This paper aims to provide an overview of the main theoretical approaches on gender, following the logic of theoretical development and progress from the structural-functionalist perspective to the constructivist (interactionist,... more
This paper aims to provide an overview of the main theoretical approaches on gender, following the logic of theoretical development and progress from the structural-functionalist perspective to the constructivist (interactionist, ethnomethodological) one and, further, to the deconstructivist paradigm in social sciences. In this respect, there are addressed first the theoretical approaches regarding gender socialization, roles and identities, attention focusing particularly on T. Parsons and E. Goffman's perspectives, followed by H. Garfinkel's ethnomethodological view on heteronormativity and naturalization of the binary sexual status. The paper continues with approaching the concept of "doing gender" introduced by C. West and D.H. Zimmerman in 1987, and the theoretical debate opened by this concept. Finally there are presented some approaches and conceptualizations of gender from the perspective of the deconstructivist current, such as the conception of gender as a result of symbolic representations, the challenging of the differentiation made between sex (biological) and gender (socio-cultural roles attributed to the sex), as well as the theoretical discussions about "undoing gender" and "redoing gender".
