Sociological Perspectives: Feminism, the New Right and Postmodernism

Learning Objectives  To explain the main features of Feminism, the New Right and Postmodernism

Feminism  Individually note down what you think Feminism is.  Do you consider yourself a Feminist? Why?

Feminism  Feminism is a theory which focuses on the experiences of women in society.  Feminists see society as patriarchal (male dominated) where females experience inequality and disadvantage compared to males.  In pairs, note down as many ways as you can think of that females experience disadvantage compared to males.

Patriarchal Society  In groups of 4, for each of the following areas of society, note down how they may reinforce patriarchal ideas:  Family  Media  Employment  Public spaces  Politics

Family

 Women are often expected to be the main carer.  This often results in them having to either give up work or take on part time work resulting in them being financially dependent on their partner.

Media  84% of front page articles are dominated by male subjects or experts (Women in Journalism study 2012).  1 in 5 solo presenters on UK radio is female (Sound Women 2013).  Just 5% of sports media coverage in the UK is devoted to women’s sport (Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation 2011).

Media  Between 2006 and 2009 not one female character in a family film was shown as working in medical science, as a business leader, in law or politics (Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media).  A study in 2011 showed it was virtually impossible to differentiate between the copy printed in lads’ mags and the words of convicted sex offenders.  ch?v=DUXOVGV5wqQ ch?v=DUXOVGV5wqQ

Employment  Women working full time in the UK in 2012 earned 14.9% less than men (Fawcett Society 2013).  60% of women in the UK have had a male colleague behave ‘inappropriately’ towards them (Slater and Gordon 2012).

Employment  Women’s everyday experiences (taken from the book Everyday Sexism):  “I worked at a top law firm in recruitment and have heard partners assessing female candidates according to their attractiveness”.  “HR manager told me on our first day ‘If you are going to report sexual harassment, first think about what you were wearing that day’”.

Public Spaces 

Public Spaces  43% of women in London aged 18 to 34 experienced sexual harassment in public in the past year (YouGov 2012).  87% of American women aged 18 to 64 have been harassed by a male stranger (Penn Schoen Berland Associates 2000).  “I do things like put my hair up in a certain way that means its hard to be grabbed at or if I’m really scared holding my keys between my fingers…I wear headphones with the music turned up…so I don’t have to hear catcalls. I walk at a certain distance from groups of men in front of me. If they are behind me I take a different route. This is all just normal to me now.” (Everyday Sexism).

Politics  29.4% of the UKs MPs are female.  The UK is 43 rd in the world for gender representation according to the UN (The Telegraph).

The New Right  This is more of a political philosophy than a sociological perspective.  However it has had a significant influence on Sociology.  Read through the section on the New Right in your handout.

Saunders  Peter Saunders was a sociologist who claimed that inequality was good for society.  He claimed that if society was equal there would be no incentive for people to do their jobs/roles in society.  Because of this force would have to be used to make people do their jobs. This would be bad.  Therefore, Saunders sees unequal wages as a good thing.  What do you think?  A key viewpoint of the New Right is that everyone has the opportunity to do well in society.  Do you agree? What barriers might some people face? What advantages might some people have?

Postmodernism  Postmodernists argue that grand narratives such as Functionalism, Feminism, Marxism etc. cannot be applied to society as society has changed so much and is continuing to change.  They see consumer culture and the media as important influences in enabling people to pick and mix their identities.  How does consumer culture and the media enable people to pick and mix their identities? Can you think of any examples?