Doing Difference

Abstract

In this article, we advance a new understanding of “difference” as an ongoing interactional accomplishment. Calling on the authors' earlier reconceptualization of gender, they develop the further implications of this perspective for the relationships among gender, race, and class. The authors argue that, despite significant differences in their characteristics and outcomes, gender, race, and class are comparable as mechanisms for producing social inequality.

The New Roles of Men and Women and Implications for Families and Societies

“…Studies of families and the division of work within households show that family members do gender as they do housework and childcare (Berk 1985;West and Fenstermaker 1995). Acts are performative in the sense that they construct, corroborate, and reconstruct identities in relation to jointly agreed-upon definitions.…”

LGBTQ+ Young Adults on the Street and on Campus: Identity as a Product of Social Context

“…By acting as a source of privilege and as a barrier to resources and opportunities for different groups of LGBTQ+ young adults, social environment can help determine processes of identity formation and the ability for "doing" or "undoing" normative conceptions of gender and sexuality (West & Fenstermaker, 1995). Furthermore, it is essential to understand that LGBTQ young adults are not a monolithic social group.…”

“…Within this conception of gender as an ongoing process that is continually socially constructed, displays and performances of gender are generally determined by normative expectations of what it means to be stereotypically feminine or masculine. The process of "doing gender," however, can act as a source of resistance to rigid gender norms as it varies across numerous social locations, and anticonformity can potentially minimize the influential role of perceived "sex categories" in determining expected gendered behavior (West & Fenstermaker, 1995). Therefore, a young person's dominant social context can shape their ability to successfully "undo" gender and sexuality as sources of inequality (Butler, 2004;Deutsch, 2007).…”

“…Therefore, a young person's dominant social context can shape their ability to successfully "undo" gender and sexuality as sources of inequality (Butler, 2004;Deutsch, 2007). The broader, intersectional framework of "doing difference" more holistically captures the complexities of how people's multiple, coexisting identities (i.e., gender and sexuality) create dynamic social interactions whereby people experience multifaceted sources of inequality simultaneously (West & Fenstermaker, 1995).…”

“Coaching soccer is a man’s job!” – The influence of gender stereotypes on structures for recruiting female coaches to soccer clubs

“…roles in family, work roles. The disadvantage of the gender construct is not that a difference is made between women and men, but that these differences are valued and stereotyped in order to legitimise an unequal hierarchy and balance of power (West & Fenstermaker, 1995). Overlapping, socially divided and cognitively embedded knowledge structures of gender, i.e.…”