THE TRADITIONAL SEX ROLES IN A CHANGING SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Abstract

This chapter discusses traditional sex roles in a changing social structure. It highlights the gradual shifting of the concept sex role from its proper import of expression for the individual's biological statuses, that is, certain mainly primary and allotted statuses, to become an expression also for and above all for these secondary or acquired statuses. The chapter describes three different categories of status: (1) biological status, (2) age status, and (3) other or occupational statuses. All of these three status-categories are naturally expressed through their respective roles. The chapter highlights the biological status roles or the sex roles. Sexual relations ensue in the majority of cases, although the ideology prescribes virginity for both sexes. The difficulty of keeping strictly to chronological order in the description of the sex roles is seen at once in the accounts of the kinship roles: an individual becomes a son or daughter with his or her birth but scarcely a parent until the age of adulthood is attained.