...Feminists study society today through the viewpoint of oppressed women who are seen to be subordinated by men. Their main aim is to liberate women from men, patriarchal society and the socially constructed stereotypes of women. In order to do so, there are different strands of Feminism, which are, Liberal, the least extreme or violent, Marxist, who link in capitalism to Feminism and Radical Feminists, the most extreme. These groups seek to bring about equality through different means and on different levels of severity. In addition to these, there are smaller and more modern groups of Feminism which are Dual Systems Feminists, who are similar to Marxist Feminists and Poststructuralists who believe other Feminists disregard differences between women. Liberal Feminists are concerned with the human civil rights, therefore they seek legal reforms and changes in attitudes and socialisation to bring about gender equality, which does not require a violent revolution. They are the closest Feminist theory to a consensus view on today’s society even though it focuses on the conflicts between men and women. Liberal Feminists reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or rational than men or vice versa. They distinguish between sex and gender; whereby sex refers to the biological differences such as their reproductive role and physical differences and gender refers to culturally constructed differences between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ roles. As gender is culturally...
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...notion of sexism is a very recent idea in our society. The idea that men were superior to and different from women was so deeply integrated into much thinking that most people never thought to question it. Throughout the history of ideas, female inferiority has been seen as the natural order of things. This is where feminism comes into place... feminism is the view which examines the world from the viewpoint of women, hence this 'traditional' view that men dominate women is challenged by feminists, as feminism believes that women are disadvantaged relative to men and that female interests are ignored or devalued by society. Feminism is therefore the movement which essentially campaigns for equality for women in society; examples of feminist groups which have campaigned for equal rights are the suffragettes and suffragists who protested for the right to vote for women in the 20th century. As Paula Trelchler herself put it... feminism is the radical notion that women are people. Liberal feminist Gavron suggested that women are trapped by the traditional roles within the family and that they should have more choice with regards to marriage and family life. Oakly further argued that the mother housewife role has been responsible for the subordination of women in the workforce. Female professional workers are three times less likely to be married than their fellow male workers. Oakly criticized Young and Wilmott, who in their 1972 study suggested that men were doing more in the home...
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...Socialist Feminist Criticism: You Dropped the Bomb on Me, Baby Feminism and gender studies have been described as having the ability to “challenge literary and culture theory to confront the difficult task of assimilating the findings of an expanding sphere of inquiry” (Contemporary Literary Criticism 567). This area of study has taken center stage during the last fifty years, not only in our society, but also in literary criticism. Although the terrain Feminism traverses can hardly be narrowed down to one single definition, the exploration of the genre can, at times, be the most intriguing feature of the criticism itself. While feminism has undoubtedly changed the way women and gender roles are considered in society today, it has also had an impact on the way that I, too, read literature, look at American culture, and view the world. Walter Ong suggests that “‘literature’ itself is the product of—or completely wound up and ‘imbricated’ in—the social contexts out of which it grows” (CLC 461). The social contexts that exist in our society have not only affected our societal systems themselves, but also have changed the way we view our class systems, gender roles, and sexual choices. Viewing society from a Marxist perspective can also help us decipher the unspoken rules that govern us. “Not only do Marxist critics want criticism to be constantly aware of history—both present and past history—in reading and literature, they also demand that the criticism become more overtly...
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...PHL101 Alison Jaggar Alison M. Jaggar (PHD, 1970--) is a feminist philosopher and a professor who works for University of Colorado at Boulder. Jaggar was born in Sheffield, England. Jaggar’s early work was in England. Jaggar got her Bachelor’s degree in 1964 from University of London (Bedford College) and her Ph D from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1970. In 1990, she joined the faculty at University of Colorado Boulder, and she was awarded Gold Teaching Award by CU boulder. Besides teaching, Jaggar joined many research and academic appointments. Since 2007, she’s been research coordinator at Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo, Norway. Jaggar has around ten books published; most of them discuss the topic about feminism and social, moral and political philosophy. Besides, her teaching accomplishment and her research got her 16 awards during the past three decades. Unlike the long history of other schools of philosophy, the history of feminist philosophy is relatively short. The first emerge of feminism dates back to 18th century. However, the first boost of feminism started in the 20th century, along with political movements and black and postcolonial ideologies. Different from traditional views of epistemology, Jaggar pointed out that emotion is an important part of gaining and processing knowledge. According to Freud’s psychosexual development, gender identity is formed related to the social environment. Females are usually...
