Descriptive terms taken from studies reporting gender differences in children's play are examined for the degree to which they are perceived as gender-linked. Fully 30 of the 36 terms presented are rated by subjects as masculine or feminine. It is suggested that such terms are linked to gender as a socially determined classification, exerting an influence upon observation and interpretation of gender-related behaviors.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AyerA. J.The problem of knowledge. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1956.
2.
CarrollJ. B. (Ed.) Language, thought and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1956.
3.
CondryJ.CondryS.Sex differences: A study of the eye of the beholder. Child Development, 1976, 47, 812–819.
4.
DurkheimE.The elementary forms of the religious life. New York: Free Press, 1947.
5.
HoyengaK.HoyengaK.The question of sex differences. Boston: Little Brown, 1979.
6.
JacobittiS.Everyday language and the methodology of political science. The Western Political Quarterly, 1975, 28, 431–446.
7.
LammersC.Mono- and poly-paradigmatic developments in natural and social sciences. In WhitleyR. (Ed.), Social processes of scientific development. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974. Pp. 123–147.
8.
LeverJ.Sex differences in the complexity of children's play and games. American Sociological Review, 1978, 43, 471–483.
9.
MaccobyE. E.JacklinC. N.The psychology of sex differences. Stanford: Stanford Univer. Press, 1974.
10.
SearleJ.Speech acts: An essay on the philosophy of language. London: Cambridge Univer. Press, 1969.
11.
TaylorC.The explanation of behaviour. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964.
12.
TaylorC.Interpretation and the sciences of man. Review of Metaphysics, 1971, 25, 3–51.
13.
WeitzS.Sex-roles. New York: Oxford Univer. Press, 1977.
