Sex and Gender Differences in Personal Relationships

by Canary, Daniel J.; Emmers-Sommer, Tara M.; Faulkner, Sandra L.

• ISBN13: 9781572302563
• ISBN10: 1572302569
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-10-11
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

Challenging the commonly held assumption that men and women hail from different psychological and social "planets," this illuminating work reexamines what the empirical research really shows about how the sexes communicate in close relationships. The volume highlights evidence of similarities--as well as differences--between the two groups, and shows that stereotypical beliefs about men and women fail to predict their actual interaction behavior.
Defining key terms such as sex and gender, and reviewing the various meanings these terms take across a wide body of literature, the book first lays a clear conceptual foundation for the discussion to follow. The authors then draw from a wealth of social scientific research to explore such compelling topics as the ways men and women respond emotionally in relationships, communicate intimacy, control each other in conversation and conflict, and negotiate the division of labor in the household. Taking a balanced, careful approach, the authors assess the equality as well as the inequality that exists between men and women in their relationships, and show how reliance upon gender stereotypes in interaction changes in different situations and as relationships evolve. The volume concludes by setting forth the authors' theory of gender differences, which focuses on communication behavior as the means by which sex and gender role expectations are created and sustained.

Author Biography

Daniel J. Canary, PhD, is Professor of Speech Communication at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus. Dr. Canary has written several books, book chapters, and journal articles on interpersonal communication and relationships.
Tara M. Emmers-Sommer, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Emmers-Sommer's research focuses on relational development and de-escalation; her interests also include the portrayal of women in the media.
Sandra Faulkner is a PhD candidate in the Department of Speech Communication at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include topics related to women's health, such as safe sex talk and practices, and she teaches in the women's studies program at Penn State.

Table of Contents

1 Moving Beyond Stereotypes	1	(23)
Do Men and Women Inhabit Different Worlds?	1	(3)
Investigating Sex and Gender Differences in Personal Relationships	4	(11)
A Flowchart Model Predicting Stereotypic Interaction Behavior	15	(5)
Overview of the Project	20	(3)
Conclusion	23	(1)
2 Sex, Gender, and Emotion	24	(23)
Defining and Characterizing Emotion	24	(3)
Methodological Concerns	27	(1)
Research on Sex, Gender, and Emotion	28	(15)
Conclusion	43	(4)
3 Communicating Intimacy	47	(27)
Defining Intimacy	48	(4)
Two Manifestations of Intimacy	52	(6)
Friendships	58	(6)
Romantic Involvements	64	(3)
Sex Differences and Sex	67	(5)
Conclusion	72	(2)
4 Communicating Control	74	(31)
Power and Powerful Behavior	75	(1)
Sex Differences in Power Strategies	76	(5)
Sex Differences in Managing Interpersonal Conflict	81	(12)
Displays of Control in Conversational Behaviors	93	(7)
Relational Maintenance Behaviors	100	(2)
Conclusion	102	(3)
5 Division of Household Labor	105	(30)
Amount and Type of Tasks	108	(7)
Racial Considerations	115	(3)
Explaining the Division of Labor	118	(9)
Negotiating Couple Types and Gender Identity	127	(2)
Signs of Increased Equity	129	(3)
Conclusion	132	(3)
6 Toward an Activity-Based View of Gender	135	(28)
Gender as Clusters of Activities	137	(19)
External Constraints on the Enactment of Gender in Personal Relationships	156	(5)
Conclusion	161	(2)
Notes	163	(4)
References	167	(23)
Index	190