Contemporary Feminist Theory Flashcards
Feminist Theory Definition
wide-ranging system of ideas about social life and human experience developed from a woman-centred perspective
How is it woman centred?
- Examines situations and experiences of women in society
- Describes the social world from the standpoint of women
Waves of feminism
1st wave: 1830s-1920s
Temporary decline: 1920s-1960s
2nd wave: 1960s-1990s
3rd wave: 1990s-present
1st wave feminism
MARTINEAU, GILMAN, WEBER
classical sociological theory
- Focused on struggle of women for poli rights, esp the vote
- Focused on 2 theoretical issues:
1. Gender difference = how location and experience of women in society is in contrast to that of men
2. Gender Inequality = how location of women in society is less privileged than that of men
Temporary decline of feminism
less feminist theorizing and activism
2 major reasons:
1. After securing right to vote, difficulty finding ways to use new poli rights
2. New social crises: WW1, The Great Depression, WW2, the Cold War
2nd wave feminism
Contemporary sociological theory
- focused on trying to use poli rights to secure econ and social equality
- Associated with rise of Women’s Movement (1960s)
- Women in sociology tried to establish a feminist perspective for the discipline
- Mainly focused on 3 issues:
1. Gender inequality
2. Gender oppression
3. Structural oppression
*Developed liberal feminism, radical feminist, and socialist feminism
3rd wave feminism
contemporary sociological theory
- focused on trying to address issues that were not addressed in the first 2 waves
- Used to describe feminist ideas that have been developed by women of diverse background (eg. POC, LGBTQ+) and feminist ideas that have been developed by a generation of women living their adult lives in the 21st C.
- Continued concern with structural oppression
- Critique has focused on failure of earlier feminism to address the diversity of women’s experiences
*Key theory: Intersectionality Theory
Liberal feminism definition
emphasizes how women are disadvantaged by cultural and ideological processes in society
- Focuses on gender inequality
Liberal Feminism Basis/Elimination of gender INEQUALITY
Basis for gender inequality:
–> Argue the inequality experienced by women stem from socialization
–> Children learn gendered behaviour from various agents of socialization (Boys: aggressive, independent / Doctors ][ Girls: submissive / Nurses)
Eliminating gender inequality:
–> See cultural and ideological processes as the problem
–> Solution focuses on changing problematic ideas in society
Radical Feminism Definition
emphasizes how women are disadvantaged by the existence of patriarchy in society
- Focuses on gender oppression
Radical Feminism Basis/Elimination of gender OPPRESSION
Basis of gender oppression
- Main basis of focus is patriarchy (Created the concept)
- See patriarchy as being associated with violence against women and female children
Once patriarchy is in place/ protected by violence, other sources of power can be used to sustain it
Eliminating gender oppression
- Each woman must recognize her own value
- A critical confrontation with patriarchy
Socialist Feminism Definiton
emphasizes how women are disadvantaged by the existence of both capitalism and patriarchy in society
- Focuses on structural oppression
- Also goes by Marxist feminism
Socialist Feminism Basis/Elimination of STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION
Basis of structural oppression
- 2 structures: capitalism and patriarchy
- They intersect to generate the oppression of women
- Trying to link Marx’s analysis of capitalism and feminism’s analysis of patriarchy
Eliminating structural oppression
- Ultimately entails overthrowing both capitalism and patriarchy (long-term goal)
- Mobilizing people (women and men) in order to put pressure on the state to make changes that will ease the effects of capitalism and patriarchy on women (short-term goal)
Dorthy Smith Early Life
- Canadian Sociologist
- Born Dorothy Place, England (1926)
- Came from middle-class family, included multiple generations of independant and activist women
Dorthy Smith University education
1955: graduated Bachelor’s degree from London School of Economics
Majored in sociology and social anthropology
- Met Future Husband William Smith
- Started at UofCalifornia at Berkley together
- Began PhD in sociology (under goffman supervision)
- Graduated w PhD in 1963
- Divorced william after graduation but kept his name
Dorthy Smith University Career
- spent years working at various universities
- Prof at UBC in 68 for women’s studies
- Prof for OSIE at UofT in 77
- Published The Everyday World as Problematic: A feminist Sociology in 87
- Published Texts, Facts and Femininity: Exploring the Relations of Ruling in 90
- Retired 2000
- Died 2022, Age 95
Dorthy Smiths Key Influences
Feminism
- 2nd wave feminism
- Rejected radical feminist view that patriarchy ALONE is the basis for the oppression of women
Marxism
- Noted that being a feminist is what led her to become a Marxist
–> Marx’s critical political economy of capitalism resonated with her
- Also influenced by Marx’s work on culture and ideology
Goffman
- supervised her PhD studies at UofCalifornia at Berkeley
Dorthy Smith Theoretical Contributions
- The Ruling Texts
- The Relations of Ruling
- Experiences of Two Worlds
The Ruling Texts (Smith)
texts developed by men that define gender and other power relations in society
- Many of these texts are in print (eg. religious documents, various laws/ legislations, news stories)
- Some are visual (eg. magazine ads, pornographic films)
- Articulate a discourse of femininity
The Relations of Ruling (Smith)
the processes by which capitalist patriarchal domination is enacted through interdependent systems of control
Eg. economy, state, mass media
- Ruling texts are crucial to these
- Dynamics in this control over women are best explored through a focus on the activities and experiences of women in everyday life
Experiences of Two Worlds (Smith)
- Distinguishes between domestic world and public world
- Historically, emerged with development of industrial capitalism
- Women’s reality had been the domestic world (household and children); men’s reality had been the public world (work)
- Recently moved into world of academic, law, medicine, corporate management, and politics
–> But their experiences in public world have all been different from experiences of men
–> Women have had to participate on terms set by men in these realms
Intersectionality Theory Definition
Emphasizes how women experience oppression in varying configurations and varying degrees of intensity
- Focuses on structural oppression
Intersectionality Theory Basis/Elimination of STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION
Basis for structural oppression
- Suggest number of different elements that provide basis
- Vectors of oppression and privilege include gender, class, “race”, global location, sexual preference and age
- Suggest variations in ways vectors of privilege/ oppression intersect affect experiences of being a woman
- Most studied intersections
–> Gender and race / gender and class / race gender and class
Eliminating structural oppression
- Focus on role and knowledge of oppressed women
- Indicate need for oppressed women to bare witness (taking opportunities) to take opportunities to address their experiences
- Need to protest and organize for change
Patricia Hill Collins Early Life
- American Sociologist
- born Philadelphia 1948
- Grew up Black working-class
- As a teenager, began to develop ideas that would break into her scholarly career
