...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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...The objective of this paper is to evaluate why women are committing crime by using Marxist Feminist Theory. Marxist theory was that women commit crime due to capitalism and because of capitalism women feel oppressed and unequal in society. Marxist Feminist Theory Marxist Feminist theory is laid out by Friedrich Engels. Engels explains that a woman's subordinate role is not due to her biological disposition , but to her social relations. A big part of a woman's subordination is the role of a man in society and how a man controls the labor of woman and their sexual life in the home. Woman have to be subordinate in their families and must be submissive to their husbands. Gender oppression and class oppression and the relationship between and man and women in society is similar to Marxist feminist view on a capitalist society. In a capitalist society a woman' s subordinate role comes from class oppression because it is in the interest of the ruling class. Men and women are divided and different privileges while men get paid for their jobs women do not get paid for theirs( childrearing, cleaning, cooking, etc..). Men are taught by society to become dominant to the roles that have been handed to them. Understanding Why Women Commit Crime Woman murder rates have rose by eleven percent a year since the seventies. What started at six thousand in the seventies jumped to seventy-five thousand and this number is increasing. Some possible explanations for these crimes can be poverty...
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...sacrificing? Has she not greater endurance? Has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If non violence is the law of our being, the future is with women. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than women?’’ Mahatma Gandhi- Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1960 Feminist legal theory Women have been the core of discussions on the gender topic and still are, the question is if they will always be, when the ‘gender’ topic is discussed. This has happened and is happening due to the apprehension of the much imperative role that women are playing in society. The need to have women on a level playing ground as their male counterparts in the shaping of society has not been an easier task for the feminist theorists and still isn’t. Though, the little achievement seen today can’t just be swept under the carpet and be ignored to be. Feminist theorists have over the years championed for women’s rights through such paradigms as-sex/gender equality, public/private sphere of the women, and equality/difference between men and women. Still today with a slight vary from the patriarchal world, they can be said to be only ‘consciousness-raising’. The real triumph, according to feminists is yet to be achieved. The statements made by Mahatma Gandhi are yet to be realised fully while others have been realised in society. Violence against women in marital marriage has been dealt with, this has happened through the realisation that ‘marital rape’ actually...
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...Feminist Theories and Uttar Predash Sociology 100 McLaughlin Thesis In the world, men and women are treated differently. Men and women have different roles and responsibilities, relations, and identities. Men are perceived as the dominant and in-charge person of the two. Men are usually the head of household and make the important decisions for the family. Women are perceived as the submissive person and are under-appreciated. Many women realized this and began to stand and fight against the stereotypical view of women. From this, the feminist theory derived. The feminist theory is a generalized, wide-ranging system of ideas about social life and human experience developed from a woman-center perspective. The feminist theory has four main subgroups, consisting of gender difference, gender inequality, gender oppression, and structural oppression. These theories are evident in the world, especially in the small Himalayan village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh described by Manjari Mehta in “Our Lives Are No Different From That of Our Buffaloes.” Feminist Theories Gender difference is a theory of feminism that argues that women’s perspectives of most situations are different from that of men’s perspectives of the same situation. Gender difference strives to answer the question “And what about the women?” by simply trying to show that women’s location in and experience of situations are different from that of men. Gender difference can be broken down into...
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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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...The feminist theory is concerned with equality of women but in turn it stands for equality in general. The theory presses for equal rights where both male and female roles are equal and unified. These are issues that range from equal opportunity to freedom from domestic violence. In turn this theory looks into the social roles that women perform in a traditional western setting. With this in mind the theory has changed and will continue to change until the equality is attained. The theories origin can be noticed as early as the 15th century by the writing of Christine de Pizan and will continue to evolve. The feminist theory is based upon caring and compassion. With this in mind Judgments are made cautiously, with the focus on moral sensitivity and perception. The question of right or wrong is considered in the sense of one-caring; the one-caring acts as one would for oneself (Freeman, 2000). Ethical judgment is viewed as a full spectrum of endless possibilities, responses, and solutions. Laws, rules, and rationale hold little regard in feminist judgment. The emphasis is placed on the justification and the motivation for the act in question. Moral dilemmas are handled as situations in need of caring and trust, not as problems in need of solutions. Feminist ethics has many elements. Some major elements are theories regarding “why women and men have held unequal power across time and place, why knowledge has historically been accumulated by and for men and excluded women...
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...1. FEMINIST THEORIES OF RELIGIONFOR A2 SOCIOLOGY:BELIEFS IN SOCIETY 2. • Feminists see society as patriarchal- based on male domination.• Many feminists regard religion as also patriarchal that reflects and perpetuates this inequality.• Religious beliefs function as a patriarchal ideology that legitimates female subordination. 3. EVIDENCE OF PATRIARCHYRELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS• They are mainly male dominated despite the fact that women often participate more than men in organisations. For example, Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism forbid women to become priests. Armstrong sees women’s exclusion from the priesthood of most religions as evidence of marginalisation. View slide 4. PLACES OF WORSHIP• They often separate the sexes and marginalise women, e.g. seating them behind screens while the men occupy the central and more sacred spaces.• Women’s participation may be restricted, for example, not being able to preach or to read from sacred texts. Taboos that regard menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth as polluting may also prevent participation. For example, in Islam, menstruating women are not allowed to touch the Qur’an. Holm describes this as the devaluation of women in contemporary religion. View slide 5. SACRED TEXTS• They largely feature the doings of male gods, prophets ect, and are usually written and interpreted by men. Stories often reflect anti-female stereotypes, such as that of Eve who in the Judaeo-Christian story of Genesis, caused by humanity’s fall from grace...
