Feminism

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  • Created by: asusre
  • Created on: 27-04-21 18:06
Which liberal feminist distinguishes between sex and gender?
Oakley makes a key distinction between sex and gender:
Sex refers to biological differences whereas gender refers to socially constructed differences between masculine and feminine roles.
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How do liberal feminists seek to achieve gender equality?
Liberal feminists believe gender equality can be won through cultural changes and gradual reforms.
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What cultural changes do liberal feminists seek to make?
Liberal feminists challenge sexist attitudes and gender stereotyping by changing gendered socialisation e.g., men contributing to domestic labour, promoting more female role models in education and challenging gender stereotyping in the media.
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What is an example of an anti-discriminatory feminist law?
The Equal Pay Act (1970) is an example of an anti-discriminatory feminist law.
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What is a strength of liberal feminism?
Studies conducted by liberal feminists have produced evidence documenting gender inequality and discrimination, legitimising the demand for reform. Their work has also helped to demonstrate that gender differences are not inborn but the result of socialis
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What are the limitations of liberal feminism?
Liberal feminism is criticised for over-optimism, and ignoring the structural factors causing women’s oppression.
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How do Marxist and radical feminists critique liberal feminism?
Radical and Marxist feminists argue that liberal feminism is naive to believe that changes in in the law or attitudes will be enough to bring about gender equality.
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Which sociologist argues that liberal feminism offers no explanation for the overall structure of gender inequality?
Walby argues that liberal feminism offers no explanation for the overall structure of gender inequality.
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Which radical feminist identifies the reason for patriarchy's universality?
Firestone argues that patriarchy is universal because the origins of female oppression lie in women’s biological capacity to bear and care for infants, since performing this role means they become dependent on men.
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Why do radical feminists see men as the enemy of women?
Men are women’s enemy as all men oppress all women. All men benefit from patriarchy, especially from women’s unpaid domestic labour and sexual services.
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What are 'sexual politics'?
Sexual politics refers to the fact that personal relationships between men and women are political as men dominate women using physical/sexual violence or the threat of it.
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What solutions do radical feminists propose to patriarchy?
Radical feminists are in favour of separatism, consciousness-raising and political lesbianism as solutions to patriarchy.
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What is consciousness-raising?
Consciousness-raising involves women sharing their experiences of gendered oppression in women-only groups which can lead to collective action.
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What is separatism?
Separatism involves women living apart from men, thereby creating a new culture of female independence.
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Which sociologist argues in favour of separatism?
Greer argues for the creation of all-female ‘matrilocal’ households as an alternative to the heterosexual family.
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What is political lesbianism?
Political lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality, as heterosexual relationships are oppressive and involve ‘sleeping with the enemy’.
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What is a strength of radical feminism?
One strength of radical feminism is that the idea that the person is political reveals how intimate relationships can involve domination.
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What are the limitations of radical feminism?
Radical feminism ignores women’s violence against men and violence within lesbian relationships and the concept of patriarchy is of little value because it involves a circular argument.
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Which sociologist argues that the concept of patriarchy is of little value because it involves a circular argument?
Pollert argues that the concept of patriarchy is of little value because it involves a circular argument. Male violence is explained as patriarchy, while patriarchy is maintained by male violence – so patriarchy is maintaining itself.
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What are difference feminists' critique of radical feminism?
Difference feminists argue that radical feminism offers no explanation of why female subordination takes different forms in different societies and, it ignores class and ethnic differences between women.
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What are Marxist feminists' critique of radical feminism?
Marxist feminists assert that class, not patriarchy, is the primary form of equality. They argue that capitalism, not men, is the main cause and beneficiary of the oppression of women.
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What are liberal feminists' critique of radical feminism?
Liberal feminists argue that patriarchy may already be in decline as gender equality has improved greatly in recent years due to social reforms and changing attitudes.
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According to Marxist feminists, what is the cause of women's oppression?
Women’s subordination in capitalism results from their primary role as unpaid homemaker, which places them in a dependent economic position in the family.
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How does capitalism benefit from the oppression of women?
Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour, are a reserve army of labour, reproduce the labour force and absorb the anger of their husbands that would otherwise be directed at capitalism.
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How are women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour?
Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour because they can be paid less asit is assumed that they will be partially dependent on their husbands’ earnings.
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How are women are a reserve army of labour ?
Women are a reserve army of labour that can be moved into the labour force during economic booms and out again at times of recession because it is assumed their primary role is in the home.
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How do women reproduce the labour force?
Women reproduce the labour force through unpaid domestic labour, socialising children to become the next generation of workers by maintaining and servicing the current generation of workers, their husbands.
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Which sociologist argues that women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed towards capitalism?
Ansley describes wives as the ‘takers of ****’, who soak up the anger of their husbands at the alienation and exploitation they suffer at work, which explains male domestic violence against women.
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Which Marxist feminist emphasises the role of ideology in the oppression of women?
Barret argues that women's liberation must be secured not only through overthrowing capitalism, but also the ideology of familism.
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What is the ideology of familism?
The ideology of familism presents the nuclear family as natural and ideal and the only place where women can attain fulfilment through the role of mother and housewife, which maintains the oppression of women as it pressures women to conform to living in
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What is a strength of Marxist feminism?
Marxist feminists show a greater understanding of the importance of structural factors than liberal feminism and are correct to give weight to the relationship between capitalism and women’s oppression, as economic production is important to most other ar
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What are the limitations of Marxist feminism?
Marxist feminism fails to explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies, doesn’t explain why unpaid domestic labour is performed by women rather than men and it is not proven that unpaid domestic labour is the cheapest way of reproducing labou
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Which sociologist argues that Marxist feminism doesn't explain why unpaid domestic labour is performed by women rather than men?
Hartmann argues that Marxist feminism doesn’t explain why unpaid domestic labour is performed by women rather than men because Marxism is ‘sex-blind’.
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How do radical feminists critique Marxist feminism?
Radical feminists argue that Marxist feminism places insufficient emphasis on the ways in which men oppress women and benefit from their unpaid labour.
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What is dual systems feminism and an example of a dual systems feminist?
Dual systems feminists such as Hartmann combine the key features of Marxist and radical feminism in a single theory.
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What is patriarchal capitalism?
Patriarchal capitalism refers to the fact that capitalism and patriarchy are intertwined systems that reinforce each other.
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Which dual systems feminist argues that patriarchy and capitalism can have opposing interests?
Walby argues that capitalism and patriarchy do not always share the same interests. Capitalism demands cheap labour for its workforce and patriarchy resists this, wanting to keep women subordinated within the private, domestic sphere.
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Which system, capitalism or patriarchy, is more powerful in the exploitation of the labour of women?
In the long run, capitalism is more powerful and so patriarchy adopts a strategy of segregation instead: women are allowed into the capitalist sphere of paid work, but only in low status ‘women’s’ jobs.
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Why do difference feminists critique mainstream feminism?
Difference feminists such as bell hooks critique mainstream feminism for being essentialist, claiming a false universality and failing to reflect the diversity of women’s experiences of patriarchy.
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What is essentialism?
Essentialism is the idea that all women share the same experiences of oppression.
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What is intersectionality?
Intersectionality means that gender identity is impacted by other social categories such as ethnicity, class, and sexuality.
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What is an example of how differences in ethnicity can lead to differences in patriarchy?
By seeing the family only as a source of oppression, white feminists have neglected black women’s experience of racial oppression as many black feminists view the black family positively as a source of resistance against racism.
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What is an example of how differences in ethnicity/religion can lead to differences in patriarchy?
White feminists see the hijab as a symbol of oppression but Muslim women see it as a symbol of their religious and ethnic identity, which liberates them from the male gaze and sexual harassment.
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Which sociologist critiques difference feminism?
Walby argues that similarities between women are more important than differences, as they all face patriarchy.
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What is poststructuralist feminism?
Poststructuralist feminists such as Judith Butler are concerned with discourses and power/knowledge. They are critical of mainstream feminism for its essentialism.
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What are discourses?
Discourses are the different ways we communicate ideas using language, which give its users the power to define the identities of others.
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How can poststructural feminism reveal how discourses oppress women?
Butler argues that poststructuralism enables feminists to deconstruct (analyse and criticise) different discourses to reveal how they subordinate women.
