These are groups identified by demographic characteristics: gender based (men and women), age - based on age (youth, middle-aged, elderly). The fate of research into the psychology of these groups in social psychology is very different.
Gender groups have a very solid tradition of their study, in particular in American social psychology. The concept itself gender came into use relatively recently. The concept "gender" is used to describe social characteristics of gender, as opposed to biological ones (sex), associated with the characteristics of male and female anatomy.
Sometimes, for brevity, gender is defined as “social sex,” which does not always coincide with a person’s biological sex and assumes that the social characteristics of gender are determined by historical and cultural conditions and do not imply “natural” given roles.
The definition of gender characteristics of men and women includes a set of social roles “prescribed” by society for representatives of one and the other sex.
Gender is studied at three levels: 1) individual(gender identity is studied, i.e. a person’s subjective attribution of himself to a group men - women); 2) structural(the position of men and women in the structure of public institutions is studied: bosses - subordinates); 3) symbolic(the images of a “real man” and a “real woman” are explored).
Gender studies today it is a widely branched network of research carried out by various disciplines, primarily gender sociology. Its subject is the patterns of differentiation of male and female social roles, sexual division of labor, cultural symbols and socio-psychological stereotypes of “masculinity” and “femininity” and their influence on various aspects of social behavior and public life.
However, in recent years, it has acquired independent significance gender psychology, which covers a wide range of psychological problems: sex (gender) and the human brain, gender differences in the cognitive sphere, gender and emotions.
In social and psychological research, issues are concentrated around three groups of problems: gender identification, gender stereotypes, gender roles.
The first block of studies reveals the predominant distribution among men and women of specific characteristics, called femininity And masculinity(femininity and masculinity). The origins of this approach are in the popular work of O. Weininger “Gender and Character” (1991), in which it was proposed to interpret the “feminine” as base and unworthy, and the success of women in the social sphere - only as a result of their having a greater share of “masculine” . Later, a number of researchers came out against this interpretation under the influence of the spread of ideas feminism.
Feminism, both as a separate trend in modern humanities in the West, and as a specific social movement that defends the equality of women, and sometimes their superiority over men, has had a great influence on any gender studies in various fields of knowledge, including psychology.
There are many varieties of feminism; some of its extreme manifestations are associated with the idea widespread in the United States political correctness- a ban on any manifestations of disdain for various “minorities”, including women.
Feminist ideas have influenced gender psychology, in particular the study of the psychological characteristics of men and women. The personal characteristics of men and women are considered in relation to the characteristics behavior gender groups. Forms of manifestation characteristic of men and women are described aggression, sexual behavior and, more broadly, behavior in choosing a partner.
Much closer to the study of the psychology of large groups is in social psychology the study of the specifics gender roles. One of the problems here is family roles, and therefore gender psychology intersects with family issues in social psychology. Thus, the features of the socialization of boys and girls are studied, and their specificity in different cultures, the roles of adult men and women in the family, and their psychological pattern also attract the attention of researchers.
Discussing the differences in the social roles of men and women is related to the problem gender stereotypes.
Concerning age groups, then an analysis of their psychological characteristics is usually given in the study of socialization. In traditional approaches to it, processes were described to a greater extent early socialization and in this regard, the characteristics of childhood or adolescence were characterized. Currently, the emphasis has shifted to the analysis of psychology various age groups. Groups also began to appear in studies middle aged, groups old people. This shift in interest is due to social needs: in modern societies, human life expectancy is increasing, the proportion of older people in the population structure is correspondingly increasing, and a very significant special social group is emerging - pensioners.
The directions of research in the field of psychology of age groups are different: in addition to traditional “age” problems (the ratio of a person’s physical and psychological age and the corresponding personality characteristics), problems arise that have a greater “social” dimension. These include: problem generations(borders, relationships), the emergence of specific subcultures(for example, youth), ways adaptation to social change, development of various life strategies etc. In sociology, the concepts of “age status” and the corresponding “age roles”, “age norms”, etc. were introduced. Unfortunately, this issue has not yet received sufficient development in domestic social psychology; only the first studies in this area are appearing.
