Feminist Theory

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Feminist Theory

• Looking at the World through a Gendered Lens

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Assumptions of Feminist Sociological Theory

• Women as subject
• Must be articulated by women
• Dependence upon activism (Praxis)
• Multidisciplinary
• The point is twofold
• Broaden understanding
• Change society

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Focusing on two questions

• What about the Women?
• Why is the situations of women this way?

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Gender Difference

• Men and women experience social reality
  differently and in a gendered manner
• Cultural feminism
• Sociobiology
• Loss of voice

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Gender Inequality

• Men and women experience social reality
  differently and unequally
• Gender roles
• Perpetuation of social functionalsim

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Gender Oppression

• Men have actively oppressed women in society
  creating the inequality
• Cultural critiques
• Intersectionality

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Structural Oppression

• The structure of society oppresses humans from
  achieving their human potential
• Social Constructions of Gender
• Marxist political economy
• (Feminist Historical Materialism)

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Additional reading

• Lengermann, Patricia Madoo and Jill
  Niebrugge-Brantley. 2003. Contemporary Feminist
  Theory, in Sociological Theory ed. George
  Ritzer. New York McGraw Hill Publishers.