Transcript What is Feminism?

Sociology of Gender
• Two levels of social reality
– Experiential (interactions)
– Structural (institutions)
– The characteristics of one level affect the
status of the other level (and vice-versa)
– Gender relations & inequality are good
examples of this
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
• The “Nature” of Gender
– Distinction between sex, gender & sexuality
• Sex – a biological reality (DNA, genitalia, hormaones, physiology)
• Sex Category –
– 2 category scheme: Male/Female
– Not necessarily so
• Gender – a social/cultural construct (Masculinity and Femininity)
• Sexuality – One’s sexual identity/orientation (debate about origin)
• Heterogender – a new idea that acknowledges how important
sexuality is to the ways that gender is constructed
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
The social construction of gender:
“Doing Gender” concept (West & Zimmerman 1987)
• Gender accomplished in interaction with others
•“Accomplished” by providing cues that are consistent with normative
expectations for masculinity and femininity
–Contextual
–Norm violations are “policed”
• Gender culturally understood as an “oppositional dichotomy”
• Doing gender means
–Creating differences b/t boys & girls and women & men that are not
natural
–Using the socially constructed differences to reinforce the notion that
gender (rather than sex) is “natural” or essentially derived.
•Multiple ways of doing gender even for the same sex
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
Gender and Power Relations
Acker (1990) on Organizations & Gender
– Neutrality is “gendered” in the context of
organizations
–Organizational life is patterned and active in
distinguishing between male and female:
•Division of Labor
•Images & Symbols that reinforce gender difference
•Interactions of workers
Gender & Crime: Defining terms
Gender and Power Relations
Sexism:
–Oppressive attitudes and behaviors directed at
either sex
–Patterned: mostly directed at women
Patriarchy:
–The Social, Legal & Cultural climate that values men
and masculine over alternatives
–Based on a confusion over sex and gender
Gender & Crime
Assignment 1
1. What is feminism?
2. Are you a feminist?
– Why or why not?
What is Feminism?
An approach to thinking about society and social problems that
recognizes that gender inequalities exist in society.
In addition, feminists are committed to helping change society to
promote gender equality
5 Tenets (derived from Daly and Chesney-Lind 1988 – see p. 13
in Belknap):
1.
Gender is not a natural fact – it is an outcome of social,
political, historical and cultural forces. It is related to sex
differences and reproductive capacities – but is not simply a
reflection of these differences. (Sex, Sex category &
Gender)
What is Feminism?
2.
Gender and gender relations order social life and social
institutions in fundamental ways.
3.
Constructs of masculinity and femininity are not symmetrical
(equal). They are based on the organizing principle of men’s
superiority and social and political dominance over women.
4.
Systems of knowledge reflect men’s views of the natural and
social world: the production of knowledge is “gendered”.
5.
Women should be at the center of intellectual inquiry, not
peripheral, invisible, or appendages to men.
Backlash & Myths about Feminism
1. Feminists are not objective
2. Feminism is only concerned with women
3. There is only one “true” feminism
Backlash & Myths about Feminism
1.
Feminists are not objective
Are non-feminists objective? What is objectivity? Is it
possible?
2.
Feminism is only concerned with women
Masculinity studies
3.
There is only one “true” feminism
A variety of feminisms:
Liberal-feminists vs. Critical feminists
Varieties of Critical Feminists: Marxist Feminists, Socialist
Feminists, Radical Feminists, Postmodern Feminists
What is criminology?
• Criminology is a science focused on the study of
crime, law and responses to crime.
• Criminologists
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Construct theoretical explanations for crime
Pose research questions
Develop hypotheses
Test their theories
Collect data using a wide variety of research methods
– MUCH of criminology is POSITIVIST
The Modern Era of Criminology
– Classical Criminology
– Positivist Criminology
– Sociological Criminology
– All 3 eras continue to influence criminology
(and crime policy) today
Classical Criminology
• Cesare Beccaria (1738-94) spawned the idea
that human behavior is governed by objective
rationality
• A radical idea: individuals have free will.
• Rationality assumes that people are driven to
seek pleasure and minimize pain.
• Crime was thought to be an outcome of
rationality.
• Central to developing a scientific (“modern”)
penal policy
Positivist Criminology
• Late 1800s: Building on the predictive elements of the Classical
School
• Emphasizes the importance of the scientific method of
observation.
• Positivists are empiricists. Belief in objectivity.
• Positive School criminologists, following breakthroughs in other
sciences, argued that crime is an outcome of factors outside of
human control.
• Control of crime is possible if you can unlock the underlying
causes and address them.
• Early Positivists developed theories & tested hypotheses about
what factors (outside of human control) led to criminal activity
among some members of society but not others. Focus on
personality, biology, pathology of one sort or another.
• Studied criminals, observed similarities and extrapolated.
Problems with this?
Sociological Criminology
• Positivists that emphasized social factors as
antecedents to crime
• Durkheim
• social facts
• crime as a normal/functional part of society
• anomie and the shift from pre-industrial to modern societies (suicide
rates as an example)
• Marx
• Focuses on how the economy impacts all other aspects of society
• mode of economic production (capitalism) determines all social
relations
• 2 fundamental economic positions (or classes): Owners/Workers
• Social Class inequality important in a critical criminology
• American Sociology (Chicago School: Symbolic
Interaction, Urbanism)
• The self as a social product
• Urban development patterns and its impact on community life
Feminist Criminology
• Concerned with explaining the impact of gender
in traditional areas of inquiry about crime and
the law
• Concerned with the experiences of women as
central
• Likely to employ a wider variety of techniques to
gather information about crime and women’s
experiences.
– Epistemology
– Research on rape as an example
Feminist Criminology
What do we know about the extent of rape?
Most rapes go unreported (about 2 out of 3)
Accurate estimates are difficult.
Why?
• Victim stigma and blame (victims wrongly believe rapists vocabulary of
motive is valid)
• Offender/Victim relationship
• Concern about treatment as victim in the CJS
• Up to 70% of women forced to have sex fail to recognize their experience as
rape
• This is a reflection of a patriarchal culture that impacts the way that the law
and the criminal justice system operates
Between 15% and 30% of U.S. women will be raped in their lifetime
Of the rapes that get reported to police, only 15% to 30% end in the conviction of the
rapist, and only half of those result in a sentence of more than 1 year in jail.
Feminist Criminology
None of this “factual” data tells us anything about the
experience of rape. For example,
• Why do so many men in our society rape?
• Why do trusted friends and romantic partners rape?
• Why do so few women recognize sexual assaults as
criminal?
• Why does the criminal justice system treat rape victims
with suspicion?
• How has the law impacted the ways we define rape and
protected men from blame in the process?
• How has the criminal investigation procedure limited our
understanding of sexual assault and rape?
Defining Crime
• What is Crime?
– Violations of Morality
– Violations of Norms
– Violations of the Law
• Acts that represent an intersection of all 3
are judged the most severe
A Brief Sociology of Law
Legal Classifications of Crimes
– Criminal vs. Torte (Civil) Law
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a public wrong?
state vs. private party action
incarceration vs. monetary damages
fines to state vs. fines to private party
standard of proof
– Administrative Law
– Mala in se vs. Mala prohibitum
– Felony & Misdemeanor
– How is law made?
• Legislation
• Court Decisions
A Brief Sociology of Law
What purpose does law serve a society & its
members?
– Social control
– Expressions of social morality
– Limits on revenge/anarchy
– Deterrence
– Retribution
– Maintenance of the status quo
• Marxists: social order in capitalist society; private
property
• Feminists: social order in a gendered society; social
subordination of women
Why is Feminism important to
Criminology?
Because Criminology – like most disciplines – is
Androcentric.
What is Androcentrism?
1. Focusing solely on the experiences of men.
2. Assuming the men’s experiences describe the
human experience
3. This is what Belknap calls the “invisibility of women”
in criminology.