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...In this unit, class, race, and sexual orientation have been overlooked in both the tradition and early feminist conceptions of the self. The two authors that have emphasized these topics are Monique Wittig and the Combahee River Collective. Monique Wittig writes about how gender should be destroyed in order to reach ‘freedom’. The Combahee River Collective help readers see the standpoint of black feminists and how it shapes us, as a society. Wittig introduces the fact of ‘destroying genders.’ Wittig wants more of non-categorized term for sexes rather than having a ‘woman’ and ‘man’ label. That is what she means by having freedom—the freedom from being labeled and categorized under stereotypical circumstances. “Women have been compelled in mind and body to an idea of nature that has been established for them.” This statement is saying that women are brought up knowing certain facts and rules about their status and authority in life. Wittig also believes that sciences that use these definitions should also be rejected. She sees that sexual orientation is categorized which leads to not having freedom. She also comes up with a Marxist perspective. She states there are two results for women that are lead from Marxism: the natural order of men and women and the disagreement between men and women were hidden behind a “natural division of labor”. It would be a great deal of threat to the Marxist society if women united as one. Wittig also denotes that gender covers that...
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...Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of feminist standpoint theory. Feminist standpoint theory is a theory which argues that the social science which is feminism should be practiced from the standpoint of women, or from particular groups of women, as some believe that women are better equipped to understand and comprehend certain aspects of society and the world. A feminisms standpoint epistemology proposes that it makes women’s experiences the main point of thinking, rather than it being a man’s. Nancy Hartsock is a female philosopher and is widely known for her work in feminist epistemology and standpoint theory, particularly her Feminist Standpoint essays. Hartsock came up with the theory that standpoint feminism is founded in Marxist ideology. She argued that feminist standpoint could be developed from Marx’s understanding of experience, and could be used to criticise patriarchal theories. She also adds how a standpoint view of feminism is essential when examining the systematic oppressions in a society in which standpoint feminists claim devalues and disregards women’s knowledge. Standpoint feminism draws on the idea that because women in all different types of societies all have significantly different lives and roles to those than men have, they believe that because of this, women hold a different type of knowledge. As women are a subordinated group, it allows them to see and understand the world different and in ways that differ completely and challenge...
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...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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...------------------------------------------------- Feminist Stances on Rape ------------------------------------------------- Causes, Activism and Prevention [Author] Abstract Understanding the many different studies and work done by feminists regarding rape and sexual violence. Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………….3 Anti-Rape Movement………………………………………………4 Feminist Perspective…………………………..…………………..7 Amelioration Vs. Backlash……………………………………...9 Conclusion………………………………………………………….…11 Bibliography……………………………………………….…………12 Introduction The definition of rape has been something of dispute for the last number of years. Rape usually is understood to involve some sort of sexual penetration of a person by force or without consent. Rape is committed more by males, usually on a female. In the last three decades, feminist have worked and studied rape with the collective agenda to work towards changing rape in a social and legal manor. Feminist thought and activism have challenges the myth that rape is rape, showing that it is a common experience among girls and women. Although feminists have different theories on why rape occurs, and how to eliminate it, they share the notion that rape is wrong and work towards learning and teaching about rape prevention. This paper will touch on the anti-rape movement, the feminist perspective, and different hypothesis in learning about the different feminist theories of rape. Anti-Rape Movement Feminists have been working for decades towards raising...
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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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...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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...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 Cyber Feminism – Practical Manifestation 3.9.5 Cyber Feminism challenges and its future 3.10 Let Us Sum up 3.11 Answers to Check...
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...Outline and assess Feminist views on crime and deviance. (50) Within Feminism itself there are many different approaches to crime and deviance including Liberalism, Radicalism and Post-modernism. Each of them believes that crime, or the lack of crime, is a result of the patriarchal dominance in society. Feminists believe that the patriarchy generates crime against women whilst discouraging deviancy amongst women. The official crime statistics show that men tend to commit more crime than women, and some Feminists would agree with this. One theory put forward is that this is because of the differential socialisation of males and females. Oakley argues that males are socialised to be aggressive, self-seeking and individualistic, which can therefore lead to them taking more risks and committing criminal acts. For example, if a boy is socialised into an aggressive role then he might express this through domestic violence against his partner when he is older. In the same way, a self-seeking male will do anything to satisfy his needs, which may explain male rape against women. Oakley states that females, however, are socialised into non-criminal norms and values that stress co-operation, tenderness and caring for others. This tells us that women are much less likely to commit crimes that would hurt another person, such as murder and rape, and this is reflected in the statistics. Moreover, Radical Feminist Heidensohn claims that most academics in the area of sociology and crime...
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