250-Word Critical Summary

Gender Discourse Communities

In Karen Lee Ashcraft's Gender, Discourse and Organization: Framing a Shifting Relationship, there are big differences between communication of genders. The way males communicate are very different with that of women mainly because of gender-role socialization. Women communicate while trying to build relationships and gaining emotional support. Men on the other hand see communicating as an instrumental activity using assertive language. All communities are gendered discourse communities where gender is always going to have its differences and tension. The male and female discourse communities provide tension in every day life. The fact that men hold more positions of higher power normally and also the fact that women are still trying to lessen the gap between them and men will always prove the tension we see throughout society. The radical idea that not only are individuals gendered, but institutions are as well, stems from early feminist critique of organization structure. The feminist community is a discourse community on its own that sheds lights on topics like this and are extremely radical in the way they do some things. They are big activists in the Women's rights movement and continue even today to move towards a more equalized and less gendered world. (pg. 278-283)


https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4esXbOk2-nEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA275&dq=gender+discourse+communities&ots=zqTv69z48M&sig=9VHwfbIXCJ507KNtP9YC1IQv8gg#v=onepage&q=gender%20discourse%20communities&f=false