The message was emphatically neutral: “New gender selection options are possible for Facebook users in the US.”
Some details are reported by the BBC: the Internet giant has worked with LGBT activists on all naming options; gender identity can be kept secret (for limited access).
It is also not yet known when the 54 new gender identity options will become available to Facebook users outside the United States.
Finally, in the “page management” section it will be possible to set not the standard address “he/she”, but a neutral one, for example, “it”.
There is no professional translation of all 54 “gender variations” into Russian yet. Space for creativity. So, the version from RussianRealty.ru:
1. Agender - asexual
2. Androgyne - androgen, hermaphrodite (male-female)
3. Androgynous - masculine (internally, by feeling)
4. Bigender - feeling like a man or a woman at different times
5 Cis - Latin. "pre-", i.e. "under-" (no negative connotation)
6. Cis Female - pre-feminine, sub-feminine
7. Cis Male - pre-male, non-male
8. Cis Man - pre-man, sub-man
9. Cis Woman - pre-woman, sub-woman
10. Cisgender - pre-sexual, sub-sexual
11. Cisgender Female - pre-gender female, sub-gender female
12. Cisgender Male - male pre-gender, under-gender male
13. Cisgender Man - pre-gender man, pre-gender man
14. Cisgender Woman - pregender woman, pregender woman
15. Female to Male - from female to male
16. FTM - a woman who has surgically, externally, taken on the appearance of a man
17. Gender Fluid - unstable, “fluid”
18. Gender Nonconforming - denying traditional classification
19. Gender Questioning - gender that remains in question
20. Gender Variant - gender that allows several options
21. Genderqueer - your own special, original
22. Intersex - intersex
23. Male to Female - from man to woman
24. MTF - a man, surgically, externally, taking the form of a woman
25. Neither - neither one nor the other (of the two traditional ones)
26. Neutrois - those seeking to eliminate sexual characteristics in appearance
27. Non-binary - denying the system of two genders
28. Other - other
29. Pangender - universal gender
30. Trans - transitional to another gender
31. Trans Female - transitional to the female sexual state
32. Trans Male - transitional to male sexual state
33. Trans Man - transitional to a man
34. Trans Person - transitional to person, outside of gender classification
35. Trans Woman - transitional to woman
36. Trans(asterisk) - transitional to another sex (* - keeping secrets)
37. Trans(asterisk)Female - transitional to the female sexual state (*)
38. Trans(asterisk)Male - transitional to male sexual state(*)
39. Trans(asterisk)Man - transitional to a man(*)
40. Trans(asterisk)Person - transitional to person, outside of gender classification(*)
41. Trans(asterisk)Woman - transitional to woman(*)
42. Transexual - transsexual
43. Transexual Female - female transsexual
44. Transexual Male - male transsexual
45. Transexual Man - transsexual man
46. Transexual Person - transsexual person
47. Transexual Woman - transsexual woman
48. Transgender Female
49. Transgender Male
50. Transgender Man
51. Transgender Person
52. Transgender Woman
53. Transmasculine - “beyond the masculine” (fantasies about the male gender)
54. Two-spirit - two souls, “two-spirited” (without negative connotations)
It has not yet been possible to confidently understand the differences between transsexuals and transgender people. Our apologies for any errors. It is also strange that Transmasculine was left without a pair, obviously Transwoman, Transfeminism or Transfemale. Well, probably, the entire list of genders could be given, including Man and Woman - man and woman.
