ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a theoretical framework for an analysis of the interaction of cultural ideals, institutional conditions, social structures, and agency. The term 'gender culture' characterizes the level of cultural ideas with respect to the way men and women interact, to the gendered division of labour, and the relationships between the generations. The chapter describes that societal negotiation processes form a central basis for the dominance of certain cultural ideals and for the organization principles of institutions with respect to gender relations. It shows that the changes in the respective gender arrangements have followed different modernization paths. The analysis of the complex interaction of gender culture, gender order, and social practice forms the basis for revealing and explaining important aspects of the various connections and interlinks but also of tensions, breaks, and non-synchronous developments in the relationship of social ideas and social practice.
