members of our society
Develop a 4-5 page analysis of your experience with gender socialization. In doing so, analyze how gender is created by society, specifically looking at children’s toys and/or clothing.
Culture is the glue that holds a society together—it is what encourages the members of that society to cooperate with each other as much as possible. We learn culture through socialization, the lifelong social experience. From birth we are taught how to be members of our society.
The most common agents of socialization are our family, peers, school, and media. The family, for example, influences a child’s development by such things as the way the parents hold the baby, look at it, talk to it, and respond to its needs. We take on typical gender roles from the beginning as girls are given pink clothes while boys are given blue. Family socialization is reinforced or modified by experiences at school and with peers, by the mass media, and by interaction with others. Socialization, the lifelong social experience through which we learn culture, is vital to becoming members of a society.
In this assessment, we look at the sociological concepts of culture and socialization and how they impact our behavior and attitudes.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
- Competency 1: Examine how theory and sociological concepts apply to everyday life.
- Identify gender-specific childhood clothing and/or toys.
- Competency 2: Explain the basic tools of sociological inquiry.
- Summarize gender socialization sources.
- Explain the validity and helpfulness of gender socialization sources.
- Competency 4: Analyze the influence of culture on both the individual and society.
- Describe the impact of gender-specific messages towards one’s self.
- Analyze how gender-specific messages of childhood clothing and/or toys reflect larger societal expectations.
- Competency 6: Compose text that articulates meaning relevant to its purpose and audience.
- Develop text using organization, structure, and transitions that demonstrate understanding of cohesion between main and subtopic
