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Patriarchy
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Patriarchy can be defined as the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of, and authority over, their families. The concept of patriarchy is often used by extension (in anthropology and feminism, for example) to refer to the expectation that men take primary responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.
Western civilization is predominately patriarchal, and has only recently gravitated towards a more egalitarian form under the influence of the Women's rights movement.
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Encyclopedia
Patriarchy can be defined as the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of, and authority over, their families. The concept of patriarchy is often used by extension (in anthropology and feminism, for example) to refer to the expectation that men take primary responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.
Western civilization is predominately patriarchal, and has only recently gravitated towards a more egalitarian form under the influence of the Women's rights movement. The major non-Western civilizations in the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia remain pronouncedly patriarchal.
The feminine form of patriarchy is matriarchy. However, there are no known examples of strictly matriarchal societies.
Etymology and related terms
The usage of the word patriarchy in the sense of a male-oriented social organization started in the English language in the 16th century, from the post-classical Latin patriarchia "office of a patriarch". It is a loanword from Byzantine Greek "office of a patriarch", in use since the 6th or 7th century for the Christian office, but attested in the 4th century for the headship of a Jewish community, from the Hellenistic Greek term for such a community leader, .
Greek "patriarch, community leader" is a compound of "father" and , from archos "chief" (see arch-, Archon). The Greek suffix forms nominal abstratcs. Greek was Latinized as -archia and hence directly English -archy.
The English term is first used in the sense of the societal organization rather than the Church office in the 17th century, by Francis Bacon.
The term patriarch, from post-classical Latin patriarcha "chief or head of a family or tribe", Anglo-Norman patriarche was the title of the bishop of any of the chief sees of the Roman Empire.
The Biblical Patriarchs are the heads of the Israelite tribe before Moses. In late medieval use, it could more generically refer to any venerable old man.
The adjective for patriarchy is patriarchal; and patriarchalism, or more commonly paternalism, refer to the practice or defence of patriarchy.
Patron is from Latin patronus, and via the use in patron saint came to be used generically (not gender specific) in English.
The verb form patronize can be used positively, to describe the activity of patrons, or negatively, to describe adopting a superior attitude. If the superior attitude is adopted by a man, he can be called paternalistic.
Patrimonalism describes the view of a state as the extended household of a mon-arch (sole ruler, arche as above) or deity. There are records of patrimonalism almost as far back as the earliest writing itself (about 5000 years ago). This is probably because patrimonalism directly facilitated the invention of writing — the first hereditary monarchs gained so much wealth as to need to keep accounts, and enough to pay those accountants. The earliest records of patrimonalism come from Ancient Near Eastern legal documents, the best known being the Code of Hammurabi and the Torah. Some aspects of patrimonalism can still be found in the few remaining monarchies in the world today, for example, British law concerning real estate (see Crown lands), especially in Australia. For more detail regarding patrimonalism see Traditional authority.
Some social customs reflect what is termed patrilineality or patrilocality.
Patrilineal describes the custom of tracing descent from paternal lineage. Typically, it also describes the custom of passing family responsibilities and assets from father to son. By contrast, cultures which trace their lineage maternally are called matrilineal.
Patrilocal describes the custom of brides relocating to the geographic community of the husband and his father's family. In a matrilocal society, a husband will relocate to the home community of his wife and her mother (see also marriage). Matrilocality can substantially increase the social influence of women in a culture, however, given that tribal and family leaders are still men in all known matrilocal societies, matrilocality is not equivalent to matriarchy, see main entry patriarchy (anthropology).
By contrast with these other customs, patriarchy can be seen to be distinctly about gender and the nuclear family, gender and public office, and about female-male relationships in general.
Sociology
Most sociologists reject predominantly biological explanations of patriarchy and contend that social and cultural conditioning is primarily responsible for establishing male and female gender roles. According to standard sociological theory, patriarchy is the result of sociological constructions that are passed down from generation to generation. These constructions are most pronounced in societies with traditional cultures and less economic development. Even in modern developed societies, however, gender messages conveyed by family, mass media, and other institutions largely favor males having a dominant status.
Benefits of patriarchy
Patriarchy is advanced as being beneficial for human evolution and social organization on many grounds, crossing several disciplines. Although biology may explain its existence (see below), arguments for its social utility have been made since ancient times. These include elements of Greek Stoic Philosophy and the Roman social structure based on the pater familias, but are also found in Akkadian records of Babylonian and Assyrian laws. George Lakoff proposes an ancient dichotomy of "Strict Father" as opposed to "Nurturing Parent" models of ethical theory (SFM and NPM). In general, the main lines of argument are either pragmatic—namely, the reproductive advantages of male-as-provider— or ethical—that any perceived male authority is contingent upon underlying perceptions of duty of care.
The constitution of Francisco Franco's Spain enshrined the principles of Patriarchy, for example in stating that in a referendum the vote should be given only to "family heads", and that their opinion in the matter under consideration should be considered as representing the entire family. This was abolished upon the resotration of Spainish democracy in 1975.
Feminist criticism
The 20th century women's rights movement criticized the social domination of males in modern Western society as unjust. Women's suffrage was introduced in all Western democracies by the end of the 20th century (see Timeline of women's suffrage) and female holders of political office and heads of state became commonplace as a consequence. The Women's Rights movement is also known as First-wave feminism.
