Among the early discoveries for the student of sociology is the idea that socialization works to shape the individual. Supporting this idea are writings by Michael A. Messner, Sharlene Hesse-Biber, and Mary Romero. The first writer here listed, Michael A. Messner, is author of Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities. The point is made of organized sports being an arena of social interaction wherein an identity of masculinity is formed for young men. Sharlene Hesse-Biber writes the article, Becoming a Certain Body where she posits that socialization not only creates an individual’s self-identity but can also shape the desires, wants, and aspirations of the individual. Mary Romero also discusses the creation of identity from socialization in her work, Life as the Maid’s Daughter. Romero reinforces the ideas of the two previous writers with the argument of her essay that the identity of the self is not a construction of will, but rather a result of socialization and its influences.
The identity of self is created by socialization and gender roles are a part of that identity. Yet to say that gender roles are created by socialization is to over-simplify the subject. What exactly happens during socialization? What are the elements of socialization? In two separate periods of observation, the roles of males and females are examined. Two points of definition were common to the two observations in defining male and female roles. Those two points are dress and interaction.
Sitting in the common area of Allgood Hall, a building on Augusta State University’s campus, I watched the students come and go. That day should have been no different than any other day as I sat in the commons with a book in hand. But this day, the pages of my book were blank. Instead of a novel or class text, in front of me laid a notebook of college-ruled paper awaiting the impressions of my pen. I would observe the display of gender roles among the students present and those who simply passed by.
First I noticed the boys and girls who sat together and those that walked together. Some appeared to be couples, others were obviously just friends. Then a girl walking past my table caught my eye. She was walking alone and stroking her long, flowing hair. After watching a couple of other people pass I began to see not only individual behaviors but trends and patterns. One such pattern was that almost every girl had two bags that she carried versus the boys’ one bag. The boys only carried bookbags. The girls however carried bookbags and purses. In some instances, the girl would carry a purse nearly as big as her bookbag causing me to wonder just how cumbersome it must be to carry such kit. A few girls appeared to lessen their load by carrying a purse only, but these women were left to carry their books unsecured in their hands. And of course, then there were the women who had bookbags resembling army rucksacks in their size and apparent weight, effectively giving her a posture conducive to forward movement only – voluntary or otherwise. Another tend I noticed was that almost all the boys dressed in athletic clothes. The popular uniform was a t-shirt and athletic running shoes. This was in stark contrast to the dress of the girls which was much more casual and far from athletic.
As the longest hand of the clock continued its journey along a round of numbers, time neared for the next session of classes to begin. Before my length of observation ended, I was able to spot one more interesting. Boys and girls seemed to rush to class differently. The girls, one in particular, rushed with her arms at her side, hands open and fingers spread with palms to the floor. She then shuffled her feet quickly, moving to her destination in an almost weightless flutter as though her outstretched fingers had achieved a level of aerodynamic efficiency as yet undiscovered. The boys however, clenched their hands in a loose fist and made every form of body for a full sprint of speed, but only jogged lightly. The weight and intent of the boys’ motion was direct and fully invested in the goal of reaching their destination in time.
Later that day I had the opportunity to observe once again. This time, I watched children on a playground. The children played outside in their school uniforms. Once again, I armed myself with pen and a ready page to record any observations. Here also I noticed the dress of the boys differed from that of the girls in an interesting way. The boys had on blue slacks with a white shirt and blue tie. Girls had on red plaid dresses with white shirts. In such attire, many of the boys played football in a large group, pushing and being rough. A smaller group of boys stood around just talking to a few girls, and then one boy in particular I noticed on the swing by himself. Not only was his being on the swing alone separating him from the crowd but surprisingly, he sat in the swing not facing the crowd and the open yard, but with his back to the crowd and facing the fence, thus further isolating himself from the group.
The girls in their red-plaid dresses with white shirts had no single group on the playground that was significantly larger than any other. In several groups of about three or four, the girls played games like hopscotch. A few other groups ran around the playhouse and talked with the boys that were just standing nearby. Some were on the swings, and other groups of girls just walked and talked together. Among those just walking and talking, the interaction of one was interesting in that one of the girls picked up another and carried her as if the one she carried was her child. After a few steps, she returned the girl to the ground and the employment of her feet, probably because the full weight of her playmate become too much within those first few steps.
Just as the end of the first observation revealed on last insight, so did the end of the second observation unveil another notable behavior. As the playtime ended and the teacher called for the students to line up for their return inside, the girls were the first to rush to the line. The young women made what could undeniably be called a line, in direct contrast to the organization of the boys. The few boys that did go over to the line being formed by girls stayed in groups of two or three, talking and laughing, apparently counting only their proximity to the line as validation of their being in the line. Even more noteworthy were the boys that did not rush to the line. They were a few of the boys who were among the group playing football. They remained in the middle of the playground without a football, running and chasing each other, pushing and laughing.
In all of my observations, although they were of different groups in different locations, they shared common characteristics in the way that gender roles were displayed and reinforced. The elements of dress and interaction were common to both groups. First placed to analysis is the element of dress in socialization and its reinforcement of gender roles.
