Discussion 3

Children’s toys tend to be specifically marketed toward kids of one gender, either boys or girls. “Boy” toys tend to be associated with action, such as building, fighting, or playing sports, while “girl” toys tend to be more associated with domestic work, such as playing house, cooking food, or taking care of a baby. The gender division of these toys serves as one example of how children are socialized to understand gender roles. Read theNew York Times articleGuys and Dolls No More? to better understand the role that kids’ toys play in the division of gender roles.

The above is a just one example of agents of socialization, which are structured situations, such as families, schools, the media, and peer groups, where socialization takes place. In other words, they are agents that teach us how to behave and help us internalize values, beliefs, and norms.

For this discussion, select one agent of socialization and describe a specific norm that one might learn from that source. Be sure to describe the process of how the norm you chose is learned and internalized. Then, discuss how the norm might influence a particular social role.

In response to your peers, discuss whether or not you agree with your peers’ assessment of how the norm influences the social role, or build on their posts to describe an additional social role related to the norm they discussed.