Second-wave feminism in the 1960s to 1970s turned to theoretical criticism of patriarchy, and feminist history and feminist archaeology constructed the hypothesis of the patriarchy as a secondary imposition on an originally gynecocentric or matriarchal Urgesellschaft.
Tribal societies are not universally patriarchal, and a number of indigenous matrilineal societies with egalitarian structures are on record. This has led to feminist criticism of patriarchy as the result of the hierarchical structure of urban civilization, in the feminist spirituality movement combined with calls to a return to a non-hierarchic model based on paleolithic proto-society.
In some feminist theories, the opposite of feminism is patriarchy. It is not surprising, therefore, that the word patriarchy has a range of additional, negative associations when used in the context of feminist theory, where it is sometimes capitalized and used with the definite article (the Patriarchy), likely best understood as a form of collective personification (compare "blame it on the Government" to "blame it on the Patriarchy"). The use of the word patriarchy in feminist literature has become so loaded with emotive associations that some writers prefer to use an approximate synonym, the more objective and technical androcentric (also from Greek – aner, genitive andros, meaning man).
Fredrika Scarth, a feminist, reads Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex to be saying, "Neither men nor women live their bodies authentically under patriarchy." Mary Daly, a radical feminist, wrote, "Males and males only are the originators, planners, controllers, and legitimators of patriarchy." Carole Pateman, another feminist, writes, "The patriarchal construction of the difference between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."
Liberal, or mainstream, feminists do not propose to replace patriarchy with matriarchy, rather they argue for equality. Some radical feminists and separatist feminists have argued for gendercide against men, matriarchy, or separation. However, Ronald Dworkin has argued that equality is a difficult idea. It is particularly hard to work out what equality means when it comes to gender, because there are real differences between men and women (see Sexual dimorphism and Gender differences). Recent feminist writers speak of "feminisms of diversity", that seek to reconcile older debates between equality feminisms and difference feminisms. For instance, Judith Squires writes, "The whole conceptual force of 'equality' rests on the assumption of differences, which should in some respect be valued equally."
For a leading feminist who writes against patriarchy see Marilyn French; and for one who is more sympathetic see Christina Hoff Sommers.
In summary, some recent feminist writers have shown a tendency to admit misandry among some other members of the movement, and acknowledge real differences in men and women that make diversity a more meaningful aim than reductionistic equality (for example Judith Squires above).
Decades of legislation and affirmative action have not yet changed the fact that western culture is male dominated, and that it remains patriarchal, although women can vote in most countries of the world, and they outnumber men in higher education in many countries.
However, heads of state, cabinet ministers, and the top executives of major companies are still mostly men (see glass ceiling). Also, women's average income is still significantly lower than men's average income. However many masculists argue that this is due to education and career choices that women and men make, rather than the patriarchy. Sally Haslanger claims women are still marginalized within academic philosophy departments.
Matriarchal and egalitarian societies
During the 19th century, scholars such as Johann Jakob Bachofen advanced the idea that matriarchy represented an early stage in the development of human society. According to Bachofen, humans originally lived in a state of sexual liberation, where descent was traced exclusively through maternal lineage. This gave women a position of honor and power which was lost when human societies transitioned to the monogamy demanded by patriarchy. This view, however, is now largely discredited, and both anthropologists and sociologists generally agree that there has never been a human society where women oppress men in the same way that men oppress women in patriarchy. Nevertheless, there is considerable variation in the role that gender plays in human societies. Although there are no known examples of oppressive matriarchal cultures, there are a number of societies that have been shown to be matrilinear or matrilocal and gynocentric, especially among indigenous tribal groups. In addition, some gatherer-hunter groups have been characterized as largely egalitarian and, in the last 30 years theories that egalitarian or "partnership-based" (as opposed to dominator) structures were the norm or at least as prominent as patriarchal throughout pre-history have become widely accepted
See also
Bibliography
- Adeline, Helen B. Fascinating Womanhood. New York: Random House, 2007.
- Baron-Cohen, Simon. The Essential Difference: The Truth about the Male and Female Brain. New York: Perseus Books Group, 2003.
- Beauvoir, Simone de. Le Deuxième Sexe. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1949. (original French edition)
- Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. London: Jonathan Cape, 1953. (first UK edition, in translation)
- Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. (first USA edition, in translation)
- Bourdieu, Pierre. Masculine Domination. Translated by Richard Nice. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
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- Brown, Donald E. Human Universals. New York: McGraw Hill, 1991.
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- Konner, Melvin. Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit. 2nd edition, revised and updated. (Owl Books, 2003). 560p. ISBN 0805072799 [first published 1982,
- Lepowsky, Maria. Gender in an Egalitarian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
- Mead, Margaret. 'Do We Undervalue Full-Time Wives'. Redbook 122 (1963).
- Mies, Maria. Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour. Palgrave MacMillan, 1999.
- Moir, Anne and David Jessel. Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women.
- Ortner, Sherry Beth. 'Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?'. In MZ Rosaldo and L Lamphere (eds). Woman, Culture and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974, pp. 67-87.
- Ortner, Sherry Beth. 'So, Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?'. In S Ortner. Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 173-180.
- Pilcher, Jane and Imelda Wheelan. 50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies. London: Sage Publications, 2004.
- Pinker, Steven. The Blank Slate: A Modern Denial of Human Nature. London: Penguin Books, 2002.
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