Gender knowledge

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Knowledge of gender and gender difference

Gender knowledge or gender knowledge is a general sociological term for all socially available knowledge about gender relations in everyday life , in various specialized contexts and in science . The term was introduced in 2003 by Irene Dolling . The opposite term is "gender blindness". The opposite of gender knowledge is the tabooing of gender knowledge through the principle of gender neutrality.

Since gender is one of the earliest and most fundamental characteristics of identity in human societies , it is of great importance for people in everyday life to have the implicit and explicit gender knowledge that applies in their society. Beyond everyday life, special areas of gender knowledge can develop in societies, for example in religion , milieu , profession or politics . In addition, there is scientific gender knowledge that arises through research into everyday gender knowledge and special gender knowledge and is described in theories. It is "knowledge of knowledge".

Forerunner of the term gender knowledge

Before the sociological generic term gender knowledge developed in the German-speaking area, there were other generic terms to designate this field of knowledge, which, however, were not widely used. The designations primarily related to gender knowledge in everyday life:

Opposite terms: gender blindness, gender neutrality

Gender blindness

Gender blindness is a counter- term to gender knowledge . It describes the unconscious or conscious hiding of gender attributions in a society's stock of knowledge .

Human societies and their bodies of knowledge are permeated by gender ascriptions in countless areas. For a long time one assumed a “given, unchangeable and natural essence of the gender difference”. This was part of a naive everyday belief in the world of life. Gender ascriptions were taken for granted, immutable, real , true and unquestionable.

With the Enlightenment , the women's movement , women's research and later gender research began to draw attention to gender attributions and the possibility of their change.

The dominant principle today: gender neutrality

Gender neutrality is the modern counter-term to the term gender knowledge. The principle of gender neutrality is intended to avoid gender blindness. The view is that justice and equality can be achieved by avoiding gender categories: "In order to avoid orientation towards gender stereotypes , non-differentiation is chosen as the preferred principle ". A characteristic of this attitude is to " negate existing differences in the sense of a fairer treatment of gender " and to understand this as a quality and objectivity criterion .

The principle of gender neutrality has become the predominant principle in everyday life , work , business and science . It is the modern variant of earlier gender blindness, as human societies and their bodies of knowledge continue to be permeated by gender ascriptions. Gender neutrality is therefore also referred to as myth , illusion , fiction or as the opposite of enlightenment or gender knowledge. In fact, gender knowledge has become a taboo due to the principle of gender neutrality .

With the digital expansion, interweaving and acceleration of communication spaces, the struggle for disclosure or tabooing of gender knowledge has become one of the central arenas in the “new culture war” of the present .

Knowledge structure

Knowledge types

The structure of social gender knowledge was described and structured in 2008 by Angelika Wetterer in terms of the sociology of knowledge . A distinction is made between three ideal types of gender knowledge in society: "Everyday gender knowledge", "Knowledge of the well-informed citizen and gender experts", "Scientific knowledge and feminist theory"

Everyday gender knowledge

In all societies, people have “incoherent and pluralistic experience-based knowledge that enables the ability to act and requires and continues the meaningful construction of everyday reality”. It is a recipe knowledge ( Alfred Schütz ) that consists of highly automated routines, is unquestionably a matter of course and is constantly updated. They are thought, perception and action schemes ( Pierre Bourdieu ) that people acquire in everyday practice and that enable them to act in a way that is appropriate to the situation and context. This creates security of expectation both individually and socially.

Everyday gender knowledge is largely unconscious ( pre-reflexive ), so that it is “more in the body than in the head”. Precisely because it is internalized as knowledge, it works without further thought. It belongs to the large area of tacit knowledge .

A “forgetting of gender” ( undoing gender ) or gender neutrality is theoretically possible, but in practice it is generally impossible, since gender-competent behavior is expected in society. Behavior that deviates from the socio-culturally expected gender behavior is generally regarded as incompetent behavior and is devalued or punished. Today, gender neutrality is considered modern, is often expected and produced rhetorically, but it by no means abolishes gender relations, but mostly only veils it.

