Chapter Overview

Feminist theory propounds a generalized, wide-ranging system of ideas about human experience and social life from a woman-centered perspective. Its primary object and starting point of study is the experiences and situations of women. It tries to view the social world from the vantage points of women, and it seeks to create a better world for women and all of humankind. Feminist theory is therefore an activist and critical approach to scholarship. In addition, feminist theory differs from other sociological theories insofar as it is an interdisciplinary endeavor that both deepens sociological knowledge and develops a critical understanding of society in the service of justice and humanity.

Feminist theory proceeds from a number of fundamental questions. First, it asks, What about the women in any given situation under investigation? Second, feminist theory asks, Why is the situation of women in society as it is? Third, it asks, How can we change and improve the social world to make it a more just and humane place for all? Finally, feminist theory asks, How and why do the differences between women matter?

Different approaches to feminist theory approach these questions in different ways. Theories that focus on gender differences emphasize the ways in which women’s locations and experiences of social situations are different from men’s. Cultural feminism magnifies the virtues of women. Explanatory theories attempt to explain gender differences by examining biology, institutional roles, socialization, and social interaction. Phenomenological and existential analysis foregrounds the marginalization of women in a male-created culture and examines the ways in which women create a unique consciousness and culture.

Theories of gender inequality also proceed from these fundamental questions. Feminist theorizing of gender inequality stresses that men and women in society are not only different but unequal; that this inequity stems from social organization rather than from biological or psychological differences between men and women; that human beings have a need for self-actualization; and that it is possible to change social situations and structures to make them more egalitarian. One variant of this approach, liberal feminism, argues that women may claim equality with men on the basis of the human capacity of reasoned moral agency; that gender inequality stems from a sexist and patriarchal structuring of the division of labor; and that equality will therefore result from the transformation of social institutions.

Theories of gender oppression stress the practice of domination as the source of inequality. Theorists of gender oppression argue that men have an interest in controlling and subjugating women, and that the oppression of women is a direct consequence of this relationship of power. Psychoanalytic feminism foregrounds how patriarchy, and the tremendous energy put into perpetuating it, patterns the psyche. It tends to emphasize infancy and early childhood. Radical feminism contends that women are of absolute positive value as women, and they assert that women are everywhere violently oppressed by patriarchy.

Theories of structural oppression study the ways in which domination is enacted through the interplay of social structures: patriarchy, capitalism, racism, and heterosexism. Socialist feminism attempts to fuse Marxian and radical feminist traditions. Contemporary socialist feminism tends to emphasize materialist feminism, relations of ruling, and cultural materialism. Intersectionality theory contends that different women experience oppression in various configurations and intensities. In other words, women’s experiences of oppression vary according to class, race, global location, age, and sexual orientation. Intersectionality theorists thus stress such concepts as vectors of oppression and privilege, othering, standpoints, and the outsider within.