Patriarchy is the structuring of
familyFamily denotes a group of people or animals affiliated by a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence...
units based on the man, as
father figure"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Epic Records in 1987 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
, having primary authority over the rest of the family members.
Patriarchy also refers to the role of men in
societySociety or human society is the manner or condition in which the members of a community live together for their mutual benefit. By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole....
more generally where
menA man is a male human. The term man is used for an adult human male, while the term boy is the usual term for a human male child or adolescent human male. However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
take primary responsibility over the welfare of the
communityIn biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment.In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of...
as a whole. This authority often includes acting as the dominant figures in social, economic, and political procedures, including serving as representatives via public office.
Most forms of feminism challenge patriarchy as an unjust social system that is oppressive to women. The
women's rightsThe term women's rights refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society...
movement of the early 20th century (also known as
first-wave feminismFirst-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage . The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
) sought to bring political equality to women by giving them the right to vote and hold public office. In the 1960s and 70s,
second-wave feminismThe "second-wave" of the Women's Movement, Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on overturning legal ...
addressed issues of social and economic inequality. This period also saw the rise of
feminist theoryFeminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
which brought criticism of patriarchy into academic contexts. These challenges to the patriarchal order produced far-ranging social restructuring in Western democracies.
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
patriarchOriginally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy...
". 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, .
The term
patriarchOriginally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy...
, from post-classical Latin
patriarcha "
chief or headA traditional tribal chief is the leader of a tribe, or the head of a tribal form of self-government.The notion of a "tribal chief" is rather vague and arbitrary; neither chief nor tribe is clearly defined, so in many cases other designations are used for the same institution, such as petty ruler...
of a family or tribe",
Anglo-NormanThe Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
patriarche was the title of the bishop of any chief sees of the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. 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 English term is first used in the sense of the societal organization rather than the Church office in the 17th century, by
Francis BaconFrancis Bacon,1st Viscount St Alban KC , son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
.
The adjective for
patriarchy is
patriarchal; and
patriarchalism, or more commonly
paternalismPaternalism refers usually to an attitude or a policy reminiscent of the hierarchic pattern of a family based on patriarchy, that is, there is a figurehead that makes decisions on behalf of others for their own good, even if this is contrary to their wishes.It is implied that the fatherly figure...
, refers to the practice or defence of patriarchy.
Patrimonalism describes the view of a
stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
as the extended household of a
monarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
or
deityA deity is a postulated preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
.
Some social customs reflect what is termed
patrilinealityPatrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
or
patrilocalityIn social anthropology, patrilocal residence or patrilocality is a term referring to the social system in which a married couple resides with or near the husband's parents. The concept of location may extend to a larger area such as a village, town, or clan area...
.
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
matrilinealMatrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. In this article matrilineality also is a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the matrilineal inheritance of property and/or titles.A...
.
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
marriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
). Matrilocality can substantially increase the social influence of women in a culture, however, given that tribal and family leaders are still typically men in matrilocal societies, matrilocality is not equivalent to
matriarchyMatriarchy refers to a gynecocentric form of society, in which the leading role is taken by the women and especially by the mothers of a community....
.
By contrast with these other customs, patriarchy can be seen to be distinctly about gender and the
nuclear familyA nuclear family is a family group consisting of only a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters. This can be contrasted with an extended family. Nuclear families can be of any size, as long as the family can support itself and there are only children and two parents...
, gender and public office, and about female-male relationships in general.
History
In the 3rd Century BCE,
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
taught that the city-state developed out of the patriarchal family, although he thought the two were different in kind as well as in scale. In this matter, he followed in the tradition of
Socrates Socrates was a Classical Greek philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students...
who thought being born a woman was a divine punishment, since a woman is halfway between a man and an animal.
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Atlantis/timaeus_page11.html Socrates also denied that citizens had the basic virtue necessary to nurture a good society and equated virtue with knowledge unattainable by ordinary people. During Athens’ struggle with undemocratic
SpartaSparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars...
