Class 26: Working
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Class Notes
We often work because we need the money to live. However, the work that we do says things about ourselves. What does work give you? (Michener, DeLamater, and Myers 2004).
- Identity - we've talked in this class about the importance of role identities. Work often provides the labels for these role identities. Being a police officer, lawyer, doctor, or librarian all come with different role expectations. These role expectations can provide an identity for you, at least while filling that role.
- Social Networks - you often meet people in the workplace that you might not meet otherwise. These networks allow information to flow from one group to another. Networks tend to be characterized by weak ties, or relationships involving infrequent interaction and little emotional depth. Having a lot of weak ties allows people to be exposed to information in many diverse areas.
- Status - the social ranking of a person's position.
- Social class - persons who share a common status in the society.
Class Activity
Think about traditionally masculine and feminine traits. List of masculine traits often include adjectives such as aggressive, not emotional, rough, interested in science, sloppy. Feminine adjectives are expressive, nurturing, detail-oriented, emotional, submissive. Some people argue that these different groupings of traits make women better for some careers, and men better for other careers. Men may be judged better for being a doctor because they are not emotional and interested in science; whereas women may be judged as a better teacher because they are nurturing. However, it may be that women's nurturing ability may be better suited for being a doctor than a man's aggressiveness. Being detail-oriented may be an important trait for an engineer.
Gender stereotypes are problematic because they are often gross generalizations and are selectively applied. Gender segregated employment is reinforced by these generalizations and selective applications of what a stereotypical man or woman can bring to the work place.
Think about your earliest occupational aspiration. Was it "gender appropriate?" Who or what do you think influenced the choice? (Dunn 74).
Works Cited
