's actions were chivalry; they all said they love to be "treated like a lady," which means having the man in the driver seat (literally as well as figuratively)-when we all drove away in our respective cars, I noticed that all four dyads, the men were driving, even if the cars belonged to the woman. The message is: possess this material object, and you can also possess this beautiful object. If gender was purely biological, as many say, then only hermaphrodites would get sex-change operations, and transgendered individuals wouldn't need to get sex-change operations; people could simply act as they pleased. An object is devoid of humanity, agency, and emotions; once objectification occurs, violence is inevitable. " This unfortunately creates the dismal situation wherein, as Marx says, the traditions of past generations "weigh like a nightmare on the brain of the living. While leaving the restaurant, I observed many women obviously waiting around for the men to open the restaurant, and car, doors for them. A link with Weber can be seen here; we live in a world of ideas but ideas take on a life of their own eventually. Gender is a social construct, not a biological one, much like race. In this same setting of a party after the restaurant (same group of dyads and uncoupled individuals), I noticed how polarized men and women are when it comes to ideas of jealousy. The philosophers among us have done a great deal to interpret the world for us, but as Marx urges, "the point, however, is to change it. Goffman's dramaturgical analysis, Marxist notions of the origin of ideas and false consciousness, Weber's ideas of the persistence of ideas, Rubin's illustration of investing meaning in ideas, and Durkheim and Simmel's upholding of the primacy of the social are all incredibly synergistic. In "licensed withdrawal," women more than men are displayed psychologically removed from the situation. The categories, much like the biologically meaningless categories of race, carry significant weight because they have real impact on people's lives and what opportunities and privileges they are afforded and denied. " Goffman argues that not only is gender a social construct, but that socialization provides us with scripts to use in performance of these gendered behaviors.
Common topics in this essay:
Drawing Durkheim's,
Durkheim Simmel,
Gayle Rubin,
Durkheim Simmel's,
Gender Advertisements,
Gender Trouble,
,
Durkheim Goffman,
Women Goffman's,
Drawing Marx's,
dyadic relationships,
gender roles,
analysis social,
masculinity femininity,
gender social,
gender social construct,
origin ideas,
agent socialization,
means woman,
social life,
primacy social,
strict gender roles,
type woman attractive,
means woman society,
analysis social world,
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