Socialization to Gender Roles: Popularity among Elementary School Boys and Girls

Abstract

This article draws on data gathered through participant observation with preadolescent children in and outside elementary schools to focus on the role of popularity in gender socialization. Within their gendered peer subcultures, boys and girls constructed idealized images of masculinity and femininity on which they modeled their behavior. These images were reflected in the composite of factors affecting children's popularity among their peers. Boys achieved high status on the basis of their athletic ability, coolness, toughness, social skills, and success in cross-gender relationships. Girls gained popularity because of their parents' socioeconomic status and their own physical appearance, social skills, and academic success. Although boys' gender images embody more active and achieved features than girls', which are comparatively passive and ascribed, these roles embody complex integrations of oppositional elements that expand and androgenize them. The research illustrates subtle changes in children's, especially girls', gender roles, resulting from historical changes in society.