Gender Socialization

For this assignment, you will provide an in-depth sociological analysis of your gender socialization. Apply what C. Wright Mills called the sociological imagination to an analysis of your own experiences with gender socialization. Consider how they were shaped by social institutions and historical forces.

Some of the questions you might consider are: What are some of the ways in which you are/were socialized into an “appropriate” gender role? How has that impacted your life, your work, or your family relations? How did various social institutions (e.g. your family, mass media, religious institutions, educational institutions, sports etc.) shape your gender identity? How do these institutions shape gender identity in general, outside of your own experiences?

Why do we place such great importance on “proper” gender role behavior? How does society deal with people who violate gender norms? How does gender socialization shape who we become as individuals? Your paper will be evaluated on its structure as well as its content. It should have an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement.

The thesis statement makes clear what the main issue of your paper is. The body should be organized around the key points that support your thesis and provide examples to illustrate how your experience was shaped by social institutions. Use this as a rule of thumb:

One idea per sentence, one topic per paragraph. The final paragraph is where you draw conclusions from the material presented in the body of your paper (not a summary). Drive home the main idea presented in your thesis. It is important you include in text attributions consistently through this paper, especially when tying to key terms from our readings and your supplemental resource.

Be sure to cite the textbook and one peer-reviewed sociological article in the paper. This APA style paper is worth 100 points. The body of your paper should be no less than 1,000 words in length.