GEN&SEX 50B Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Carole Pateman, Separate Spheres, Collectivism
20 Jun 2018
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Section Seven: Citizenship and Equality: The Private / Public Divide
Reading A: Feminist Critiques of the Public / Private Dichotomy
(Carole Pateman)
-Feminists believe that liberalism is created by patriarchal and class relations
Liberalism is “patriarchal liberalism”
Separation and opposition of the public and private spheres is an unequal opposition between men
and women
-Liberal theorists have excluded women from their universal arguments
Reason why exclusion goes unnoticed: separation of the private and public is presented as if
applied to all individuals in the same way
-Feminists in the 19th century:
Believed that the spheres were separate but equally as important
Reality: the belief that women are women’s natures are subject to men and they belong in the
private, domestic sphere
Men inhabit and rule within both spheres
-Liberalism and patriarchialism oppose each other
Liberalism: individualist, egalitarian, conventionalist doctrine
Patriarchialism: hierarchical relations of subordination follow from the natural characteristics of
men and women
-Theoretical basis for liberal separation of public and private:
Locke’s Second Treatise
Political power can be exercised over free and equal adults with their consent
Political power shouldn’t be confused with paternal power over children in private, family sphere
Separation of family and the political is also a sexual division (only males gain freedom at
maturity in the family life)
-“The personal is political”
Personal circumstances are structured by public factors
Personal problems can be solved only through political means and political action
-Women workers are concentrated into low-paid, low-status, non-supervisory jobs
-Women have to do unpaid domestic labor and also work in the public sphere
-If women are to participate fully in social life, men have to share childrearing and other domestic tasks
Excerpt: Paradigms, Models, and Ideologies
(Geoffry Ponton and Peter Gill)
-Relationships of individuals and society with which social and political analysis:
Liberalism, conservatism, collectivism, Marxism
-Liberalism:
Individual exists historically and logically
Beliefs and behavior of individuals (instead of society as a whole) must be the central object of
analysis
Individual rights take priority over collective rights of society
Government intervention in social and economic affairs is minimized
-Conservatives:
“social whole” above individuals
-What is good for the social organism is decided by the elites (social, economic, military
-Collectivism:
Modification of liberalism
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Belief that state intervention is necessary in order for the potential of individuals to be realized
State should promote social welfare to maintain a certain standard of living
Intervene to stimulate the economy and minimize unemployment
Equality of treatment and opportunity should be promoted
Key Words
-Transhistorical: Existing in every time period
-Transcultural: Existing in every culture
-Social- contract theorists: The theoretical foundation of modern state constitutions based on the works of
17th century British thinkers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and 18th century French philosopher Jean-
Jacque Rousseau. The “contract” creates a society through an agreement that defines the rights and the
duties of those ruled and their rulers, so that each individual gains some rights by giving up other
freedoms and by performing certain duties. This view has been criticized by those who believe that
society is not formed by a contract between self-governing individuals but by the oppression of certain
groups.
-Patriarchialists: Those who believe that the father (the senior male) is the natural head of a family or a
community or state
-Antisuffragists: Those against giving women an equal vote
-Laissez-faire: The belief that less government is better and that the market works best if left to private
individual actions.
Reading B: Manifest Domesticity
(Amy Kaplan)
-“Life on the Rio Grande”:
Women’s true sphere is as a mother
Women have an important mission on the frontier to control and sustain men
Demonstrates that domesticity and Manifest Destiny were intertwined
-Cult of domesticity
Separate spheres
Woman’s place is in the home
-The divisions of male and female spheres exemplified as:
The home: bounded and ordered interior space
The frontier: infinitely expanding
-Ideology of separate spheres:
Home is a stable haven (female counterbalance) to territorial conquest (male activity)
-Godey’s article:
Women transformed conquered foreign lands into the domestic sphere of family and nation
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Document Summary
Section seven: citizenship and equality: the private / public divide. Reading a: feminist critiques of the public / private dichotomy (carole pateman) Feminists believe that liberalism is created by patriarchal and class relations. Separation and opposition of the public and private spheres is an unequal opposition between men and women. Liberal theorists have excluded women from their universal arguments. Reason why exclusion goes unnoticed: separation of the private and public is presented as if applied to all individuals in the same way. Believed that the spheres were separate but equally as important. Reality: the belief that women are women"s natures are subject to men and they belong in the private, domestic sphere. Men inhabit and rule within both spheres. Patriarchialism: hierarchical relations of subordination follow from the natural characteristics of men and women. Theoretical basis for liberal separation of public and private: Political power can be exercised over free and equal adults with their consent.
