Social Identity, Personality & Gender
Outline
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Enculturation: the self and social identity
The Culture and Personality School
Personality & identity formation
Gender Identity
Enculturation: The Self and Social Identity
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Enculturation, the process by which individuals become members of their society.
Most learning of culture takes place in childhood
Household primary in enculturation
For enculturation to proceed, individuals must possess self-awareness, the ability
to perceive and reflect upon themselves as individuals.
Self-awareness develops at different rates between societies.
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linked to contact & stimulation
Self Awareness
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four orientations:
– object orientation
– spatial orientation
– temporal orientation
– normative orientation
The Culture and Personality School
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Psychological anthropology
Began in 1930s in U.S.
Two main directions:
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Importance of childhood in shaping personality & identity
Description of national-level personality patterns
National Character Studies
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National character studies have focused on the modal characteristics of modern
countries.
Today they are largely discredited
Others choose to focus on the core values
Limitations
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success in instilling these values in individual may vary considerably.
Personality and Development
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The distinctive ways a person thinks, feels, and behaves.
Most anthropologists believe that early childhood experiences play a key role in
shaping adult personality.
Margaret Mead
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Tchambuli, Arapesh and Mundugumor
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Males dominance is culturally constructed
Importance of child-rearing for development of gender-related
personality
Personality and Identity Formation – Socialization during Childhood
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Relationship b/t mode of production and child personality
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Six cultures study
Cross-cultural study on how children’s activities & tasks shape their
personalities.
Horticultural societies – nurturant-responsible
Industrialized and intensive agricultural societies assoc w/ w/ dependentdominant personality
Fewer acts of caregiving, more acts that assert dominance over other
children & more need for care by adults
‘generation me’ – focus on the self
Dependence Training
 Dependence training socializes people to think of themselves in terms of the larger
whole.
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Its effect is to create community members whose idea of selfhood transcends
individualism, promoting compliance in the performance of assigned tasks and
keeping individuals within the group.
Found frequently in foraging societies.
Independence Training
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Independence training fosters individual independence, self-reliance, and personal
achievement.
It is typically associated with societies in which a basic social unit consisting of
parent(s) and offspring fends for itself.
Independence training is particularly characteristic of mercantile , industrial, and
postindustrial societies where self-sufficiency and personal achievement are
important traits for success.
Personality and Identity Formation – Adolescence and Identity
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Puberty is a time in the human life cycle that occurs universally and involves a set
of biological markers and sexual maturation
Adolescence is a culturally defined period of maturation from the time of puberty
until adulthood
Coming of Age and Gender Identity
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Anthropologists distinguish b/t sex and gender
Sex is something that everyone is born with (biological markers – genitals,
hormones and chromosomes)
Gender is the learned behaviour and beliefs associated w/ maleness and
femaleness
It is culturally constructed and is highly variable across cultures
Gender identity
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In all cultures there are gender ideologies which influence the developed of
gender-based personalities.
Variation in experiences of gender ideology
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Hypermasculinity
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USA notions of masculinity
Performance of masculinity differs b/t different social groups
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