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Which sociologist argues that language is phallocentric, and what does this mean?
Cixous describes language as phallocentric, meaning that it is male-dominated and reflects a male view of the world.
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How do mainstream feminists use discourses to exclude the views of some women?
Butler argues that white western middle-class women who dominate the feminist movement have falsely claimed to represent ‘universal womanhood’ but this is incorrect as there is no fixed essence of what it means to be a woman because identities are constit
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How do poststructuralist feminists seek to improve society?
Poststructuralist feminists believe that the position of women in society can be improved by deconstructing (analysing and criticising) masculine language and replacing it with a gender-free discourse. There is a diversity of discourses, each of which pro
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What is a strength of poststructuralist feminism?
One strength of poststructuralist feminism is that it offers a theoretical basis for recognising the diversity of women’s experiences and struggles.
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What are the limitations of poststructuralist feminism?
Poststructuralist feminism abandons any noton of real, objective social structures and celebrating difference may divide women thereby weakening feminism as a movement for change.
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Which sociologist argues that poststructuralist feminism abandons any noton of real, objective social structures?
Segal criticises poststructuralist feminism for abandoning any notion of real, objective social structures. Oppression is not just the result of discourses – it is about real inequality.
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What is the feminist view on the sociology as a science debate?
Feminists take an interpretivist view. Quantitative methods cannot capture the reality of women’s experiences.
Poststructuralist feminists argue that science is a malestream ideology and one single feminist scientific theory would exclude some groups of w
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What is the feminist view on the value-freedom debate?
Feminists argue that sociology cannot be value-free as sociology is malestream so male sociologists take sexist bias to their research/choice of topic. Alternatively, feminists argue that sociology should be value-committed to improving society and ending
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What is the feminist view on the relationship between sociology and social policy?
Liberal feminists use social policy to improve gender equality. Radical feminists see policies as reinforcing gender roles and inequality as most serve the interests of men as the majority of lawmakers are male.
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Why do feminists favour interpretivist methods?
Feminists are interpretivists and prefer qualitative methods as they produce more valid data about the lives of women, and encourages them to open up about sensitive subjects which they might be reluctant to talk about to detached, dominating sociologists
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What is one example of how interpretivist methods can help women open up about their experiences?
Oakley used unstructured conversational interviews where she shared her own experiences of motherhood which established more equal relations with the mothers, draw out their feelings and thus produce valid and detailed data.
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Why do feminists reject positivist methods?
Positivist methods have ignored and excluded women and issues of concern to women, treated women as insignificant extensions of men and used ‘malestream methods’ which contradicts the aims of feminist research.
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Which sociologist argues that positivist methods have ignored and excluded women and issues of concern to women?
Mies argues that much positivist research has a masculine bias and a male view of life that ignores the experiences of women.
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What is one example of how positivist methods have ignored and excluded women and issues of concern to women?
Oakley encountered opposition to her pioneering study of housework for not being regarded by male sociologists as a serious topic worthy of sociological study.
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Which sociologist argues that positivist methods treat women as insignificant extensions of men?
Stanley and Wise suggest the findings from research on men are generalised to women, despite the different experiences and inequalities women face.
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Which sociologist argues that positivist methods are malestream?
Westmarland cites structured interviews as an example of a malestream method as the researchers do not reveal their feelings or views or share their knowledge with the interviewees.
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Which sociologist sees malestream methods as contradicting the aims of feminist research?
Oakley sees malestream methods where the researcher is in control and decides what is worth talking about, limiting the responses that can be given as contradicting the aims of feminist research, which are concerned with encouraging women to open up and d
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Which sociologist argues that positivist methods are not always inappropriate in feminist research?
Westmarland argues that positivist methods which produce statistical information can be useful to discover the scale of the issues, such as official statistics about sexual assault.
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How do liberal feminists seek to achieve gender equality?

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Liberal feminists believe gender equality can be won through cultural changes and gradual reforms.

Card 3

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What cultural changes do liberal feminists seek to make?

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Card 4

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What is an example of an anti-discriminatory feminist law?

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Card 5

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What is a strength of liberal feminism?

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