Special areas of gender knowledge

In contrast to everyday gender knowledge, the gender knowledge of the "well-informed citizen" or of "gender experts" is no longer largely unconscious, but rather "has become somewhat reflexive" because the relevant section of reality is no longer limited to the limits of personal, everyday life .

Scientific gender knowledge

  • Knowledge shaped by everyday life

The sciences have examined gender relations since their inception, but the analysis continues to lead to "tacit borrowings from everyday gender knowledge". From a sociological point of view, this is a type of knowledge that is not consistently based on quality criteria within the sciences , but rather relies on everyday knowledge in relation to gender relations (“mode 1 knowledge”). Here the scientific cognitive process still tends to “use categories of perception and thought as a means of cognition that it would have to treat as objects of cognition” and reveals “justification intentions” of everyday gender knowledge. This creates “science myths” that often last a long time and continue to develop.

An early example of everyday gender knowledge in science is the - easily refutable - assumption of Aristotle that women have fewer teeth than men. This was adopted and specified in Roman gynecology : Vindicianus states that women have 30 teeth.

  • Consistently scientifically shaped knowledge

It was only with the constructivist turn that gender knowledge began to be gained consistently according to internal scientific quality criteria (“mode 2 knowledge”). This resulted in increasingly complex, "action-relieving, systematic gender knowledge that was radically released from everyday contexts". Due to its complexity , however, it is only of limited use in everyday life and in field-specific use. In many cases, it causes confusion and is therefore often not only ignored, but also actively fended off and defamed .

Knowledge on micro, meso and macro levels

Gender knowledge differs according to micro, meso and macro levels:

  • Macro level: Objective, social or collective gender knowledge denotes the shared body of knowledge about the gender relations that are regarded as correct in an entire society. It is based on prevailing social norms of the 'correct' gender relations.
  • Meso-level: Field-specific gender knowledge describes the shared knowledge base on the gender relations that are considered to be correct, which dominates in a certain social field. It is based on the prevailing social norms of the 'correct' gender relationships in this field and can deviate from overall social gender knowledge.
  • Micro-level Subjective or individual gender knowledge describes the biographically layered, often contradicting knowledge base. It is based on various biographical experiences which gender relationships are considered correct.

Forms of knowledge

Gender knowledge is available in different forms of knowledge:

  • Practical gender knowledge is used both for the competent representation of gender (gestures, clothes, body training, make-up, etc.) and for the competent attribution of gender.
  • Pictorial gender knowledge is used to symbolically represent gender through artifacts, i.e. H. through structures, objects, images (gender-specific colors, gender-specific symbols, etc.).
  • Cognitive and linguistic gender knowledge is used to represent gender through language and linguistically formulated knowledge systems.

Language and conceptual structure

Every language has linguistic structures and terms to convey and produce gender knowledge. These structures and terms change in the course of ongoing social and language development - not only in everyday language , but also in a field-specific manner ( technical language ) and in scientific language .

Everyday language

Since the gender knowledge in everyday life is largely structured in two-sexes (dual), the associated colloquial structures and systems of terms are also structured in two-gender (binary) terms.

The generic masculine , for example, is one of the linguistic structures that transport gender knowledge stored in a language . The everyday terminology system of gender knowledge includes all terms that express gender directly or indirectly. In the German language, these are, for example, terms such as man , woman , male, female, manager , nurse, etc.

Language development and change in meaning

In the context of language development , the terms of everyday gender knowledge also change. This leads to all forms of development - including changes in meaning, deterioration in meaning, expansion of meaning, narrowing of meaning or the disappearance of terms.

In the process, higher-level terms such as masculinity , femininity , domination , brotherhood or motherhood arise in languages . In addition, other overarching terms are also being developed to express and establish psychosocial gender knowledge in everyday language.

