Feminist Theories

What is feminist theory? - a wide ranging system of ideas about social life and human experiences developed from a woman centered perspective. [woman centered because it examines the situations and experiences of women, tried to describe the social world from the standpoint of women] First wave feminism - comte coined the term sociology, marx weber and durkheim dominated sociology at this time but there were women doing feminist work at this time also, trying to establish a feminist perspective but their work was overlooked. in the last few years, their work was reevaluated and now they are considered among the classical theorists who helped shape soc. KEY ISSUES: WANTED TO THEORIZE DIFFERENCE (how the experience of women in society are in contrast to that of men) and THEORIZE INEQUALITY (how the location of women in society is less privileged than that of men) Classical Theorists: - concerned about the struggle of women for political rights, around the 20s women in many countries were given the right to vote. this was the end point of the first wave Temporary decline of feminism - 20s-60s, 2 reasons 4 the decline: 1. New political rights (faced great difficulty in using their new rights to push for change) 2. social crises (various crises got in the way of pressing for change) Second Wave Feminism - 60s-90s using their political rights to push for change, see the emergence of the concept of gender in theory,see the rise of women's movement, were trying to reestablish a feminist perspective in sociology Third wave feminism - 90s-present, used to describe the ideas developed by women of diverse backgrounds, referes to the ideas of women living adult lives in the 21st c. Socialist Feminism - Emphasizes how women are disadvantaged by both the existence of capitalism and patriarchy, 2 bases for structural oppression (capitalism/patriarchy) they interact to create the oppression of women and is referred to as capitalist patriarchal society, us emarxs analysis of capitalism and feminsms analysis of patriarchy. Engage in dialectical, historical materialism, there are material changes in the history of economic societies and these changes (from foraging to agriarian to capitalist) has implications for women. Socialist FEMINISM: foraging - relationships between men and women were egalitarian Agrarian - relationships started to change, men were n control of the production process on farms and the emergence of patriarchal relationships Capitalism (socialist feminism) - deepenng patriarchal relationships, split between the domestic world of women and the public world. men earned a wage and women stayed home Eliminating structural opression - have to overthrow capitalist patriarchy society, need global solidarity among women, practical political strategies BIO OF DOROTHY SMITH - "dorothy place" England, middle class, BA @ lonon school of economics, under goffman earned PhD from u of cali, divorced mother of two, CAREER: worked as a leactureer of u of cali and u of essex, assistant prof at UBC, then prof at OISE, published everyday world as problematic: a feminist sociology. & facts and femininity: exploring the relations of ruling Smiths' Theoretical Influences - - 2nd wave fminism, personal experinecesm rejected arguments by radical feminists, - Marxism:influenced by marx critical political economy, also influenced by marx's analysis of culture and ideology (marx and engles the german ideology --the ideas of the ruling classa re in every epoch the ruling ideas) SMITH IS INTERESTED IN EXAMINING THE RULING TEXTS IN A CAPITALIST, PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY - Phenomenology: particularaly by the micro lvel approach, goffman - micro level, everyday life, Schutz, here and now reality in everyday life, interpretations differ based on bios.