SCIENCE  The democratic revolution (18th c.

)
encouraged the view that human action can
 A logical system that bases knowledge
change society.
on direct systematic observation.
 The industrial revolution (19th c.) gave
 Known as a systematic method which
sociologists their subject matter.
knowledge is obtained.

2 Levels of Analysis
2 MAJOR BRANCHES OF SCIENCE (Microsociology & Macrosociology)

 NATURAL SCIENCE (Branch of Science We can study society from different levels:
w/c concerned w/ Physical and Biological
Microsociology is the level of analysis that
Phenomena or Realities)
studies face-to-face and small-group
e.g.: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, interactions in order to understand how they
Zoology, Astronomy, Meteorology, Geology, affect the larger patterns and institutions of
etc. society.

 SOCIAL SCIENCE (Branch of Science Microsociology focuses on small-scale issues.

which concerned w/ various aspects of
Ex: Symbolic Interactionism
human behavior and societal/ social
phenomena) Macrosociology is the level of analysis that
studies large-scale social structures in order to
e.g.: Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology,
determine how they affect the lives of groups
Political Science, Social Work, Economics,
and individuals.
Anthropology, History, Communication
Studies, etc. Macrosociology focuses on large-scale issues.

Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory

Three revolutions had to take place

before the sociological imagination could
crystallize:
 The scientific revolution (16thc.)
encouraged the use of evidence to
substantiate theories.
 1789 in which French Revolution begun.
Auguste Comte (1798-1857) • Predicted that revolution would occur
producing first a socialist state, followed by a
 Responsible for coining the term
communist society
“sociology”
• Known as an erratic genius
• Set out to develop the “science of man”
that would be based on empirical observation Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Focused on two aspects of society:
 Social Statics—forces which produce
order and stability
 Social Dynamics—forces
contribute to social change.
• Durkheim moved sociology fully into the
realm of an empirical science
• Most well-known empirical study is called
which Suicide, where he looks at the social causes of
suicide

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) • Generally regarded as the founder of

Functionalist Theory
• Authored the first sociology text, Principles
of Sociology • He is also known as the Father of Modern
Sociology
• Most well-known for proposing a doctrine
called “Social Darwinism” • Pioneer and Founder of Structural
Functionalist Perspective/ Theory.
• Suggested that people who could not
compete were poorly adapted to the  2 types of SOLIDARITY
environment and inferior  Mechanical solidarity
 Organic solidarity
• This is an idea commonly called survival of
the fittest.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
•Authored one of the earliest analyses of
• Marx is the father of conflict theory
culture and life in the United States entitled
• Saw human history in a continual state of Theory and Practice of Society in America
conflict between two major classes:
•Translated Comte’s Positive Philosophy into
 Bourgeoisie—owners of the means of English
production (capitalists)
•Recognized by some social scientist as the
 Proletariat—the workers
Mother of Sociology
What is Sociological Theory? consequences, society regulates this type of
behavior.
•Theory is a statement of HOW and WHY
specific facts are related. EVALUATE

In Building a Theory: The structural-functional approach helps

us see the important part sexuality plays in the
• Sociologist face two (2) fundamental
organization of society. The incest taboo and
question:
other cultural norms also suggest that society
✓What issues should we study? has always paid attention to who has sex with

✓How should we connect the facts? whom and, especially, who reproduces with
whom. Functionalist analysis sometimes
Sociological Perspectives/ Theory
ignores gender; when Kingsley Davis wrote of
FUNDAMENTAL THEORIES the benefits of prostitution for society, he was
really talking about the benefits to men. In
•Structural Functionalism
addition, the fact that sexual patterns change
•Social Conflict over time, just as they differ in remarkable

•Symbolic Interactionism/Interactionist ways around the world, is ignored by this

Structural Functionalism
- is a framework for building theory that sees
society as a complex system whose parts work
together to promote solidarity and stability.
•Social Structure – any relative stable
pattern of social behavior
perspective. To appreciate the varied and
changeable character of sexuality, we now turn
to the symbolic-interaction approach.
 Structural Functionalism for
AUGUSTE COMTE - The need to keep
society unified when many traditions
were breaking down.