The differentiation of academic gender knowledge has long been part of everyday language and has led to linguistic change. In this way, scientific terms are adopted into everyday language over time. This includes in the German language, for example, the resulting in the 18th century concept of sexual character or today taken from the concept of science gender role . Sometimes scientific terms in everyday gender knowledge also generate alienation, criticism and even defense, devaluation and targeted negative charge ( pejorisation ). The terms experience an expansion of meaning . In addition to the technical term as an analytically neutral instrument for researching scientific gender knowledge, the term becomes a pejorative in everyday language . Examples of this are above all the technical terms gender or genderism, which come from the English-language gender research .

A prime example of the phenomenon of the deterioration of meaning in historical linguistics is the deterioration in the meaning of women's designations in colloquial language (today's terms: woman , maid , prostitute , woman , miss ).

Examples of the widespread disappearance of terms from colloquial language are words such as gender guardianship , paternal violence or gender character .

Science language

Everyday gender knowledge flows into the sciences until gender relations themselves become the subject of investigation in the individual scientific disciplines. This was initiated by Simone de Beauvoir's pioneering work The Other Sex in 1949, which led to the development of gender research.

Since then, gender relations have increasingly been the subject of scientific analyzes in various scientific disciplines in order to gain scientifically sound gender knowledge. They are analyzed, described and summarized in theories using various scientific conceptual instruments and methods .

Conceptual tools for researching gender

Within the language of science, different scientific terminology systems have been developed over time, which serve as instruments and transparent basis for analyzing gender relations. Today these include in particular:

Development of conceptual instruments: gender character, gender role, gender, doing gender, gender stereotypes, gender habitus

The polarizing distinction between male and female habitus was, among other things, a central aspect of the bourgeoisisation of western societies and the implementation of the associated polar gender ideal. In the last third of the 18th century, the contrast between man and woman was given a “new quality ” compared to other societies : In place of class definitions, universal character definitions emerged, “derived from nature as a combination of biology and determination at the same time as an essential feature in the interior of the human being ”.

Different terms have been developed to describe this:

  • At the end of the 18th century, the concept of character was first used to describe the term gender character . However, it is now largely out of date.
  • With the emergence of the concept of social role in the 20th century, the term gender role character, gender role or gender role increasingly prevailed.

With the increasing research into the differentiation category sex (English: sex), the derivation from biology and nature turned out to be untenable. New terms developed:

  • The concept of “ gender ” was first established in the English-speaking world from 1975 and later also in German, and with the praxeological turn at the end of the 20th century, the concept of doing gender .
  • The terms gender stereotypes and sex-role stereotypes , which are common in the English-speaking world , have been used in scientific studies since the late 1960s. In German, both terms are usually given with the common translation of gender stereotypes . There is much less talk of gender role stereotypes , which refers to assumptions about the gender role; this term is encompassed by gender stereotypes .
  • Since the establishment of the concept of habitus at the end of the 20th century, the term gender habitus has become increasingly popular , which scientifically explains the psycho- and sociogenesis of gender and doing gender.
  • See also binary gender identity .

In everyday language , the term gender role or gender role is still widely used. This usually goes hand in hand with a less differentiated concept of gender as a biopsychosocial category of social order and social differentiation . In some cases, more differentiated technical terms are not only unknown, but also threaten one's own identity and are rejected. Compared to the meanwhile highly differentiated technical terms , gender-related terms in everyday language often appear as sub-complex or as a “ naive , simplistic conception of gender as a natural , unchangeable , in-itself fact beyond social , cultural and specifically historical conditions”.

