Name- Mohammad Fahim Abrar

Roll- 1921968030

Answer to the Question 1:

Gender:

Gender refers to a combination or set of behaviors, expressions, identities, and

expressions that differentiates between masculinity and femininity apart from
having biological differences in body structure.

Why sociologists are interested in Gender:

 Sociologists have opinions that gender plays a key role in determining the
life experience and chances in the society. They believe that there are some
sectors where the discrimination of gender is creating a major difference in
determining the lifestyle of people.
 They often argue that the gender difference exists in our day to day life and
try to justify the differences from a socialistic perspective apart from our
traditional explanation.
 They try to justify gender as a product of socialization. That is, they want to
say that people of same gender aren’t born with the same traits, rather the
gender traits come from the society.
 They try to understand how gender differences and identities of the
present society are socially constructed.
 Answer to the Question 2:

In our everyday life, we define gender in the traditional ways. We do not consider
about many sociological factors that influence the formation of gender difference
in the society. Sociologists approach gender based on different theories.

Sociological approach towards gender:

 Freud’s theory: According to Freud, children form gender instinct from

their children because of their belief of having male or female reproductive
organ. They think it as a sign of masculinity or femininity and act
accordingly. With the gradual passage of time, their behaviors actually turn
into gender instincts.
 Chodorow’s theory: Chodorow explains that the children learn gender
instincts based on their attachment with the parents. That is, they believe
that the parents’ belief get installed into the children due to which gender
instincts are created
 Functionalist theory: According to functionalist theory, females are thought
to be the ones who just raise their children and take care of the family. It
says that women are more involved in domestic chores due to which a
division of labor has been created in the society. It comes to the view that
since women are busy with their households, men take over the part of
earning income for the family and doing the works of outside.
 Conflict theory: According to the theory, there are no longer the traditional
roles of men and women, but still gender inequality exists in the society.
Because, men still have higher position in terms of economics, politics and
society. This continued domination of males over the women has created
such a belief system in the society which shows gender inequality.
 Answer to the Question 3:

Biomedical model:

Biomedical model refers to such a model which basically focuses on the biological
factors without considering about the influence of society, environment or
psychology.

Why sociologists are critical about the model:

 According to this model, any illness isn’t the product of an individual

biological cause. Rather, multiple biological causes are responsible for it.
 It explains that partiality of our mind and body can cause lack of attention
paying to the subjective experience.
 The ill people are highly focused around because of their illness such that
they are being blamed for being the victim. Usually, poor lifestyle or genetic
fate is considered as the reason behind the ill health.
 However, basically ‘reductionism’ and ‘biological determinism’ are the basis
of the biomedical model. It restricts the people from focusing on
psychological dimensions of illness by keeping the focus within cellular and
genetic level.
 Answer to the Question 4:

Health in Sociology:

In sociology, health is defined as the overall well-being considering about physical,

mental or emotional health. Here, it is said that the healthy body and mind
depends on the kind of environment we are living in. If the environment is
healthy, then the mind will be healthy and so the body will also be healthy.

Differentiation between major theoretical perspectives of health:

 Functionalism theory: According to this theory, healthy body depends on

the healthcare and effective medical services. It claims that doctors or
physicians have a great impact in ensuring the health of the people in the
society. Here, the theory claims that the healthy people are more likely to
get ill because of lack of attention and care. So, the importance of medical
care and services has been emphasized in the theory.
 Conflict Theory: The theory claims that there is a high influence of geo-
demographic condition in determining the quality of health along social
class, race and ethnicity. It says that people belonging from a
disadvantaged social background will have a lesser quality of health and the
advantaged people will have much better health compared to them.
 Symbolic Interactionist: According to this theory, the health or illness is not
highly influenced by the physical or mental conditions, rather they are
incorrectly addressed by the society. A society’s culture and social structure
also influences in its effect.

So, these approaches towards health vary in many different ways in sociology.
 Answer to the Question 5:

Deviance:

According to sociological perspective, deviance refers to the norms, behaviors or

activities that are considered abnormal in the society. That is, deviance means
possession of such traits that are not considered as acceptable to the majority of
people and thus, not in the society. Violation of the common social norms, rules
and regulations is included as deviance.

How People do deviance:

 Deviance in Mannerism: Violating basic manners is a form of deviance. By

basic manners, it means the manners like respecting individual, being
compassionate to people, love, honor etc. If someone doesn’t follow any of
these basic manners, then deviance is done.
 Deviance in political field: The activities like spreading rumors, favoritism,
backbiting in order to achieve greater position in politics are a kind of
deviance.
 Personal Deviance: Sexual abuse, verbal harassment, physical assault etc.
are the examples of personal deviance. People get engaged to these
activities that are not accepted in the society, so it is deviance.
 Property Deviance: Stealing other peoples stuffs, capturing the property of
others are not accepted in the society, rather these are considered as
crimes. These type of unacceptable acts are also some forms of deviance.