•Social Function – the consequences of any  Structural Functionalism for

social pattern for the operation of society as a HERBERT SPENCER - Spencer’s

whole. stipulation of sense of congruency and

parallelism of Human Structure to
The structural-functional approach
Society.
highlights the contribution of any social pattern
to the overall operation of society. Because Robert Merton (1920-2003)

sexuality can have such important - Expanded our understanding of the concept
of social function by pointing out that any
social structure probably has many functions
some more obvious than other.
Merton’s 2 concepts of SOCIAL
FUNCTIONS:
• Manifest Function – recognize and
intended consequences of any social pattern
i.e.: School – provide young people w/
information and skills they need to work after
graduation
• Latent Function – the unrecognized and
unintended consequences of any social pattern
i.e.: School limit employment and creates
inequality
 Merton’s said that the effects of social
structure are not all good and certainly not
good for everybody.
Social Dysfunction – any social patter that
may disrupt the operation of society
• SF – ignores inequalities of social class, race
and gender, with cause tension and conflict
• SF – favored in the mid – 1900’s
2 Types of Solidarity (by: Emile Durkheim)
1. Mechanical Solidarity – is a type of social
cohesion that develops when people do similar
work and have similar beliefs and values.
2. Organic Solidarity – is a characteristics of
complex, industrialized societies.
Critical Review of SF
 Its vision of society as stable and orderly.
The main goal of the sociologist who use
this approach, then, is to figure out “What
make society tick”.
 Its focus on stability at the expense of
conflict makes this approach somewhat
conservative. (As a critical response,
sociologist developed the Social Conflict
Perspective/ Theory)
THE SOCIAL CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE/
THEORY
 SC – a framework for building theory that
sees society as an arena of inequality that
generates conflicts and change.
 SC – Is a view of society that focuses on
social processes of tension, competition and
change
• SC (give emphasis on inequality and change)
vs. SF (highlights solidarity and stability)
 Conflict may Involve
 (Old vs. Young/ Producers vs. Consumers/
Urbanite vs. Suburbanites or One Radical/
Ethnic Group vs. Another)
 Social Conflict and Social Change
 Viewed societies in constant state of
change, in which conflict is a permanent
features
 • Interactionist Perspective is a view of society
that focuses on the way in which people act
toward, respond to, and influence one another.

Social Factors Leads to Societal S.F./ S.C. Perspective/ Theory Focus on

Inequalities such large structure as the state, economy or
1. Social Class social classes while

2. Race (Biological) INTERACTIONIST concerned with the

3. Ethnicity (Cultural) everyday social interaction.

4. Gender
5. Sexual Orientation Symbolic Interactionism
6. Age
• Is interaction that takes place between
Note: Many sociologist use the social-conflict
people through symbol
approach not just to understand society but
not to bring about societal change that would • Sees society as the product of the everyday

reduce inequality. interaction.

• Gender Conflict Approach – a point of • Society as nothing more than the shared

view that focuses on inequality and conflict reality that people construct as they interact.

between women and men. • Sees human beings like in a world of

•Feminism – advocacy of social equality for symbols, attaching meaning to virtually

women and men everything

• Race Conflict Approach – a point of view  Symbol Anything that can meaningfully

that focuses on inequality and conflict between represents something else (Example: Signs,

people of different racial and ethnic categories Gestures, Shared Rules, etc.).
 Reality How we define our surrounding,
Critical Review of SC
our obligation toward others, and even our
Social Conflict Perspective and the Structural own identities.
Functional Perspective paint society in broad  Stereotype An exaggerated description
strokes in terms of Family, Social Class, Race, applied to every person in some category.
etc.
Erving Goffman (1959)
Symbolic interactionism Perspective/
Theory Dramaturgical Analysis/ Theory
 Five (5) Types of
Societies (by: Lenski
and Lenski)

1. Hunting and
Gathering
Society
2. Horticultural
and Pastoral
Society
✓Viewed social life as a form of theater
3. Agrarian/ Agricultural Society
✓That people play different role and stage
manage
✓Impression they create on others

George Homan (1974)

