Reader on Sociology : английский язык для социологов

С.В. Ляляев
И.А. Скрипунова

READER ON SOCIOLOGY

АнгЛИйСкИй язык
дЛя СоцИоЛогоВ

Учебное пособие

5-е издание, стереотипное

Москва
Издательство «ФлИнта»
2022

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК
81.432.1я73

л97

л97

Ляляев С.В.
Reader on Sociology : английский язык для социологов  :

учебное пособие / С.В. ляляев, И.а. Скрипунова. — 5-е изд. стер.
— Москва : ФлИнта, 2022. — 128 с. — ISBN 978-5-9765-0980-1. — 
Текст : электронный.

ISBN
978-5-9765-0980-1
© ляляев С.В., Скрипунова И.а., 2011
© Издательство «ФлИнта», 2011

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК
81.432.1я73

В учебном пособии представлены тексты на английском языке, вопросы

и задания к ним из области социологии.
Для студентов-социологов, изучающих английский язык.

CONTENTS

I.
GENDER IDENTITY ..................................................................................... 5

   Text 1.  Girly-girl ........................................................................................... 6

Text 2.  Tomboy ............................................................................................. 9

Text 3.  Sissy-boy .......................................................................................... 15

II. THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY ................................. 21

Text 1.  A Female Bodyguard Fights Back .................................................. 22

Text 2.  She’s the Boss .................................................................................. 25

III. A CONTEMPORARY FAMILY .................................................................. 31

Text 1.  Pre-Nuptial Contracts ..................................................................... 32

Text 2.  The Changing Shape of the Family ................................................. 35

IV. UNDERPRIVILEGED STRATA OF SOCIETY ......................................... 40

Text 1.  The King Family (Kentucky, USA) .................................................. 41

Text 2.  Madonna May Adopt the Second Child from Malawi .................... 46

V.
SUPERSTITIONS AND PATTERNS
OF BEHAVIOUR ACROSS CULTURES .................................................... 51

Text 1.  Common Superstitions ................................................................... 52

Text 2.  Business Behaviour ......................................................................... 56

VI. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT ...................................................................... 62

Text 1.  Prosecutors Give Up Case Against Steven Smith ............................ 63

Text 2.  The Lows of Getting High: Alby’s Story ......................................... 68

VII.  FORMS OF DEPENDENCE ...................................................................... 72

    Text 1.  The Social Effects of Addictions ................................................... 73

    Text 2.  Mother’s Advice on Drugs ............................................................ 78

VIII. MEDIA AND SOCIETY ............................................................................. 84

    Text 1.  Television’s Impact on Society ...................................................... 85

    Text 2.  Ethics in the Internet ...................................................................... 90

IX.  THE THINGS THAT HAVE CHANGED THE LIFE OF SOCIETY ....... 96

    Text 1.  The Social Influence of the Potato ................................................. 97

    Text 2.  The Discovery that Prevented Society from Dying Out .............. 100

X.   MODERN SOCIETY ................................................................................ 105

    Text 1.  Social Consequences of Economic Crises ................................... 106

    Text 2.  Stress Management in Today’s World ........................................ 109

GLOSSARY ....................................................................................................... 114

References .......................................................................................................... 126

Unit I

GENDER IDENTITY

Pre-reading questions:

1. What is gender?

2. To what extent does gender depend on biological sex?

3. Are individuals free in acquiring a gendered identity?

Gender role is a term used in sociology to describe the set of behavioural norms associated with the individual gendered status (also called 
a “gender identity”). Gender is a component of the gender/sex system, 
which transforms biological sexuality into results of human activity. Every society has a gender/sex system, though the elements and structure of 
this system vary greatly from society to society.
In many ways gender identity functions as any other social identity 
and role. Every human society presents its members with a number of 
statuses by which people identify themselves and one another. Such statuses may be given to a person automatically, based on the status of his 
or her parents, or based on some physical characteristic (e.g. age), such 
statuses are called “ascribed”. Other statuses may be “acquired” based on 
the activities and achievements of the individual. Most elements of gender are received during the life of people and may take the form of rules 
or values. Such rules and values do not determine or control people’s 
behaviours absolutely. They only define boundaries of acceptable behaviour within which there is always variation and possibility for individual creativity. The concrete behaviour of individuals is a result of both 
socially established rules and values, and individual inclinations, whether genetic, unconscious, or conscious ones.
Such individual creativity may, over time, change the rules and values. It’s a well known fact that human cultures and societies are dynamic 
and changeable. The question is in which way, and how fast, they may 