, Socrates favored Sparta.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrails/Socrates/socratesaccount.html
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
never mentioned Socrates’ sedition against
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, but the cosmology of the
TimaeusTimaeus is a Greek name, meaning "Honour". It may refer to:*Timaeus , a Socratic dialogue by Plato*Timaeus of Locri, the 5th-century Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue...
includes the idea that a man who lives well will live a happy and congenial life on his consort star. Failing this, his second birth will be as a woman.
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Atlantis/timaeus_page5.html
In the
PoliticsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
, Aristotle attempts to illustrate the nature of the hierarchies that exist in the political community and its subordinate communities. He argues for an origin of male rule. In Chapter Thirteen he states that men and women have different kinds of virtue, ‘just as those who are natural subjects differ (from those who rule by nature’.)
http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/files/e5Vjfa/Aristotle_s%20Account%20STAUFFER.pdf
Other ancient societies contemporary with Aristotle, as well as many Athenians, did not share these views of women, family organization, or political and economic structure.
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
left no philosophical record, but
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
left a record of his shock at the contrast between the roles of Egyptian women and the women of Athens. He observed that they attended market and were employed in trade. In ancient Egypt a middle-class woman might sit on a local tribunal, engage in real estate transactions, and inherit or bequeath property. Women engaged in real estate transactions, secured loans, and witnessed legal documents. Greek influence spread, however, with the conquests of
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
, who was educated by Aristotle. Eventually, when Alexander wanted to unite his two empires in equality, Aristotle was adamant that all non-Greeks should be enslaved.
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/aristotle/section3.rhtml
About 200 BCE the Jewish Philosopher
Aristobulus of PaneasAristobulus of Paneas was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of the Peripatetic school, though he also used Platonic and Pythagorean concepts. Like his successor, Philo, he attempted to fuse ideas in the Hebrew Scriptures with those in Greek thought....
claimed that Jewish revelation and Aristotelian philosophy were identical. Before another 200 years had passed it was said that Aristotle derived his doctrine directly from
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
. In the 12 Century, Aristotlianism was harmonized with Judaism by the Tallmudist, philosopher and astronomer,
MaimonidesMoses Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or the acronym the Rambam , was born in Cordoba, Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in Egypt on December 13, 1204....
.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1774&letter=A&search=aristotleandjudaism Subsequent rabbinical thought includes such pronouncements as "
EveEve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-Days:The day before, or the evening before, a holiday, such as:*New Year's Eve*Christmas Eve*St. John's Eve, also called Midsummer's Eve or Bonfire Night...
was not created simultaneously with Adam because God foreknew that later she would be a source of complaint. (Gen. R. xvii), and "Nine curses together with death befell Eve in consequence of her disobedience" (Pirke R. El. Xiv.; Ab. R. N. ii. 42).
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1774&letter=A While Maimonides dared to contradict Aristotle's ideas in matters of faith, it wasn't long before the Islamic philosopher
AverroesAbū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was an Andalusian Muslim polymath of Moroccan origins; a master of Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music...
, endorsed them without reserve.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=2164&letter=A&search=maimonides
For the last 1800 years Christian leaders have placed great emphasis on the creation of
EveEve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-Days:The day before, or the evening before, a holiday, such as:*New Year's Eve*Christmas Eve*St. John's Eve, also called Midsummer's Eve or Bonfire Night...
, believing that the story was historical fact, rather than androcentric myth. Combined with the account of the Fall in Genesis, Chapter 3, it has been used as evidence of insurmountable character defects, not just for Eve but for all women. In the 2nd Century
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
, the son of a centurion, and a pagan until middle life, told women believers, "Do you not know that you are Eve?...Because of the death which you brought upon us, even the Son of God had to die" (De cultu feminarum, libri duo I, 1).
In the 4th Century, the basic attitude was one of puzzlement over the seemingly incongruous fact of woman's existence.
Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , Bishop of Hippo Regius, also known as St. Augustine or St. Austin, was an Algerian Berber philosopher and theologian....
said he could not see how a woman could be any help for a man if the work of childbearing is excluded. However, it was only with Thomas Acquinas in the 13th Century that Aristotle's teachings emerged in the official teachings of Roman Catholicism. Aristotle's assertion that women are misbegotten males can be found in the Summa Theologica, I, 92 I ad 1. The influence of combining Aristotle's theory with biblical interpretations can't be overestimated.
http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv4-72
From the time of
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
,
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
regularly used the commandment in Exodus 20:12 to justify the duties owed to all superiors. ‘Honor thy father,’ became a euphemism for the duty to obey the king. But it was primarily as a secular doctrine that Aristotle’s appeal took on a political meaning. Although many 16th and 17th Century theorists agreed with Aristotle’s views concerning the place of women in society, none of them tried to prove political obligation on the basis of the patriarchal family until sometime after 1680. The patriarchal political theory is associated primarily with Sir
Robert Filmerthumbnail|150px|right|Robert Filmer Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist. His best known work, Patriarcha, published in 1680, was a defense of the divine right of kings to rule...
. Sometime before 1653, Filmer completed a work entitled
Patriarcha. However, it was not published until after his death in 1680. In it, he defended the divine right of kings as having title inherited from
AdamAdam was, according to the Book of Genesis and the Qur'an, the first man created by God and noted in subsequent Jewish, Christian and Islamic commentary. His wife was Eve.- Etymology :...
, the first man of the human race, according to
Judeo-ChristianJudeo–Christian is a term used in the United States, broadly to describe a body of concepts and values thought to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity...
tradition.
In 1688
John LockeJohn Locke was an English physician and philosopher regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political...
, called Filmer’s all-powerful prince “…this strange kind of domineering phantom called the ‘fatherhood’ which, whoever could catch, presently got empire and unlimited, absolute power.” Locke asserted that if ‘honor thy father’, places everyone in subjection to political authority, then it couldn’t mean the duty owed to natural fathers, since they are subjects. By Filmer’s doctrine, fathers have no power since power belongs solely to the prince. (p. 50) Locke also observed that those who propose political rights based on this commandment invariably omit the word ‘mother’. (His editor, however, made a note of Locke’s inconsistency in attributing natural law to the governance of relations between a father and his children, while stating that the law governing relations between a man and his wife is based on legality, or on
EveEve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-Days:The day before, or the evening before, a holiday, such as:*New Year's Eve*Christmas Eve*St. John's Eve, also called Midsummer's Eve or Bonfire Night...
’s punishment after the Fall).
Aristotle’s view, by Locke’s time elevated to an anthropological doctrine, was immune to Locke’s criticism, and subsequent writers continued to give credence to Filmer’s views.
In the 19th Century,
Sarah GrimkeSarah Moore Grimké was an American abolitionist, writer, and suffragist.-Early life:She was born in South Carolina, the daughter of Mary and John Faucheraud Grimké, a rich plantation owner who was also an attorney and a judge in South Carolina. Sarah’s early experiences with education shaped her...
dared to question the divine origin of the scriptures.
Elizabeth Cady StantonElizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
used Grimke’s criticism of biblical sources to establish a basis for feminist thought. She published the Woman’s Bible, which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament. Later, this tendency was enlarged by Feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition..
In
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, from about 1770, the rationalist
EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
and the desire for mystery had brought about a resurgence of a synthesis of
GnosticismGnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the...
, Neo-Platonism and Cabbalistic theosophy.(see,
Hermetic QabalahHermetic Qabalah , is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and is a precursor to the...
) This particular version arose first in the utilitarian and industrial countries of America and England, with the theosophy of Madame Helena Blavatsky. This had a profound impact in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
where it fit into the Libensreform movement. It is likely that
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
was influenced by Blavatsky through the writings of
Guido von List Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
and
Lanz von LiebenfelsAdolf Josef Lanz aka Jörg Lanz, who called himself Lanz von Liebenfels was an Austrian publicist and journalist...
(Goodrick-Clarke, p. 17).
