Sociological Theories Overview

Functionalist Theory

• Asserts that men fulfill instrumental roles in society while women fulfill expressive roles.
• Men are expected to provide economic support and discipline.
• Women are expected to manage relationships, nurture, and maintain emotional harmony.
• These roles are seen as mutually beneficial and contribute to societal stability.

Symbolic Interactionalist Theory

• Explains social behavior through the lens of individual interactions.
• Focuses on how symbols and meanings shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
• Argues that identities are shaped through interactions with social groups.
• Meaning assigned to symbols can change over time, influenced by social context.

Conflict Theory

• Views society as a struggle for limited resources, with power imbalances between groups.
• Dominant groups maintain their power by suppressing less powerful groups.
• Highlights the patriarchal nature of society, where men hold positions of power in politics, economics, and social structures.

Feminist Theory

• Aims to understand and address gender inequality.
• Focuses on gender politics, power, and relations, with a focus on women's rights and interests.
• Advocates for equality between men and women, expanding human choice, eliminating gender stratification, and ending sexual violence.
• Includes various branches like:
  • Black Feminism: Focuses on the experiences of Black women facing oppression based on both race and gender.
  • Cultural Feminism: Believes in the inherent differences between men and women, advocating for a greater understanding of women's perspectives.
  • Ecofeminism: Connects the oppression of women and the environment, advocating for a connection between respecting the planet and achieving gender equality.
  • Liberal Feminism: Seeks to achieve gender equality through legal and political reforms.
  • Marxist Feminism: Focuses on the role of capitalism in exploiting women's labor and hindering gender equality.
  • Multiracial Feminism: Examines how race intertwines with gender and impacts oppression experienced by women of color.
  • Radical Feminism: Advocates for a complete societal overhaul to achieve true gender equality, believing current structures are inherently biased towards men.

Structural Functionalism

• Explains societal functions by emphasizing relationships between social institutions.
• Society seeks a state of balance or equilibrium.
• Gender inequality is understood in the context of labor divisions and power hierarchies.
• Women's role as subordinates in the workplace is seen as contributing to societal order.

Psychodynamic Theory

• Focuses on the early relationship between a child and their parents, or caregivers, in shaping gender identity.
• Freud's theory suggests the Id, the pleasure-seeking part of the personality, plays a role in gender development.
• Freud's theory includes the Phallic Stage, where the child's libido is focused on their genitals, leading to the Oedipus Complex for boys and the Elektra Complex for girls.
• Alfred Adler emphasizes the sense of inferiority in all individuals, leading to a drive to strive for superiority.
• Adler also considers birth order as a significant factor in personality development.

Social Learning Theory

• Emphasizes the role of environment and learning in shaping gender identity.
• Focuses on modeling (observing others) and reinforcement (rewards and punishments) as key factors in gender-related behavior.

Cognitive-Developmental Theory

• Explains intelligence as a product of transformations and interactions with the environment throughout life.
• Children develop a mental model of the world that evolves with age.
• Gender constancy, stability, and consistency are achieved when a child reaches a certain level of cognitive maturity.

Evolutionary Theory

• Suggests that certain human behaviors are genetically determined and are part of our natural adaptation to environmental challenges.
• Argues that gender roles are a result of adaptive behaviors developed over time.

Women in Development (WID) Theory

• Focuses on eliminating disadvantages faced by women in society through change in expectations.
• Integrates women into broader development agendas.

Gender and Development (GAD) Theory:

• Focuses on socially constructed differences between men and women.
• Aims to redefine traditional gender roles and promote gender equality.

Queer Theory

• Deconstructs sexuality and gender, challenging fixed and essentialist categories.
• Views sexuality as a fluid and socially constructed concept.
• Focuses on the experiences of individuals who do not conform to conventional gender and sexual norms.