change. This query is especially important when we speak about the gender/sex system, as sociologists have widely differing views about the 
extent to which gender depends on biological sex.

Text 1

Pre-reading questions:

1. What does it mean to be a feminine woman?

2. What kind of girls is more popular among males: sporty-adventurous or fragile-feminine ones?

3. How do people treat the girls who are extremely feminine?

GIRLY-GIRL

Girly-girl is a slang term for the female who tends to wear traditionally feminine outfits such as pink or floral dresses, blouses, and skirts. She 
behaves in a typical feminine style, puts on a lot of make up, talks about 
relationships, and acts according to the traditional gender role of a girl. It 
is an informal term, which has become more common as a term of abuse 
among some people, especially tomboys and feminists.
Claire, 19, is an extremely feminine girl. She is very feminine looking: 
well-groomed, blond, wearing gorgeous trendy gear such as mini-skirts, stylish dresses, cute tops, sexy low-rise jeans, high heels. She prefers wearing 
clothes that fit. She never wears low cut jeans because she doesn’t feel comfortable, but always makes sure her jeans fit her. Not tight, not baggy. A belt 
is okay, but the fit says it all. When she is in a shop, she tries on lots of brands, 
styles, cuts and sizes and always keeps saying, “No” to everything she is offered. She goes to every store she can in search of a suitable pair of jeans or 
a dress she saw in a commercial. Claire has tried almost all known brands. 
She very often has a shopping spree wandering around with her gal pals. All 
of them love malls, shopping, and almost everything associated with beauty. 
They have makeovers, sleepovers, or any other girl-related activities.
Claire adores everything pink: even her room is all in pink. Though 
she can use other colours but they are mostly pastel such as purple or 

baby blue. For her these ones are must have colours. Claire cares a lot 
about how she looks and dresses so she spends hours in front of the mirror 
but she is never content with her image. She spends a lot of time primping 
every morning. Her routine grooming consists of taking a shower, washing hair, combing it, straightening it or going for soft curls depending on 
her mood, shaving, applying body lotion, using custom scent, putting on 
tons of make-up. Claire believes that a pretty girl must have the perfect 
dazzling smile so she keeps her teeth nice and white. She does whitening 
herself at home with a store-bought product (such as crest white strips) 
but one time a year she goes to a dentist who has expertise in the area of 
cosmetic dentistry so she gets her teeth professionally whitened. Claire 
takes care of her nails as well. Twice a month she goes to a pedicure/
manicure, because she knows that people notice her hands more than 
someone might think, and jagged nails don’t look very nice.
Claire always looks polished, neat and tidy. She hates mud and dirt: 
when her clothes get messed up, she makes a scene saying “Oh, my gosh” 
or “Oh, my god”. She is never seen scruffy or untidy. She loves costume 
jewelry and accessories, and carries a purse around. Being a typical girlygirl Claire isn’t into sports, reads fashion magazines, listens to pop music, 
keeps a diary where she draws girly stuff like anime, hearts, metoyou, 
flowers and so on. She is into guys and not in the only friends’ way. Guys 
usually treat her as a weak or fearful creature that needs care and support. 
They like her bright personality, bubbly and happy. But some of her female acquaintances find her really annoying: she moves as if she is floating, takes herself too seriously, giggles all the time, thinks only about 
how she looks, yells too much, etc.