Exchange Theory/ Approach
✓Focuses on the way people influence another
behavior
✓Exchanging various forms of rewards and
punishments for approved/ disapproved
behavior. 4. Industrial Society
5. Post-Industrial Society
WHAT DOES SOCIETY LOOK LIKE?
Hunting and Gathering Society
Jean and Gerhard Lenski
 The use of simple tools to hunt animals and
 Describe how societies have changed over gather vegetation/ crops
the past 10, 000 years  Most of the people are Nomadic/
 Point out the importance of TECHNOLOGY Nomadz (no permanent settlement/
in shaping any society civilization)
 Lenski and Lenski used the term SOCIO-  Family Centered society
CULTURAL EVOLUTION (changes that  Usually have SHAMAN (Spiritual Leader/s)
occur as society gains new technology)  Egalitarian type of Society
 Composed of 25-40 members
 Have the most leisure of all human groups

Horticultural and Pastoral Society
• Horticulture
✓Known as Gardening Society in which they
cultivate plants/ crops for their daily
consumption/s.
✓The use of hand tools to raise crop/s.
✓1st humans to plant gardens lived in Fertile
Regions
• Pastoral/ Pastoralism
✓ also acknowledged as Herding Society or the
era of the Domestication of Animals
Note: Pastoralist remained nomadic while the
Horticulturalist formed settlements, moving
only when soil gave out.
PASTORAL and HORTICULTURAL Societies are
more socially diverse society compared to
hunting and gathering societies
• Hunting and Gathering Society (believes
on different Gods and Spirits)
• Horticultural and Pastoral Society
(Believes on one God)
Note: Being more productive does not make a
society “better” in every sense. As some
families produce more than others, they
become richer and more powerful. From fewer
to more possession and from greater to less
equality.
Agrarian/ Agricultural Society
• 5,000 years ago
• Took place in the Middle East
• Agriculture defined as the scale of cultivation
of land using plows harnessed to animals or
more powerful energy sources
• From this society, the invention of Animal-
Drawn
Plow, along with other breakthrough of the
period including Irrigation, the wheel, writings,
numbers and the use of various Metals.
• Further, this society/ stage of transition is
also called as the DAWN of CIVILIZATION
 Promotes extreme social inequalities in the
society
 Women provide most of the food, which
gives them social importance (Hunting/
Gathering/ Horticultural/ Pastoral)
 This type of society raises men to a position
of social dominance
 Men take charge of food production in
agrarian societies. Women are left with the
support task
(e.g.: Wedding and Carrying Water to the
Fields)
Industrial Societies
•Took hold in the rich nations of today’s world
•Industrialism (the production of goods using
advanced sources of energy to drive large
machinery)
•Industrial technology gave people such power
over their environment that change took place
faster than ever before.
•Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in
1765
Post Industrial Societies
•Information based society/ world of microchip
•Took hold in the richest nation of today’s
modern world
•Daniel Bell term POST INDUSTRIALISM
refers to technology that supports an
information – based economy.
AS SOCIETY EMERGED…
Biotech Society
• A society whose economy increasingly
centers on the application of genetics to
produce medicine, food and materials
•Began at 1953 when Francis Crick & James
Watson identified the double-helix structure of
DNA, or perhaps historians will trace the date
to the decoding of human genome in 2001
• Associated as the 5th Social Revolution/
Decoding of Human Genome System
Karl Marx (Society and Conflict)
• False Consciousness – explanations of
social problems as the shortcomings of
individuals rather than as the flows of society.
Max Weber 1864-1920 (The Rationalization
of Society)
• Law, Economics, Religion, History
• Against Marx’s philosophy of materialism
• Weber philosophical approach called
IDEALISM
• IDEALISM – give emphasized how human
ideasespecially beliefs and values-shape society
• Weber compared societies in different times
and places. To make the comparisons, he
relied on the IDEAL TYPE
IDEAL TYPE
• Refer to any actual society
• An abstract statement of the essential
characteristics of any social phenomenon
• Two (2) World Views: TRADITION v.s.
RATIONALITY
• Tradition – values and beliefs passed from
generation to generation
• Rationality
✓a way of thinking that emphasizes Emile Durkheim
deliberated, matter of-fact calculation of the
• “TO LOVE SOCIETY” is to love something
most efficient way to accomplish a particular
beyond us and something in our-selves
task.
•Structure (Society beyond Ourselves)
✓The historical change from tradition to
✓Recognizing that society exist beyond
rationality as the main mode of main mode of
ourselves
human thought.
✓Society is more than the individuals who
• Weber viewed both the Industrial Revolution
and Development of Capitalism of modern compose it

