Olha Pletka

Institute for Social and Political Psychology of National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract.

Introduction.The concept of gender role in psychology is studied at the intersection of social and gender dimensions. Young people assimilate and broadcast patterns of behavior that are peculiar to one or another role, until they become the basis of their behavior. This is happening in the process of socialization. Internalization of gender roles in the process of gender socialization are described by such theories as: social learning; gender typing, cognitive development, gender patterns (Bem, 2004), social roles (Eagly, 1991; Deaux& Lewis, 1984), as well as a new theory of gender psychology (Maccoby, 1974).

According to V. Tatenko, socialization involves the accession of man to the world of culture by mastering the commonly acquired, accumulated and generalized experience of mankind, observance of generally accepted norms and rules of behavior in society, formation of socially typical features of character, universal values, national consciousness, etc. (Tatenko, 2017). In our work, we sought to identify peculiarities of young people's representations about gender roles that influence the process of their perception and broadcasting.

Purpose. The aim of the study was to identify the peculiarities of perceiving and broadcasting traditional gender roles in the representations of youth.

Methodology. The research was conducted in Ukraine during 2013-2018 within the framework of studying the peculiarities of the youth perception of gender roles. The abstract contains a description of the results of expert assessments of 56 respondents. The procedure for detecting expert assessments was followed by the distribution of respondents by gender and age: 28 people aged 17-23 and 28 people aged 35 to 53, women 44, and men - 14 people (women - 70%, men 30%).

Expert evaluations took place in 3 stages: 1. Conversation and familiarization with the concepts of ("gender role", "types of roles", "gender stereotypes", "role repertoire of the person"); 2. Participation in dramatic therapeutic vignette (up to 5 minutes), when participants had the opportunity to build communication among themselves in the mini-groups under the prism of the selected roles and their own ideas about them; 3. Filling in questionnaires containing general questions (typical roles of men and women and the roles of the respondent) and a description of 3-5 respondent-selected respondents. This procedure and questionnaire were developed by the author based on the hypothesis of the study.

Results. For analysis, we had used the concept of the dramatic triangle by S. Karpman, E. Bern's psychological games and the role theory (division into groups). The respondents named gender roles, which were divided into relative groups like social status group, family oriented group, sexually entertaining roles, situational roles, group by the type of using resources and endorsement roles. The descriptions of male roles, women and men have identified endorsement roles more than in the descriptions of women ones. This can be explained by the echo of the paternalistic position of the society about the male prerogative to provide support, protection and mentoring. As the descriptions of women, respondents used more sexually entertaining, situational roles. At the same time, women made the range from coquette to socialite (17 items), and men from cutie to prostitute (3 items).

In the role descriptions men are focused more on communication, women are more oriented on sexual relationship (for example, friendship between a man and a woman could not exist without a sexual context). As for the family related roles, it turned out that both men and women gave great importance to them. The role of the mother was mentioned by 27 respondents, while the role of the father was only 11.Men and women are equally characterized by social status. From our point of view, the idea of the traditional definition of male roles as active ones and female as passive ones is gradually changing and becoming gender neutral. This is confirmed by the frequency of choosing the role “man”, which is less significant than the role of “gigolo”. Therefore, it is more convenient for a modern boy to choose to be "under the wing" of a well-stocked woman than trying to achieve everything by himself. This is a matter of personal preferences, not gender roles.It is revealed that models of role behavior, which have been assimilated in the family, become a guide for young people and help to define their own role repertoire.

It also noted that women, according to respondents, are more likely to consume material resources rather than provide them. A husband may have a role of a sponsor, an achiever, a patron, a "daddy", a master, when a woman more like a hostess, fosterer, muse, kept one.

Conclusion.The research had revealed particular features of gender roles assimilation by young people. They are guided by family experience and social patterns of media person’s behavior. The range of the role repertoire is uneven and relies on the actual needs of respondents. The characteristics of youth are polarized: for women it is a need for self-efficacy, self-sufficiency along with the need for revealing their weakness, dependence, and men have not clearly defined role behavior, where the desire to be strong and active goes along with passivity and infantilism. Such a dichotomy is inherent in the process of active assimilation of present role models and the formation of their own.

Therefore, it is usual for young people to apply stereotypical ideas of society for the manifestation of gender roles and actively evolve their own models of role behavior. The research showed the importance of understanding those processes for successful socialization. Formation of own behavioral repertoire is also an effective lever in the role presentation of personality.

Keywords. Gender role, youth, perceptions, assessment, role-playing model, development.

References

1. BemS. (2004) TheLensesofGender. Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality (Бем С. Линзы гендера. Трансформация взглядов на проблему неравенства полов)

2. EaglyA. H. (1991) Explainingsexdifferencesinsocialbehavior. Ameta – analyticperspective [Specialissue] / Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Ed. 17, 306-315

3. Deaux, Kay,&Lewis, L. Laurie (1984). The structure of gender stereotypes:

Interrelationships among components and gender labels. Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, 46, 991–1004.

4. Maccoby E. E. (1974) The Psychology of Sex Differences, 391

5. TatenkoV. (2017) (Татенко В. Методологія суб’єктно-вчинкового підходу: соціально- психологічний вимір) Methodologyofsubjective-behavioralapproach: socio-psychologicaldimension, 126

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