All gender stereotypes can be divided into three groups:
First - stereotypes of masculinity/femininity (or femininity). Otherwise they are called stereotypes masculinity/femininity. Let us first consider what the concepts of masculinity (masculinity) and femininity (femininity) mean. (In the following, these two pairs of concepts are used in the text as synonymous: masculinity - masculinity, femininity - femininity). Based on the analysis of the meaning of the term “masculinity” given by I.S. Kon, we can describe the meanings attached to the concepts of femininity and masculinity as follows:
1. The concepts of masculinity and femininity denote mental and behavioral properties and traits that are “objectively inherent” (in the words of I. Kon) to men (masculinity) or women (femininity).
2. The concepts of masculinity and femininity contain different social ideas, opinions, attitudes, etc. about what men and women are like and what qualities are attributed to them.
3. The concepts of masculinity and femininity reflect the normative standards of the ideal man and the ideal woman.
Thus, gender stereotypes of the first group can be defined as stereotypes that characterize men and women with the help of certain personal qualities and socio-psychological properties, and which reflect ideas about masculinity and femininity. For example, women are usually attributed such qualities as passivity, dependence, emotionality, conformity, etc., and men are attributed to activity, independence, competence, aggressiveness, etc. As we see, the qualities of masculinity and femininity have polar poles: activity - passivity, strength - weakness. According to the research of N.A. Nechaeva, the traditional ideal of a woman includes such properties as fidelity, devotion, modesty, gentleness, tenderness, and tolerance.
Second group gender stereotypes are associated with the consolidation of certain social roles in family, professional and other spheres. Women, as a rule, are assigned family roles (mothers, housewives, wives), and men - professional ones. As I.S. Kletsina notes, “men are usually assessed by their professional success, and women by the presence of a family and children.”
Within a particular sphere (for example, family), the set of roles assigned to men and women is different. In the above-mentioned study, “The Influence of Social Factors on the Understanding of Gender Roles,” 300 people aged 18 to 60 years were interviewed, and the following differentiation was revealed in the distribution of family responsibilities between spouses. Thus, the roles associated with cleaning the house, cooking, washing and ironing clothes and washing dishes were noted as purely “feminine”. Men's functions in the family, according to survey participants, are the functions of getting money, doing home repairs, and taking out the trash. More than 90% of all respondents agreed with the statements “A woman’s main calling is to be a good wife and mother” and “A man is the main breadwinner and head of the family,” reflecting traditional ideas about the roles of men and women in the family. Statements from participants in group interviews in the same study demonstrated that women are most often assigned the role of custodian of the family hearth, who, according to respondents, “ensures the integrity of the family” and “maintains a favorable atmosphere in the home.” The man plays the role of “the support of the family,” and this role is rather of a leadership nature: the man in the family is engaged in “setting strategic goals,” “manages,” “indicates,” and, in general, is a “role model.” At the same time, leisure roles are much more often assigned to men than to women (socializing with friends over a glass of beer, relaxing on the couch, watching TV and newspapers, fishing, football, etc.). This was also confirmed by the results of a study of school textbooks, which showed that male characters were depicted in leisure situations significantly more often than female ones.
Third group gender stereotypes reflect differences between men and women in certain types of work. Thus, men are assigned occupations and professions in the instrumental sphere of activity, which, as a rule, are of a creative or constructive nature, and women are assigned to the expressive sphere, characterized by a performing or service character. Therefore, there is a widespread opinion about the existence of so-called “male” and “female” professions.
According to UNESCO, the stereotypical list of male occupations includes the professions of architect, driver, engineer, mechanic, researcher, etc., and female librarians, educators, teachers, telephone operators, secretaries, etc. According to participants in group interviews of my research, among “ "male" professions include a large set of specialties in industrial, technical, construction, military, agricultural and other fields. Women are traditionally assigned to occupations in the fields of education (teacher, educator), medicine (doctor, nurse, midwife), and services (salesperson, maid, waitress). In the scientific field, men's employment is associated with natural, precise, social fields, and women's employment is predominantly associated with the humanities.
Along with such a “horizontal” division of the spheres of labor into male and female, there is also a vertical division, expressed in the fact that leadership positions are overwhelmingly occupied by men, and the positions of women are of a subordinate nature.
