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Question?
Why or how might feminist sociologists
criticise the theories of Functionalist
and Marxist sociologists?
‘Malestream’ sociology
• Heidensohn (1985) accuses the CCCS of being
‘malestream’.
• Which means that their accounts were
written by male sociologists about young
males.
• Traditionally all academics were men and
naturally men are more interested in
researching and writing about male behaviour
• Some feminists might argue that by making
the female element invisible male sociologists
have been reinforcing patriarchal dominance!
Gender
• Patterns of socially constructed
behaviour
• Talcott Parsons (a functionalist in the
1950s) supported the biological
determinist argument:
• Male instrumental role of breadwinner
• Female expressive role of carer
Masculinity
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What does it mean to be masculine?
Traditional masculinity includes:
Male supremacy
Heterosexuality
working class ideology
Aggression
Laddish culture
Nayak (2006) argues that men used to be
the breadwinners and do physical jobs
which enabled them to opt out of domestic
duties… how has this changed?
Femininity?
• What does it mean to be feminine?
• Is femininity changing?
Is Audrey Hepurn the
essence of a feminine
role model?
• 3 waves
Feminism
1
3
2
• 3 theories
Radical
Marxist
Liberal
Suffragette
The suffragettes
Women had to campaign long and hard before they were
given voting rights.
In the early twentieth-century, this campaign was led by
the suffragettes.
The suffragettes
were groups of
women across the
country who fought
for more
than 30 years to
receive equal
democratic rights
with men.
1960’s 2nd Wave
Radical Feminism
Society for Cutting Up Men
Radical Feminism
• Men are the ruling class - Patriarchy
• Female oppression exists
• Male strength, rape and sexual violence
underpin male control
• Some become ‘separatists’ that women
need to be completely independent of
men
• Lesbian only relationships, Celibacy for
some
Marxist
Feminism
Capitalism requires an
unpaid carer in the home
and a reserve army of low
paid labour to draw on and
control pay
Liberal
Feminism
Campaign for equal
rights and an end to
gender inequality
Gradual change rather
than revolution
Inequality is the result
of sexism,
discrimination, sex-role
stereotypes and
socialisation
Rebecca Walker future
president of the USA?
What do you know?
• Can you identify any female
subcultures?
• Have you been aware of different
female groups with in school?
• Were they attached to equivalent male
groups?
• Have you been aware of any groups of
males that do not have female
members? (or visa versa)
New wave girls
Blackman (1995)
10 girls
School study
Doc Martin
boots
Popular
punk & new
black trousers
wave music
T-shirts & over
academically able
sized jumpers
working or lower non-conformist,
middle class
resist masculine &
parental control
McRobbie & Garber (1976)
• Bedroom culture
• What are your views on
girls’ magazines?
• What sort of content do
they have?
• Smart (1976)
• Parents exercise
different levels of control
over boys and girls.
• What difference does this
make?
Girl only subcultures?
• The Riot Grrrls
in the USA
• Display feeling
of anger and
oppression
• SK8er girls
associated with
Avril Lavigne in
the US and
Canada…
Criticisms
• How can we criticise feminist theories
of youth subculture?
• Only focused on gender issues
• Rise of androgynous culture
• List Criticism of Feminist view of Youth
Sub-cultures on page 258 of OCR
textbook –
• Remember to mark them in margin on red
to remind you that these are important
criticisms.
Quick check
• What name did McRobbie and Garber give
to the girl youth culture which centred
around romance, fashion and a certain
private domestic space
• What girl sub-culture grew up in the USA
associated with Avril Lavigne
• Why was there so little research done on
girl sub-cultures before the 1990s
• Sharpe (1976/1994)
• Used structured interviews so that views
could be compared over time.
• In 1976 revealed girls’ priorities as being
love, marriage, children, husband and jobs
in that order !
• In 1994 this had changed to more career
orientated aspirations.
• What are the potential problems with
structured interviews?
• She used only a small sample !!
PEEA Mindmap!
• Discuss the view that females have little
involvement in youth cultures (30)
• Use three colours to identify the
• AO1 Knowledge and understanding
• AO2 Evaluation and analysis