Feminist social theory ought to challenge the ideals of Classical social theory embodied by the work of authors, such Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Simmel. Such traditional values tend to exclude women from their social analysis of the modern world, as women were considered non social agents. In support of this, Durkheim claim that men were product of society, whereas women belonged to nature, (Harrington: 2005, p.236). Thus, feminist social theory embrace post-enlightenment principles, focusing on values associated to “difference”,”particularism” and “specificity” (Harrington: 2005, p. 233). In order to do so, Feminist social theory has been feed by feminist theories which have similar concern about the study of social world, as both highlight the absence of women figure in modern social studies. Thus, the main key features of feminist social theory are the impact of patriarchy in society; the study of gender differences, the incorporation of different epistemology pretending to palliate social neglect toward women, and the analysis of postmodernist theories (Fulcher & Scott, 2003: 173).
Feminist social theory analyses six patriarchal structures active in United Kingdom: male violence structure, sexuality, housework, paid work, and cultural institutions.
Male violence structure is influenced by Radical Feminist theory which asserts that there is a correlation between patriarchy and sexuality, such theory assumes that male supremacy is based on controlling women’s sexuality and bodies (Brownmiller, 1976, Walby, 134). Furthermore, male-dominated sexuality provokes women oppression and such subordination is extrapolated to other areas; (Walby; 1990, p. 3/118).As Crouch (2001), Mckinnon (1979) and Schultz (1998) theorise sexual hara...
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...’s view also explains the division of labour, as girls are modelling by mothers creating psychological link to mothering, whereas men do not as result of being mothered by women. Nevertheless, such pattern could be eradicated by changing social arrangements; mothers working outside home and fathers doing house tasks.
Postmodernism theory is the last key feature of feminist social theory. It focuses on new approaches to analyses social world, challenging most of the modernist assumptions of social theory (Bilton et all1981, p.130). Postmodernism social theory is mostly interested in methodologies based on autobiographical forms, which are related to the concern of sociology about identity, and the aim of many feminist to explore the social world of women using their own experiences (Bilton et all1981, p.130).
Works Cited
(Bilton et all1981, p.130)
Hunnicutt illustrated that the concept of patriarchy is a useful tool in the theory of feminism. She also made use the concept of patriarchy to show how it can be employed to explain violence against women in society. Hunnicutt’s article presents an alternative way to understand violence against women by employing patriarchy as a core theoretical concept. Hunnicutt believed that in the society, women are typically oppressed and men also have been historically dominant over them, and most times it results to violence against these women. Hunnicutt stated that the theories of violence against women mostly focus on male power but via situating that power within a patriarchal order. This article is important to the topic of feminism because for its theoretical background to help ground my
These sociologists reject the idea of a unified explanation of the experiences of all women. They accept multiple different viewpoints from multiple different sources. Postmodern feminists do not even believe that there is one definition of “woman.” There is a disagreement between radical feminists and postmodern feminists on the idea of the patriarchy. According to this branch, the patriarchy does not exist.
An ability with regards to viciousness, or the capacity to support violence, is a vital element of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary Capitalist Western culture. At the point when conditions for the resistance of patriarchy change, the basis for the strength of a specific masculinity are dissolved. New associations might contest old explanations and thusly develop a new concept of hegemony. The predominance of any gathering of men might be tested or challenged by women. Hegemony, then, is a truly versatile connection. “These hegemonic gender norms influence men’s expectations and experiences with work and family roles” (Friedman, 2015, p. 147) In the workplace, hegemonic masculinity may lead to violence, and or
Feminist theory, which occurred from feminist doings, marks to twig the kind of masculinity disproportion by scrutinizing women's mutual roles and lived participation; it has industrialized patterns in a range of self-controls in mandate to answer to problems such as the mutual making of femininity and masculinity. Some of the past whereabouts of feminism have been scorned for fascinating into report only antediluvian, conventional, experienced evaluations. This operated to the contraption of genealogically limited or multiculturalist treatments of feminism.