Conceptual tools for researching knowledge systems about gender relations

The following conceptual instruments were used to designate and investigate knowledge systems about gender relations:

  • Genderism
  • Gender belief system
  • Gender ideology
  • Gender ideology, ideology of gender
  • Gender knowledge

literature

  • Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains. Koenigstein 2008.
  • Irene Dölling: 'Gender knowledge' - a useful term for the 'understanding' analysis of gendering processes? In: Journal for Women's Research, Gender Studies. 23 (1 + 2), 2005, pp. 44-62.
  • Christina von Braun (Ed.): Gender @ Knowledge. A handbook of gender theories. Cologne 2013.
  • Andrea Moser: Combat zone gender knowledge: Critical analysis of popular scientific concepts of masculinity and femininity. Wiesbaden 2010.
  • Heike Kahlert: Gender Knowledge: On the Diversity of Epistemic Perspectives on Gender Difference and Hierarchy in Social Practice , in: Beate Kortendiek, Birgit Riegraf, Katja Sabisch (ed.), Handbook Interdisciplinary Gender Research, Wiesbaden 2019, pp. 179-190.
  • Heike Kahlert: Sociology: a leading science in women's and gender studies with fragmentary denaturalized gender knowledge. In: Beate Kortendiek, Birgit Riegraf, Katja Sabisch (eds.): Handbook Interdisciplinary Gender Research . Wiesbaden 2019, pp. 651–662.
  • Sünne Andresen, Irene Dölling, Christoph Kimmerle: Administrative modernization as a social practice: gender knowledge and organizational understanding of reform actors. Opladen 2003.
  • Angelika Wetterer: Gender equality policy in the field of tension between different types of gender knowledge '. A reconstruction of the sociology of knowledge. In: GENDER. Magazine for Gender, Culture and Society. 1. Vol., H. 2, 2009, pp. 45-60.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Hirschauer: Why 'Gender Studies'? Research on gender differentiation between political populism and scientific competition . In: social world . No. 54 , 2003, p. 474 .
  2. ↑ a b Angelika Wetterer: Gender Knowledge & Social Practice: Basics of a knowledge-sociological typology of gender knowledge . In: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains . Königstein 2008, p. 39-63 .
  3. ↑ Christina von Braun: Gender @ Knowledge. A handbook of gender theories . Cologne 2013.
  4. ↑ Irene Dölling: The gender knowledge of the actors . In: Sünne Andresen, Irene Dölling, Christoph Kimmerle (ed.): Administrative modernization as social practice. Gender knowledge and organizational understanding of reform actors . Opladen 2003, p. 113-165 .
  5. ↑ Angelika Wetterer: Gender knowledge: To the history of a new term . In: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains . Königstein 2008, p. 39-63 .
  6. ↑ Angelika Wetterer: Gender knowledge: To the history of a new term . In: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains . Königstein 2008, p. 16 .
  7. ↑ a b c Erving Goffman: The Arrangement between the sexes . In: Theory and Society . tape 4 , no. 3 , 1977, pp. 3001-331 .
  8. ↑ Carol Hagemann-White: Socialization: Female-Male? Opladen 1984.
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  10. ↑ Angelika Wetterer: Division of labor and gender construction. “Gender at Work” from a theoretical and historical perspective . Constance 2002.
  11. ↑ a b Angelika Wetterer: Rhetorical modernization. The disappearance of inequality from contemporary knowledge of differences . In: Gudrun-Axeli Knapp, Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Axes of Difference. Social theory and feminist criticism II . Münster 2003, p. 286-319 .
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  21. ↑ Stefan Hirschauer: Forgetting the sex. On the praxeology of a category of social order . In: Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology . Special issue 41, 2001, p. 208-235 .
  22. ↑ Angelika Wetterer: Gender Knowledge & Social Practice: Basics of a knowledge-sociological typology of gender knowledge . In: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains . Königstein 2008, p. 52 .
  23. ↑ a b c Angelika Wetterer: Gender knowledge & social practice: Basics of a knowledge-sociological typology of gender knowledge . In: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Gender knowledge and social practice. Theoretical approaches - empirical gains . Königstein 2008, p. 56 .
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