feminism

Question 1

what is the generic feminist view of the family?

Answer 1

it’s a tool for female oppression, especially in the nuclear family which serves the need of men not women through unequal division of labour etc
believe gender inequality is a social construction and not a naturally occuring phenomena

Question 2

what is the liberal feminist view of the family?

Answer 2

-slowly becoming equal through changes in the law and social attitudes
-don’t believe that full equality has been achieved but the process is underway
-parents now socialise their children in more gender neutral ways
-overstates the amount of progress, women still have the triple shift
-marxist and radical argue liberal fails to challenge the underlying causes of women’s oppression, and changing the law isn’t enough; there has to be a fundamental change in social structures

Question 3

what is the triple shift?

Answer 3

the three roles women are expected to perform in the family
-emotional support
-domestic labour
-paid work

Question 4

what is the radical feminist view of the family?

Answer 4

-men are the enemy, marriage and family are the key institutions that maintain the patriarchy
-for equality the patriarchy needs to be overturned, the family needs to be abolished and a separation system needs to be implemented for this
-political lesbianism, bcs heterosexual relationships are oppressive
-greer - matrilocal households where all households are all female
-sommerville - radical feminists fail to see improvements, eg better access to divorce, control over their fertility, and separation is unattainable due to heterosexual attraction

Question 5

what is the marxist feminist view of the family?

Answer 5

-see the family as a tool of capitalism, and it is capitalism, not men, that oppress women, done in 3 ways:
1-women reproduce the workforce and socialise them into social hierarchy
2-women absorb the anger of men (ansley - women are the takers of shit)
3-women are a reserve army of cheap labour
-women are no longer a reserve labour force as we have equal rights to work, and are as likely as men to be the main breadwinner

Question 6

what is the intersectional feminist view of the family?

Answer 6

-states that all the other views focus just on the nuclear family, but not all families are nuclear
-example = black women could see their family as a safe haven from racism rather than a place of oppression
-neglects the fact that many women do face the same experiences of the family, regardless of ethnicity or social class

Question 7

what is the dual burden?

Answer 7

-emotional support
-domestic labour

Question 8

what is ‘malestream sociology’?

Answer 8

sociologists apply data collected about men to the lives of women despite differences