ABSTRACT
A. Giddens developed the concept of 'structuration' to draw attention to the fact that features of social life such as gender and class, which are often referred to by sociologists as 'social structures', are not in fact external objects that have a life of their own. Rather, social structures are, at one and the same time, powerful sets of rules and sets of resources that people draw upon in their day-to-day lives. While fewer girls report never using the computer for writing, for using charts/graphs, for making/designing, and for using educational software, as a rule, boys are more frequent users of the computer across the full range of activities. Several commentators have argued that another key difference between boys and girls is the social interaction that goes on around computers. Relationships between brothers and sisters were often characterised by a mixture of rivalry and support and computer use entered into those complex relationships.
