4.2.1 - Identity and Gender

Sex, gender and socialisation

Sociologists usually begin by separating biology from culture. This matters because if gender is socially made rather than naturally fixed, it can vary across time, place, and social group.

From a sociological viewpoint, gender identity is mainly learned. Functionalists argue that society socialises boys and girls into different roles because this creates order and predictability. In classic functionalist writing, men are steered towards instrumental roles such as paid work and leadership, while women are steered towards expressive roles such as care and emotional support. This explanation shows how gender identity can serve the needs of the social system, but it also tends to treat unequal gender arrangements as normal rather than questioning who benefits from them.

Ann Oakley (1974) — Argued that gender roles are produced through socialisation rather than biology. She identified four important processes within the family. Manipulation means adults handle, dress or encourage children differently according to gender, including approval of different behaviours. Canalisation means children are channelled towards gender-typed toys and interests. Verbal appellations means adults use different labels and expectations, such as describing girls as pretty and boys as tough. Different activities means boys and girls are drawn into different tasks and routines. Together, these processes help children build a sense of what counts as appropriately masculine or feminine.

Oakley's argument fits a broader sociological view of socialisation. Families may start the process, but schools, peers, religion, and the media keep repeating the same messages. A child who receives approval for matching gender expectations and disapproval for breaking them learns that identity is social as well as personal.

Masculinities, femininities and change

If gender identity is socially constructed, there is no single way of being male or female. Sociologists therefore look at how some identities become dominant and others are treated as inferior.

Raewyn Connell (1995) — Argued that masculinities exist in a hierarchy. Hegemonic masculinity is associated with authority, heterosexuality, competitiveness, and emotional control. Complicit masculinities do not fully match the ideal but still benefit from male advantage. Marginalised masculinities are pushed aside by class or ethnicity, while subordinated masculinities are actively devalued, especially when associated with homosexuality. This shows that gender identity is bound up with power: masculinity is not just different from femininity, but often organised to dominate it.

Mac an Ghaill (1994) — Linked male identity to economic change. He argued that deindustrialisation weakened older working-class masculine identities built around manual labour, breadwinning, and collective workplace cultures. When those jobs decline, some young men lose a familiar route to status and recognition, which can produce a so-called crisis of masculinity. This is not a claim that men have become powerless. It is a claim that some established masculine identities have become less secure.

Changing femininity also matters. Sue Sharpe compared girls' priorities across time and found movement away from seeing marriage and motherhood as the main goal and towards paid work, independence, and self-direction. Helen Wilkinson's "genderquake" thesis makes a similar point: girls' educational success and changing expectations were helping to unsettle older assumptions about female dependence and limited ambition. The main sociological point is that femininity is historically changeable rather than fixed.

The shift can be set out clearly:

This does not mean all femininities are equally free. Class, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and locality still shape which identities are available, rewarded, or condemned.

Feminism, interactionism and performativity

Different perspectives explain gender identity in different ways, and those differences matter for AO3 evaluation.

Liberal feminists — Argue that gender identities have become less restrictive because of changes in law, education, and employment. From this view, girls and women now have more opportunities to build identities around achievement and independence rather than only domesticity.

Radical feminists — See gender identity as shaped inside patriarchy. Female identity is often constructed in ways that make women available for men's emotional, domestic, or sexual needs, while masculinity is linked to control, entitlement, and power.