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...UNIT 3 TRENDS IN FEMINISM Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Objectives 3.3 Liberal Feminism 3.3.1 Liberal Thought 3.3.2 Classical Liberal Feminism 3.3.3 Second Wave Liberal Feminism 3.3.4 Weakness/Limitations of the Liberal Feminism 3.3.5 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.4 Marxist Feminism 3.4.1 Foundations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.2 Other Key Elements in Marxist Feminism 3.4.3 Limitations of Marxist Feminism 3.4.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.5 Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.1 The Beginnings of Psychoanalytic Feminism – Countering Freudian Theories 3.5.2 Explanation by other Theorists 3.5.3 Limitations of Psychoanalytic Feminism 3.5.4 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.6 Radical feminism 3.6.1 Definition 3.6.2 The influences that shaped Radical Feminism 3.6.3 What are the variations of Radical Feminism? 3.6.3.1 Radical- Libertarian Feminism 3.6.3.2 Radical-Cultural Feminism 3.6.4 Radical Feminism – Its Structure 3.6.5 The Outcomes of the Movement 3.6.6 Critiques of Radical Feminism 3.6.7 Contribution to the Women’s Movement 3.7 Postmodern Feminism 3.7.1 Postmodern Thought 3.7.2 Postmodern rethinking of psychological explanation of gender 3.7.3 Postmodern Feminist 3.7.4 Limitations of Postmodern feminism 3.7.5 Contribution to the women’s Movement 3.8 Black Feminism and Womanism 3.8.1 The Beginnings of Black Feminism 3.9 Cyber Feminism 3.9.1 Origin of Cyber Feminism 3.9.2 Definition of the 100 Anti Thesis 3.9.3 Cyber art and its relation to Cyber feminism 3.9.4...
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...Theories of Development-Empowerment a)WID,b)WAD,c)GAD Ever since the formation of the United Nations Commission on the Status for Women in 1946, it had been proposing a U. N. Women’s Conference with little success. Gradually with pressure from the American Women‟s Movement, the U.N. General Assembly declared 1975 as the International Women’s Year and 1975-1985 as the International Decade for Women. This declaration led to a growing awareness of women‟s issues and an acceptance of their demands as legitimate issues for policy making, both at the national and international level. The major themes of the International Women’s Year and Conference were-- Equality, Development and Peace. Equality, however, had been a dominant issue for the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and it came primarily from the feminist movement of the Western industrialized nations. Peace was increasingly considered to be a women issue by the countries of the Eastern block. Development, on the other hand, was a recent issue put forward mainly by the newly independent “Third World” nations as a key to improving women’s lives. During the Decade, the important but previously invisible role of women in the social and economic development of the poorer countries was highlighted. The declaration of the International Decade for Women (1975-85) signified the new visibility of Women in Development (WID) in international forums. During the past few years, the term "women in development" has become...
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...Assess the contribution of feminist perspectives to our understanding of society (33 marks) Feminists see society as patriarchal. They seek to describe, explain and change the position of women within society. The first ‘wave’ of feminism appeared in the late 19th century with the suffragette’s campaign for the right for women to vote. Even though all feminists oppose women’s subordination, there are disagreements on its causes and how to overcome it. Liberal or reformist feminists believe that traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to equality. They believe all human beings should have equal rights. Since both men and women are human beings, both should have the same opportunities. Liberal Feminists argue that laws and policies against sex discrimination in employment and education can secure equal opportunities for women. Campaigning for changes in law can bring about change and we can bring about change through a cultural shift within society. They reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or rational than men or that men are biologically less emotional or nurturing than women. To bring about change we must shift society’s socialisation patterns. For example society must seek to promote appropriate role models in education and the family by doing this we will benefit from a cultural shift and gender equality will become the norm. Liberal Feminists believe that changes in socialisation and culture are gradually...
