12/17/2011
Conditions for feminism and 1st wave of f.
Sociology
„Feminism, theories of gender
and sociology of the family“
ZDENĚK SLOBODA
SLOBODA@FSV.CUNI.CZ
(5. 12. 2011)
Shift from feudalism/traditional rural society to modern
society (individualisation, mobility, emergence of nuclear
family, concespt of love) based on the thoughts of enlightment
(all human beings should be equal); shift in the paradigms
(from religious to scientific)
Polarisation of roles based on sex/gender
→ man – as autonomous individual, freely decides, produces, is public
X woman – submisive to hers surrounding, isolated in the household, her
status is derived from the man‘s, to whom she provides „services“; she
reproduces the society with bering the children (not producing)
1st Wave Feminism
Last third of 18th Centruy – to approx. 1930
Main topics: grant basic rights for women – to vote, to have education,
to own (both property and also herself) and to decide freely
Main personalities: Marry Wollstonecraft, suffragettes, Virginia Woolf,
John Stuart Mill, Olympe de Gouges, …
Current streams of feminism
Second-Wave Feminism
approx. 1960 to 1980
rises with the sobering of the society after the Great World
Wars
Formal equality X real, lived inequality
During wars women replaced men in all spheres – production,
decisionmaking, public, etc.
After the wars they allways automatically cleared the gained positions.
Betty Friedan (Feminine Mystique) „the problem without a name“
Simone de Beauvoire - The Second Sex; „We are not born as women, we are
becoming them.“
In the Eastern Block – ambivalence of the role of women;
politically were women equal – 100 % employment,
Internationa Women‘s Day, … X the household and childcare
was not taken over by the State (as it was announced) „double burden“ (or „second shift“)
Also called as „3rd Wave of Feminisms“, or „Post-feminism“
From 1980s to present
Various directions of feminism
Reform feminist theories:
Liberal feminism (theories of gender equality)
Marxist & socialist feminism (C. Zetkin, A. Kollontai; D. Haraway, S. Walby, …)
Third-World feminism
Feminisms of resistance
Radical feminism
Lesbian separatistic feminism
Standpoint feminism
Anarchofeminism
Post-feminisms
Psychoanalytical feminism (N. Chodorow, K. Horney; film & popular culture feminism –
Laura Mulvey, Marjorie Rosen)
Feminism of social construction
Post-colonial and Multiracial feminism
Men feminism (x Men Studies and Critical Men Studies)
Poststructural (Irrigaray, Kristeva, Cisoux) and postmodern (J. Butler) feminism
+ queer theories
Other feminisms:
religious, ekofeminism, cyber or cyborg feminism
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12/17/2011
From feminist theories towards gender studies
Scientific approach to feminist theories & critique → Gender Studies
founded at the end of Second-Wave where „gender“ becomes main
analytical category of feminist thinking (until then it was „woman“)
Gender Studies are providing a specific point of view, other lenses for
describing, analyzing and criticizing the society and an individual.
GS offer new and adapt existing (gender burdened) methods of scientific
analysis.
GS raised mainly from: Literature studies, Anthropology and Sociology
(Critical Theories)
GS are intersecting through almost all disciplines (sociology, psychology,
educational sciences, philosophy, economy, medicine, theology, also
technologies etc.)
„Gender is a concept that refers to social differences (in contrary to
biological) between men and women, which are socialized and can change
and vary in time within one specific culture, or varies between different
cultures. The category of gender provides an analytical instrument for
description and critique of unequal position of women and men in the
society and also shows the unsustainability of the status quo that the
reference to biological differences between sexes provide.“
What feminism caused for social changes
Rights for women – to vote, own, work, have education
Paid labor and change of the labor market
New topics as:
Women powerty
Gender segregation of labor market
Women sexuality
Critique of popcultural and sexual exploitation of women
One of new social movements
(Gender) diversity
Shift in family roles
Feminism and family
Sociology of family
Basic standpoints brought to the thoughts of family:
Women‘s experience is elementar for understanding of the family and is
„different“ and full-valued.
Gender is socially constructed.
Social and historical context is important.
There are many types of families – the nuclear model is for example not
sustainable.
Stress on social change.
There is no objective observation of the people – researchers are
subjectively formed, all family members need to be taken into
consideration.
Research fields:
Socialization and care
Work and family (work-life-balance, disc)
Gender at workplace (glass cieling, gender segregation, harrassement)
Violence and agression (domestic violence)
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12/17/2011
The Crisis of the Family
What is marriage and family?
Huge historical shifts in understanding of marriage and family
Traditional family: multigenerational; procreative; economic capital;
universal function; hierarchical and complementary roles; patrilinear;
religious discourse
marriage symbolic act for >becoming a member<
marriage has now other functions than before:
emotional, non-procreative, civil character though still
some symbolic value
Modern family: nuclear (based on marriage); procreative; economic,
social and cultural capital; nurture, status and emotional function;
segregated and complementary roles; civil discourse
marriage symbolic act for >crating new family<
Postmodern family: variable and individualised; non-procreative,
emotional; social and cultural capital; emotional function; individualised
roles; masmedial discourse
marriage = symbolic act,
family = „community“ (same household-different ties, biological ties-different
households + with marriage not giving up on other social networks, which are then
entering the family)
so called Crisis of the Family
shift of functions and roles (emotional, individual…)
feminism and male-female equality – disruption or collapse of
traditional gender roles (they are not given, they have to be
negotiated)
low birth rates (+ growing infertility), low marriage rate, high
divorce rate (serial monogamy) … either based on own decision
or from biological reasons
Sociological theories and the family
Durkheim‘s foundations; Rouseau; family law and ethnology
Engels (On family) & marxist approach (macro)
Family as basic economic entity, reproduces the society/labor (refreshing of labor craft of
men & baring of new children/laborers)
Structural-functionalism (Parsons) (macro)
role division within family and kinship
Functions that family fulfills (socialization, stabilization of an individual through marriage)
Social construction/Symbolic interactionism (micro)
How families create and re-create themselves in everydaylife, the roles are negotiated and
constructed within interaction
Other theories:
Conflict th. (macro) – emphasizes issues surrounding social inequality, power, conflict and
social change
Social exchange th. (micro) – individual are rational and their behavior reflects an
evaluation of costs and benefits
Developmental th. (micro) – family and its members go through distinct stages with own
tasks, roles and responsibilities
Life Course Perspective (micro) – how individuals lives change as they pass through the
events in their lives, recognizing that many changes are socially produced and shared
among a cohort of people
Systems theories (micro) – family members and their roles make up a system
Sociobiological (macro) – family and the role division bases in biological prescriptions
Topics within Sociology of Family
Classical topics
Family as economic and system entity, as social institutions; family policies
Social inequality within family life (gender, class, ethnicity, region, …)
Marriage, divorce, marriage market, love and sex
Child care, socialization
Family and work combination; bread-winning, household
Communication, stress, role division
Other topics
Singles, childlessness
Alternative family models
IVF, adoptions, gay and lesbian families, single-parent families
Research on family:
Le Play (1855) – household, workers families (kinship, unstable, wide
family types)
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