| Abstract: | This essay examines some of the implications of early childhood confinement to the household for the development of male character structure. The argument developed is that assignment to women and the household makes small boys outsiders, who receive less comprehensible and positive forms of socialization than small girls. This deprivation experience contributes to the competitiveness and assertiveness of the male response to more favored treatment during the school years, leading to their eventual ascendance, in contrast females greater centrallty and more supportive treatment in early childhood may contribute to "passive" acceptance of male ascendance. |
