Monday, October 6, 2008

Devor Group

Devor's Claim:  Children learn to identify genders by the roles of those in their environment and by the norms enforced by society.

Rebuttal:  Though a child's recognition of gender is inspired by roles played in society, a child identifies him or herself with a particular gender because of an inherent disposition towards that gender.

(Note from Newmark: I will say that surely Devor's claim is a bit more elaborate than this, but this is a concise rendering.  Please consider what this group means, in their rebuttal, by "inherent dispositions towards [a] gender."  Be sure to evaluate the rigor of this argument and determine whether it is or is not a clear "rebuttal" of Devor.  Review the Rebuttal Argument Worksheet that I have posted online.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I disagree with the groups rebuttal. I don't believe that humans have a "inherent disposition towards gender." I believe we are all taught by the people surrounding us the roles each gender "ought" to follow. I believe these rolls very culture to culture, as well as nation to nation.

If we did indeed had an inherent disposition towards gender, wouldn't that mean all dispositions would be equal throughout all people, something that it is definitely not.

mp93 said...

I agree with the groups rebuttal. I believe that people have an inherent disposition towards their specific gender. Society can slightly minimize this effect, but to say that it's fully responsible is wrong. What I find interesting is that it has become politically incorrect to say that women and men are "wired" differently. I believe people should be more open to the idea that each gender can contribute to society in different ways.

Sam O. said...

I disagree fundamentally with roryrowley, when she says that we do not have a any "inherent disposition" towards a gender because than all societies would have the same position on the matter. The reason why we are not all homogenous is because of several factors that existed in the places that people live. Geographical location is one, it plays a huge role in determining what type of culture people are going to develop into. Geographic location is going to create a scarcity of resources which causes people to set different priorities for things. This is why cultures that are founded near deserts set such a high value on water and often associate it so closely with life. There exist several more that I will never have time to list, but all these small difference come together to build on each other in complex additive ways that help to explain why we are all so different. This does not however mean that gender is not one of these factors, but it does explain why it is not the same from place to place. The clear biological difference has caused similar divides in all cultures. In every culture they are faced with the same two genders and have come up with similar roles for each. This is why most cultures do not see men as the natural care takers or associate them with nurturing and caring. This same phenomenon also explains our perception of woman. Societies have a different amount of resources that allow for variation on gender roles.

Unknown said...

I partly agree with each side. The biological differences between genders definitely lay out behavior predispositions. It is enough to take a look at other mammals appearance and communities, to understand that most aspects of our own society are genetic. Some cultures do have the tendency to exaggerate these differences. This, nonetheless, has a considerable impact on most individuals, neutralizing their personality to fit the standards.

Glenell said...

For the most part, I agree with the rebuttal. Generally, children do have an inherent disposition towards a gender. However, this disposition isn't absolute; there are always exceptions, and I think thats true of just about aspect of the whole gender argument. Society's perspectives of the two genders are generally ture but are not absolute, rigid laws.

Anonymous said...

I would agree with the rebuttal, because I believe that people have inherent characteristics that are tied to gender. These characteristics form the roles that society then generalizes. So society does affect how gender roles are viewed, but societies view is based off of inherent characteristics.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the rubuttal as a child will have that instinct to one particular gender. However there are other interferences such as the childs surroundings as if a child was around only female or only male at the time of childhood.