Chapter 5

Question 1

confirmation bias

Answer 1

the phenomenon whereby a few cases of the expected behaviour confirm the belief, especially when the behaviour is attention-getting or widely reported

Question 2

consciousness-raising

Answer 2

a technique of analysis, that emphasized raising awareness of social and political issues through small-group discussion of everyday issues and experiences

Question 3

difference feminism

Answer 3

(in contrast to liberal feminism which emphasizes the equality or sameness of men and women) this focuses on the differences between men and women, calling for a valuation of women’s distinct traits and abilities, and in some cases, focusing on separation from the world and values of men.

Question 4

first-wave feminism

Answer 4

Social movement that lasted from approx. 1850 to the end of the WWI. While first-wave feminism emphasized women’s legal status and eventually suffrage, first-wave activists took on many social issues.

Question 5

gender divisions

Answer 5

According to Joan Acker, these are the ways in which ‘ordinary organizational practices produce the gender patterning of jobs, wages, and hierarchies, power and subordination.

Question 6

institution

Answer 6

A structure governing the behaviour of individuals and ensuring the society’s smooth functioning.

Though institutions are ever changing, they have a permanence or longevity that exceeds that of the individual.

Question 7

lesbian feminism

Answer 7

a social movement within 1970s feminism that contributed a critique of heterosexuality as an institution and, in some cases, advocated lesbianism or separatism as a political option.

Question 8

liberal feminism

Answer 8

a form of feminism focusing on legal remedies for inequality between men and women and creating the most GENDER-NEUTRAL SOCIETY possible.

Question 9

Marxist and Socialist feminism

Answer 9

these forms of feminism are united by their emphasis on material conditions as a critical component of gender oppression.

Marxists feminisms, however, tend to view the eradication of capitalism as the way to create gender equality, while socialist feminisms have criticized Marxists for their too-rigid focus on economic oppression.

Question 10

mid-life crisis

Answer 10

In middle-aged men (and some women), a developmental ‘crisis’ characterized by pressure to make wholesale changes in their work, relationships and leisure

Question 11

multiracial/ethnic feminisms

Answer 11

Emerged in the 70s as part of a critique of racism and Eurocentrism within the second-wave feminism movement.

Not only have multiracial feminisms contributed to a critique of mainstream feminism, but they have also given insights on racism, social location and identity as contributors to the status of women.

Question 12

narrative coherence

Answer 12

“A story that hangs together”. Its application to human life-story telling comes from narrative theory, which argues that the making of stories is fundamental to human cognitive processes.

Question 13

organizational gender neutrality

Answer 13

The vehicle by which the gender order is reproduced. This covers up, obscures, the underlying gender structure, allowing practices that perpetuate it to continue even as efforts to reduce gender inequality are also underway.

Question 14

primary sex characteristics

Answer 14

sex characteristics present at birth

Question 15

radical feminism

Answer 15

a form of feminism that sees women’s unequal status as rooted in patriarchy, and particularly in its control over the bodies and sexuality of women.

Question 16

second-wave feminism

Answer 16

a social movement and body of theory that developed after WWII, particularly in Western industrialized societies in the 60s. The movement`s greatest impact and vitality can be traced to the 70s.

Question 17

secondary sex characteristics

Answer 17

sex characteristics that develop at puberty, and are less decisive than primary sex characteristics.

Question 18

social constructionism

Answer 18

The theoretical orientation that sees the expression and organization of gender not as the outcome of biology, but as the result of historical and cultural change, the socialization of individuals, and the continuous interplay between gendered individuals, and gendered institutions.

Views nature as much more malleable and variable than biological determinism.

Question 19

sociology

Answer 19

A discipline within the social sciences that studies social structures and relations.

Question 20

third-wave feminism

Answer 20

Emerged in the 1990s. Critiques what it sees as the universalizing tendencies of second-wave feminism and incorporates the insights of post modern, post colonial, and multiracial feminisms. It also insists on a positive view of sexuality.