A male newborn is more likely to be bigger and heavier than a female. As this is at birth and therefore cannot be influenced by any factor, other than genetic programming or hormonal balance. Everything that occurs from then on has to be from the environment around the child.
Tarzan was a popular fictional character by E. R. Burroughs. The various books told the stories of a man who was raised from childhood in the jungle. The novels were adapted for various films and television series. Hollywood as ever, overlooked various issues e.g. dental hygiene; but real life can provide more realistic cases. This is one tale of a feral child that was caught living with a pack of wolves.
“. At first Shamdev cowered from people and would only play with dogs. He hated the Sun and used to curl up in shadowy places. After dark he grew restless and they had to tie him up to stop him following the jackals which howled around the village at night. If anyone cut themselves, he could smell the scent of blood and would scamper towards it. He caught chickens and ate them alive, including the entrails. After five months he began to stand; two years later he was doing useful jobs like taking straw to the cows.”
Source: The Sunday Times Magazine, 30 July 1978
The gender of the feral boy Shamdev is not important; what it proves is that behaviour and in his case survival is nurtured. Some research and thinking provides an argument for both points of view. Dr John Money in the 1950’s worked with babies and children that had ambiguous genitals and were diagnosed as having AGS (androgenital syndrome). He believed that children could be brought up as either boy or girl by the actions of adults and how they were dressed. This was known as “gender neutrality”.
In 1965 Bruce Reimer was born along with a twin brother Brian. Six months later Bruce was left without a penis after a bungled circumcision. At Johns Hopkins University under the guidance of Dr Money and his team, Bruce was castrated and surgically changed into Brenda, a baby girl. Dr Money and his theories believed that Brenda would live a happy life as a woman, and provide the ultimate proof that nurture could override nature. Fourteen years later unhappy with her life Brenda became David. She reverted back to her true biological sex. Whilst Dr Money used this case as proof of his theories it wasn’t for twenty years that David Reimer went public with the information of his second ‘gender’ swap.
Source: bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl
Many Sociology books address the problem of detachment. A Chemist has no connection to a jar of Potassium Permanganate but a Social Scientist is an integral part of their own studies. This is known as the subject-object problem. Any writer is part of a gender, and comes from some form of family. It is difficult for me as a father to discuss problems with child rearing. When talking about society, ‘Westerners’ assume that ours is the ultimate model and others should want to embrace it.
One person that worked against that thinking was Margaret Mead. She lived from 1901 to 1978 and was often described as the most famous anthropologist in the world. She carried out field work in the Pacific Islands studying how the play and imaginations of young children were shaped by adults. She strongly believed that the ‘civilised’ world had something to learn from the ‘primitive’. She was able to demonstrate that gender roles are not specific and can differ from one society to another. Below are summaries of two tribes she studied with vastly differing parental ideals. Despite being in relatively close proximity to each other they show how different ideals can produce differing societies.
The Arapesh Indians were a tribe of between eight and nine thousand. Although poor they were gentle, kind and caring. Both mother and father took part in child rearing, and the baby was treated with warmth and kindness. Babies were always carried near to the mother’s breast. The children were not expected to perform any difficult tasks.
The Mundugumor were a tribe of around one thousand. Children and adults alike were arrogant and aggressive. Children were disliked and pregnancy was not looked forward to. Babies were carried on the shoulder in a rough basket. Children were expected to fight for what they wanted and there were claims of cannibalism from children as young as ten.
Source: Adapted from M. Mead, Male and Female 1962
Sociology because of its very nature has always to ‘modify’ its viewpoint. When looking at the influence of the family and child rearing in society, it is important to realise what changes have happened to the ‘nuclear family’. A study in the 1950s would have revealed a high percentage of married couples, a close proximity to other members of the family e.g. grandparents, aunties and uncles. Typically Father would have been the sole ‘breadwinner’ and Mother the ‘homemaker’. Nowadays the number of marriages has fallen, and one in three of marriages that do occur are predicted to end in divorce. In the late 1990s, 40% of births were outside marriage.
