Chris Kast
Gender status and the social psychology of expectations
Cecilia Ridgeway
Ridgeway's why-question : Why is the individual interaction ignored in the study of gender inequality (175).
Ridgeway's motivational mechanism : People form expectations for status characteristics which guide behavior as well as other feedback for non-normative behavior (185).
 Research has shown that most interaction, oriented toward a goal, trends toward the development of stable inequalities in the amount of participation (176). o o
Socialized dispositions.
Subcultural explanations.
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Expectations represent “out of awareness” anticipations as to the value of ones contribution to the group goal compared to other members of the group (178).
Status characteristics are socially constructed attributes on which people vary in which one level is ascribed to possess greater value than another (179) o o
Diffuse characteristics represent general understanding of overall competence such as gender (179).
Specific characteristics are generally related to a single domain such an occupation (179).
Legitimacy is achieved when activation of the status characteristic shapes subsequent actions in such a way to confirm the implications of the characteristic.
 Status interventions are ways in which the stable inequalities may be overturned (187). o o
Highlighting specific individual ability
Phrasing suggestions as helping the group rather than for individual gain.
 Feminsist concerns highlight problems with reifying women into abstract cultural sterotypes, potraying them as passive victims, and finally is a strong scientific orientiation male oriented. Ridgeway feel the theory adequently addresses the first two and that it is necessary to closely watch the third she feel this is not necessarily immeditately invalidating (192-193).
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Generates
Generates
Interacts
The system repeats until acted upon
by individual resistance or outside force.
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