Feminism definition sociology

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you should be able to: • Explain the influence of socialization on gender roles in the United States • Explain the stratification of gender in major American institutions • Provide examples of gender inequality in the United States • Describe the rise of feminism in the United States • Describe gender from the view of each sociological perspective Figure 12.8 Traditional images of U.S. gender roles reinforce the idea that women should be subordinate to men. (Credit: Sport Suburban/flickr) Gender and Socialization The phrase “boys will be boys” is often used to justify behavior such as pushing, shoving, or other forms of aggression from young boys. The phrase implies that such behavior is unchangeable and something that is part of a boy’s nature. Aggressive behavior, when it does not inflict significant harm, is often accepted from boys and men because it is congruent with the cultural script for masculinity. The “script” written by society is in some ways similar to a script written by a playwright. Just as a playwright expects actors to adhere to a prescribed script, society expects women and men to behave according to the expectations of their respective gender roles. Scripts are generally learned through a process known as socialization, which teaches people to behave according to social norms. Socialization Children learn at a young age that there are distinct expectations for boys and girls. Cross-cultural stud...

Educator, Researcher BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester Saul Mcleod, Ph.D., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years experience of working in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Social Psychology. Learn about our Key Takeaways • Postmodern feminism is a type of feminism that emerged in the late 20th century. It is marked by a rejection of traditional feminist ideas and an embrace of postmodern philosophy. • Postmodern feminism is critical of essentialism, patriarchy, and binary thinking. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of social context and power relationships in understanding gender. • Postmodern feminism has been criticized for being too theoretical and disconnected from real-world issues. Table of Contents • • • • • • What is Postmodern Feminist Theory? Postmodern feminist theory is a school of thought that emphasizes the importance of social and political factors in understanding gender. Postmodern feminists believe that gender is not determined by biology, but rather by culture and society. They argue that women have been oppressed not because they are biologically inferior to men, but because they have been socially and politically marginalized. Postmodern feminism began in the 1970s as a reaction to second-wave feminism. However, postmodern feminists argued that these issues were not enough to liberate women from oppression. Instead, they believed that women...

Learning Objectives • Define feminism, sexism, and patriarchy. • Discuss evidence for a decline in sexism. • Understand some correlates of feminism. Recall that more than one-third of the public (as measured in the General Social Survey) agrees with the statement, “It is much better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the home and family.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? If you are like the majority of college students, you disagree. Today a lot of women, and some men, will say, “I’m not a feminist, but…,” and then go on to add that they hold certain beliefs about women’s equality and traditional gender roles that actually fall into a feminist framework. Their reluctance to self-identify as feminists underscores the negative image that feminists and feminism hold but also suggests that the actual meaning of feminism may be unclear. Feminism and sexism are generally two sides of the same coin. In the United States, feminism as a social movement began during the abolitionist period preceding the Civil War, as such women as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, both active abolitionists, began to see similarities between slavery and the oppression of women. This new women’s movement focused on many issues but especially on the right to vote. As it quickly grew, critics charged that it would ruin the family and wreak havoc on society in other ways. They added that women were not smart enough to vote an...

\( \newcommand\) • • • • • • Feminist theory is a conflict theory that studies gender, patriarchy, and the oppression of women. Key Points • Feminist theory has developed in three waves. The first wave focused on suffrage and political rights. The second focused on social inequality between the genders. The current, third wave emphasizes the concepts of globalization, postcolonialism, post-structuralism, and postmodernism. • Third wave feminist theory critiques generalizations about sex and gender. • Feminist critiques of heterosexism and is closely allied with queer theory and the work of Michel Foucault. • Feminist theory also studies the intersections of sex, gender, sexuality, race, nationality, and economic status. • Feminism may conflict with multiculturalism. While muticulturalism necessitates the tolerance of foreign cultural practices, some of those practices might maintain an oppression of women that feminists find essentially intolerable and unacceptable. Key Terms • poststructuralism: an extension of structuralism influenced by the effort to deconstruct or challenge traditional categories • multiculturalism: A characteristic of a society that has many different ethnic or national cultures mingling freely. It can also refer to political or social policies which support or encourage such a coexistence. Important in this is the idea that cultural practices, no matter how unusual, should be tolerated as a measure of respect. • postmodernism: any style in art, archi...

• affirmative action • ageism • ageist • anti-discrimination • anti-feminism • desegregate • desegregation • discriminate • discrimination • diversity and inclusion • feminist • free speech • freedom • gay liberation • gay rights • reverse discrimination • sexism • sexist • sister under the skin idiom • sisterhood

ecofeminism, also called ecological feminism, branch of Origins of ecofeminism The modern ecofeminist movement was born out of a series of conferences and workshops held in the Early work on ecofeminism consisted largely of first documenting historical connections between women and the Rosemary Ruether, insisted that all women must acknowledge and work to end the domination of nature if they were to work toward their own liberation. She urged women and environmentalists to work together to end patriarchal systems that privilege By the late 1980s, ecofeminism had grown out of its largely academic environment and become a popular movement. Many scholars cite the feminist theorist Ynestra King as the cause of that popularization. In 1987 King wrote an article titled “What Is Ecofeminism?” that appeared in The Nation. There she challenged all Americans to consider the ways in which their belief systems allow for the exploitative use of the earth and the further oppression of women. With the help of King’s article, the Radical ecofeminism and cultural ecofeminism As ecofeminism continued to develop, it witnessed the first of several splinterings. By the late 1980s ecofeminism had begun to branch out into two distinct schools of thought: radical ecofeminism and cultural ecofeminism. Radical ecofeminists contend that the dominant patriarchal society equates nature and women in order to degrade both. To that end, radical ecofeminism builds on the assertion of early ecofeminists th...

Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • Definitions of Feminism • ( noun) The idea that women and men should have equal • ( noun) A social movement that advocates for economic, political, and social equality between women and men. • ( noun) A theoretical perspective stating women are uniquely and systematically oppressed and that challenges ideas of Waves of Feminism • First-wave Feminism: A movement that began in the Enlightenment and gained momentum in the mid-19th century, seeking voting rights and educational access for women in response to abolitionism and the temperance movement. • Second-wave Feminism: A radical revival of feminism in the 1960s and associated with the civil rights movement and antiwar movement leading to the women’s liberation movement and reforms in • The Second Sex (1949) by • The Feminine Mystique (1963) by • Sexual Politics (1969) by • The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970) by • The Female Eunuch (1970) by • Sex, Gender, and Society by • Third-wave Feminism: A reaction to early feminism influenced by postmodernism and poststructuralism arising in the 1990s, recognizing a plurality of experiences for women based on class, ethnicity, gender, location, and • In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development (1982) by • Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984) by • Feminist Practice and Post-structuralist Theory (1987) by • Feminism and Psychoanalytic Theory (1989) by • Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge...