Editing Socialization (section)

=== Gender socialization ===
{{See also|Sociology of gender#Gender and socialization|Social construction of gender|Role theory}}
Henslin contends that "an important part of socialization is the learning of culturally defined [[gender roles]]".{{sfn|Henslin|1999|p=76}} Gender socialization refers to the learning of behavior and attitudes considered appropriate for a given sex: boys learn to be boys and girls learn to be girls. This "learning" happens by way of many different agents of socialization. The behavior that is seen to be appropriate for each gender is largely determined by societal, cultural, and economic values in a given society. Gender socialization can therefore vary considerably among societies with different values. The family is certainly important in reinforcing [[gender roles]], but so are groups - including friends, peers, school, work, and the [[mass media]]. [[Social group]]s reinforce gender roles through "countless subtle and not so subtle ways".{{sfn|Henslin|1999|p=76}} In peer-group activities, [[Stereotype|stereotypic]] gender-roles may also be rejected, renegotiated, or artfully exploited for a variety of purposes.<ref name="Cromdal2011">{{Cite book |last= Cromdal |first= Jakob |author-link= Jakob Cromdal |year= 2011 |chapter= Gender as a practical concern in children's management of play participation |editor= S.A. Speer and E. Stokoe |title=Conversation and Gender |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=296–309}}</ref>

[[Carol Gilligan]] compared the moral development of girls and boys in her theory of gender and moral development. She claimed that boys have a justice perspective - meaning that they rely on formal rules to define right and wrong.{{sfn|Gilligan|1982}}{{sfn|Gilligan|1990}} Girls, on the other hand, have a care-and-responsibility perspective, where personal relationships are considered when judging a situation. Gilligan also studied the effect of gender on self-esteem. She claimed that society's socialization of females is the reason why girls' self-esteem diminishes as they grow older. Girls struggle to regain their personal strength when moving through adolescence as they have fewer female teachers and most authority figures are men.{{sfn|Macionis|Gerber|2010|p=109}}

As parents are present in a child's development from the beginning, their influence in a child's early socialization is very important, especially in regard to gender roles. Sociologists have identified four ways in which parents socialize gender roles in their children: Shaping gender related attributes through toys and activities, differing their interaction with children based on the sex of the child, serving as primary gender models, and communicating gender ideals and expectations.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Epstein | first1 = Marina | last2 = Ward | first2 = Monique L | year = 2011 | title = Exploring parent-adolescent communication about gender: Results from adolescent and emerging adult samples | journal = Sex Roles | volume = 65 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 108–18 | doi= 10.1007/s11199-011-9975-7 | pmc = 3122487 | pmid= 21712963}}</ref>

Sociologist of gender [[Raewyn Connell|R.W. Connell]] contends that socialization theory is "inadequate" for explaining gender, because it presumes a largely consensual process except for a few "deviants", when really most children revolt against pressures to be conventionally gendered; because it cannot explain contradictory "scripts" that come from different socialization agents in the same society, and because it does not account for conflict between the different levels of an individual's gender (and general) identity.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Connell|first1= R.W.|author-link1 = Raewyn Connell |title= Gender and power: society, the person and sexual politics|url= https://archive.org/details/genderpowersocie00conn_0|url-access= registration|date= 1987|publisher=Stanford Univ. Press|location= Stanford|isbn= 978-0804714303|pages= [https://archive.org/details/genderpowersocie00conn_0/page/191 191–94]}}</ref>