Gender Roles - Research Paper Example

Gender Roles Almost in every modern society placed under years upon years of European Imperialism, from the snowy plains of Canada, down to the freezing sea just below the Strait of Magellan, from the homeland of the Brits to the far-reaching jungles of Southeast Asia, and the vast plains of Australia. Nearly all great cities of today are marked with the footprints of European society, where, the males dominate in almost every way possible. Due to this androcentric tendency of the human society, there are clear actions that are expected to come out from a man which is distinct from the expected reaction of the woman.

Subtly, the video conveys the message that men should not talk in swirls, should not clean the house when arriving home, should not stop and look at the shop when buying things, and many more as they might be considered effeminate or gay. The same idea goes for the women, where they are not expected not to have a lipstick on their bags, or sleep in romantic movies, or even go around the world. Ultimately, one can notice that such a video is but a figment of the greater social picture, where the product of European imperialistic society has left its legacy.

The use of the two languages provide little significance to expand the target nation of the video as an audience, as nearly all of the nations of the world were subjected to European Imperialism (obviously except Europe and Antarctica). The use of two languages on the video does not signify that it is targeted only to English and Spanish speaking population; nearly all of the peoples in the world witness such “near-universal” gender roles of men and women and nearly all of the peoples in the world both struggle and thrive in it.

The age of European Imperialism, which shaped the political map of the present-day Earth, has long withstanding effects on the global culture. One of such effects is clearly evident on the proper behavior of a man and a woman in any given time, which was vividly illustrated on the video presented. Though many may try hard to push it evade such social element, it has been deeply ingrained in the culture of the societies, making it nearly impossible to destroy. Language All Around the World It is well-established already that language is highly important in the process of socialization, in that is it is the prime bringer of culture from one generation to another and from one culture to another.

All languages impart on its users the very things that the society holds true and beautiful. It labels certain elements as it is, reassuring that the society acknowledges the existence of such an element, and further provides a connotation, signifying whether such an element is regarded bad by the people of the society and thus must be refrained from being approached, or regarded good and the effect is otherwise. Arabic, Japanese, and Russian are just two of the many different languages all around the world.

These languages stand as the primary transporter of culture, not only for 3 nations, but to more and more cultures close to them. The Arabs today are scatter all across the Middle East all the way to North Africa, reaching even the Iberian Peninsula. These people, though altogether speak the Arabic language, differing only with a little dialect or whatnots, belong to different societies, different cultures, and ultimately, different nations. The wide variety of the Arabic language can be closely linked to the heterogeneity of the Arab peoples, as these dialects could relay all-new cultures and thus hinder the national cohesive force of the Arab language.

Belonging to the huge umbrella group for Semitic languages, Arabic is spoken by 225 million people across the globe. Japanese has experienced more success in pulling its people together into a homogenous society. Though the language is deeply influenced by the Chinese, Japanese is a unique language known to the Japanese only. The only thing that would somehow distinguish Japanese of Hokkaido from Japanese of Tokyo would be the accent, but the words, the lexicons, and the meaning are all one and the same.

Russians, on the other, are very much similar to the Arabs, except that Russian has brought forth several different languages that are distinct from the mother language in one way or another. Russian is widely spoken within the republics that are former members of the USSR. Being it as it is, Ukrainian and Byelorussian still sprang out from the Great Russian language. Ultimately, it has caused the chipping-off of the Russian society, establishing a new society of their own, new and unique, though still based on the Russian and Slavic society.

Language, as we have seen on top, is both a key consolidator and divider of societies. It is clear from the above paragraphs that Arabic has failed to strengthen the bulwark of Arab community, possibly due to the emergence of dialects that transports new cultural elements. The Japanese language did a better job in making the Japanese society firm and strong, adaptive to foreign changes and amalgamating these changes to make it something uniquely Japanese. Russian has also paved way for newer societies, dividing it to the Ukrainians and the Byelorussians.

Ultimately, the use of language and the understanding of the such is the key role in trying to establish a strong society with homogenous values and norms. Bibliography About.com. Learning Japanese- Japanese Language. 11 May 2011. 14 May 2011 . Arabic Language. History of Arabic Language. 14 May 2011 . Hallen, Cynthia. A Brief History of the Russian Language. 6 September 1999. 14 May 2011 . Ziegler and Partner. History of the Russian Language. 8 November 2003. 14 May 2011 .