The Socializing Function of Toys
Name
Institution
The Socializing Function of Toys.
Children love to play and their socialization is affected in a great way by the toys they use while playing. Play is an abstract concept and it can be defined by motivational and behavioural factors; positive effect, free choice, motivational, process orientation and nonliterality. Toy industries have different designs where the pink colour is allocated to the girls; this type of toys have gender roles designed to them like taking care of the children and carrying out of the house chores. The boy’s designs are usually blue, with most of them involving cars and construction chores (Auster and Mansbach 2012). Gender plays part in social marking and the difference in individuality that accounts for how differently people act, think and how the children play and associate with each other.
Manufactures in their production can differentiate their targets through the colour they use on the toys. Pastel colours like pink and purple are colours that have been associated with feminity, serenity and passiveness. This gives a perception that girls are gentle, delicate and sweet and it is a way of showing them how they should behave when they become women. Examples are the Barbie dolls, which are all manufactured in pink colours. Boy’s toys are manufactures in bold colours like black, red and blue which depicts aggressiveness, activeness and toughness and that is how the society expects the men to be like. The hulk toy meant for boys is made of black hands.
The toy manufactures make it to appear normal that certain toys are prescribed for different genders in their manufacturing. A parent who chooses to differ would be taken as being different with the possibility of isolating the children from the rest by having a different choice that differs from the norm. For the fear of appearing awkward, most parents resolve to support the biases found in toys which promote the gender socialization.
Toys which are manufactured for either the boys and girls come in neutral colours or boy’s colours and this is because the society has socially constructed that it is normal for the girl to use or play with the boy’s toys but it is not acceptable when it is the other way round. When children are taken to the toy shops, they automatically go to shelves with toys packaged with colours that are desirable for their gender (Jadva et al. 2010). The social learning theory states that children learn of their gender roles as taught in the family institution, schools and the media. Parents teach the children of the gender roles assigned to them by the kind of toys they buy for the children. Boys are bought toys that teach them the various male roles while the toys meant for girls teach them the female activities expected of them ( Simmons 2010). An example is a race car meant for boys, this teaches the boys to have an interest in racing and cars. Racing creates competition where boys learn that they need to be in constant competition.
The parents have a role as consumers and role models, must be wise in what they choose for their children because their choices have the outcome of either balancing or negating the gender biases which are in our society.
References
Auster, C. J., & Mansbach, C. S. (2012). The gender marketing of toys: An analysis of
color and type of toy on the Disney store website. Sex roles, 67(7-8), 375-388.
Jadva, V., Hines, M., & Golombok, S. (2010). Infants’ preferences for toys, colors, and shapes: Sex differences and similarities. Archives of sexual behavior, 39(6), 1261-1273.
Jadva, V., Hines, M., & Golombok, S. (2010). Infants’ preferences for toys, colors, and shapes: Sex differences and similarities. Archives of sexual behavior, 39(6), 1261-1273.
Simmons, C. A. (2010). Gender Socialization in Toys by Parents.