rationality. CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

1. Culture is Learned
2. Culture is Shared
3. Culture is Cumulative
4. Culture is Dynamic

Is the System of Capitalism with the 5. Culture is Diverse

Capitalist is Rational?
Cultural Diversity
• Marx – industrial capitalism is rational
because it fails to meet the basic needs of • Cultural diversity can involve social class.

most of the people. • Many cultural patterns are readily accessible

• Weber – industrial capitalism is highly to only some members of a society.

rational because it try to make money in any High culture – cultural patterns that
way they can. distinguish a society’s elite

(Weber feared that in the end, the Popular Culture – cultural patterns that are
Rationalization of Society would reduce human widespread among a population.
beings to ROBOTS)
Subculture – cultural patterns that set apart
Sociological Analysis: ALIENATION some segment of society’s population

• MARX – thought ALIENATION as caused by Counterculture – cultural patterns that

ECONOMIC inequality; while, rejects and opposes those widely accepted

• WEBER – he blamed ALIENATION on within a society.

bureaucracy’s countless rules and regulations Culture and Beauty

 Throughout history, people in every • Sometimes it can be on the color of your
culture have sought to change the natural GUMS…
appearance of their bodies. They reshape and
• In Senegal, Africa, women make gums
sculpt their bodies and adorn them with paint,
black…
cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry. These
customs, however, are diverse and particular ATTITUDES TOWARDS CULTURAL
VARIATION
to a culture at a specific period of time.
Cultural Ethnocentrism - We tend to regard
Body customs have social significance. our own culture’s customs as highly “civilized”
The body can be a site for the expression of and others’ as “savage”.
power in a culture and for communicating
Xenocentrism - the belief that the products,
group membership, social status, social identity
styles, or ideas of ones society are inferior to
and associated beliefs and values. All body
those that originate elsewhere.
customs, whether temporary, like tweezing
eyebrows, or more permanent, like tattoos and Cultural Relativism - The practice of

cosmetic surgery, are forms of self-creation evaluating a culture by that culture’s own

that establish a connection with a reference standards.

group. The cultural and social context Causes of Cultural Change

influences individual body choices and gives
• Invention
them social meaning (Sullivan 2000).
• Discovery
ANOREXIA • Diffusion

• In modern Western society "thin is in" and _________________________________

sometimes artificial means such as liposuction
are used to lessen the appearance of hips,
buttocks, and fat in general (Sullivan, 2002).

• In the United States, most people hold

negative attitudes toward body fat. According
to surveys, people attribute increased body
weight to being poor or having poor health.
Obese women, more than men, are rated
negatively by peers.

