Social Psych

cialChapter 13 Gender & Sexuality
Gender vs. Sex
*SEX: Refers to anatomical or biological characteristics of women and men.
*GENDER: The roles and characteristics that society assigns to men and women, and has built within it the inequality of women and men.
Gender Roles
*A set of expectations concerning behaviour and attitudes that relates to being male or female
Pink Collar Ghetto
* men make more money the females in the same position (chart on the powerpoint)
Hegemonic Masculinity and Femininity
*Hegemonic masculinity refers to the socially accepted “norms” of masculine behaviour and attitudes.
*“Hegemonic masculine practices are those that serve to normalize and naturalize men’s dominance and women’s subordination”
The Male Gaze
*“One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves.”
* assume a male gaze of which women are the object.
*Female body as a cinematic spectacle.
*Male hero drives action of films.
*Female characters exist only in relation to male desire.
*Women possess “to-be-looked-at-ness.”

Patriarchy
*A social system in which men hold political, economic, and social power.

Sexism
*The belief that men are superior to women (the “weaker sex”) has long been a dominant attitude in patriarchal society.
Homophobia
*Homophobia, the fear of being perceived as gay, as not a real man, keeps men exaggerating all the traditional rules of masculinity, including sexual predation with women. Homophobia and Sexism go hand in hand.”
Ideology of Fag
* “a set of beliefs and sanctions invoked throughout society to keep people in line: if you violate a gender role, then you must be gay.”
Gendered Occupations/Division of Labour
* look at the charts on the power point (women just paid a lot less for same job)
*Women currently make up only 22% of the members of the Canadian House of Commons.
Feminism:
*Feminism is not about hating men or burning bras, it is about becoming self-conscious of sexist ideology and the conditions of inequality that persist between men and women.
*Feminism is about fighting for justice and equality between genders.
Feminist Liberalism (see p. 356-357)
*Examines whether women receive fair pay for the work they do: Pay Equity
*Credited with securing benefits for women on maternity leave.
Feminist Essentialism (see pp. 357-358)
*Looks at the differences between the way women and men think and argues for equality in that difference.
*Validates “maternal thinking” and women’s morality as unique and even superior to male behaviours, such as aggression and competition.

Feminist Postmodernism (see pp. 360)
*Disputes the idea that gender identity is connected to some biological “essence”, arguing instead that gender identity is a performance
*Gender is seen not as only male or female, but as a continuum with male and female at the two extremes and many other possibilities in-between.

Chapter 12 Race and Ethnicity
Racism
*The systematic practice of stereotyping and persecuting people on the basis of their race
Racialization
*“A social process in which groups of people are viewed and judged as essentially different in terms of their intellect, morality, values, and innate worth because of differences of physical type or cultural heritage”
Forms of Racism
Racial Bigotry: An open, conscious expression of racist views by an individual.
Polite / Smiling /Friendly Racism Ex. The Friendly Realtor
Systemic or Institutional Racism: When racist practices, rules, and laws become “part of the system”
Elements of Racism
1) The historical construction of certain groups of people as biologically superior or inferior.
2) Prejudice: the “pre-judgment” of others on the basis of their group membership.
3) Discrimination: includes acts by which individuals are treated differently
4) Power: when institutionalized advantages are regularly handed to one or more groups over others.
Master Narratives
*A master narrative is a story that a nation or a people constructs about itself.
High School Textbooks/Popular History/Political Narratives
*Issues of racism are often downplayed or altogether concealed.
Vertical Mosaic
*refer to a situation in Canada where there is a hierarchy, or ranking, of higher and lower ethnic, cultural, and religious groups
The Concept of Race/ Colourblindness/ Scientific Racism and Drapetomania/ Slaveocracy

Chapter 5 Deviance
What is Deviance?
*Deviance means different from the norm.
* Definitions of deviance depend on the power of those who share the norm (dominant culture) to define and treat others as inferior or dangerous.
*Those who engage in “deviant behaviour” are not necessarily “bad.”
*Deviance is relative: it depends on how “the norm” is defined.

