Feminist Social Theory Essay Research Paper How

Feminist Social Theory Essay, Research Paper

How has feminist social theory changed over the last 3 decades. Which current

do you find most satisfying at an intellectual and political level.

In this essay I want to analyse how feminist theory has changed since the 1970s. However, I want to examine the importance of sex, gender and social theory vis- -vis class and race and to show that the experience of oppression by white women and women of colour can be very different. I believe that to examine the issues of sex, gender and social theory at the theoretical level only and without illustrating the discussion with reality is, ultimately, a fruitless exercise. On the subject of which current do you find most satisfying at an intellectual and political level. , the answer to this question will be implicit throughout this essay.

Traditional sociological analysis has in the past tended to look at class, racism and sexism as separate issues. Orthodox Marxian class analysis, for instance, presumed a level of homogeneity and unity among the working class which, if it ever did exist, certainly does not exist today.

The immediate issues raised by the presence of women, blacks and other sub-ordinate groups in the political institutions of the working class carry with them profound theoretical questions which reach into the heart of Marxian explanation. What is the working class today. What gender is it. What colour is it. How in the light of its obvious segmentation, is it to be unified. (Gilroy, 1987, pg.19)

What was left was an inadequate system of analysis when having to consider race and gender.

The same problem was found in traditional feminist analysis. Womanhood’ was talked about as a universal experience, as was the oppression that women suffered. In fact what was been written about was the experience of oppression of white, generally middle-class, women. By largely ignoring issues of race and racism and to some extent class, feminism and the women s movement was alienating many women. This is not to say however that women of colour did not believe in feminist values and ideals (although this would be a feminism formed through their mixed experiences of racism, sexism and class), but it does mean that race and racism was often, if not always, seen as their priority issue, and by uniting with white women, in what was effectively seen as a white movement, they were seen as dividing the black community and drawing attention away from issues of race.(Ryan, 1990))

To analyse the phenomena of class, racism and sexism as discrete, can therefore present both a limiting and dangerously misleading picture. This is not to say however that all phenomena are experienced on an equal level, that one problem can not take precedence over another, as sometimes one is indeed more oppressed by one s sex than one s class, as indeed sometimes one can identify more with one s race than with one s gender. Although often, for many women there is a hierarchy of oppression, for instance, women of colour feeling more oppressed by the phenomena of racism, to get a complete understanding, class, race and gender have to be examined in conjunction with each other.

One of the most written about areas of sexist oppression as seen in traditional feminist writing has been about that of the family . The institution of the family has been seen as the prime site for the disadvantage and oppression of women. Women were seen as the subordinate partner in a patriarchal institution. Oppression and subordination from within the family came in many different forms; housework and unpaid household production, reproduction and childrearing, and the balance of power between the genders in a family unit, to name but a few! However most of the analysis based itself on a very eurocentric view of the family . Presumptions and generalisations were made about the family which were based on the notion of the modern, white, Western family unit. Sylvia Walby highlighted the difference that there can be in family structures in modern Britain, let alone in the rest of the world!

The form of the household in contemporary Britain varies between different ethnic groups, not only between white and black, but between ethnic minorities as well. In Afro-Caribbean households the notion of the dependent full-time housewife is even less likely to be true than in native white families. (Walby, 1990, pg. 76)

Walby then goes on to highlight the difference in family structures, i.e. a much higher incidence of one parent families in the Afro-Caribbean community, and the difference between the different ethnic groups and their women s position in the labour market, i.e. West Indian women having the highest rate of economic activity. All of these structural differences show that there is in fact a huge diversity of experiences to be had within the family and that it is actually impossible to make generalisations, let alone examine the family without taking into consideration issues of race and class.

Little could it then be imagined that for some women the family could in fact be a site of resistance and a safe haven against the sometimes more brutal oppression of racism. Historically, for black people, the creation of a real family and a real home was something that was denied to them through slavery. Therefore,

Historically, African-American p