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Androcentrism (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, andro-, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at the center of one's view of the world and its culture and history. The related adjective is androcentric, while the opposite of androcentrism is gynocentrism.

The term androcentrism has been introduced as an analytic concept by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent United States sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction,and a lecturer for social reform....
 in the scientific debate.






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Androcentrism (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, andro-, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing male human beings or the masculine point of view at the center of one's view of the world and its culture and history. The related adjective is androcentric, while the opposite of androcentrism is gynocentrism.

The term androcentrism has been introduced as an analytic concept by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent United States sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction,and a lecturer for social reform....
 in the scientific debate. Perkins Gilman described androcentric practises in society and the resulting problems in her investigation on The Man-Made World; or, Our Androcentric Culture, published in 1911. Thus androcentrism can be understood as a societal
Society

A society is a group of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions....
 fixation
Fixation

Fixation may refer to the following:In science:*Fixation , the state in which an individual becomes obsessed with an attachment to another human, an animal, or an inanimate object...
 on masculinity
Masculinity

Masculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys , that is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes....
. According to Perkins Gilman, masculine patterns of life and masculine mindset
Mindset

A mindset, in decision theory and systems theory, refers to a set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people or groups of people which is so established that it creates a powerful incentive within these people or groups to continue to adopt or accept prior behaviours, choices, or tools....
s claimed universality
Universality (philosophy)

In philosophy, universalism is a doctrine or school claiming universal facts can be discovered and is therefore understood as being in opposition to relativism....
 while female ones were considered as deviance
Deviance

Deviance can refer to a number of topics, including:*Deviance *statistical deviance—see deviance *a warez group...
.

Male and female education

In the past boys and men were expected to have better formal education than girls and women. Before universal literacy girls and women were less frequently able to read and write than boys and men were. Therefore written material tended to reflect the male point of view. This may be true in the Third World
Third World

Third World is a categorical label used to describe states that are considered to be developed in terms of their economy or level of industrialization, globalization, standard of living, health, education or other criteria for 'advancements'....
 today. Well into the second half of the 20th century young men entered university
University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education....
 far more frequently than young women. Some universities consciously practised a numerus clausus
Numerus clausus

Numerus clausus is one of many methods used to limit the number of students who may study at a university. It can be similar to a racial quota, both in form and motivation....
 and restricted the number of female undergraduates they accepted. Therefore “Educated Opinion” risked being androcentric. Today women in advanced countries have far better access to education.

Literature

  • Harding, Sandra
    Sandra Harding

    Sandra Harding is an United States philosopher of Feminist philosophy and post-colonialism, epistemology, research methodology and philosophy of science....
     and Merrill B. Hintikka, ed. Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. 1983.
  • Harding, Sandra. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women's Lives. 1991.
  • Fox Keller, Evelyn
    Evelyn Fox Keller

    Evelyn Fox Keller is an United States physicist, author, and feminism and is currently a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
    . Reflections on Gender and Science. Yale University Press, 1985.
  • Harding, Sandra. The Science Question in Feminism. 1986.
  • Ruth Ginzberg, “Uncovering Gynocentric Science,” in Feminism and Science, ed. Nancy Tuana, (Bloomington, IN: IUP, 1989): 69-84


See also

  • Anthropocentrism
    Anthropocentrism

    Anthropocentrism is the belief that humans must be considered at the center of, and above any other aspect of, reality. This concept is sometimes known as humanocentrism or human supremacy....
  • Chauvinism
    Chauvinism

    Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group....
  • Egocentrism
    Egocentrism

    In psychology, egocentrism is defined asa) the incomplete differentiation of the self and the world, including other people andb) the tendency to perceive, understand and interpret the world in terms of the self....
  • Ethnocentrism
    Ethnocentrism

    Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. The term was introduced in 1906 by William Graham Sumner, a Yale professor and anti-imperialist, in his book Folkways....
  • Eurocentrism
    Eurocentrism

    Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture....
  • Gynocentrism
  • Kyriocentrism
  • Masculinity
    Masculinity

    Masculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys , that is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes....
  • Matriarchy
    Matriarchy

    Matriarchy refers to a gynecocentric form of society, in which the leadership is taken by the women and especially by the mothers of a community....
  • Misandry
    Misandry

    Misandry is hatred of men or boys. It is parallel to misogyny?the hatred of women. Misandry is also comparable with misanthropy which is the hatred of humanity generally....
  • Misogyny
    Misogyny

    Misogyny is hatred of women or girls. It is parallel to misandry?the hatred of men. Misogyny is also comparable with misanthropy which is the hatred of humanity generally....
  • Patriarchy
    Patriarchy

    Patriarchy can be defined as the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary Social responsibility for the welfare of, and authority over, their families....


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