Construction of Gender Relations

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the theoretical assumptions underlying psychoanalysis and social psychology and how these approaches attempt to explain the concept of gender, particularly within the context of 'the family'. It provides both an overview of these approaches together with critiques of their respective strengths and weaknesses.

From the Paper:

"Feminist object relations theory postulates that early interpersonal interactions within the family lay the foundations for the development of the mind, and hence individual identity, which then becomes the basis for later relations with others. In contrast to Freudian psychoanalysis, which emphasizes the importance of the father, advocates of this approach argue that it is mothers, as the primary caregivers, and with whom children spend most of their time, that are the formative influence for both boys' and girls' sense of gender identity. Chodorow (1978, 1989) suggests that although the sex of the child is biologically determined, the forms that masculinity and femininity take are social constructions, born out of the mother/infant dyad, which itself reflects the sexual division of labor within society."

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