List sought a chauvinist mystique for the defense of Germandom against the liberal, socialist and Jewish political forces in the late Wilhelmian Era. His blueprint involved ruthless subjection of non-Aryans in a hierarchical state; qualification of candidates for education or positions in public service, as well as in professions and commerce, based on racial purity. All non-Aryans were to be slaves. His political principles included racial and marital laws, and a patriarchal society where only male heads had full majority and where only Ario-Germans had freedom and citizenship. Each family was to have a genealogical record, proving
AryanAryan is an English language loanword denoting variously*in historical or dated usage,**the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers, viz. the Iranian and Indo-Aryan peoples**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers,...
lineage. He proposed a new
feudalismFeudalism is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders...
where only the first-born inherits. These ideas were published as early as 1911 and were similar to the
Nuremberg lawsThe Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany which were introduced at the annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg. The laws classified people as German if all four of their grandparents were of "German or kindred blood", while people were classified as Jews if they descended from...
of 1935 (Goodrick-Clarke, p. 45).
Darwinist writers, who wrote of blond, blue-eyed Aryans, were influential in the writings of von Liebenfels (1874-1954). Von Liebenfels had illiberal, pan-German and monarchical sentiments. He believed the lower classes were inferior races and must be exterminated along with the weak.
SocialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
,
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
and
feminismThe term Feminism can be used to describe an academic discourse, or to describe a political, cultural or economic movement aimed at establishing more rights and legal protection for women...
were his most important targets. Women were a special problem, in his view because they were more prone to bestial lusts. (Goodrick-Clarke, 94). He advocated brood mothers in eugenic convents, sterilization and other practices that later influenced the Third Reich, apparent in Himmler’s anticipation of polygamy for his SS, care of unmarried mothers in SS homes, and musings on the education and marriage of chosen women. (Goodrick-Clarke, 97).
The turmoil of the times also brought about the Romantic Movement. In 1861,
Johann Jakob BachofenJohann Jakob Bachofen was a Swiss anthropologist and sociologist, who is most often connected with his research into the matriarchal clans around which primates evolved into hominids, or Mutterrecht, the title of his seminal 1861 book Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical...
, a German romantic and writer of the counter-Enlightenment said that matriarchy preceded patriarchy, and is superior to patriarchy on moral grounds. Bachofen influenced
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
and Frederick Engles. Marxist analysis has been a basis for subsequent feminist thought.
Biology v. social construct debate
Starting from a foundation in the theories of biological
evolutionIn biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
developed by
Charles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
, many 19th-century scholars formulated a linear theory of cultural evolution. One
hypothesisA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι - hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
suggested that human social organization "evolved" through a series of stages: animalistic sexual promiscuity was followed by matriarchy, which was in turn followed by patriarchy. This description was later refuted by most experts studying the subject.
However the biological justification for patriarchy did not begin with Charles Darwin, and work is currently being done on biological theories of human behavior. Today these theories have proponents in the field of
sociobiologySociobiology is a synthesis of scientific disciplines which attempts to explain social behavior in animal species by considering the Darwinian advantages specific behaviors may have. It is often considered a branch of biology and sociology, but also draws from ethology, anthropology, evolution,...
. Sociobiology regards the genetic structure the prime motivator of social behavior. It follows that
natural selectionNatural selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations...
favors individuals who maximize their genetic fittness. A key factor in maximizing genetic fittness is the parental investment in the offspring. Since females have a greater investment than males they behave differently than males. Also, this investment in offspring leads to mutual exploitation between men and women. Conflict arises when both partners try to persuade the other to invest more time. According to R. A. Sydie, a professor of sociology, sociobiologists believe that these theories explain female coyness and male philandering and aggressiveness. D. P. Barash thought they illustrated the biological necessity of women being relegated to the nursery and men deriving satisfaction from their jobs.
The most fundamental critique of sociobiology has to do with its tendency to comtinue the partiality that plagued the discipline of
sociologySociology is the scientific or systematic study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such...
at its inception, when only the male view point was represented. Biology was used to explain women's social roles by
Emile DurkheimDavid Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist and pioneer in the development of modern sociology and anthropology. His work and editorship of the first journal of sociology, L'Année Sociologique, as well as his creation of the first European department of sociology, helped establish sociology...
,
Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud , Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology...
,
Max WeberMaximilian Carl Emil Weber was a German lawyer, politician, historian, sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory and the remit of sociology itself. His major works dealt with the rationalization, bureaucratization, and 'disenchantment' he associated with the...
,
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
and Frederick Engels.