TASK 1

Translate into Russian the following words and expressions from the text:

a shopping spree

to wander around

a sleepover

to spend a lot of time primping

routine grooming

to be into sports

bubbly personality

to look polished

to take someone too seriously

TASK 2

Make up your own sentences with the words listed above.

TASK 3

Give English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

хорошо ухоженный

великолепная модная одежда

заботиться о внешности

совершенная ослепительная улыбка

привычный аромат

интересоваться парнями

вести дневник

устраивать сцену

бижутерия

TASK 4

Answer the questions on the text:

1.  Do you think that Claire is an ideal type of the girl which no longer exists?

2.  What and who could influence the formation of her gender identity:

   —  family,

   —  mass media,

—  friends,

   —  school?

3.  Will Claire’s image, behaviour and values change over time? 
What reasons can cause this change?

4.  Does Claire always meet social expectations? Who experiences 
difficulties when dealing with her:

—  boys from her peer group,

—  girls from her peer group,

—  liberated feminists,

—  adults?

TASK 5

Discuss the following:

1.  When you were a child, what did your parents, teachers, or friends 
tell you about typical male and female behaviour?

2.  Do you think the toys children play with, clothes they wear, and 
games they are involved in influence them as adults in any way?

3.  Are children born in one-parent families more likely to acquire 
specific gender identification?

4.  What role does mass media play in receiving elements of gender?

Text 2

Pre-reading questions:

1.  Do you think there are some girls who perform a typical boy’s 
role?

2.  What boy’s behavioural norms are they inclined to?

3.  What social factors influenced their boyish behaviour?

TOMBOY

Tomboy is a slang term to describe girls who tend to behave according to the stereotypical gender role of boys: enjoying boys’ rough games, 
having typical boys’ interests and activities, getting interest in science, 
wearing non-feminine clothes for comfort and practicality, etc. Some 
studies suggest that tomboyishness is formed in the womb and is innate 
in one’s character. The others suppose that a spirited tomboyish behaviour is the result of socialization in one-parent families with the father 
as a parent or raising a girl with only male siblings.
Cathy, 27, says: “I have three elder brothers and, when we were children, my mother was Boy Scout mother.  I was never interested in being 
a Brownie1 or a Girl Scout because I thought it was silly and too girly. 
But I can remember always wanted to be a Boy Scout.  I never understood 
why they wouldn’t let me join them. The same thing was for all of the 
“boys only” clubs my brothers created with their friends.  I do remember 
that they actually allowed me to join one of them once because I passed 
the initiation of climbing trees and hunting for snakes and started saying 
words like “dude” and “man” or “awesome”.
When I was a young teenager, maybe 13 or 14, I used to train with 
my eldest brother he taught me how to lift weights and we also jogged 
together.  He once told me that I was never going to have a boyfriend if I 
continued to wear baggy boys’ clothes.  I was defiant when I replied I 
would never be with someone. I used to go to the skate park after school 
where we had skating contests with boys. I was not afraid to fall down 
and get dirty; I always had grass stains on my jeans, scuffed up shoes and 
spotted T-shirts. I used to be really scruffy. I was not afraid of spiders, 
bugs, and worms. If I saw a girly-girl screaming at the sight of a bug, I 
would pick it up and move it outside.
It really impressed guys to know that I was not afraid of creepy things. 
I appreciated the fact that I was one of the “guys” and that they accepted 

1 Brownie — a girl between seven and ten years old, the member of the Brownies — 
the part of the Guides Association. The Guides Association is an international organization for girls and young women that teaches them moral values and practical skills such 
as how to put up a tent or light a fire. The Boy Scouts is the similar international organization for boys. 
 

