Gender and age displays in ceremonial tokens

The present paper analyzes birthday cards (N=234) in terms of their content and presentation using Goffman's 1979 discussion of gender displays in advertising. It was hypothesized that cards intended for women compared to men, and to children compared to adults, would not only be similar to one another, but would reflect their shared subordinate and disvalued position in the social structure. Birthday cards were randomly selected from fourteen retail outlets and coded in terms of Goffman's display categories: relative weight, the feminine touch, functional rank, ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdrawal. The results are mixed, supporting, in general, the hypotheses. A discussion follows.