Transcript Marianne Weber (1870-1954)

Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Critical Feminist Theorist
• Women as focus of
sociological studies
• Women as starting point
of her studies
• Viewpoint informed by her
experience of sexual inequality
• Believed in sexual liberation and
an end to the double standard
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Disagreed with Max
Weber on the issue
of value freedom
Marianne:
• Took a strong value position
with regard to feminism
• Believed that sociology should be
used to improve status of women
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Methodology
– Historical analysis
– Verstehen
(insider understanding)
What about the women?
– Criticizes Max’s analysis
of power and authority
– Notes that democratic rights
are not given to everyone
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Patriarchy
• Woman as husband’s
property
• Interferes with true intimacy
• Historically conditioned
− Industrialization led to greater
autonomy for woman in marriage
because it made her an
independent wage earner
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Cultural Feminism
– Belief that women have
special spiritual and ethical
qualities (e.g., care givers)
Also believed that both men and women
had the capacity to work.
Society assigns women the work of
producing daily existence.
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
Class analysis
• Understood that women’s
experiences differed by their
economic positions
• Disagreed with Charlotte
Perkins Gilman that work was
the solution to inequality
− Because working-class women
would not have access to the
same jobs as educated women
Marianne Weber (1870-1954)
After Max’s death
• Edited his unfinished work
• Wrote his biography
• Lived 34 more years
– Influential feminist writer & speaker
– Worked for advancement of women
– Weekly intellectual salon
– Honorary doctorate, Heidelberg