Dress is a notion that can be expounded to include overall appearance; it does not only have to concern clothes. In the Observation of the Commons, it was noted that a girl walked by stroking her long hair. How can stroking long hair possible enforce gender roles in socialization? In this case, the effect of her stroking her hair has more effect for onlookers than for the girl herself. She already has long, beautiful hair and obviously is aware of the fact by the way she brought attention to it by running her hands through her locks. For the girl seeing such long beautiful hair being so much more emphasized by its rise and fall as fingers ran through, a feeling of “I want that” would certainly be present. Just as in Hesse-Biber’s 1996 article, Becoming a Certain Body, “The individual experiences himself as such, not directly, but only indirectly, from the particular standpoints of other individual members of the same group…” (1996:140). Therefore, one girl seeing another girl with long hair could associate the identity of a woman with long hair, invariable enforcing the idea to that particular individual that the possession of long hair is requisite to the gender of women. In much the same way of the self-identity being shaped through the identity of others, the girls with the very large bookbags and no purse could be seen as less feminine than those who carried a purse with them. Even in the instances of awkwardness when a large purse was coupled with a large bookbag, or a purse being carried with unsecured, un-bagged books, the very presence of that feminine article – the purse – placed an individual within the gender of women. Girls without a purse, seeing those with one would be the object of a reinforced gender role, because the presence of a purse with some other woman highlights the absence of a purse with their identity of themselves as a woman.
In the Observation at the Commons, there gender roles are reinforced to boys through appearance as well. Many of the boys wore athletic clothes. This simple fact is very influential to those boys who may not be as athletic. Sensibly, the wearing of athletic clothes is no real indication of physical prowess. However, on the psyche, the fact is undeniable that a person in sporty clothes possesses athletic ability, health, and strength. This subliminal connection is what reinforces gender roles in that upon seeing another boy in athletic clothes, the onlooker is reminded of physical ability and health which are both embodiments of the male gender roles. Through this roundabout way, male gender roles are reinforced even through something as simple as clothing.
To address appearance in the Observation at the Playground, the delineation is clear – boys wore blue slacks, white shirts and blue ties while girls wore red-plaid dresses with white blouses. The concept that is slightly more elusive is what is being portrayed through the attire. The boys in their blue pants, white shirt and tie are dressed in what could be called business uniform, ready for work and the world. The girls however, are dressed in a red-plaid dress and a white blouse that can hardly be considered business attire. The dress of the girls seems more appropriate for casual home wear, therein preparing the girls for a domestic life. Here gender roles are placed upon the children through the regulations of adults upon what constitutes the proper school uniform. One is also inclined to hold to the belief that “elementary schools are powerful sites for the construction for culturally patterned gender relations” (Adler 1992).
Dress and overall appearance as an element of socialization and reinforcement of gender roles can reasonably afford its own entire discourse. The implications for dress to reinforce gender roles are firm and far-reaching. Yet attention will switch here to the element of action and interaction in the reinforcement of gender roles.
During the Observation at the Commons, the way boys and girls rushed to class is worthy of mention. Girls moved to class with dainty, light, fluttering movements as proof of their femininity and delicate nature. Boys on the other hand, with clenched fists and direct movement rang of athleticism, health, and their strong nature. In each of these instances there is a pursuit of the ideal. In each of these there is the attempt to fill completely the ideology of each gender role, male and female. Again, for those individuals who see others filling a gender role, the question surfaces in their consciousness of how much or how well there are filling the same gender role. This constant system of involuntary internal checks works to reinforce gender roles in a chain reaction across cultures.
The chin reaction of the perpetuation of gender roles is present as well among the children in the Observation at the Playground. When playtime ended, girls hurried to get in line. Any girls not in line, absent of their friends, ran to get in line as well. This action unknowingly enforces the obedience of women to authority and direction through the interaction of the children directly and indirectly through the commands of the teacher calling the children to line. Remarkably, the boys that stayed in the middle of the playground reinforced the male dominance over the female gender. Despite the age difference of the male students and the female teacher, the boys dared to continue their play, secured in their position by the fact that their friends stayed and played with them. Likewise in this way, the male gender role is reinforced directly through the interaction of the boys through each other, and indirectly through the dismissal of the teacher’s authority.
Observation is a tool for many disciplines. However, when observation is done with a sociological goal and questions in mind, observation then becomes an action which unveils the superficial and reveals the remarkable. Gender roles and the identity of the self are formed through things as simple as dress, appearance, and relationships with friends. In the Observation at the Playground, one of the girls picked up her friend and carried her like a child, certainly emulating something she had seen someone else do, therein attempting to place herself also into the gender of female by copying the actions of those already within the female-gender domain. Such things are simple alone, but profound once removed and coupled with sociological analysis. Perhaps herein also is a reason for the broadness of the field of the term socialization: Socialization appears to be so general as to mean nothing, simply because it evolves everything.
References
Adler, Patricia A., Steven J. Kless, Peter Adler. 1992. “Socialization to Gender Roles:
Popularity among Elementary School Boys and Girls”. Pp. 169-187 in Sociology
of Education, Vol. 65, No. 3. Retrieved October 11, 2006. (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-0407%28199207%2965%3A3%3C16
9%3ASTGRPA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D&size;=LARGE)
Hesse-Biber, Sharlene. 1996. “Becoming a Certain Body.” Pp. 140-148. in Sociology:
Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, edited by D.M. Newman and J.A.
O’Brien. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Messner, Michael A. 1990. “Boyhood, Organized ports, and the Construction of
Masculinities.” Pp. 115-127. in Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday
Life, edited by D.M. Newman and J.A. O’Brien. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, Ltd.
Romero, Mary. 1995. “Life as the Maid’s Daughter: An Exploration of the Everyday
Boundaries of Race, Class, and Gender.” Pp. 103-113. in Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life, edited by D.M. Newman and J.A. O’Brien. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Ltd.
