Sociology / Unit 7 Soc 1098 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Functionalism on Gender
Captions available
The idea
Functionalists argue a gendered division of labor fit conditions like pregnancy and nursing, then persisted to keep the family running.
In practice
In a subsistence economy, nursing intervals decided who could hunt or trade; tasks sorted by that constraint and outlived it.
Where people slip
Explaining why an arrangement took hold does not show it fits today; working mothers do most unpaid childcare despite paid jobs.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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