Question

Why is gender and culture so important in sociology?

Answer 1

The culture of a group is defined as the way people lead their life. In other words, the way groups do things. Different groups of people may have different cultures. A culture is passed on to the next generation by learning. In a way, culture is the basic fabric through which one can understand any society and its people. That is why culture is considered as a central concept in sociology.

Gender is a socially constructed concept. As per the concept of gender, there are masculine (men) roles and feminine (women) roles. These are culturally permitted and must be adhered to. Some social scientist argues that gender differentiation is bad for society in general and women in particular because it keeps women from reaching their potential and contributing fully to society while other social scientists believe, gender differentiation contributes to the stability of a society. Gender roles, in this view, arise from the need to establish a division of labour within the family. Because of their biological role in childbirth and breastfeeding, women in virtually every culture and society around the planet have the primary responsibility for childcare. Similarly, men have traditionally had the responsibilities for hunting and waging war because of their relatively greater size and strength.