unit 12: sexism & discrimination

patriarchal societies:

certain groups of men organize the society and control how it operates - its largely agreed that all known human societies have been patriarchal

matriarchal societies:

those in which women constitute the dominant group (organize society and control its operations)

matrilineal society:

a society that traces descent through the mother’s kinship line and passes inheritance down from mothers to their offspring

patrilineal society:

a society that traces descent through the father’s kinship line and passes inheritance down from fathers to their offspring

matrilocal society:

a society in which husbands typically live near their wives’ families

patrilocal society:

a society in which wives typically live near their husbands’ families

power:

the capacity to determine one’s own and other people’s outcomes

structural power:

the power to shape societies and social systems

patriarchal power is what?

inherently structural power in nature

dyadic power:

the power to choose intimate partners and relationships and to control the interactions and decisions that occur within those relationships

3 ways of exerting power:

force, resource control and cultural ideologies

force:

refers to the capacity to inflict physical or psychological harm; need not always involve actual harm because threats of violence can serve as effective forms of control

• ex: by which dominant groups wield power over subordinate groups include domestic abuse, emotional abuse, rape, sexual harassment, murder, child abuse, slavery, human trafficking, imprisonment, capital punishment

resource control:

controlling the creation or distribution of essential and desirable goods such as money, land, food, and other valued commodities

cultural ideologies:

overarching sets of beliefs and assumptions about groups that justify unequal social hierarchies; values they promote reflect and protect the interests of those in power - they represent reality the way the dominant group sees it and they justify the privileged position of dominant groups

example of cultural ideologies as a way of exerting power:

androcentrism (& ethnocentrism & heterocentrism) example in psychology; only seeing women’s viewpoints and experiences in the 1970s with the rise of feminism

androcentrism:

a cultural ideology that defines men and their experiences as universal and treats women and their experiences ad deviations from the male norm

ethnocentrism:

a cultural ideology that defines one’s own culture as the universal standard and judges other cultures as deviations from the norm

heterocentrism:

a cultural ideology that defines heterosexuality as universal and treats other sexualities as deviations from the norm

privilege:

automatic unearned advantages associated with belonging to a dominant group; can also be the absence of barriers or hardships rather than the presence of obvious advantages

double jeopardy hypothesis:

the hypothesis that individuals who belong to two or more subordinate groups face more discrimination than individuals who belong to only one subordinate group

intersectional invisibility hypothesis:

the prediction that people with multiple subordinate identities are noticed less than those with one subordinate identity - said to have a protective effect; example where gay men are more often targets of more negative attitudes and more aggressive hate crimes than are lesbian women (who have 2 subordinate identities)

sexism:

negative attitudes toward individuals based solely on their sex, combined with institutional and cultural practices that support the unequal status of different categories

ambivalent sexism theory:

a theory proposing that gender relations are characterized by both negative attitudes towards women (hostile sexism) and seemingly positive attitudes towards women (benevolent sexism)

hostile sexism:

negative, antagonistic attitudes towards women who violate traditional gender role norms; most often directed at women who seek status and power or who reject traditional gender role norms and attempt to move into male dominated spheres (punishing women who reject traditional female roles)

examples of hostile sexism:

beliefs that women are less competent than men; that women are moody and untrustworthy; that women manipulate and control men sexually; that women complain about sexism when they are outperformed fairly by men

benevolent sexism:

subjectively positive but patronizing attitudes towards women who conform to traditional gender role norms; most often directed at women who embrace traditional gender roles as homemakers, caregivers, and low status workers - such women are idealized, cherished, protected (rewarding women who accept traditional female roles without fuss)

examples of benevolent sexism:

basing a woman’s value on her role as a mother/wife/girlfriend; saving women and children 1st (titanic life boat example)

modern sexism:

a socially acceptable form of sexism consisting of a denial that women still face gender discrimination, coupled with resentment towards women who seek social change

social dominance orientation (SDO):

the extent to which individuals believe that inequality among social groups is right and fair because some groups should have more status than others

system justification theory:

the theory proposing that people are motivated to justify the sociopolitical system that governs them (even if it treats them unfairly) because doing so reduces uncertainty

gender discrimination:

unjust treatment based solely on one’s sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity

microaggressions:

common everyday insults and indignities directed toward members of subordinate social groups

affirmative action:

action efforts to combat discrimination by increasing opportunities for protected groups

attributional ambiguity:

difficulty in attributing negative treatment to group based discrimination when other possible explanations for the treatment are present

personal group discrimination discrepancy:

the tendency for individuals to think that their social groups experience more discrimination than they do personally

collective action:

behaviour enacted on behalf of a group with the goal of improving conditions for the entire group

allies:

individuals who publicly support and promote the rights of disadvantaged group members but who are not themselves part of the disadvantaged group

people who score high on social dominance orientation prefer to work in occupations…

that exhibit more gender imbalance, that protect the interests of high-status groups (ex: politics or law)

people who score low on social dominance orientation prefer to work in occupations…

that protect subordinate groups (ex: social work, counselling)

what do we have in canada to protect gender equality?

we have something called employment equity (bill C-62) - the act only applies to certain occupations particularly crown corporations and those that receive federal funding (10% of the labour force) and penalties for non compliance with the act are minimal

many women are unlikely to directly confront sexist statements because of…

the negative social repercussions for doing so - a group is also unlikely to collectively address sexism

hostile and benevolent sexism - motivation:

hostile sexism increases women’s motivation to collectively address sexism and benevolent sexism actually reduces this motivation