Sociology Paper I: Systems of Kinship & Sociology paper II: Religion and society
Patriarchal describes a general structure in which men have power over women. Society is the entirety of relations of a community. A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships.
Feminist theorists have expanded the definition of patriarchal society to describe a systemic bias against women. As second-wave feminists examined society during the 1960s, they did observe households headed by women and female leaders.
Feminist Theory
Feminist theory is one of the major contemporary sociological theories, which analyzes the status of women and men in society with the purpose of using that knowledge to better women’s lives. Feminist theorists also question the differences between women, including how race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, and age intersect with gender. Contemporary sociologist. Patricia Hill Collins is known throughout the field for developing, deploying, and popularizing the concept of intersectionality in her theory and research. Feminist theory is most concerned with giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have contributed to society.
There are four main types of feminist theory that attempt to explain the societal differences between men and women:
Gender Differences: The gender difference perspective examines how women’s location in, and experience of, social situations differ from men’s.
For example, cultural feminists look to the different values associated with womanhood and felinity as a reason why men and women experience the social world differently.
Gender Inequality: Gender-inequality theories recognized that women’s location in, and experience of, social situations are not only different but also unequal to men’s. Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral reasoning and agency, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist pattering of the division of labor, has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning.
Even after women enter the public sphere, they are still expected to manage the private sphere and take care of household duties and child rearing.
Liberal feminists point out that marriage is a site of gender inequality and that women do not benefit from being married as men do.
Gender Oppression: Theories of gender oppression go further than theories of gender difference and gender inequality by arguing that not only are women different from or unequal to men, but that they are actively oppressed, subordinated and even abused by men Power is the key variable in the two main theories of gender oppression psychoanalytic feminism and radical feminism.
Psychoanalytic feminists attempt to explain power relations between men and women by reformulating Freud’s theories of the subconscious and unconscious, human emotions, and childhood development. They feel that conscious calculation cannot fully explain the production and reproduction of patriarchy.
Radical feminists argue that being a woman is a positive thing in and of itself, but that this is not acknowledged in patriarchal societies where women are oppressed.
Structural Oppression: Structural oppression theories posit that women’s oppression and equality are a result of capitalism, patriarchy, and racism, Socialist feminist agree with Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels that the working class is exploited as a consequence of the capitalist mode of production, but they seek to extend this exploitation not just to class but also to gender intersectionality theorists seek to explain oppression and inequality across a variety of variety of variables, including class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age.
Socialist Feminism Vs. Other Types of Feminism
Socialist feminist theory analyzed the connection between the oppression of women and other oppression in society, such as racism and economic injustice.
Like Marxism, socialist feminism recognized the oppressive structure of capitalist society. Like radical feminism, socialist feminism recognized the fundamental oppression of women in patriarchal society. However, socialist feminists did not recognize gender and only gender as the exclusive basis of all oppression. Socialist feminists wanted to integrate the recognition of sex discrimination with their work to achieve justice and equality for women, working classes, the poor and all humanity.
How was socialist feminism different from other kinds of feminism?
Socialist Feminism vs. Cultural Feminism
Socialist feminism was often contrasted with cultural feminism, which focused on the unique nature of women and highlighted the need for woman-affirming culture. Cultural feminism was seen as essentialist. It recognized an essential nature of women that was unique to the female sex.
The theory of socialist feminism, on the other hand, sought to avoid separating feminism from the rest of society. Socialist feminists wanted to work with men to correct the inequities between men and women.
Cultural feminism is a variety of feminism which emphasizes essential differences between men and women, based on biological differences in reproductive capacity. Cultural feminism attributes to those differences distinctive and superior virtues in women. What women share, in this perspective, provides a basis for “Sisterhood,” or unity, solidarity and shared identity.
Cultural feminists advocate for equally valuing of “female “occupations: respecting child care in the home, for instance, and paying so that it is economically viable; respecting “female” values of care and working to balance a culture that overvalues “male” values of aggression; etc.
Socialist Feminism vs. Liberal Feminism
The perception of the term “liberal” has changed over the years, but the liberal feminism of the women’s liberation movement sought equality for women in all institutions of society, including government, law and education. Socialist feminists critiqued the idea that true equality was possible in a society built on inequality whose structure was fundamentally flawed. This criticism was similar to the feminist theory of radical feminists.
Liberal feminism’s primary goal is gender equality in the public sphere – equal access tot education, equal pay, ending job sex segregation, better working conditions – won primarily thorough legal changes.
Where liberal feminism looks at issues in the private sphere, it tends to be in terms of equality: how does that private life impede or enhance public equality. Thus, liberal feminists also tend to support marriage as an equal partnership, and more male involvement in child care.
Abortion and other reproductive rights have to do with control of one’s life choices and autonomy. Ending domestic violence and sexual harassment have to do with removing obstacles to women achieving on an equal level with men.
Liberal feminism tends to rely on the state and political rights to gain equality – to see the state as the protector of individual rights.
Critics of liberal feminism point to a lack of critique of basic gender relationships, a focus on sate action which links women’s interests to those of the powerful, a lack of class or race analysis, and a lack of analysis of ways in which women are different from men. Critics often accuse liberal feminism of judging women and their success by male standards.
Socialist feminists rejected the radical feminist notion that the sex discrimination women faced was the source of all of their oppression. Radical feminists, by definition, sought to get at the root of oppression in society in order to drastically change things. In a male-dominated patriarchal society, they saw that root as oppression of women. Socialist feminists were more likely to described oppression based on gender as one piece of the struggle.
Radical feminism is a philosophy emphasizing the patriarchal roots of inequality between men and women, or, more specifically, social dominance of women by men. Radical feminism views patriarchy as dividing rights, privileges and power primarily by gender, and as a result oppressing women and privileging men. Radical feminists tend to be more militant in their approach (radical as “getting to the root”) than other feminists are. Radical feminism opposes existing political and social organization in general because it is inherently tied to patriarchy. Thus, radical feminists tend to be skeptical of political action within the current system, and instead tend to focus on culture change that undermines patriarchy and associated hierarchical structures.