Patriarchy

Patriarchy (from Greek: patria meaning father and arché meaning rule) is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that position. The term patriarchy is also used in systems of ranking male leadership in certain hierarchical churches or religious bodies (see patriarch and Patriarchate). Examples include the Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches. Finally, the term patriarchy is used perjoratively to describe a seemingly immobile and sclerotic political order.

The term "patriarchy' is distinct from patrilineality and patrilocality. "Patrilineal" defines societies where the derivation of inheritence (financial or otherwise) originates from the father's line; a society with matrilineal traits such as Judaism, for example, provides that in order to be considered a Jew, a person must be born of a Jewish mother. "Patrilocal" defines a locus of control coming from the father's geographic/cultural community. In a matrilineal/matrilocal society, a woman will live with her mother and her sisters and brothers, even after marriage. She doesn't leave her maternal home. Her brothers act as 'social fathers' and will hold a higher influence on the women's offspring to the detriment of the children's biological father. Most societies are predominantly patrilineal and patrilocal, but this is not a universal (see: matriarchy).

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In anthropology

Human societies, whether they are ancient, indigenous or modern industrial, have been described in Anthropology in terms of either patriarchal or matriarchal systems. Between these polarities lie a number of social structures which include elements of both systems (see above under Patriarchy a discussion of the terms patrilinial and patrilocal ).

Modern industrial societies have developed out of monotheist patriarchal cultures and are structured upon their Greco-Roman and Hebrew origins. Because of this the institutions of religion, education, commerce and so on, retain patriarchal practices. In Muslim counties today, patriarchy in the form of divided roles between of women and men into the domestic and social spheres is distinctly visible. In Europe and America whose cultures are based on a Christian model , political and religious power continues to exert a strong influence. The ideas of Age of Enlightenment philosophy, and Revolutionary movements including Feminism have brought about changes creating wider possibilities for both women and men. Marxist ideals support the advocacy of egalitarianism between the sexes, but these aspirations have been overtaken by authoritarian forms of political organisation in Marxist states. One can see this, for example, in China, where by law the National People's Congress is composed of an equal number of men and women. There are, however, no women within the ruling Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Prior to its dissolution, the Soviet Union's Congress of People's Deputies likewise consisted of equal numbers of men and women. It's successor, the Duma at present has only 35 woman deputies among the 450 members.[1]

Anthropologist Donald Brown has listed patriarchy to be a "human universal" (Brown 1991, p. 137), which includes characteristics such as age gradation, personal hygiene, aesthetics, food sharing, rape, and other sociological aspects, implying that patriarchy is innate to the human condition. Margaret Mead has observed that "... all the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed....Men have always been the leaders in public affairs and the final authorities at home."[2]

Against this possibly outdated thesis is raised a more scientifically and historically supported scholarly opposition; today, from a new branch of social science, called modern Matriarchal Studies (see: matriarchy).Two World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies took place, 2003 in Luxembourg/Europe and 2005 in San Marcos, Texas/USA, based on a different definition of matriarchy and demonstrating that the concept of matriarchy as "women's or mother's rule" is incorrect and male biased (see: www.hagia.de/, at this website both World Congresses are presented). Anthropological professionals were invited to and attended these meetings. The Wemale culture of western Seram The Trobriand Islands and the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra among numerous others(see: Matriarchy) are examples of societies which are not structured according to a simple patriarchal model.

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In gender studies

In gender studies, the word patriarchy often refers to a social organization marked by the supremacy of a male figure, group of male figures, or men in general. It is also usually marked by the subordination of women, children, and those whose genders or bodies defy traditional man/woman categorization.

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Feminist view

Many feminist writers have considered patriarchy to be the basis on which most modern societies have been formed. They argue that it is necessary and desirable to get away from this model in order to achieve gender equality.

Feminist writer Marilyn French, in her polemic Beyond Power, defines patriarchy as a system that values power over life, control over pleasure, and dominance over happiness. She argues that:

It is therefore extremely ironic that patriarchy has upheld power as a good that is permanent and dependable, opposing it to the fluid, transitory goods of matricentry. Power has been exalted as the bulwark against pain, against the ephemerality of pleasure, but it is no bulwark, and is as ephemeral as any other part of life. Coercion seems a simpler, less time-consuming method of creating order than any other; yet it is just as time-consuming and tedious and far more expensive than personal encounter, persuasion, listening, and participating in bringing a group into harmony. None of this is unknown, unfamiliar, unperceived. Yet so strong is the mythology of power that we continue to believe, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that it is substantial, that if we possessed enough of it we could be happy, that if some "great man" possessed enough of it, he could make the world come right.

According to French:

It is not enough either to devise a morality that will allow the human race simply to survive. Survival is an evil when it entails existing in a state of wretchedness. Intrinsic to survival and continuation is felicity, pleasure. Pleasure has been much maligned, diminished by philosophers and conquerors as a value for the timid, the small-minded, the self-indulgent. "Virtue" involves the renunciation of pleasure in the name of some higher purpose, a purpose that involves power (for men) or sacrifice (for women). Pleasure is described as shallow and frivolous in a world of high-minded, serious purpose. But pleasure does not exclude serious pursuits or intentions, indeed, it is found in them, and it is the only real reason for staying alive" —Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals

The latter philosophy is what French offers as a replacement to the current structure where, she says, power has the highest value.

Cathy Young, by contrast, dismisses reference to "patriarchy" as a semantic device intended to shield the speaker from accountablity when making misandrist slurs, since "patriarchy" means all of Western society.[3] She cites Andrea Dworkin's animadversion, "Under patriarchy, every woman's son is her potential betrayer and also the inevitable rapist or exploiter of another woman."

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Pro-feminism and patriarchy

Main article: Pro-feminism

Pro-feminism refers to a school of thought developed by men that supports the feminist analysis of patriarchy as a system that privileges men over women, and also men over other men. A pro-feminist analysis of patriarchy acknowledges that gender interacts with other dimensions such as ethnicity, power and social class. Patriarchy is seen as a hegemonic gender order imposed through individual, collective and institutional behaviours.

Patriarchy as an embodied set of beliefs about the 'natural' gender order (frequently backed up by notions of biological or deific determinism) often operates through a collective willingness towards 'gender blindness', a refusal to observe and study the effects of gender on social relations and power. One clear effect of this has been a refusal until recently to acknowledge the full extent of physical and sexual violence committed against women by heterosexual men.

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In psychology

Psychology researchers have used the SDO and RWA measures to predict patriarchal attitudes.

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See also

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External links

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Literature

  • Pierre Bourdieu, Male Domination, Polity Press 2001
  • Robert Brown, Human Universals. Philadelphia: Temple University Press 1991
  • Margaret Mead, . (1950). Male and Female, Penguin, London.
  • Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour, Palgrave MacMillan 1999