Introduction to Power and Domination

• Films and Readings:

  • “Codes of Gender” Video

  • Wade chapter 9 on “Gendered Oppression”

  • Tressie McMillan Cottom essay on Beauty, Blondness, and Race

Key Terms and Concepts in Gender Studies

• Gender as a System of Stratification: A social hierarchical system categorizing individuals based on their gender. 

• Gender Display: The ways in which gender identity is expressed externally through behavior, attire, and mannerisms.

• Ritualization of Subordination: The performative acts that reinforce traditional gender hierarchies.

• Sexism/Androcentrism: Societal biases that prioritize male perspectives and experiences.

• Heteronormativity: The assumption that heterosexuality is the default or normal sexual orientation.

• Hegemonic Masculinity: The dominant form of masculinity that emphasizes authority over women and marginalizes other masculinities.

• Second Shift: The additional domestic work that women undertake after their professional workday.

• Intensive Mothering: The cultural expectation that women devote a substantial amount of time and emotional energy to raising their children.

• Feminization of Poverty: A phenomenon where women represent a disproportionate percentage of the world's poor.

• Glass Ceilings and Glass Elevators: Barriers that prevent women and minorities from advancing in their careers, and advantages that enable men to rise faster in traditionally female industries, respectively.

• Care Work: Service-oriented work like nursing or child-rearing that is often undervalued and underpaid.

• Stalled Revolution: The stagnation in the progress of women's rights and societal roles since the mid-20th century.

• Gender Wage Gap: The persistent difference in earnings between women and men.

Implications for Gender and Masculinity

• Challenges for Men/Masculinities: Exploration of masculinity issues, especially for men from less privileged class and racial backgrounds.

• Relationships: The impact gender roles have on intimate relationships.

• Blurring Gender Binaries: The need to reconsider rigid categories of gender identity and expression.

Introduction to Power and Domination

• Power Elites: A small network of influential individuals occupying significant roles in major social institutions, who benefit and maintain systems of social stratification.

• Intersectionality: A framework for understanding how various forms of inequality and identity (race, gender, class) intersect.

Intersectionality Details

• Definition: The recognition of how multiple and interlinked identities shape experiences, leading to complex experiences of marginalization and stigmatization (Patricia Hill Collins).

• Key Examples:

  • Race and Class: Residential segregation and wealth distribution impacts.

  • Gender and Class: Issues like the second shift and glass ceilings.

  • Gender and Race: Concepts of beauty related to race as discussed in Cottom's work.

Matrix of Domination

• Key Idea from Patricia Hill Collins: This concept emphasizes how various dimensions of social stratification (race, gender, class) are interconnected and create systems of oppression and privilege.

Power Elites and Elite Power

• Definition of Power Elite: A concept by Wade describing a small, interconnected group in top societal positions that manipulate and benefit from stratification systems.

Characteristics of Power Elite

• Forms of Capital:

  • Economic Capital: Money and material resources.

  • Social Capital: Networks and societal connections.

  • Cultural Capital: Shared cultural knowledge and practices that engender social advantages.

  • Fit: The sense that one’s cultural capital aligns with social contexts.

• Social Closure: A process whereby privileged groups restrict opportunities for others to maintain their advantages.

Dynamics of Control

• Levels of Domination: Understanding various scales—local, community, national.

• Sources of Power: Examining the relative impacts of economic versus political power, while also addressing visibility issues between local elites and the super elite.

Complexity of Systems and Beliefs

Systems Overview

• Organizations and Institutions: Benefit groups in disparate ways but cannot be completely controlled by individuals or groups, illustrated by examples such as the opiate crisis and healthcare.

• Matrix of Domination: Illustrates interlocking systems of stratification that impact social dynamics.

Supporting Ideologies

• Hegemony: Refers to power obtained through persuasion rather than coercion, often manifesting in dominant cultural ideologies.

• Hegemonic Ideologies: Collective beliefs about life organization, which generate consent to maintain the status quo (e.g., meritocracy, colorblindness).

Soft Power Concepts

• Definition: Power relates to mass compliance without overt force, seen through cultural normalization of ideas in everyday life (e.g., nationalism).

Individualism

• Discussion on Individualism: Addresses cultural narratives that highlight the unique individual, potentially obscuring systemic inequalities (Terminal uniqueness).

Cultural Factors in Health

• Jonathan Metzl's "Dying of Whiteness": Examines health disparities linked to racial resentment and ideologies of individualism and anti-government sentiment.

Resistance and Change

• Guidance from Patricia Hill Collins:

  • Emphasizes the importance of grassroots resistance, community solidarity, and the need to form alliances against oppressive systems rather than focusing solely on individual actors.