Gender As Social Institution

This article encourages sociologists to study gender as a social institution. Noting that scholars apply the institution concept to highly disparate phenomena, it reviews the history of the concept in twentieth-century sociology The defining characteristic most commonly attributed to social institut...

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Published inSocial forces Vol. 82; no. 4; pp. 1249 - 1273
Main Author Martin, Patricia Yancey
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01.06.2004
University of North Carolina Press
Oxford University Press
Subjects
20th century
Beliefs
Consciousness
Criteria
Criticism
Gender
Gender identity
Gender roles
Gender Studies
History, theory and methodology
Identity
Institutions
Masculinity
Men
Organization theory
Scholarship
Sex
Sex (Biology)
Social aspects
Social Institutions
Social integration
Social interaction
Social sciences
Social Scientists
Social theories
Sociality
Society
Sociological Research
Sociologists
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
Theory
Woman social status. Women's emancipation
Womens rights
Florida
United States > US
Giddens (A.)
Gender
Parsons (T.)
Social Institution
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ISSN0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI10.1353/sof.2004.0081

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Summary:This article encourages sociologists to study gender as a social institution. Noting that scholars apply the institution concept to highly disparate phenomena, it reviews the history of the concept in twentieth-century sociology The defining characteristic most commonly attributed to social institution is endurance (or persistence over time) while contemporary uses highlight practices, conflict, identity, power, and change. I identify twelve criteria for deciding whether any phenomenon is a social institution. I conclude that treating gender as an institution will improve gender scholarship and social theory generally, increase awareness of gender's profound sociality, offer a means of linking diverse theoretical and empirical work, and make gender's invisible dynamics and complex intersections with other institutions more apparent and subject to critical analysis and change.
Bibliography:This article is based on my presidential address delivered at the Southern Sociological Society meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, in March 2003. Portions of it were delivered also at Keele University, Alma College, the College of William and Mary, the University of Mississippi, the College of Charleston, the University of South Alabama, the University of California at Davis, the University of Minnesota, and Trento University. For helping me improve the article, I thank Charles Camic, Judith Lorber, Myra Marx Ferree, Sharon Bird, Vinnie Roscigno, Don Tomaskovic-Devey, and John Reynolds, and for assisting with my talk, I thank John Reynolds and Chardie Baird.
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ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1353/sof.2004.0081