The F Word Feminist Theory CMN 396 Race Class Gender Work 1 Gender Theories Krolokke Sorensen 2006 Krolokke Sorensen 2006 explore four methods used by feminist scholars There is no one method to study feminist communication Most communication scholars utilize several methods to study feminist communication The purpose of feminist communication methods are to assist in the revealing of women s voices and expose the gender issues that at the core of communication Gender Theories Krolokke Sorensen 2006 Structural and Post structural feminist take on the issues of power and discourse o Structuralist discourse is perceived as a dialect that is continuously created and reshaped by reality o Post structuralist argues that there is no oppression between discourse and reality They posit that social and material ideas are produced through discourse Power is viewed fluid complex consistent core of agency and empowerment of groups and individuals Overview of Feminist Theories The goal of feminism as a political movement is to make women and men more equal Gender inequality takes many different forms depending on the economic structure and social organization of a particular society and on the culture of any particular group with that society Feminist theories were developed to explain the reasons for the pervasive gender inequality Feminist Theories Key Definitions Feminist have produced more complex views about o Gender o Sex o Sexuality Through the social processes of gendering gender divisions and societal roles gender is built into the major social institutions of society such as o Economy o o o o Family Culture Religion The Law gendered social order 2 Woman and Man are used when referring to gender Feminist Theories Key Definitions Gender a social status and a personal identity as enacted in parental and work roles and in relationships between women and men Sex a complex interplay of genes hormones environment and behavior with loop back effects between bodies and society o Male female and intersex are used for when referring to sex Sexuality lustful desire emotional involvement and fantasy as enacted in a variety of long and short term intimate relationships o Homosexuality heterosexuality and bisexuality are used when referring to sexuality Structuralism Feminist Comm Theories Scientific Paradigms guide gender communication research o Ontology set of basic beliefs o Epistemology basic ways of knowing Structuralist Paradigm referenced with Karl Marx and the Marxist thought Known for criticism of the political economy capitalism Believed that bourgeois society built on private ownership and the division of labor Structuralism Feminist Comm Theories Division of labor principle that work can be best accomplished if employees are assigned to a limited number of specialized tasks Marx believed that society was separated into two main classes o Capitalist those who own the machinery o Working classes those who are forced to sell their manual labor Thus this paradigm renders a bifurcation between private and public which provides the foundation for the division of labor among the sexes Structuralism Feminist Comm Theories Over determination is an ontology a theory of being of cause and effect that argues for the significance of all social and natural processes in the determination of all other social and natural processes single observed effect is determined by multiple causes That is there are more causes present than are necessary to cause the effect Critical Theory s Take on Ideology Hegemony Critical Theory is concerned with ideology Taken for granted assumptions about reality that shape our beliefs about what exists what is possible and what is good Critical Theory objects opposes to hegemony Critical Theory s Take on Ideology Hegemony Hegemony is often manifested through subtle and contingent process that takes place when a set of discourses and practices come together are articulated and subsequently diffused throughout society Krol kke S rensen 2006 p 27 Various feminist scholars such as Chantal Mouffe have expanded the notion of hegemony into a specific framework for explaining gender theory Gender effect which focuses on the structural divisions along the lines of gender that combined develop a systematic outcome Krol kke S rensen 2006 Muted Group Theory Created by Shirley Ardener Rooted in anthropology Muted Group posits that women and men exist in a patriarchal capitalist societies that individually form two distinct sets of experiences and interpretation yet also overlap with on another Thus women s own voices are restricted by this limited lens and their voices are not publicly articulated Language is culture specific and in most cases defines and creates reality Standpoint Theory 3 During the time frame of 1970s and 1980s 4 Stemmed from Harstock and other key scholars specifically Patricia Hills Collins Theorist of standpoint ground their commitment to theorizing the standpoint occupied by women in the context of capitalism Sexual division of labor Unpaid work in the home Reproductive responsibilities lack of power in society Post structuralist Shift to highlighting subject language and society as separate units and as a whole and how they are performed in systems and structures The main crux of post structuralism is the focus on power Power as behavior or process that permeates all human interaction Foucault 1977 Performance Positioning Theory PPT Maintained by Judith Butler Situated in the criticism of structuralism and critical theory They maintain a varied and diverse area of study and closely connected with queer politics and theory They align with feminist theory as theories of social categorization identification and agency Transgender Cyborg Theory Sparked by Judith Butler Kristin Langellier Transgender is a current development within the field of feminist theory Views gender as performance that does not necessarily lead to the deconstruction of gender Critical Theory Perspective Critical theorists view an organization as a site of domination bureaucratic procedures centralized decision making hierarchical control 5 The goal of critical theorists in which people are liberated from restrictive ideologies and power relationships