FEMINIST THEORIES

Liberal Feminism/ aka egalitarianism feminism

All people are created equal, women are essentially the same as men
Based upon principle of equality of opportunity and freedom
Gender not determined by sex
Inequality stems from unequal participation in spheres outside of the family,
primarily education and paid labour force
Seek social changes that will create a meritocracy where social rank is based on
merit and in which hierarchy and inequality are both inevitable and acceptable
Faith in rationality
Education is means to change
Oppression of women is not a structural feature of capitalist economic system
Look to state to bring about women's liberation through legislative measures -
equality through law
Programs advocated include affirmative action, equal opportunity employment,
employment equity, pay equity, parental leave, subsidized daycare
professional and middle-class women
National Action Committee on the Status of Woman (N.A.C.): umbrella
organization representing 500 hundred feminist-oriented women's group
National Organization of Women (N.O.W.)
Marxist Feminism
Primary source of female oppression is the capitalist economic system, i.e. inferior
position of women linked to class-based capitalistic system and family structure
within this system
Womens subordination was a consequence of the introduction of private property,
women became the property of men and the first oppressed class
Womens oppression caused by their economic dependence in the family but also
in the work force, this keeps an exploitable reserve labour force
Women have always had unpaid work (housewife) and most low paying and boring
jobs
Women must have equal participation in the economic production process
Propose wages for housework, developing a system for paying women directly for
their household work
Sexuality is to feminism what work is to Marxism
working class women
Socialist Feminism
Integrate issues of gender and class, i.e. unite concepts of patriarchy and
capitalism, seeks to eliminate both class and gender oppression
Women's oppression caused by their economic dependence
Economic production systems of sexuality, childbearing and childrearing, care of
other members of family and sick, and gender socialization must all be looked at
Investigate interface between womens paid labour and domestic labour lives
Traditional sexuality script is emblematic of gender power relations
Abolition of gender and class are goals where socialism will only occur with the
liberation of women and women's liberation will only occur under socialism
working class women
Radical Feminism
Women live under conditions of inequality in most systems of economic
production regardless of whether capitalist, socialist or communist
 Gender is the fundamental form of difference, little emphasis on class or ethnicity
Patriarchy, womens oppression and domination by men, is the fundamental
oppression and at the root of other isms
Patriarchy pervades public world of formal economic production processes but also
private worlds of family, marriage, sexuality and biological reproduction
Introduced the phrase the personal is political and then also the political is personal
Social change is necessary in both private and public worlds
Seek to replace existing gender roles with androgyny, any resulting differences
would then be human not gender differences
Some focus specifically on the male physical, psychological and social control of
female sexuality as the basic cause of female subordination
Some focus on the tyranny of reproductive biology from which women must be
liberated, and thus they seek to eliminate biological sex as basis of social
differentiation
First to introduce the following as feminist issues: reproductive and contraceptive
rights, abortion, reproductive technologies, sexuality expression and experience,
sexual and physical violence against women (rape, sexual harassment, incest,
pornography and domestic violence)

Cultural Feminism
A branch of radical feminism
Identify suppression of distinctive or different female qualities, experiences, and
values as the primary cause of womens subordination
Dont focus on elimination of patriarchy but rather seek to create an alternative
female consciousness where existence of gender differences are stressed by the
identification, rehabilitation and nurturance of womens qualities
Idea of womens cultures emphasizing consensual nonhierarchical decision-making
processes, valuing responsibility, connection community, negotiation, altruism,
nurturance, from this we have ecofeminism and pacifist feminism
Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice since believe that male sexuality if
selfish, violent and women-hating, linking male sexuality as violence against
women with pornography
Advocates lesbianism as a personal and political choice that expresses ultimate
rejection of patriarchy
Separation from men in every way (some only advocate separation from male
values), i.e. create institutions for women and sever relationships with men

Postmodern Feminism
all women are different and thus can never generalize
a feminist theory is not possible

Multicultural/Global Feminism
recognizing all other differences not just gender
Focuses on inclusion of oppressions based on gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality,
able-bodiedness and age
Intersection of gender with race, class and issues of colonization and exploitation
of women in developing world
 TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS
(aka theories or perspectives)

