Social Role Theory Essay

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When in the 1950’s, men were seen as the breadwinner of the family, whereas women were the homemakers, nowadays a change is felt, but the previous mentality still persists. The analysis of role differentiation in the family proposed by Parsons, and Bales (1955) observed a traditional division of labor between husbands, and wives that they described in terms of male instrumental, and female expressive specialization. They also noticed an analogous division of responsibility in all-male groups between task, and social emotional leaders. Moreover, usually in mixed-sex group men, they tend to specialize in behaviors related to task accomplishment, while most women tend to be oriented more towards maintenance, and social aspects of daily life (Strodtbeck …show more content…

Social Role Theory originated in understanding the causes of sex differences, and similarities within social behavior, which depend on the situation. It evolved in part from the observation between the content of the ideas people have about women, and men, and scientifically documented sex differences in social behavior, and personality. This theory argues that the beliefs that people hold about the sexes are derived from observations of the role performances of men, and women, and therefore reflect the sexual division of labor, and gender hierarchy of the society. If anyone wonders what gender they are, then they should probably take the personality quiz: What Gender Are You Really? For some, gender is determined at birth, whereas for others it is a constant build-up of observations, and assimilations of our environment. While taking the test, I realized I was none of the following: ultra feminine or total tomboy, but a mix of both or perfectly balanced as the test defines it. It pointed out that both of my levels of masculinity, and femininity depend on the situation. To reinforce this theory, Gender Roles: The Social Learning Theory’s video illustrates this point too. In fact, some people put a man’s, and woman’s label on two entrance doors, which open to exactly the same corridor. On the sample test, almost everybody followed the label except one man, at the end, who decided to go through the …show more content…

That is, gender stereotypes are regarded as prescriptive not only descriptive (e.g., Rudman & Glick, 2001), delineating how males, and females should behave. For example, women who show agentic traits are often regarded as less appealing (Rudman, 1998). Likewise, competence in women agentic trait, increases the likelihood they are perceived as cold (Wiley & Eskilson, 1985). Both men, and women demonstrate these biases against females who violate social stereotypes (Heilman, Wallen, Fuchs, & Tamkins,

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