Citation

Gecas V. Am. J. Sociol. 1972; 77(4): 680-696.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1972, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/225194

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present study examines the depictions of aggressive acts and their motives for different social classes and sexes as these groups have been portrayed in popular magazine fiction. A random selection of short stories in Argosy, Esquire, True Confessions, and McCall's, for the time period 1925-65, was content analyzed for descriptions of aggressive behavior and the characters associated with it. Women were found to be more frequently portrayed as expressing verbal aggression and in utilizing affective and ethical motives for it. Men were much more likely to aggress physically and to do it for utilitarian or normatively required reasons. Lower-class characters were more frequently portrayed as aggressing physically and in using affective motives. Verbal aggression and utilitarian as well as ethical motives were more characteristic of middle- and uper-class characters. This general pattern of associations did not change appreciably over the 40-year period covered. What did change noticeably was the magnitude of the difference between the stereotypes of male and female aggressive behavior. Reasons for this fluctuation as well as the association of gender with different motives for aggression are explored and some explanations offered.