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Engendering Culture: The Relationship of Gender Identity and Pressure for Gender Conformity with Adolescents’ Interests in the Arts and Literature

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Abstract

Research indicates that women are more interested in highbrow culture (i.e., the arts—art, music, and theatre—and literature) than men are. Current explanations for women’s higher involvement in highbrow cultural activities primarily focus on adults; overemphasize class-, work- and cultural capital-related explanations; and do not uncover the identity-related and interactional mechanisms behind the gendering of taste during socialization. In the present paper we use gender identity theory and a “doing gender” perspective to understand cultural taste differences between male and female adolescents. Using multilevel analyses on a random sample of 5227 Flemish 7th graders (M age = 12.18) who completed a survey in their classrooms, we find that higher gender typicality (i.e., identification as a typical male or female) and higher pressure to conform to gender stereotypes are associated with slightly higher interests in arts-, theatre-, and literature-related activities for young women, but with much lower highbrow interests for young men. This difference indicates that identity-related processes and interactional conformity pressures are important mechanisms reinforcing the gendering of cultural tastes. Implications for research on gender, class, and cultural capital, as well as potential ways to make schools safe environments for the expression of gender non-stereotypical cultural tastes, are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Research Foundation-Flanders with a personal grant awarded to Susan Lagaert (grant number FWO14/ASP/149). We would also like to acknowledge the project ‘Teaching in the bed of Procrustes’, financed by IWT, the Flemish Government Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (project number: SBO 110020), which made the data collection for this research possible.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Korte Meer 3-5, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Susan Lagaert, Mieke Van Houtte & Henk Roose

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  1. Susan Lagaert
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Correspondence to Susan Lagaert.

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In this study, survey data on adolescents (7th graders) is used. The use of child assent was approved by the schools and the Belgian Commission for the Protection of Privacy, based on the minimal risk of the study. Anonymity was guaranteed.

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Lagaert, S., Van Houtte, M. & Roose, H. Engendering Culture: The Relationship of Gender Identity and Pressure for Gender Conformity with Adolescents’ Interests in the Arts and Literature. Sex Roles 77, 482–495 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0738-y

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