UNDERSTANDING GENDER AND
SEXUALITY
Sex—no one can doubt that it is an important
dimension of our lives. But, as this chapter
explains, sex is far from a simple biological
process linked to reproduction. It is society,
including culture and patterns of inequality,
which shapes human sexuality and guides the
meaning of sexuality in our everyday lives.
How much of your thoughts and actions
every day involve sexuality? If you are like
most people, your answer would have to be
“quite a lot,” because sexuality is about much
more than having sex.
Sexuality is a theme found almost
Everywhere - in sports, on campus, in the
workplace, and especially in the mass media.
There is also a sex industry that includes
pornography and prostitution, both of which
are multibillion-dollar businesses in most
country particularly among west countries. The
bottom line is that sexuality is an important
part of how we think about ourselves as well
as how others think about us.
Sex: A Biological Issue
Sex refers to the biological distinction between
females and males. From a biological point of
view, sex is the way the human species
reproduces. A female ovum and a male sperm,
each containing twenty-three matching
chromosomes (biological codes that guide
physical development), combine to form an
embryo. To one of these pairs of
chromosomes, the pair that determines the
child’s sex—the mother contributes an X
chromosome, and the father contributes either
an X or a Y. Should the father contribute an X
chromosome, a female (XX) embryo results; a
Y from the father produces a male (XY)
embryo. A child’s sex is thereby determined
biologically at the moment of conception. The
sex of an embryo guides its development. If
the embryo is male, the growth of testicular
tissue starts to produce large amounts of
testosterone, a hormone that triggers the
development of male genitals (sex organs). If
little testosterone is present, the embryo
develops female genitals.
Sex and the Body
Some differences in the body set males
and females apart. Right from birth, the two
sexes have different primary sex
characteristics, namely, the genitals, organs
used for reproduction. At puberty, as people
reach sexual maturity, additional sex
differentiation takes place.
At this point, people develop secondary
sex characteristics, bodily development, apart
from the genitals, that distinguishes biologically
mature females and males. Mature females
have wider hips for giving birth, milk-producing
breasts for nurturing infants, and deposits of
soft, fatty tissue that provide a reserve supply
of nutrition during pregnancy and breast
feeding. Mature males typically develop more
muscle in the upper body, more extensive body
hair, and deeper voices. Of course, these are
general differences; some males are smaller
and have less body hair and higher voices than
some females.
NOTE: Keep in mind that sex is not the same
thing as gender. Gender is an element of
culture and refers to the personal traits and
patterns of behavior (including responsibilities,
opportunities, and privileges) that a culture
attaches to being female or male. And to think
that gender is an important dimension of social
inequality.
Intersexual People
Sex is not always as clear-cut as has
just been described. The term intersexual
people refers to people whose bodies
(including genitals) have both female and male
characteristics. Intersexuality is both natural
and very rare, involving well below 1 percent
of a society’s population. An older term for
intersexual people is hermaphrodites (derived
from Hermaphroditus, the child of the
mythological Greek gods Hermes and
Aphrodite, who embodied both sexes). A true
hermaphrodite has both a female ovary and a
male testis.
TRANSSEXUALS - are people who feel they
are one sex even though biologically they are
the other.
We are used to thinking of sex as a
clear-cut issue of being female or male. But
transgendered people do not fit such simple
categories. In 2008, Thomas Beatie, age 34,
became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy
baby girl; a year later, he gave birth to a
second child, a boy. Beatie, who was born a
woman, had surgery to remove his breasts and
legally changed his sex from female to male,
but nonetheless chose to bear a child.
What is your response to cases such as
this?
Estimates suggest that one or two out of every
1,000 people born experience the feeling of
being trapped in a body of the wrong sex and
have a desire to be the other sex. Sometimes
called transgender people, many begin to
disregard conventional ideas about how
females and males should look and behave.
Some also go one step further and undergo
gender reassignment, surgical alteration of
their genitals and breasts, usually accompanied
by hormone treatments. This medical process
is complex and takes months or even years,
