Gender and Social Control

Social Control

• Through enculturation and internal controls– Shame– Guilt

• Through external controls– Informal sanctions– Formal sanctions and legal systems

Sanctions and Enforcement

• Informal sanctions– Individual behaviors– Social rewards and/or punishment

• Formal sanctions– Formal enforcement of explicitly stated rules– Authority delegated to enforcement specialists

Power vs Authority

Power

the ability to influence others.

Authority

the right to exercise power that is delegated by society to certain

individuals.

Authority

Is, by definition, something that occurs in the public arena of society

Since men are generally in charge of the public, men are generally the ones who have delegated authority.

Women tend not to have authority, but usually have power.

Institutionalized Sexism

Cultural traditions (including patterns of social organization and belief systems) that channel men and women into different power/authority statuses

Formal Institutions/Laws

Not allowing women to vote

Informal Insitutions

“Old Boy Networks”

Factors Influencing Women and Power

The relative degree of authority and/or power held by women appears to be tied to:

• Women’s contribution to household income/subsistence

• Women’s control over resources such as land/herds

• An ideology that favors women and/or women’s roles in the society at large