Gender Relations
Chapter 6 Key Themes

• Gender refers to the socially constructed categories of masculine and feminine that are differently defined in various cultures. These categories include the variable sets of beliefs and practices about male and female (or other genders) that underpin social institutions and symbolic systems, as well as shaping individual identities. Theoretical ideas about gender will be taken up in Part 4 particularly in Chapter 16 'Principles of Sociological Research' when we examine feminist methodology and Chapter 17 'Classical Social Theory, Feminism and Modernity'. To see how feminist thinking has influenced substantive areas, go for example to Chapter 14 'Crime', where we show the importance of a distinctly feminist criminology.

• Patriarchy is a system of social relations that perpetuates the dominance of men over women and of senior men over junior men. Many facets of social relations are shaped by patriarchal forces and this can be seen on both a theoretical level, for example in the invisibility of women in traditional sociological analysis (see Chapter 16 'Principles of Sociological Research') - but also at an empirical level. Students interested in this particular theme would benefit by reading Chapter 9 'Family Life'.

• Social construction, defined as the mediation of 'natural', instinctive forms of behaviour by social processes, constitutes one of the most important concepts in sociology, setting it apart from more biological determinist explanations of social life. The theoretical background to social construction will be found in Chapter 18 'Making Social Life: Theories of Action and Meaning'. The social construction of ethnic identity would be an interesting area to follow up in Chapter 7 'Race and Ethnicity'.