Deviance vs. Crime
CRIME = The violation of norms that have been written into law
* Defined by the Legal and Justice system.
Ex. Mores
DEVIANCE = The violation of social rules.
* Defined in context with a group’s system of social meaning.
Ex. Folkways

Overt and Covert Characteristics of Deviance
* The actions or qualities that explicitly violate the cultural norm. (OUVERT)
* Obvious aspects of the deviant violation. Ex. Hippies: Clothing was chosen to reflect “back to earth” values, peasant and gypsy life – adopted by affluent white youth.
* The unstated qualities that might make a particular group a target for sanctions (CONVERT) Examples can include traits such as age, race, ethnic background, and sex.

Gender as a devient
* Women who do not conform to patriarchal expectations of hegemonic femininity are sanctioned as:
Femi-Nazis, Butch, Bitch, Dyke, Frigid, etc.
Class as a devient
*To be poor is to be deviant.
*Poor people are often blamed for causing crime.
*Criminal justice system is biased against the poor from the point of arrest to conviction:
*Police are less likely to label members of the upper classes as “criminal” or “delinquent” when filing an arrest report.
White Collar Crime
* Distinguishing a category of crime called “white collar,” implies that it is somehow unique; it reinforces a false notion that “real” crime is a consequence of the lower classes.

Chapter 10 Health and Medicine
Types of Healthcare (Socialized; Public vs. Private Insurance)
* Canada has a publicly funded national health insurance program(Medicare) which ensures that all residents have reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services, on a prepaid basis
* Provincial governments are increasingly allocating funds to for-profit clinics (corporate) for delivering insured health care services, as an alternative to giving money to existing not-for-profit hospitals
* 75 per cent of health-care services in Canada are delivered privately, but funded publicly.
* REMEMBER THE STORY CUTIS TOLD ABOUT THE PRIVATE CLINIC

Sick Roles (4 expectations + 2 new ones)
1) Sick person is granted “exemption form normal social responsibilities” (Jobs, etc.)
2) Sick person expects to be “taken care of”
3) Sick person is socially obligated to try to “get well” rather than remain ill.
4) Sick person is socially obligated to “seek technically competent help” (ie. doctor)
Two new sick roles : (21st century)
1)“Patients in the new economy are responsible for their own illness.”
2)“The patient in the new economy is instructed to tread lightly on the system” and “Patients are assumed to be abusing the system.”
Biomedicine
* involves the application of standard principles and practices of Western scientific disciplines, pa It uses physical tests to find defined, purely physical entities (such as bacteria, viruses and trauma) and the application of purely physical medicines and therapies. particularly biology, in the diagnosis and treatment of symptoms of illness.
* It uses physical tests to find defined, purely physical entities (such as bacteria, viruses and trauma) and the application of purely physical medicines and therapies.
Medicalization
*a product of the Biomedical approach is Medicalization:
*The process by which certain behaviours or conditions are defined as medical problems (rather than social problems), and medical intervention becomes the focus of remedy and social control.
*Medicalization contributes to commodification of heath care
Psychoneuroimmunology
* The study of the effect of the mind on health and resistance to disease
Struggles facing Immigrant Doctors
* Immigrant doctors in Ontario are forced to take training programs that have limited entrance
* Immigrant doctors must go through a residency programof several years, in which they mostly relearn everything they already learned to become doctors in their home country
Female Doctors (tendencies)
* Female doctors are more likely to:
*Screen their patients for preventable illnesses
*Spend time counselling about psychosocial issues
*Become a family physician
*Work fewer hours and see fewer patients

Inverse Care Law

Chapter 7 Family
Historical Perspective
*The Shift from Agricultural to Industrial Economy
*The 1950s “Nuclear Family”
*The Rights Revolution
* Changing Canadian Family
Shift to Capitalism
*1720s: British Agricultural Revolution means fewer people are needed to produce food.
*By the 1800s capitalist market economies in Britain and Europe have become dominant.
*Working class (peasant) men and women flood emerging cities and industrial centres.
*Emergence of factories and capitalist industries like textiles providewage-labour for working classes.