The above classification of gender stereotypes is not exhaustive and, being rather conditional in nature, was undertaken for ease of analysis. Of the listed groups of gender stereotypes, the most common and universal are the stereotypes of femininity/masculinity. The stereotypes of the second and third groups are more private in nature and cover, in most cases, the family or professional sphere. At the same time, the three groups of gender stereotypes described are closely interconnected. Apparently, it is possible to identify other types of gender stereotypes, using different bases for their classification.
These are groups distinguished by demographic characteristics: gender - based on sex (men and women), age - based on age (youth, middle-aged people, elderly). Gender groups have a very solid tradition of their study, in particular in American social psychology, where significant attention has always been paid to these large groups. True, it should be noted that the entire block of studies of these groups was not always designated as studies of “gender groups”, but more often appeared as studies of “the psychology of women” or “the psychology of men.” This has its own explanation, which is that the concept itself gender came into use relatively recently.
The concept "gender" is used to describe social characteristics of gender, as opposed to biological ones (sex), associated with the characteristics of male and female anatomy. Sometimes, for brevity, gender is defined as “social sex,” which does not always coincide with a person’s biological sex and assumes that the social characteristics of gender are determined by historical and cultural conditions and do not imply “natural” given roles. The definition of gender characteristics of men and women includes a set of social roles “prescribed” by society for representatives of one and the other sex. Gender is studied at three levels: individual (gender identity is studied, i.e. a person’s subjective attribution of himself to the group of men and women); structural (the position of men and women in the structure of public institutions is studied: bosses - subordinates); symbolic (the images of a “real man” and a “real woman” are explored).
Gender studies today are a widely branched network of research carried out by various disciplines, primarily gender sociology.
The first block of studies reveals the predominant distribution among men and women of specific characteristics, called femininity And masculinity ( femininity and masculinity). The origins of this approach are in the popular work of O. Weininger “Sex and Character”, in which it was proposed to interpret the “feminine” as base and unworthy, and the success of women in the social sphere - only as a result of the presence of a greater share of the “masculine” in them. Later, a number of researchers opposed this interpretation, especially under the influence of the spread of ideas feminism. Feminism, both as a separate trend in modern humanities in the West, and as a specific social movement that defends the equality of women, and sometimes their superiority over men, has had a great influence on any gender studies in various fields of knowledge, including psychology. There are many varieties of feminism; some of its extreme manifestations are associated with the idea widespread in the United States political correctness- a ban on any manifestations of disdain for various “minorities”, including women. Feminist ideas have influenced gender psychology, in particular the study of the psychological characteristics of men and women. A large number of studies reveal such traits as sociability, empathy, aggressiveness, sexual initiative, etc. There are quite heated discussions about whether there is specificity in the distribution of these characteristics, and it is the group of women that primarily becomes the object of attention. The personal characteristics of men and women are considered in connection with the behavioral characteristics of gender groups. The forms of manifestation of aggression, sexual behavior and, more broadly, behavior in choosing a partner, characteristic of men and women, are described. In this case, the “theory of justice” proposed by E. Walster is widely used. Its essence lies in the fact that the criteria for choosing a partner for a man and a woman are different, and they also change historically. The traditional choice for men was determined by the woman’s external attractiveness, her beauty, her health, which corresponded to a cultural tradition called the “gazing culture,” i.e. stimulating shameless “examination” of a woman. However, over time, largely under the influence feminist sentiments, another selection criterion has gained popularity, namely, the choice of “equals,” when the advantage of “women with status” begins to play a large role. Research in this block is not specifically socio-psychological in nature; rather, it is carried out as interdisciplinary.
Much closer to the study of the psychology of large groups is in social psychology the study of the specifics gender roles. One of the problems here is family roles, and therefore gender psychology intersects with family issues in social psychology. Thus, the features of the socialization of boys and girls are studied, and their specificity in different cultures (for example, symbolic definitions of girls as “roots” and boys as “wings”; consideration of the fact of the birth of a girl in some Eastern cultures as a real “trouble”, etc.) . The roles of adult men and women in the family and their psychological patterns also attract the attention of researchers.
