Patriarchy Michael R

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Sociology Department, Faculty Publications Sociology, Department of

2009 Patriarchy Michael R. Hill University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected]

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This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Department, Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Hill, Michael R. 2009. “Patriarchy.” Pp. 628-633 in Encyclopedia of Gender and Society, edited by Jodi O’Brien. Vol. 2. Los Angeles: Sage. 628 Patriarchy

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The termpatiarchy refers to an organization, institution, or society in which power, social control, material T

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wealth, and high social status accme predominantly to best a highly speculative conjecture. Nonetheless, males rather than females. Patriarchy is one of the hypotheses concerning the character and potential of most enduring and pervasive of all social patterns. It full-fledged female-dominated societies have provided appears in all eras, among all races, social institutions, lively themes for imaginative theoretical debate and fic- and economic classes, and in virtually every known tional exploration. Among the most perceptive of these culture. Rising initially in early family and kinship is sociologist Charlotte Perkins Gilman's two-part structures, hierarchical patriarchal patterns are found Herland/Ourland saga, published during 1915 to 1916. today around the globe not only in family and kinship Gilman wrote in a popular voice and published her groups but also throughout the major social institu- sociological observations in her own monthly journal, tions, including language, family, economy, polity, The Forerunner. In the instructive, imaginative, and religion, law, education, science, and medicine. often playful Herland/Ourland saga, Gilman vividly compared and contrasted her conclusions (based partly on theory and partly on direct sociological observation) Early Studies of Patriarchy about societies run by males in Ourland versus females Patriarchy derives fundamentally from early forms of in Herland. Gilman clearly saw many virtues in family organization, and this theme was early explored women's values and condemned the destructive results by several noted scholars, including John Locke's l/ze of generations of male-dominated rule in the real Two Treatises on Civil Government (1690) and Sir world, but her primary deduction was that the highest Henry Maine's Ancient Law (186I), Early History of and most progressive societies will someday combine Institutions (1875), and Early Law and Custom the best of both worlds, with men and women ruling (1883). The most accessible and comprehensive sur- together in genuinely equitable partnership. Thus, for vey of this early literature, together with a detailed Gilman, it was not an either/or problem of matriarchy explication of the origins of patriarchy, was provided versus patriarchy, but rather a question of how men and in 1904 by George Elliott Howard in his massive women can share power together and build truly egali- study the History of Matrimonial Institutions. tarian relationships. This remains today a pragmatic Howard, the founder of what he called "institutional goal for many feminists and political progressives. history," applied the interdisciplinary perspectives of For the present, while anthropologists, philoso- history, sociology, jurisprudence, and feminism to phers, and other scholars continue to debate the exis- unlock and describe the primitive manifestations tence, extent, and effectiveness of early matriarchal of patriarchy, especially in England and the United societies, an important practical point is that various States, including wife purchase, marriage contracts, matriarchal practices are found today (i.e., in some property rights, and husband's prerogatives in divorce. naming conventions, female clans and secret societies, As a subsequent topic of theoretical discourse, patri- sororities, women's clubs, women-owned businesses, archy has been subjected to sophisticated analyses by etc.). In practical terms, important corollary research leading scholars in the humanities and social sciences. questions concern the extent to which patriarchal and matriarchal patterns can coexist, which patterns are ascendent, stagnant, or descending, to what degree Matria rchal Hypotheses these patterns can interpenetrate each other, and, Patriarchy is instructively contrasted with its mirror finally, what is the empirical evidence of truly egali- image, matriarchy, the rule of society by women rather tarian and cooperative endeavors between men and than men. The Swiss scholar Johann Jacob Bachofen women today. argued in Das Mutterrecht (1861) that patriarchy fol- lowed an earlier period of mother right, or gynocrocy, Hierarchical Patterns wherein maternal lines of descent reigned supreme in within Patriarchies all matters religious and political. Margaret Mead's important findings on the malleability of human per- Empirically, patriarchal pattems are typically hierarchical, sonality and socialization notwithstanding, the empiri- in which the head or chief male is awarded (or takes) the cal documentation of early female-dominated societies greatest powers and controls the most individual and is controversial and sketchy. Bachofen's view that communal assets. Men rarely share equally in the male matriarchy was a universal precursor to patriarchy is at prerogatives typical of patriarchal social structures. 630 Patriarchy