but it helps many people gain a joyful sense of
finally becoming on the outside who they feel
they are on the inside (Gagné, Tewksbury, &
McGaughey, 1997; Olyslager & Conway, 2007)
Cultural Variation
Almost every sexual practice shows
considerable variation from one society to
another. In his pioneering research study of
sexuality in the United States, Alfred Kinsey
and his colleagues (1948) found that most
heterosexual couple reported having
intercourse in a single position—face to face,
with the woman on the bottom and the man
on top. Halfway around the world, however, on
islands in the South Seas, most couples never
have sex in this way. In fact, when the people
of the South Seas learned of this practice from
Western missionaries, they poked fun at it as
the strange “missionary position.
Even the simple practice of showing
affection varies from society to society. Most
people in the United States kiss in public, but
the Chinese kiss only in private. The French
kiss publicly, often twice (once on each cheek),
and the Belgians kiss three times (starting on
either cheek). The Maoris of New Zealand rub
noses, and most people in Nigeria don’t kiss at
all.
Modesty, too, is culturally variable. If a
woman stepping into a bath is disturbed by
someone entering the room, what body parts
do you think she would cover? Helen Colton
(1983) reports that an Islamic woman covers
her face, a Laotian woman covers her breasts,
a Samoan woman covers her navel, a
Sumatran woman covers her knees, and a
European woman covers her breasts with one
hand and her genital area with the other.
Around the world, some societies
restrict sexuality, and others are more
permissive. In China, for example, norms
closely regulate sexuality so that few people
have sexual intercourse before their wedding
day. In the United States, at least over the last
few decades, intercourse prior to marriage has
become the norm, and some people choose to
have sex even without strong commitment.
The Incest Taboo
When it comes to sex, do all societies agree on
anything? The answer is yes. One cultural
universal—an element that is found in every
society the world over–is the incest taboo, a
norm forbidding sexual relations or marriage
between certain relatives. In the Philippines,
both law and cultural mores prohibit close
relatives (including brothers and sisters,
parents and children) from having sex or
marrying. But in another example of cultural
variation, exactly which family members are
included in a society’s incest taboo varies from
state to state.
The Sexual Revolution
Over the past century, the United States
witnessed profound changes in sexual attitudes
and practices. The first indications of this
change came with industrialization in the
1920s, as millions of women and men migrated
from farms and small towns to rapidly growing
cities.
There, living apart from their families and
meeting new people in the workplace, young
people enjoyed considerable sexual freedom,
one reason that decade became known as the
“Roaring Twenties.”
In the 1930s and 1940s, the Great
Depression and World War II slowed the rate
of change. But in the postwar period, after
1945, a researcher named Alfred Kinsey set the
stage for what later came to be known as the
sexual revolution. In 1948, Kinsey and his
colleagues published their first study of
sexuality in the United States, and it raised
eyebrows everywhere. The national uproar
resulted not so much from what he said as
from the fact that scientists were actually
studying sex, a topic many people were uneasy
talking about even in the privacy of their
homes.
The Sexual Counterrevolution
The sexual revolution made sex a topic
of everyday discussion and sexual activity more
a matter of individual choice. However, by
1980, the climate of sexual freedom that had
marked the late 1960s and 1970s was criticized
by some people as evidence of our country’s
moral decline, and the sexual counterrevolution
began.
Politically speaking, the sexual
counterrevolution was a conservative call for a
return to “family values” and a change from
sexual freedom back toward what critics saw
as the sexual responsibility valued by earlier
generations. Critics of the sexual revolution
objected not just to the idea of “free love” but
also to trends such as cohabitation
(heterosexual couples living together without
being married) and unmarried couples having
children.
Looking back, the sexual
counterrevolution did not greatly change the
idea that people should decide for themselves “almost always wrong.” The norm of sexual
when and with whom to have a sexual fidelity within marriage has been and remains a
relationship. But whether for moral reasons or strong element of U.S. culture.
concerns about sexually transmitted diseases,
more people began limiting their number of
sexual partners or choosing not to have sex
at all

