Why Ascription? Parts of a More or Less Formal Theory of the Functions and Dysfunctions of Sex Roles

Abstract

An analysis of the functions of sex-role ascription is based upon the assumption that many societies are organized around the conjugal family as the basic economic unit and that there are skills which each family must possess to be successful. Formalization of the analysis concludes that when most families consist of male-femak pairs (with or without children), when mating is voluntary, when the number of skills needed for successful family maintenance is large and when most people are capable of acqgiring the skills, the utility of ascription is maximal. However, when there is some scarcity of inherent aptitude and when societies are capable of identifying those individuals with aptitude, the functionality of ascription diminishes, and ascription eventually becomes dysfunctional. It is argued that the latter set of conditions are precisely those which tend to characterize modem industrial societies.

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