Participant Observation: A Study in Gender Roles
Have you ever thought about how much of everyday life is organized by gender? When you stop to think about it much of what most people do during the routine of a normal day is categorized as either masculine or feminine. From the soap you use for that morning shower to the restroom you use when are work much of what we do is influenced even dictated by what society says is appropriate because of our biological sex.
To explore this concept of a gendered society in more depth you will use theParticipant Observation Checklistto organize and conduct your research to identify and explain two examples of how society is segmented by gender at any single location in your community. You might choose a park a grocery store your favorite pub or fast food restaurant a department store or the local hardware store. Remember that you should be acting in both the participant and observer roles. Look around to see if there are obvious signs that gender determines some aspect of how people act in that location. Then use the structural functional theory to explain how separating events actions or even merchandize by gender works to keep the overall society stable.
For example if you chose to observe as a casual shopper in department store one obvious sign that gender is important in how the store is organized is that there are likely two different departments for womens and mens clothing. That same department store would likely have restrooms designated for ladies and gentlemen too. The structural-functional perspective would suggest that separating the clothing by gender makes it more convenient for shoppers to find what they want and separate restrooms for men and women are thought to be necessary for reasons of modesty that are part of stable cultural patterns of behavior within this society.
Instructions:
Complete theParticipant Observation checklistto assist you with organizing your research and to take notes during your observation. Then using your observation notes write a paper that has these elements:
Your paper should be between 4 and 5 pages plus a title and reference page. You should include in-text citations in APA format for at least one academic source in addition to the course text. You should include the Participant Observation Checklist when you upload the Assignment into the Unit 4 Assignment Dropbox.
I have attached the template to be used for this assignment thanks