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Gender and Social Roles
INSTRUCTORS: Alice Eagly & Peter Glick
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Alice Eagly |
Peter Glick |
This course will examine theories and research on how gender shapes self-conceptions and social interaction across many domains. We will review the debate between evolutionary and cultural accounts of gender, such as gender roles, sex differences, and gender hierarchy. We consider how the social structural approach (e.g., social role theory) presents a “third way” that can integrate biology and culture (e.g., biosocial theory) to help explain both cross-cultural similarities and differences in gender-related phenomena. We will show how structural variables such as gender differences in power, social roles, and heterosexual interdependence create ambivalent attitudes toward both sexes that support the status quo. In addition, we will closely examine the sources and consequences of positive and negative stereotypes of men and women, especially the prescriptive stereotypes that result in social disapproval for people who deviate from gendered expectations (e.g., backlash toward agentic women). How these gendered attitudes play out in the workplace, leading to continued occupational sex segregation and special challenges to women in leadership positions will be a particular focus in the latter part of the course. Finally, what are the prospects for continued change in gender roles, stereotypes, hierarchy, and sex differences in social behavior? Is optimism or pessimism about further progress warranted and why?
Peter Glick earned his A.B. at Oberlin College (1979) and Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota (1984). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology and serves on several journal editorial (including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin).
Glick’s work on ambivalent sexism (with co-author Susan T. Fiske of Princeton University) was recognized by the 1995 Gordon W. Allport Prize for best paper on intergroup relations. The theory of ambivalent sexism and subsequent empirical work challenge conventional views of prejudice as an antipathy by focusing on “benevolent” (subjectively positive, but patronizing attitudes toward women) as well as hostile sexism. Cross-cultural research on ambivalent sexism (involving over 25,000 participants in 25 nations) demonstrates that not just hostile, but benevolently sexist attitudes predict actual gender inequality. Glick’s other theoretical contributions include co-authored work on the stereotype content model and an ideological model of scapegoating.
Alice Eagly received her A.B. from Harvard University (Radcliffe College) and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is now Alice Eagly is professor and department chair of psychology and James Padilla Chair of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. She is also a faculty fellow in the Institute for Policy Research. She has held faculty positions at Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and Purdue University. Professor Eagly has published widely on the psychology of attitudes, especially attitude change, attitude structure, and attitudinal selectivity in information processing. She is equally devoted to the study of gender, with a focus on the social behavior of women and men, with a special emphasis on the study of leadership and on evolutionary issues. In her research areas, she has carried out primary research and meta-analyses of research literature. She received the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, the Donald Campbell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Social Psychology, the Carolyn Wood Sherif Award of the Society for the Psychology of Women, and the Gordon Allport Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.