The purpose of this research is to examine Nancy Chodorow's argument that adult personality is not determined by sex at birth and her views of why differences between adult male and female personalities are minimized in the U.S. Chodorow's assertion that environment and not biology determine the personality and psycho logical characteristics in men and women is the basis from which she develops the view that the focus of observe male-female dif ferences in this regard is properly one of critique of socializa tion processes that, as a rule and through a vast array of so cieties, perpetuate "the devaluation and oppression of women" (Chodorow, 1971, p. 66).
Chodorow cites detailed studies that confirm that "sex roles are learned and related to adult values and work," with sex-role behavior among younger children "less differentiated" than that of older children (Chodorow, 1971, p. 67). In less complex (espe cially subsistence) societies, where clear male and female roles are grown into and not broken out of, "experimenta tion and indi vidual achievement cannot be risked because of the great poten tial cost" (p. 67). However, the more complex the society, the more likely children "cannot be as certain of their future role in the division of labor" (p. 68). However, the fact that women remain the primary agents of socialization creates problems of identity, especially for boys. Girls tend to see themselves in the household roles that they observe their mother undertaking, which are perforce nurturant, helping, or altruistic. The role model demonstrates to girls what their sexual identity is. Boys, meanwhile, lacking knowledge of their own definite social role, face a cross-identity problem. They may engage in egoistic beha vior, in order to arrive at their sexual identity or independence from parental influence because of what they do. This difference between being and doing occurs to the degree boys "wait, while girls do not, to be int...