Is the sexual revolution over? It is true

that many people are making more careful
Sexual Orientation
decisions about sexuality. But as the rest of
this chapter explains, the ongoing sexual In recent decades, public opinion about
revolution is evident in the fact that there is sexual orientation has shown a remarkable
now greater acceptance of premarital sex as change. Sexual orientation is a person’s
well as increasing tolerance for various sexual romantic and emotional attraction to another
orientations. person. The norm in all human societies is
heterosexuality (hetero is Greek for “the other
Premarital Sex
of two”), meaning sexual attraction to
In light of the sexual revolution and the sexual
someone of the other sex. Yet in every society,
counterrevolution, how much has sexual
a significant share of people experience
behavior in the Philippines really changed? One
homosexuality (homo is Greek for “the same”),
interesting trend involves premarital sex—
sexual attraction to someone of the same sex.
sexual intercourse before marriage—among
Keep in mind that people do not necessarily fall
young people.
into just one of these categories; they may
Extramarital Sex have varying degrees of attraction to both
sexes. The idea that sexual orientation is not
What about married people having sex outside
always clear-cut is confirmed by the existence
of marriage? This practice, commonly called
of bisexuality, sexual attraction to people of
“adultery” (sociologists prefer the more neutral
both sexes. Some bisexual people are equally
term extramarital sex), is widely condemned.
attracted to males and females; many others
Table 8–1 (on next slide) shows that more
are more attracted to one sex than the other.
than 90 percent of U.S. adults consider a
Finally, asexuality refers to a lack of sexual
married person having sex with someone other
attraction to people of either sex. Figure 8–2
than the marital partner “always wrong” or
on slide 31 shows each of these sexual
orientations in relation to the others.
It is important to remember that sexual
attraction is not the same thing as sexual
behavior. Many people, perhaps even most
people, have experienced attraction
someone of the same sex, but far fewer ever
engage in same-sex behavior. This is in large
part because our culture discourages such
actions.
In the United States and around the
world, heterosexuality emerged as the norm
because, biologically speaking, heterosexual
relations permit human reproduction. Even so,
most societies tolerate homosexuality, and
some have even celebrated it. Among the
ancient Greeks, for example, upper-class men
considered homosexuality the highest form of
relationship, partly because they looked down
on women as intellectually inferior. As men
saw it, heterosexuality was necessary only so
they could have children, and “real” men
preferred homosexual relations (Kluckhohn,
1948; Ford & Beach, 1951; Greenberg, 1988)
What gives us a SEXUAL ORIENTATION?
The question of how people come to have a
particular sexual orientation is strongly
to debated. The arguments cluster into two
general positions: sexual orientation as a
product of society and sexual orientation
as a product of biology.
Sexual Orientation: A Product of Society
This approach argues that people in any
society attach meanings to sexual activity, and
these meanings differ from place to place and
over time. As Michel Foucault (1990, orig.
1978) points out, for example, there was no
distinct category of people called
“homosexuals” until just over a century ago,
when scientists and eventually the public as a
whole began defining people that way.
Throughout history, many people no doubt had
what we would call “homosexual experiences,”
but neither they nor others saw in this
behavior the basis for any special identity.
Sexual Orientation: A Product of Biology
A growing body of evidence suggests that
sexual orientation is innate, or rooted in human
biology, in much the same way that people are
born right-handed or left-handed. Arguing this Sexuality lies at the heart of a number of
position, Simon LeVay (1993) links sexual controversies in the United States today.
orientation to the structure of a person’s brain.
Here we take a look at four key issues: teen
LeVay studied the brains of both homosexual
pregnancy, pornography, prostitution, and
and heterosexual men and found a small but
sexual violence.
important difference in the size of the
hypothalamus, a part of the brain that TEEN PREGNANCY

regulates hormones. Such an anatomical Because it carries the risk of pregnancy, being
difference, he claims, plays a part in shaping a sexually active—especially having intercourse—
person’s sexual orientation. Genetics may also demands a high level of responsibility.
influence sexual orientation. One study of Teenagers may be biologically mature enough
forty-four pairs of brothers, all homosexual, to conceive, but many are not emotionally
found that thirty-three pairs had a distinctive mature enough to appreciate the
genetic pattern involving the X chromosome. consequences of their actions. Surveys show
The gay brothers also had an unusually high that there are some 740,000 teen pregnancies
number of gay male relatives—but only on in the United States each year, most of them
their mother’s side. Such evidence leads some unplanned. This country’s rate of births to
researchers to think there may be a “gay gene”
located on the X chromosome (Hamer &
Copeland, 1994)