me more easily as a friend than girly-girls who would never do what I 
could. We used to tease them harshly and relentlessly.
In high school, I went through a phase of wearing boy’s underwear. 
It was more comfortable and it made me feel sexy.  My mother was horrified, but she went along with it. I avoided cute little dresses. I avoided 
wearing soft and powdery colours as if they were the plague. I hated pink 
and stuck to bold, dark colours, such as navy, red, and black. I used to 
wear jeans that had rips, tears and cuts in them and shirts with little sarcastic sayings on them. I loved camouflage pants and loathed jeweled 
jeans with girly silk belts. I adored hoodies. All this shows how much I 
cared about my tomboy rep.
I used to hang out with boys and other tomboys. We would play 
video games, joke around, glue to stuff which boys usually like watching 
“South Park”1 or “Fear Factor”2, play football, and just sit in the back 
yard chewing a gum.
At the university I wasn’t particularly boy crazy. I still wanted to be 
like one of the guys, so I couldn’t be that much into them. I strongly believed that there’s much more in life than obsessing over guys. I just 
didn’t make it the top of my priorities. But I couldn’t avoid attraction to 
the opposite sex...
His name was Thomas. There was something in him, may be the way 
he walked using his broad shoulders and taking huge steps forward, the 
way he talked — never gushed or talked in a really high pitched voice. He 
never mumbled and never swore. He always sounded confident and never cheap. Most of the girly-girls were after him. I wouldn’t say I fancied 
him but I felt jealous and began to compete with him and with myself.
I joined a club of martial art and began doing karate at which Thomas was excellent. I joined a team not just to mine the field for trapping a 
potential boyfriend. I threw myself into the sport, got in touch with my 

1 “South Park” — a US cartoon about four kids called Eric, Kyle, Stan and Kenny. 
It’s considered to be shocking and dirty because the children swear a lot, and the stories 
are usually about sex, death, and violence.

2 “Fear Factor” — a US television programme which is also popular in the UK and 
has appeared on Russian television. In the show, six people compete with each other to 
win money by doing a series of stunts — dangerous actions done to entertain audience. 
They can be forced to eat insects, jump with a parachute etc.
 

inner competitor, and I was not afraid to break a sweat. When we were in 
a gym running laps I was racing hard not to be left in the dust and tried to 
pass Thomas but I couldn’t. He was always faster, stronger, and more 
active. He always won not paying much attention to my efforts. He was 
more attracted to those glamorous girly-girls who adored crazy dance 
jackets or disgustingly weird striped knee-socks, wore loud make-up and 
were on their cell phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
This was a hard lifestyle. I had to take girly-girls make fun of me just 
because I was considered to be “one of the guys” who stink badly after 
the gym. If I went somewhere out in my torn jeans and Nike-T-shirt, those 
girly-girls wearing fancy dresses would give strange looks and giggle. 
The best thing to do in this situation was to come up with a witty response 
and they would either leave me alone or keep pushing at me. But I just 
tried to ignore them. I tried not to be flat out rude to them because I didn’t 
want to be a jerk and to be remembered as “one of the guys”. It couldn’t 
help with my love either.
I didn’t quite realize that it was love but I began to change. I started 
off with small changes and didn’t do anything too drastic at first. I used 
to keep my hair pulled up or wore it in a ponytail so it didn’t stick to my 
head when I worked out. Gradually I began to wear it down. I took care 
of my hair like most of the tough guys did so it didn’t mean I was particularly girly. I tried sports-appropriate make-up such as lip gloss. I went 
shopping and bought a few key pieces that would last for a while. I still 
didn’t bother with make-up or nail polish but always remembered about 
personal hygiene and grooming. I didn’t have to dress up to please someone else, but I didn’t look like road-kill to be tough, either.
I observed both guys and girls and tried to act neither like a boy nor 
like a girly-girl. I didn’t let anyone be mean to me. I learnt to deal with it 
without screaming or crying and without being rough or aggressive. I 
didn’t look stupid anymore. I still kept most of my friends — teammates 
and other tomboys but tried to befriend more girls and to hang with them. 
I didn’t do all this over a weekend so it didn’t look weird to other people 
who might have looked at me as a wannabe.
I am still fairly tom-boyish, hardly wear make-up, mostly wear trousers, 
wear only two rings (three if you want to count my wedding band and engagement ring separately) and still have a kind of boyish attitude in general.