Patriarchal Society Essay

313 Words2 Pages
The article dissects the idea of a patriarchal society and theorizes the components that help to understand the concept as well as why humans behave and contribute to the effects of the patriarchal system. Johnson states “race, gender, and class oppression are not oppression at all but merely the sum of individual failings on the parts of blacks, women, and the poor, who lack the right stuff to compete successfully with whites, men, and others who know how to make something of themselves” (Johnson, Patriarchy, the System: An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us). Johnson argues that oppression is individual failings and further in the article discussion how to fix society one must start of the individual not at the system through the courts. Johnson makes a clear announcement that he is bias toward white man highlighting how black, women, and the poor are not oppressed but dumb. Johnson throughout the article points out ways to explain the patriarchal phenomena and why it occurs. He gives the reader simple circular diagram to help them comprehend how individuals contribute to the system and make those social systems a never ending cycle. Johnson makes points how media and culture also heighten the patriarchal system feeding into the younger generations that male violence such as women getting raped and domestic violence is a social norm and tolerable. Also explained is that if one man were to commit an act of violence, he would be condemned upon, but that thought of a cultural dehumanizing women isn’t questioned. Johnson again shows signed of a male dominance bias because of his inability to notice activists groups and movie ratings that are created to combat violence on women and to censure material not suited to the younger generations. Johnson uses diction such as “stuff” and generalizations that make his article seem uneducated and not
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