Every sociology litterateur is aware of the socialization theory. Socialization and the study of gender are often linked. In terms of gender, the socialization theory suggests that children are taught to behave a certain way according to their sex. Boys are taught to be masculine and girls to be feminine. For example, parents will often buy boys trucks or army toys and for girls, they will buy dolls and playhouse sort-of toys. Boys are played with in a rough

Other theorists on gender offer interesting perspectives as well. Kate Millett, author of Sexual Politics (1970) dealt with male supremacy. She believed that it was socially enforced through socialization of early childhood, family restrictions placed on women, male tendency toward violence and in other institutions. Millett was criticized for not explaining how male supremacy came about historically. Shulamith Firestone, author of The Dialectic of Sex (1970), accepted the traditional idea that male dominance was natural. She agreed with Millett in that male supremacy was socially enforced, but that its roots are with the biological family. Firestone was able to move further than Millett because she pointed to a certain institution that caused it-the family.

"Our sexual conditioning means that we submit more readily than men to this intolerable state of affairs." (P. 121)

Juliet Mitchell, author of Women's Estate (1971), criticized both Millett and Firestone. She stated that Firestone's radical feminist outlook was too limiting. She states that Millett and Firestone see the relevance of socialism but only in terms of the economy. Mitchell urges that we develop a socialist theory of women's oppression and of the family. She analyses the historic failure of the socialist movement to deal with the oppression of women. She urged that we separate the family structures that compose it: sexuality, reproduction, and socialization of the young. It was then portrayed as a natural institution within which women performed natural function: sex, childbirth, and the child-rearing. Mitchell describes the unity of the family in three ways. First, it is always formed as an economic unit. Second, the family's unity is formed ideologically. And lastly, she explains that relative autonomy of the family from history by its 'biosocial' formed the basic mother/father/child relationship. In this relationship, within the family, the person is socially constructed and male supremacy takes shape. Sheila Rowbotham, author of Woman's Consciousness, Man's World, does not believe that believe that men and women are determined either by anatomy or economics. She shares Lorber's view that women were subordinated to men before capitalism, and that this has affected the position of women in capitalist society. She also would agree with Lorber that women contribute to their oppression.

Many theorists take the socialization theory and expand on it. One of the most unique theories on gender comes from Judith Lorber, a professor of sociology. Lorber's book, "Paradoxes of Gender," introduces her idea of gender being a social institution. Lorber views gender inequality from this perspective. It is difficult to explain all aspects of Lorber's theory without sounding repetitive, because so much is interrelated. She critiques all of the popular beliefs about gender. Gender is not the assumptions or beliefs about males and females; it is not the rol

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