Nature versus Nurture

A Brief History

A central debate within the social sciences is whether biology or culture is the deciding factor in an individual's behavior. Clearly both impact development, but which is more significant? If both these factors—environment and genes—were added factors resulting in the sum of a human, then which factor was "larger" would be a relevant question. However, if we adopt the perspective that both these factors are in reality multiplied against each other, then measuring the "size" of the variable becomes redundant.

Nevertheless, those in biological studies often overstate the impact of evolution and genes, while theorists in cultural studies understate such influences while emphasizing the surrounding environment as the dominant influence.

Key thinkers

Simone de Beauvoir: The French existentialist philosopher who is famous for bringing the concept of performative gender into common use. She is often credited with setting off second-wave feminism. From her famous quote, "[O]ne is not born, but rather becomes a woman" we can determine her stance— at least when it comes to gender is invariably with the nurture side of this debate. Her argument being that gender is not an inherent quality originating in one's genes, but a learned quality adopted because of the surrounding cultural conditioning.
Judith Butler: Expanding on the groundwork that Simone de Beauvoir laid, Butler has continued to argue on the grounds that gender is a social construct. In her book Gender Troubles, she states "...gender is not to culture as sex is to nature; gender is also the discursive/cultural means by which “sexed nature” or “a natural sex” is produced and established as “prediscursive,” prior to culture, a politically neutral surface on which culture acts”

Mademoiselle Amy Jolly from the film Morroco (1930)

Biological reductionism

This version of reductionism aims to prove that all aspects of culture are explainable via their genetic makeup so that even the environmental influences are truly biological influences.

On the other hand, evolution is the interaction of our biology with the environment. Certain traits will last while some will be lost due to their overall usefulness in the context of the environment.

Nature vs Nurture in Film

On the left is a short clip from the 2014 film Ex Machina. At this point in the film a humanoid robot Ava is dressing up in clothes for the first time. As she does this the movie implies that she is attempting gender performativity for the first time as a means of attracting the human meeting with her, Caleb. This movie does a great job of conveying the nature vs nurture debate as it concerns gender. It is hinted at throughout the movie that the creator of the humanoid robots may have programmed them to be sexual and express traditionally "female qualities." However, it is also conveyed that Ava could be expressing herself this way due to her understanding that she has something to gain by acting like a sexual woman. Therefore, there is the capacity for both nature and nurture to be influencing her gender expression.

"...human beings are both biological animals and cultural creatures. Any plausible attempt to understand them must do so as a complex whole. Indeed, the human and physical worlds are so interconnected, both within themselves and between each other, that everything can be said to affect everything else." —Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice

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