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...Feminism is a conflict theory that sees religion as an instrument of patriarchy - a set of beliefs and practices responsible for women’s subordination. There are different types of feminism and the types I will be evaluating in this essay are Liberal, Radical, Marxist and Difference/poststructuralist feminist. Feminists criticise mainstream sociology for being ‘malestream’. By contrast, feminists examine society from the viewpoint of women, they see their work as part of the struggle against women’s subordination. However, although all feminists oppose women’s subordination, there are disagreements among feminist’s theories about its causes and how to overcome them. Liberal feminist are concerned with the human and civil rights and freedoms of the individual, they believe that all human beings should have equal rights. In liberal feminism, the concept of society changing itself to adapt to women does not occur. Liberal feminists insist that all that is needed to change the status of women is to change existing laws that are unfavourable for women and that will open up more opportunities for women to prove themselves as equal to the opposite sex. Oakley (1972) distinguishes between sex and gender. She claims sex differences are seen as fixed and gender differences vary between cultures and over time. Therefore what is considered a proper role for women in one society or at one time may be disapproved of or forbidden in another. Sexist attitudes and stereotypical beliefs about...
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...Feminist Theories Liberal / Reformist Feminism * Concerned with civil rights and freedom of individuals * They believe that all human beings should have equal rights * Reformism is the progress towards equal rights and freedoms through gradual reforms * They feel that laws against sex discrimination will lead towards a rise in equal rights * Also they feel that changes in culture will help equality, e.g. stereotypes being abolished Sex and Gender * Like Ann Oakley liberal feminists find a difference between sex and gender; * Sex refers to biological differences * Gender refers to culturally constructed differences between masculine and feminine roles * While sex differences are fixed, gender is different for different cultures, this is the part Liberal feminists want to change * Want to promote equality in education and the media * Take political action to introduce anti-discriminatory laws * Liberal feminist criticise the Funtionalist views of Parsons, regarding the Instrumental and Expressive roles * They feel that men and women are equally capable of performing either role, however society is constructed to tell us which role to adhere to * Liberal feminists do have a consensus view on society – they accept that there are conflicts between men and women but argue that it’s a product of outdated attitudes Evaluation of liberal feminism * Experiments conducted by liberal feminists have produced evidence legitimising...
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...Feminists’ argued that gender roles were created by men for their benefit, and they described this type of society as “patriarchal”.They argued the nuclear family performed two key functions which oppressed women a) the family socialised girls to accept subservient roles within the family, whilst socialising boys to believe they were superior – this happens through children witnessing then recreating the parental relationship; and b) it socialised women into accepting the “housewife” role as the only acceptable role for a women. Essentially, feminists viewed the function of the family as a breeding ground where patriarchal values were learned by an individual, which in turn created a patriarchal society. I will use different types of Feminism to explain their understanding of the family . The first type is Liberal Feminists. They believe in a “March of Progress” view of the family. This means that they believe that the family is gradually changing for the better over time by becoming more democratic and more equal. They also argue that men and females share democratic labour ( i.e childcare, cleaning the house). Liberal Feminist believe this happened thanks to new law reforms such as the Divorce Act 1969 and Equal Pay Act 1972. Jennifer Somerville believes that women are still disadvantaged in families . She criticises radical and marxist feminists for failing to accept that progress has been made in some ways. However Marxist Feminist criticise against this by saying...
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...Name Course Tutor Date Feminist Social Theory. The feminist social theory calls for equality for both genders- men and women. It entails studying gender inequality, the roles of women in the society, their experiences, duties and their contribution in fields such as, among others, sociology, and literature. The theory has been studied examined and expanded by several analysts such as sociologist Dorothy Smith, Patricia Hill Collins and Judith Butler. They all have their distinct views regarding the topic. Their conclusions also contain differences as well as similarities. First, Dorothy Smith is a Canadian sociologist who involves neo-Marxist and phenomenological concepts and ideas in her work. She employs institutional ethnography approach that she sees as a way of acquiring knowledge of the way relations of ruling work from the perspective of the people upon which they work. Dorothy Smith is famous for coming up with the standpoint theory that states that the position held by an individual in the society affects what he or she knows. She argues that nobody is in a position to possess the complete knowledge and that two people cannot share a similar standpoint. She urges us to recognize our perspective and investigate it. Smith points out that the position of men is favored whereas that of women is ignored. She also claims that the post of the white male upper class is given more emphasis than that of the rest of the world. She employs the concept of bifurcated consciousness...