Originally, it was the feminists who called attention to this partiality. Sydie argued that as long as female reproductive capacity is seen as an essential difference, affected very little by social relations, then even Marx's theoretical equality of 'true love' is mythical. (Marx and Engels thought that when private property was abolished, patriarchy would be abolished also. But
monogamyMonogamy is the state of having only one sexual partner at any one time. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos "μονός", which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos "γάμος", which means marriage or union...
would not necessarily disappear; it would be transformed into "true sex love".) Speaking of sociobiology in particular, Sydie said that its theories challenge the subject matter of sociology, because they propose a biological determination of behavior, the source of which is individual genotypes. In its claim that anatomy is destiny sociobiology is also seen as a challenge to feminist theory.
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.
Alleged benefits of patriarchy
Arguments for the biological and social
utilityUtilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people...
of patriarchy have been made since ancient times. These include elements of Greek
Stoic PhilosophyStoicism was a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The stoics considered destructive emotions to be the result of errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not undergo such emotions...
and the Roman social structure based on the
pater familiasThe pater familias was the head of a Roman family. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or the "owner of the family estate". The form is irregular and archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -as...
, but are also found in
AkkadianAkkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
records of Babylonian and Assyrian laws.
George LakoffGeorge P. Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972...
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
pragmaticPragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected. Pragmatism began in...
—namely, the
reproductiveSexual reproduction is characterized by processes that pass a combination of genetic material to offspring, resulting in diversity. The main two processes are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the restoration...
advantages of male-as-provider— or
ethicalEthics is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or morality is , how moral values should be determined , how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations , how moral...
—that any perceived male authority is contingent upon underlying perceptions of
duty of careIn tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The...
.
Universality of patriarchy
Kate MillettKate Millett is an American feminist writer and activist. She is best known for her 1970 book Sexual Politics.-Career:...
wrote in
Sexual PoliticsSexual Politics is a classic feminist text written by Kate Millett, said to be "the first book of academic feminist literary criticism", and "one of the first feminist books of this decade to raise nationwide male ire"....
, "Perhaps patriarchy's greatest psychological weapon is simply its universality and longevity....patriarchy has a [still more] tenacious or powerful hold through its successful habit of passing itself off as nature."
See also
- Anti-feminism
- Chinese patriarchy
Chinese patriacrchy refers to the history and prevalence of male dominance in Chinese society and culture.Mencius outlined the Three Subordinations...
- Domitius
Domitius , in Roman mythology, was a god of marriage, specifically, "The god which helps the groom bring the bride into the marriage house." who kept wives in the households of their husbands. The name is derived from the Latin word for "home"....
- Gender role
A gender role is defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated particularly with males or females, in a given social group or system. It can be a form of division of labour by gender. It is a focus of analysis in the social sciences and humanities...
- Homemaker
A homemaker handles household responsibilities as his or her main daily activity. While not an occupation in the traditional sense, as it is not usually undertaken for monetary remuneration, a homemaker may work full-time to maintain the home environment...
- 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. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have degrees of comparison—more...
- Nature versus nurture
The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature", i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...
- Patriarch magazines
Patriarch magazine was published from 1993 to 2004 by Philip Lancaster, a former minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and a pioneer in the modern home education movement...
- Patriarchs (Bible)
The Patriarchs according to the Judeo-Christian Old Testament, are Abraham, his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob...
- Sociology of fatherhood
The sociology of fatherhood is a subbranch of sociology which studies gender role in society, with particular reference to the parental role of the father....
External links
- "Cattle ownership makes it a man's world". New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly international science magazine and website covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier. New Scientist has maintained a...
(2003).
- Women’s Status and War in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Reconsideration
- Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and feminist. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Boston: Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, 1792.
- Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir was a French writer, existentialist philosopher, feminist, and social theorist. She wrote novels, monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography in several volumes...
. The Second Sex. Translated by HM Parshley. London: Penguin, 1972.
- "Equality". In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide...
. Stanford University, 2001.
- Times Literary Supplement review (by Mark Ridley) of The Inevitability of Patriarchy and reply by the author (Steven Goldberg).