Discussion post 4
- According to geneticist Steve Jones, what is the only real relationship of genetics/ biology to crime?
According to Steve Jones, there is a gene that predisposes a person to crime and violence. However, the gene only shows itself if the person is exposed to an environment where crime is the day’s order.
What are the ‘socialization differences’ In gender development?
The differences in the ways males and females are socialized affect their development. Males learn how to give value to feeling independent while females are taught the attribute of attaching their self-worth to their ability to sustain their relationships. Consequently, girls are exposed to the risk of getting themselves lost in relationships with others and feeling alienated due to the failure to achieve their relational success as many relationships run sour. At the same time, boys may experience a chronic sense of alienation.
As males and females mature, boys get encouraged to retaliate as a reaction to being provoked while girls learn to respond to provocation by feeling anxious.
As they grow older, males are more likely to show physical aggression, whereas females display relational aggression. Additionally, girls get angry frequently, and so do boys, but girls have been taught to blame themselves for feeling angry, and this makes them respond to anger with feelings such as shame, anxiety, and depression. On the other hand, boys react with moral outrage, and they blame others for their discomfort.
- What are the ‘cognitive differences’ in gender development?
In cognitive differences, girls learn how to speak earlier and faster as compared to boys. This makes girls better communicators, and they can quickly solve conflicts using negotiation without resorting to violence. On the other hand, have superior visual/ spatial ability, and they are better math.
When girls are aggressive, they are more likely to hide their aggressive behavior from adults. This makes it that the girls who bully others are less likely to accept their behavior than boys. Females show more self-control than males do. Additionally, girls are more driven by their moral sense, and this makes them avoid hurting others.
- What are the ‘personality differences’ in gender development?
When it comes to personality differences, girls are stereotyped to be talkative than boys, but research has shown that boys spend more time talking than girls. Usually, girls are more likely to show their feelings and express concern for others. Girls also focus on finding the meaning of life, and they are less interested in competing for material success. Adolescent girls use different knowledge than boys. Girls have different ways of interpreting their interactions with other people.
- What are the ’emotional differences’ in gender development?
Males and females are equally emotional, but girls show their emotions while boys do not know how to retaliate.
- What are the causes of gender differences?
According to some experts, the differences that exist between genders could have a biological origin. Males and females have different brain organizations. That is, the male gender is more right-brain oriented while females are more left-brain oriented.
Interactions of socialization, learning, and enculturation also contribute to gender differences. Boys and girls may have different behaviors due to their exposure to varying socialization styles, learning of different values, and having different cultural experiences.
- Gender similarities hypothesis?
According to Hyde in her gender similarities hypothesis, gender differences had either no or minimal effect on most of the psychological variables examined, with only a few exceptions: compared to women, men were more physically aggressive and approved of sex without commitment. Hyde also found out that gender differences fluctuate with age, growing smaller or larger at different times in the lifespan, showing that the differences aren’t stable and change over the life course.
- Briefly summarize “contemporary views on gender, socialization, and delinquency.
Girls may be supervised more closely than boys. If girls behave in a socially disapproved fashion, their parents will most likely take note. Parents are stricter with girls because they perceive them as needing control compared to boys. This makes it that girls are less exposed to crime as compared to boys. Additionally, girls are more affected than boys when it comes to child abuse. The link between abuse and female delinquency is more robust than that of male delinquency.
- What are the most basic views of ‘liberal feminism’ and ‘critical feminism’ regarding delinquency?
Liberal feminism asserts that females are less delinquent than males because their social roles provide them with fewer opportunities to commit crimes; as parts of girls and women become more similar to boys and men, so too will their crimes.
On the other hand, critical feminism holds that gender inequality stems from the unequal power of men and women and the subsequent exploitation of women and men. It states that female delinquency originates with the onset of male supremacy and the efforts of males to control females’ sexuality.
- What is the basic argument of ‘power- control theory’ regarding delinquency?
In his power control theory, John Hagan suggests that class influences delinquency by controlling the quality of family life.
References
Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. C. (2014). Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law. Cengage Learning.