It was the research of Dobash and Dobash, a husband and wife team from Wales, that first posited that “intimate partner violence is the result of male oppression of women within a patriarchal system in which men are the primary perpetrators and women the primary victims” (McPhail, B. A., Busch, N. B., Kulkarni, S., & Rice, G., 2007). According to Lawson (2012), feminist theories treat the problem of intimate partner violence as fundamentally related to the patriarchal domination of men over women. Historically, patriarchy was the dominant social structure from early Greek and Roman civilizations where women were considered to be the property of their father, if unmarried, and their husband if married. As such, women were often beaten, burned, and killed for not being obedient to a man’s
Part one, “The Framework of Violence against Women,” sets the blueprint for what drives individuals, particularly men, to act on their impulses of violence triggered by an underlying fear or loathing, especially those instances of sexual depravity. Sex is comparable to power, creating power over others and thus creating a sense of power within. Violence is introduced at an early age, found in children’s cartoons, television shows, and popular video games. Society has become numb to the objectification of women to the point that violence has become accepted, and the behaviors are not only justified by the oppressor, but also believed by
But, these scholars see women being potentially more effective than men due to a considerable amount of experience acquired through nurturing and human relations. Consequently, they posit that women could be more proficient in conflict resolution and decision making. On the other hand, liberal feminist rejects the position of difference feminists. This school of thought does not believe that there is any difference between the male and the female. They see everyone as equals hence; they seek for an inclusion of women in all spheres of the society, ranging from being state leaders to female soldiers and every other domain. Thirdly, postmodern feminism rejects the assumptions of both schools of thought. They believe that gender issue is rather arbitrary and flexible which means that it is subjugated to an individual’s discretion or people’s preferences. The authors briefly talks about the masculinity of realism, which still stresses on the core tenet of realism. Difference
The Feminist theory is based around gender inequalities and the concept of an imbalance of power between men and women and within men themselves. This theory argues that male sexual offenders are like normal men, however they have been conditioned within society and culture that when their masculinity is questioned, this creates a reaction where males sexually assault females to boost their male status within society. The feminist theory highlights how women’s experiences are often based around the struggle of male domination or patriarchy (Moore, 2008, p. 5) in relation to sexual offences. This article links closely with the Feminist Theory as
After WWII, many movements in the United States secured greater liberties such as social, political, and personal freedoms. Along with many others, the Civil Rights and Feminist Movements were very successful during this time. These movements were both significant in our society because they changed the history of the United States.
Feminist Theory is an aspect of considering feminism as having been based on socio-phenomenon issues rather than biological or scientific. It appreciates gender inequality, analyzes the societal roles played by feminists in a bid to promote the interests, issues and rights of women in the society. It is also based on the assumption that women play subsidiary roles in the society. The whole idea of feminism has however experienced hurdles in the form of stereotyping by the wider society. This paper tries to examine some of the effects of stereotypes that feminism goes through, what other philosophers say and the way forward towards ending stereotyping.
Feminism is inseparable from postmodernism. Most of the research in social sciences was, in fact, carried out by feminists in the latter half of the twentieth century. Many feminists discarded the eighteenth century liberal feminism and responded to the fundamental philosophical discourses in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. In the postmodern period feminist observations and discourses have became prominent.
With the change of the society from the primitive period to technological globalized world, people tend to believe that men and women have the equal rights in workplace or domestic life. But it does not happen so. Women have always been the second class to the man because of the inequality in wages, workplace and domestic life. Women movement started after the late 19th century and early 20th century but the involvement of women in the political events in the past goes far beyond the history. Most of the chronological event of the history is written in the male’s perspective. That’s why feminist historians tend to focus only women in women’s history.
Feminism as a basic sociological theoretical framework began to emerge in the 1970s (Luxton, 2009, p.41). Although a number of subsets of feminist theory, there are commonalities that exist between the various facets. Luxton (2009) notes that one such commonality is the recognition of sexism’s role in the discrimination and inequalities experienced by women (p. 41). Radical feminism emerged as a theoretical approach emerged as a result of consciousness-raising efforts made by diverse women during the Women’s Movements of the 1970s, which recognized common themes throughout their shared experiences (Commack, 2014, p.37). Like many sociological theories though, there is some contention, even from those who operate within the framework, as to
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).
However, studies have shown that fathers could also be housekeepers. According to Glen Sacks, the author of “Stay at home dads” dispute that, “The freedom to switch gender roles has allowed each of us to gravitate toward what we really want in life” (Sacks 266). Despite that society looks at men as the primary breadwinner of the house, people tend to call men unmanly because of changing gender roles. Exchanging gender roles is beneficial for fathers because it gives them an opportunity to experience the responsibility that mothers have traditionally by taking care of the home. In fact, fathers could also be a positive impact in the family because they continue to be the warden of the house. It also gives them the chance to spend time and create a bond with their children. In today’s society it seems as though men don’t really take on their role of being a father. If fathers get the chance to step into their wife’s shoes, it could give them a possible way to understand the role that women have played for so long. Changing gender roles gives mothers the opportunity to find jobs, develop their interpersonal skills and broaden their horizon rather than go by the stereotypical perception which is cleaning the house, cooking or taking the a child to