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...Assess the Contribution of Feminist Sociologists to an Understanding of Family Roles and Relationships Essay Jak There are many different types of feminist theories but they all share a few common interests. They all believe there is a fundamental division in society between men and women, that women are to some extent exploited by men and that society is male-dominated or patriarchal. Oakley argues that the role of the housewife is a social construction and isn’t linked to the female role. The housewife role makes sure that women stay inferior to men making it difficult for them have careers. Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour. As shown in the item most of this work is ‘unpaid and hardly recognised work at all’. Oakley argues the only way women will gain independence and freedom in society is for the role of the housewife to be removed as well as the present structure of the family. Wilmott and Young believed the family is symmetrical and that both husband and wife have joint conjugal roles making the family a functional institution and their research showed that men do help women with housework. Radical feminists such as Dobash and Dobash disagree with Willmott and Young’s theory that the family is symmetrical. They believe there are inequalities in the power relations between men and women so they see family as an institution that allows abuse and considering the risk of male violence women would...
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...Assess the view that the nuclear family functions to benefit all its members and society as a whole. A nuclear family can be defined as a unit consisting of a father, mother and their dependant children. There are many views against and for the nuclear family from a consensus perspective, a class perspective and a gender conflict perspective. The consensus sociologists, new right and functionalists, believe that the best and only type of family is the traditional, nuclear family. In contrast, the class and gender conflict sociologists, Marxists and feminists, argue that it meets the need of capitalism, not those of family members or society as a whole and see the family as serving the needs of men and oppressing women (feminists view). To evaluate the functions of the family, I will look into the different perspectives before any conclusions are made. The views of the functionalists are positive and see the nuclear family as the dominant family in society that meet the needs of all members of the family. Furthermore, as functionalists see the family as a particularly important sub-system- a basic block of society, functionalist sociologist George peter Murdock (1949) put forward three points that was mentioned in item 1. Item 1 suggests the family providing three basic functions: “stable satisfaction of sexual needs”, “ production and rearing of children” and “provision of a home”. These three points were put forward by Murdock while he put forward the case that the nuclear...
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...structuralist theory. There are several versions of feminism but common theme throughout them all is that they argue that society is patriarchal, i.e. society is male dominated and all institutions serve and maintain male dominance. Feminists do however disagree on the extent of patriarchy in society and what need to happen to create gender equality. Liberal feminism is a march of progress theory as it sees a trend towards improvement and believes all humans should be equal. Oakley, as a key sociologist, distinguishes between sex and gender; sex refers to biological differences whereas gender refers to the culturally constructed differences between the roles and identities assigned to men and women. Liberal feminists argue there has been a move towards greater gender equality and that a gradual reform is necessary through changing laws and cultural changes away from gender stereotypes. They also believe that the ideas about gender are culturally constructed and transmitted through socialisation. For example, the mother is supposed to look after the children rather than go to work. Oakley criticises Parson’s assumption of gender roles being based on biological differences by arguing that men and women are equally capable of performing both roles within society yet this is prevented by the traditional gender roles. Liberal feminists make a fair point by stating that gender roles are not ingrained as they show to an extent that roles are not determined. However Liberal feminists are criticised...
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... Marx's theories about society, economics and politics, which are collectively known as Marxism, argue that all society progresses through the dialectic of class struggle. He was heavily critical of the current socio-economic form of society, capitalism, which he called the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie," believing it to be run by the wealthy middle and upper classes purely for their own benefit, and predicted that it would inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism. Under socialism, he argued that society would be governed by the working class in what he called the "dictatorship of the proletariat." He believed that socialism would eventually be replaced by a stateless, classless society called pure communism. Feminist Approach- a sociological approach which examines the ways gender operates in society against the interests of women. Feminism is the term that describes the feminist movement in society. It is also used to describe an approach within sociology. Liberal feminism aims for individuals to use their own abilities and the democratic process to help women and men become more equal in the eyes of the law, in society and in the workplace. By organizing women into larger groups that can speak at a higher level, lobbying legislators and raising awareness of issues, liberal feminists use available resources and tools to advocate for change. As such, the stand in contrast to Marxist or socialist...
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