The gay rights movement also began

using the term homophobia to describe
discomfort over close personal
teens is higher than that of all other high-
interaction with people thought to be
income countries and is twice the rate in
gay, lesbian, or bisexual (Weinberg, 1973).
Canada (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2006;
The concept of homophobia turns the tables on
Ventura et al., 2009)
society: Instead of asking “What’s wrong with
gay people?” the question becomes “What’s Pornography is sexually explicit material
wrong with people who can’t accept a different intended to cause sexual arousal. But what is
sexual orientation?” or is not pornographic has long been a matter
of debate. Recognizing that different people
SEXUAL ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES
view portrayals of sexuality differently, the U.S.
Supreme Court gives local communities the
power to decide for themselves what violates
“community standards” of decency and lacks
“redeeming social value.”
PROSTITUTION is the selling of sexual
services. Often called “the world’s oldest
profession,” prostitution has been widespread
throughout recorded history. In the United
States today, about one in seven adult men
reports having paid for sex at some time
(NORC, 2011). Because most people think of
sex as an expression of intimacy between two
people, they find the idea of sex for money
disturbing. As a result, prostitution is against
the law everywhere in the United States except
for parts of rural Nevada. Around the world,
prostitution is most common in poor countries,
where patriarchy is strong and traditional
cultural norms limit women’s ability to earn a
living. Global Map 8–2 shows where in the
world prostitution is most widespread.
In the middle category are prostitutes
who are employed in “massage parlors” or
brothels (a house where men can visit
prostitutes) under the control of managers.
These sex workers have less choice about their
clients, receive less money for their services,
and get to keep no more than half of the
money they earn.
At the bottom of the hierarchy are
streetwalkers, women and men who “work the
streets” of large cities around the country.
Some female streetwalkers are under the
control of male pimps who take most of their
earnings. Many others are people with a
substance addiction who sell sex in order to
buy drugs. Both types of people are at high
risk of becoming the victims of violence
(Davidson, 1998; Estes, 2001).
The lives of sex workers, then, are
diverse, with some earning more than others
and some at greater risk of violence. But
studies point to one thing that most of these
women have in common: They consider their
work degrading. As one researcher suggested,
one minute the sex worker is adored as “the
most beautiful woman,” while the next she is
condemned as a “slut” (Barton, 2006). Most
prostitutes offer heterosexual services.
However, gay male prostitutes also trade sex
for money. Researchers report that many gay
prostitutes end up selling sex after having
suffered rejection by family and friends
because of their sexual orientation (Weisberg,
1985; Boyer, 1989; Kruks, 1991)
A Victimless Crime?
Prostitution is against the law almost
everywhere in most of the countries cross the
globe, but many people consider it a victimless
crime (defined in Chapter 9, “Deviance,” as a
crime in which there is no obvious victim). As a
result, instead of enforcing prostitution laws all
the time, police stage only occasional
crackdowns. This policy reflects a desire to
control prostitution while also recognizing that
it is impossible to eliminate it entirely.

Many people take a “live and let live”

attitude about prostitution and say that adults
ought to be able to do as they please so long
A second myth, often linked to date
as no one is harmed or forced to do anything.
rape, is that the woman must have done
But is prostitution really victimless? The sex
something to encourage the man and made
trade subjects many women to kidnapping,
him think she wanted to have sex. Perhaps the
emotional abuse, and outright violence and
victim agreed to go out with the offender.
also plays a part in spreading sexually
Maybe she even invited him into her room.
transmitted diseases, including AIDS. In
But, of course, acting in this way no more
addition, many poor women—especially in low-
justifies rape than it would any other type of
income nations—become trapped in a life of
physical assault.
selling sex. Thailand, in Southeast Asia, has as
many as 2 million prostitutes, representing Although rape is a physical attack, it
about 10 percent of all women in the labor often leaves emotional and psychological scars.
force. About half of these women are Beyond the brutality of being physically
teenagers—many begin working before they violated, rape by an acquaintance also
even reach their teens—and they typically undermines a victim’s sense of trust.
suffer physical and emotional abuse and run a Psychological scars are especially serious
high risk of becoming infected with HIV among the two-thirds of rape victims who are
(Wonders & Michalowski, 2001; Kapstein, under eighteen and even more so among the
2006; UNAIDS, 2010) one-third who are under the age of twelve.
The home is no refuge from rape: One-third of
Sexual Violence: Rape and Date Rape
all victims under the age of eighteen are
Ideally, sexual activity occurs within a attacked by their own fathers or stepfathers
loving relationship between consenting (Snyder, 2000).
adults. In reality, however, sex can be
THEORIES OF SEXUALITY
twisted by hate and violence. Here we
consider two types of sexual violence:
rape and date rape.
 Applying sociology’s various theoretical
approaches gives us a better understanding of
human sexuality.