Discussing the differences in the social roles of men and women is related to the problem gender stereotypes, the reasons for the formation and consolidation of which are precisely the differences in the distribution of gender roles. The prevalence of stereotypes was revealed in one of the American studies, where the most complete list of traits characteristic of men (strong, persistent, logical, rational, active, etc.) and women (weak, emotional, compliant, passive, timid, etc.) was obtained. . It is clear that such stereotypes, despite their persistence, are “forced” to change along with the changes taking place in society, especially in connection with the change in the type of employment of modern women. However, when forming the psychological appearance of representatives of gender groups, established stereotypes cannot be discounted: they often act as an obstacle to achieving true equality between men and women in society.
Concerning age groups , then an analysis of their psychological characteristics is usually given in the study of socialization. In traditional approaches to it, processes were described to a greater extent early socialization and in this regard, the characteristics of childhood or adolescence were characterized. Currently, the emphasis has shifted to the analysis of psychology various age groups. Groups also began to appear in studies middle aged, groups old people. This shift in interest is due to social needs: in modern societies, human life expectancy is increasing, the proportion of older people in the population structure is correspondingly increasing, and a very significant special social group is emerging - pensioners.
Another age group that has received some attention is the youth, in particular the problems of youth subculture. But discussion of this issue is still focused in socialization studies.
Psychology of mass movements
Social movements are a special class of social phenomena that should be considered in connection with the analysis of the psychological characteristics of large social groups and mass spontaneous behavior. A social movement is a fairly organized unity of people who set themselves a specific goal, usually associated with some change in social reality. Social movements have different levels: they can be broad movements with global goals (struggle for peace, for disarmament, against nuclear tests, for environmental protection, etc.), local movements that are limited either to a territory or a specific social group ( against the use of a landfill in Semipalatinsk, for the equality of women, for the rights of sexual minorities, etc.) and movements with purely pragmatic goals in a very limited region (for the removal of one of the members of the municipal administration).
Whatever the level of a social movement, it exhibits several common characteristics.
1. it is always based on a certain public opinion, which, as it were, prepares a social movement, although subsequently it itself is formed and strengthened as the movement develops.
2. every social movement has as its goal a change in the situation depending on its level: either in society as a whole, or in a region, or in any group.
3. in the course of organizing the movement, its program is formulated, with varying degrees of elaboration and clarity.
4. the movement is aware of the means that can be used to achieve its goals, in particular whether violence is acceptable as one of the means.
5. every social movement is realized to one degree or another in various manifestations of mass behavior, including demonstrations, manifestations, rallies, congresses, etc.
Gender groups are distinguished based on gender. The concept of “gender” is used for the social characteristics of sex as opposed to the biological characteristics (sex).
Gender characteristics are a set of social roles “prescribed” by society for each gender.
Gender is studied at three levels:
– individual (gender identity);
– structural (the position of men and women in society);
– symbolic (images of a “real man” and a “real woman”).
Traits (empathy, aggressiveness, sexual initiative, etc.), the distribution and form of manifestation of these characteristics in men and women, and the behavior of gender groups are studied.
The issue of gender roles is intertwined with the issue of the family. One area of research is family roles. Researched:
Features of the socialization of boys and girls;
Specifics of socialization in different cultures;
Roles of adult men and women.
The difference in social roles is associated with the problem of gender stereotypes.
Age groups are distinguished based on age (youth, middle-aged, elderly). The most studied are young people and older people.
Problems:
– Correlation of physical and psychological age;
– Specifics of different age groups (roles, statuses, stereotypes);
– The problem of generations (borders, relationships);
– Specific subcultures;
– Ways to adapt to social changes;
– Life strategies, etc.
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