For the radical it is the most deep and significant social division. The feminists have advanced an idea of ‘sex politics’ in a similar way to ‘class politics’ of socialists. However, as conventional politics has typically ignored gender division feminists have been forced to develop their own concepts to aid in their analysis – one of such crucial ‘ideas’ is that of Patriarchy. Some feminists limit the terms use to describing power relationships within the family, and use terms such as ‘male dominance’ to discuss the wider world gender relations. However, they do hold that the dominance of the father within the family is symbolic of the supremacy in all other institution.
The common radical feminist view on family is that it is institutionally patriarchal, and that gain much more from marriage than women. Greer (2000) argues that wives get less out of marriage than husbands; for example, single women tend to be happier than married women though the opposite is true for men. This is partly because women remain subservient to their husbands and do not revolt against their oppressive spouses. However, from a functionalist perspective, the family is a key aspect of society which helps maintain it and ensure that vital norms and values are passed on in order for society to progress. Parsons (1955) maintains that the family still has a vital role in preparing its members to meet the requirements of the social system.
For example women gained the right to vote in the 20th century and rape in marriage was made a crime in the early 1990s. A liberal feminist, Jessie Bernard, sees the role of housewife as the key factor in limiting the potential of women. Bernard believes that marriage is particularly beneficial for men as they are more likely than single men to have successful careers, high incomes and high status occupations. However, wives are found to express marital dissatisfaction more frequently than men, since they gain least. The positive of liberal feminists are that in general the writers will have an optimistic view of the current position and future prospects of women in society and the family on the other hand the negatives of this view are that some of the social changes are proved to be incorrect for instance studies on the conjugal roles (the roles of the men and
They say that family is vital for 4 things in society: the regulation of sexual activity, reproducing and raising children, educating or socialising society’s way of life to the younger members and being an economic unit with clear divisions of labour between genders. With the decline in the nuclear family, they will believe that these four functions will diminish and society will not function in an adequate way. Where liberal feminists would not be happy about the decline in nuclear families as they believe that increasing equality exists between men and women, radical and Marxist feminists would think that it is a good thing. Radical feminists argue that men benefit much greater than women within the family environment. They say that gender roles which are allocated within a family are accepted by the women, which then goes on to disadvantage them in later life when it comes to things such as employment.
This definition of the family is popular with right wing sociologists who believe it is the ideal type of family unit that every should want to have. They argue this because they believe the nuclear family is the best type of family for individuals and for society as a whole. They believe that it is the nuclear family that conducts primary socialisation the best out of all the different family units, making the nuclear family the best. However, functionalists tend to see the family as harmonious but this is clearly not the case in society today. Feminist criticise the functionalist view on the nuclear family by arguing that the nuclear family doesn't suit everyone within the family unit and can be more damaging than it is beneficial.
Assess the fashion industry using the feminist perspective Feminists argue that that in society men oppress women and that women do not have equal rights when compared to men, they argue that the family serves the needs of patriarchy and that we reside in a patriarchal society where males are the dominate sex. Feminists take a critical view on most things in society but a main one being fashion. Feminism itself simplifies down to equality. It is shown to be not about attacking men but improving society and having equal chances between both sexes. It states that many women’s focus is on her wardrobe so they can impress the opposite sex as they feel useless if they fail to impress, they also argue that fashion is a more female dominated area, they show that most of the top fashion designers are male ruled and that Radical Feminists such as Germaine Greer believe that all key societies (including fashion) have been found on patriarchy (ruled by men).
Nevertheless, it seems that he could not escape the dominant philosophy of his own society that women were the weaker sex. The question is why? Why did More believe that giving more rights and power to women would contribute to the creation of a perfect society? Also, why, yet giving women more rights and power than they usually would be given, he still maintained the patriarchal values of the sixteenth century? Even in the perfect Utopian world of Thomas More, the social status of women, the role they played in society and the general way they were treated, were influenced by the dominant view of the society at that time and by his own personal values.
Feminist views of the family revolve around and understanding of the term patriarchy, which means make domination. Feminists agree that men tend to have a superior position in society and that women suffer oppression because of this. Many feminists argue that the family is a corner stone of this oppression and as such needs careful analysis. Liberal feminists believe that the fanily is gradually becoming less oppressive for women, they cite the move of many families towards more symmetrical roles where men take more part in the domestic roles so that women are no longer burdened by the mundane, repetitive, low status work of cleaning, laundry and childcare work which makes their position in society less powerful than mens. However, radical feminists disagree.
They truly believed they were better than the women and had more rights than the women. There are several examples of social inequality in the Scarlett Letter. On the surface, it appears that Hester’s main punishment is her public admonishment and visual letter; however, she suffers additional penalties. For instance, Hester marries Chillingworth to get to American. She sacrifices love, intimacy and companionship.
They view the family as beneficial to the individual and society. They believe that nuclear family maintains the society by passing on norms, values and culture to the next generation. Murdock (1949) claimed that the nuclear family is so useful to society that it is inevitable and universal (appearing everywhere). According to G.P Murdock Murdock claimed that he had found evidence of nuclear families in the 250 different societies he studies. The family is universal because it fulfils the following essential functions for society.