But whatever the home circumstance parents (or parent) play a significant part of a child’s PRIMARY socialisation. To look into a typical family home would provide many clues as to the gender of a parent’s offspring. It would not need the presence of the child to deduce that a dark coloured room scattered with an angry looking Action Man or noisy toy drum would belong to a boy. Similarly a bright pink Barbie bedspread adorned with dolls would lead you to correctly surmise that the room’s occupant was a girl.
With only parents and siblings as role models very young children develop their identity and nature by the actions they see and hear. If a boy is repeatedly called ‘tiger’ or ‘boxer’ as a nickname, what they associate with that name is aggression and dominance. Similarly a girl will correlate ‘angel’ or ‘poppet’ with a peaceful nature and quiet. A girl will be more readily encouraged to participate in ‘boyish’ activities such as tree climbing or running, than a boy to who wishes to dress up as a fairy princess.
B. FRANCIS (1997, 1998) conducted a range of pretend role play situations with a group of children (aged 7-11). The children took up roles that they could associate with belonging to a hospital, hotel or school. Although the boys took the high status positions of doctor, manager and head teacher only slightly more than the girls; they used the positions to exert dominance and power far more than the girls. When playing in mixed groups the children used the gender roles as opposition to one another. Francis found that the roles taken by the boys and girls could be described as ‘typically masculine’ or ‘typically feminine’. The girls taking sensible, selfless, mature roles and the boys taking silly, selfish and immature roles supports previous research with school children. This research consistently found that girls are diligent, sensible and quiet with boys being rowdy, disruptive and preoccupied with violence.
Source: Kath Woodward et al, Questioning Identity 2000
The age of the children in Francis’s role plays means that will have been already been influenced by SECONDARY socialisation. This is the social learning that occurs from contact with social peers and the media. A parent will leave a child at the school gates in the morning and collect them at home time. What has happened in between can be a complete mystery. School reports and parents evenings give academic progress and a brief insight to the child’s nature. What they cannot comment on are the playground discussions or pressures the child is feeling to compete. In a typical mixed sex school yard you will see large groups of the same sex playing together, boys charging around, smaller groups shying away from the melee, arguments with a teacher as well as children who seem happy to stand alone. All of these instances show the development of a personality.
The Media cannot be left out of development. As a child I can remember neighbours coming to view the wedding of Princess Anne and Capt. Mark Philips at our house because we had a colour television. They were houses in the street that did not have a television set. Nowadays, it seems unusual if a household only has one television set. There are channels that are dedicated to children, the commercial ones such as Nickleodeon and Fox Kids are funded by advertisers who promote their wares at frequent intervals. There is also a huge range of Children’s magazines that are based on TV and films. The programmes and publications all promote themes that the youngster should want to attain to.
This essay concentrates on the shaping of an individual by society in the relatively early stages of life, discussing only primary and secondary socialisation. The third, ADULT socialisation is when a person enters a new role that has not been able to be prepared for in the original two. When you become an employee or a parent your ideals and beliefs will change. We may think of ourselves as individuals, we all conform in way or another to fit into society. Regardless of gender, class, religion or work, every person fits into a group that moulds together to form a society.
REFERENCES
Davenport, G.C. (1994) An Introduction to Child Development, Collins Educational, London.
Mead, M. (1962), Male and Female, Pelican, London.
Moore, S. (1996) Sociology Alive (2nd Edition), Stanley Thomas, Cheltenham.
Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotes (1998), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Woodward, K. (2000) Questioning Identity: gender, class, nation, Open University Press, London.
http:/www.apa.org/monitor/oct00.
http:/www. bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abercrombie, A. et al (1996) Contemporary British Society 2nd Edition, Polity Press, London.
Anderson, J and Ricci, M. (1996) Society and Social Science, Open University Press, London.
Davenport, G.C. (1994) An Introduction to Child Development, Collins Educational, London.
Castells, M. (1997) The Power of Identity, Blackwell, Oxford.
Giddens, A. (1990) Sociology, Polity Press, London.
Haralalambos, M. and Holborn, M. (1995) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives 4th Edition, Collins Educational, London.
Mead, M. (1962) Male and Female, Pelican, London.
Moore, S. (1996) Sociology Alive (2nd Edition), Stanley Thomas, Cheltenham.
Smith, M. J. (1998) Social Science in Question, Open University Press, London
Woodward, K. (2000) Questioning Identity: gender, class, nation, Open University Press, London.
