Final answer:
The phrase 'gender role' refers to social expectations and norms defining masculinity and femininity. Gender roles are not biologically determined but are learned through socialization and vary across cultures. The concepts of 'masculine' and 'feminine' are socially constructed and linked to societal expectations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phrase that refers to socially determined factors that define masculinity and femininity is gender role. Gender roles are based on norms or standards created by society, which dictate how men and women are expected to look and behave. In U.S. culture, for instance, masculine roles are often linked with traits such as strength, aggression, and dominance, while feminine roles are connected with passivity, nurturing, and subordination. These roles begin to be taught from birth through a process known as socialization, which continues throughout a person's life.
Research shows that our understanding of gender roles is always relational, with the concept of "male" held in opposition to "female," suggesting that gender roles are not innate but socially constructed. Moreover, roles and behaviors associated with being male or female vary greatly across different cultures and are often embedded into everyday practices and institutions.
This construction is in contrast to biological determinism, which attributes differences in behavior to innate biological differences between sexes. The study by Sanday (2004) of the Minangkabau society exemplifies that in a social structure where women hold dominant positions, cooperative behavior is more common among both genders, challenging typical U.S. gender norms.
Symbolic interactionism also plays a part in understanding gender roles by highlighting the importance of symbols in human interaction. For example, when approaching a loan officer, individuals might subconsciously employ different strategies based on the perceived gender of the officer, utilizing either logic or emotion to align with societal expectations of masculine and feminine traits.