Traditional vs. Modern Nuclear Family
TRADITONAL
*Larger and extended (3 generations).
*Group tiesare primary and togethernessin family living patterns is assumed.
*Emphasis on parent-child bonds.
MODERN NUCLEAR
*Smaller (2 generations).
*With industrialization individuality strengthens and there is more emphasis on separateness in family living patterns (independence is stressed).
*Concern for privacy and individual space and needs.
*Emphasis on husband-wife bonds.

1950s Myth of the Family
“Stuck in the 1950s” -Stephanie Coontz
*Coontz’sresearch indicates that the 1950s family was a myth constructed by the mass media (television, movies, etc.) and the white middle class in the 1950s.
Historical influences:
End of World War II.
Fertility rates soared (Baby boom).
The percentage of foreign-born individuals and immigrants in the American population decreased.
Key problems:
Family life was sustained by women’s self-sacrifice and unpaid labour in the home.
Women felt constrained by domestic responsibilities and gender roles.

Changing Canadian Family and Perspectives
1) The marriage rate is decreasing while the cohabitation rate is rising.
2) The age of first marriage is rising.
3) More women are having children in their 30s.
4) The number of children per family has dropped to below the “replacement rate.”
5 There are more divorces.
6) there are more lone-parent families than before.
7) There are more people living alone than before.
8) Children are leaving home at a later age.

Reasons for the Shrinking Family
* Child Labour (on family Farms; in coal mines, etc.) is no longer prominent.
*Children are no longer a source of labour for the family.
*Children have become a financial liability rather than a resource
Two major effects:
1) Infant mortality rates have dropped dramatically since the early 1960s.
2) Contraceptives have become more effective since the birth control pill became available.

Abortion and the Law
* Legalization of abortion: 1988: Supreme Court of Canada ruled it was unconstitutional to prevent women from having an abortion.
* “Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a foetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations” … and asserting “that the woman's capacity to reproduce is to be subject, not to her own control, but to that of the state" were a breach of the woman's right to security of person, which is guaranteed under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Charter of Rights.

Same-sex Marriage
*Marriage is a legal contract governed by law.
*Until recently, same-sex marriages were barred in Canada.
*Marriage brings with it both rights and duties.
*Same-sex couples argue that denying them the right to marry, even though they can register their partnerships, is discriminatory.
*Federal Government referred proposed law on legalization to Supreme court of Canada
Federal Government asked for guidance on 4 questions:
1) Can Parliament alone pass laws concerning marriage?
2) Is the section of the draft bill that permits same-sex couples to marry consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
3) Does the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Charter protect religious officials who refuse to perform same-sex marriages?
4) Is the opposite-sex requirement for marriage consistent with the Charter? If not, why?
Civil Marriage Act: Bill C-38
*July 20, 2005: Bill C-38 is passed by the Federal Government.
*“This enactment extends the legal capacity for marriage for civil purposes to same-sex couples in order to reflect values of tolerance, respect and equality, consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also makes consequential amendmentsto other Acts to ensure equal access for same-sex couples to the civil effects of marriage and divorce.”

Conjugal Roles
* Refers to marital roles of the husband and wife that result from the division of labour within the family.
Complimentary (Segregated)
Men primarily as breadwinners, doing paid work, with women involved primarily in the unpaid work of childcare and housework.
Companionate
Overlap in roles
Many tasks, interests and responsibilities are shared.

Cluttered Nest
* In the past 20 years, the number of unattached young adults aged 20-29 who continue to live at home with their parents has increased from 27.5 % to 41.1% Revolving Door (there is no empty nest)
*Some young people move away from home and come back again repeatedly.
Returns may be the result of lost jobs, poor employment prospects, or relationship and marriage *breakdowns.