Nature vs.

Nur-
ture
Dr. Aurangzaib Alizai
Neither Nature nor Nurture
Usually when we meet people, we examine whether
they are:
 Masculine or feminine
 Upper class or lower class
 White, Asian, African, etc
Because: we assume that the physical traits of bod-
ies produce an individual’s social characteristics
But: physical traits – hormones, genes and
anatomy – are also affected by behavior and
environment.
 Yet the debate on what drives human behavior
and the social order is usually divided into two
camps:
 Nature: female and male procreative systems,
hormones, genes, structure of the human brain
that are known as sex differences
 Sex differences naturally produce the social order
 VS.
 Nurture: personal life experiences, social set-
ting, culture at a specific point in time, physical
environment and its hazards and resources that
produce gender differences
 Argument: As physical bodies, we are the result of all
the ‘natural’ and ‘nurtured’ input working together and
affecting each other, producing behavior that further
changes bodies and brains in a loop-back system.

Natural bodies + nurtured inputs = human behavior/social order

Physical traits of bodies are also affected by behavior and environment.

 We are born with a certain anatomy and with
specific physical functions – but where we live,
how much we exercise, diets, air quality, ill-
nesses, traumas, medications, body treatments/
cosmetics, degree of comfort modify bones,
structure and body shape throughout the life cy-
cle
 Diet – ethnic culture, social class and available
foods – affect our eating patterns (e.g., MacDon-
alds; wheat vs rice) and over time, bodies
 Social class also bears on our bodies
Problems associated with biophysical traits as a way
of explaining differences between people:
 Values are attached to skin color and sex which may
discriminate
 Biology becomes dominant as an overarching explana-
tion and justification for differences and hierarchies
among people (among ethnic groups, races, men &
women)
 Human behavior is thought to be a mechanical outcome
of the configuration of genes, traits, anatomy that can-
not be changed – therefore making hierarchies, discrim-
ination and inequality permanent/fixed
(Connell: Making Gendered People: p. 451; 463)
In sum:
 There is no pre-natal or a priori ‘hardwiring’ of human
behavior through genes, brain development, or evolu-
tionary adaptability
 Human brains and bodies respond to physical and social
environments
 Differences between female and male are modified by
gender norms, expectations and opportunities over the
life cycle and inputs from racial and class differences
 Differences between female and male are not fixed and
unchangeable, nor do they have one cause