1. Functionalism (also known as Structural Functionalism, or Order theories)

Macrosociological level theory
Focus on order and stability in society
Society is a system of interrelated, interdependent parts, e.g. social institutions or
structures, population groups, organizations, etc..., e.g. a part may be family,
education, economic, religion, women, men, the government, etc
The function of a part is its contribution to the system, and its effects on other parts,
all contributing to the stability of the social system
The needs of society are to be identified and determining how the parts satisfy the
needs
Each part functions to maintain an orderly and predictable system, preserving
social order
There is a normative consensus where members of society share a set of values and
norms
An analogy is the human body
Key sociologists: Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton
Criticisms
May justify and legitimize the existence of a part of society, e.g. poverty or
unemployment
Helps to preserve status quo by overlooking or downplaying sources of tension and
inequality
Efficiency of a part may not be questioned
Origins of social conflict and instability not accountable or are considered
dysfunctional

2. Conflict Theory (also known as Critical perspectives) macrosociological level theory

Focus on conflict as inevitable part of social life,
Societies are characterized by inequality and thus there is an emphasis on the role
of competition in producing conflict
Conflict is not necessarily a negative aspect of society since it produces social
change
Society comprised of dominant and subordinate groups which compete for
resources the have and the have nots
Who benefits at whose expense is the question
Key sociologists: Karl Marx, Max Weber
Marxism is essentially a sub-theory of conflict theory but it was the originator of
conflict theory as well: focus was on class conflict, believing that the economic
system was the primary determinant of a society, and within the economic system
there existed two classes - the bourgeoisie(owning or ruling class) and the
proletariat (working class); class membership was determined by relationship to
means of production; belief that the proletariat would organize and precipitate a
revolution because of this inequality and thus capitalism would be transformed into
socialism and eventually communism.

Criticisms
 overemphasize tensions and divisions
relationship between groups more complex
situations exist where subordinate groups control the interactions are ignored

3. Interpretivism (also known as symbolic interactionism or interactionism)

microsociological level theory
Focus is on how people themselves define reality, how they make sense of the
world, how they experience and define what people are doing
Assumption is that social structures are created through interactions among people
so that patterns and standards of behaviour emerge, i.e. social reality is a
construction by people
Focus on meanings assigned to actions and symbols, how meanings are learned and
modified
Inquires into factors that influence how we interpret what we say and do, and
patterns that give rise to same interpretation for many
Actors in a play in an analogy dramaturgy, a sub-theory of interactionism
Key sociologists: George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer

Criticisms
No systematic frameworks for prediction or persistence/evolving of meanings
Potential for subjectivity in analysis greater

SOURCES: various introductory sociology textbooks authored by the following: J. Ferrante, B.

Hess, R. Schaefer, J. Mancionis; and other sociologists including N. Blaikie, G. Schutz, K.
Marx, T. Parsons.

COMPARING MAJOR THEORETICAL APPROACHES

(STRUCTURAL)- CONFLICT THEORY INTERACTIONISM

FUNCTIONALISM aka Interpretivism

View of society Stable, well-integrated Characterized by tension & Active in influencing and
struggle between groups affecting everyday social
interaction
Level of analysis Macrosociological analysis Macrosociological analysis of Microsociological analysis as
emphasized of large scale patterns large scale patterns a way of understanding the
larger social phenomena
View of the individual People are socialized to People are shaped by power, People manipulate symbols
perform societal functions coercion and authority and create their social worlds
through interaction
View of social order Maintained through Maintained through force and Maintained by shared
cooperation and consensus coercion understanding of everyday
behaviour
View of social change Predictable, reinforcing Change takes place all the Reflected in peoples positions
time and may have positive and their communications with
consequences others
Key concepts Stability Competing interests Symbols
Manifest functions Social inequality Small groups
Latent functions Subjugation of groups Nonverbal communication
Dysfunctions
Proponents Emile Durkheim Karl Marx George Herbert Mead
Talcott Parsons W.E.B. Du Bois Charles Horton Cooley
Robert Merton C. Wright Mills Erving Goffman
Alfred Schutz