Males who occupy lower levels in the hierarchy possess additional status dimensions related to education, correspondingly less power and fewer worldly goods. A physical and mental disabilities, religion, employment paradigm illustration of patriarchy is absolute kingship, history, legal troubles, marital status, sexual orienta- in which a male king commands the total fealty of his tion, parenthood, citizenship, athleticism, politics, subjects (both male and female), holds the power of life cultural standards of physical attractiveness, social and death in his hands (as legislatoa judge, jury, and manners, and the like. Each dimension can be con- executioner combined in one person), and rules ceptualized as having majority (i.e., positive) and with unchallenged authority. Traditional patriarchies are minority (i.e., negative) status traits in the same way closely intertwined with family and kinship; thus, in that sex (male vs. female), race (white vs. nonwhite), hereditary patriarchies, the transfer of power from one and class (upper vs. lower) have been traditionally patriarchal head, chief, or king conveys along specified defined. The terms positive and negative refer to kinship lines to a genealogically designated male heir. In culturally relevant criteria and evaluations made by less formally organized groups, the death of chief or the dominant groups, not to inherent defects or king typically results in a power vacuum to be filled by worthiness. Nonetheless, such evaluations are highly the male who rises to the top position by virtue of phys- consequential. ical prowess, simple seniority, convincing charisma, The multidimensional reality of combined multiple and/or astute political chicane (traditional accounts, minority and multiple majority statuses is reflected in albeit sometimes apocryphal, of the naming of a new the various characteristics of those who rise to the top, "godfather" in organized crime families provide dra- fall to the bottom, or float in the middle of powerful matic illustrations of this less structured process). patriarchal structures. Persons holding a multitude of Modern and postmodern societies are replete with minority statuses face extraordinary challenges. vestigial patriarchal structures in all of the major social Consider, for example, the hypothetical situation con- institutions, including language, family, economy, fronted by a female Hispanic who is undocumented, goverrment, religion, law, education, medicine, and unemployed, penniless, unskilled and uneducated, science. In myriad specific instances, the control of physically disabled, lesbian, apolitical, graceless, over- societal, communal, and individual resources is now weight and unattractive, and speaks heavily accented vested in very real and exceptionally effective patriar- English. Hers is an extreme case, and her challenges chal forms. The prime research question facing social would be daunting. People in the midst of this evalu- investigators today is not so much whether patriarchy ative matrix claim a mixture of majority and minority is a thing of the past, but rather the extent to which statuses. Take, for example, the comparative case of a patriarchy survives, thrives, transforms, and replicates heterosexual Anglo-Saxon male who graduated with itself in pervasive, persistent, and consequential ways. an accounting degree from a small state college and In contemporary societies today, especially those given holds a steady civil service job but also has a severe to the rhetoric of social progress, accelerated change, speech impediment and is grossly overweight, unmar- and women's liberation, it is often difficult for citizens ried, and childless. He faces many serious challenges, (male and female) to fully comprehend the continuing but not so many as the Hispanic woman described existence and influence of patriarchal patterns of control, above. oppression, and repression. It is not the case, however, As multiple majority statuses accumulate and that men always get every piece of pie, but they usually minority statuses decrease, what may be called the get the bigger pieces and-to put it colloquially-they classic patriarchal paradigm emerges, the ideal can- rarely do the baking. didate for the American presidency: male, white, upper-middle or upper class, Ivy League education, physical prowess, distinguished career, married with and Multiple Statuses Patriarchy children, high church, outstanding civic service and Patriarchy combines in myriad ways with other social military record, well-mannered, physically attractive, statuses, resulting in complex matrices of social strata, and so on. Given otherwise equally qualified candi- privilege, and prestige. The social pie is divided up dates for leading positions, if one is male and the along many dimensions, even if men still usually get other female, the prizes still go overwhelmingly to the largest share. The standard sociological triad-sex, the male candidates, and this pattern holds generally race, and class-is in practice crosscut with numerous true not only in politics and the military but also in Patriarchy 631

business, law, religion, and medicine. In realms been supplanted or significantly weakened within the seemingly well outside the corridors of political governmental institutions of the United States in any and economic power, the multiple-majority male still lundamental or revolutionary sense. generally trumps the otherwise equally qualified Beyond polity per se, the objective approach to female when it comes to conducting the leading patriarchal pattems can be further applied to examina- orchestras, directing the major art museums, and tions of the distribution and control of power, priv- heading the most prestigious libraries. An important ilege, and prestige throughout the other major point here is that while a relatively small but extant institutional structures of society today: linguistic, number of upper-middle-class, middle-class, and familial, legal, economic, educational, scientific, med- working-class males can point to ever more numerous ical, and religious. The complexity of such studies, examples of women who outrank them or who have especially over time and when making international achieved gteater career success, the vast majority of comparisons, becomes quickly more challenging and the key positions in the society remain solidly in the is sometimes intractable. Objective data are frequently hands of males. This is part of the increasingly com- unavailable, especially in the economically poorest plex reality of contemponry patriarchal systems. regions of the world. Additional complications arise when exploring patriarchal pattems in private versus Objective and Subiective public organizations. Many of the most important and Forms of Patriarchy consequential societal decisions are made in secret sessions, behind closed doors through which even the Patriarchy in its most entrenched, over1, and traditionally most persistent researcher cannot go. When private oppressive form is readily evident to careful observers. entities elect to restrict their personnel records, veil Objective patriarchy is empirically demonstrable by their organizational charts, and seal their internal doc- the ratio of men to women who occupy the most well- uments and memoranda, the evidence required to paid, most prestigious, and most consequential demonstrate the existence of objective patriarchal decision-making positions in a society. A society has a structures remains largely unavailable to outsiders. fundamentally patriarchal pattern when its presidents, Beyond the visible facade of patriarchal edifices governors, directors, chief executive officers, judges, such as the presidency of the United States, the generals, high-ranking elected officials, chairpersons. intricacies and subtleties of objective patriarchal key advisors, board members, and the like are either structures also deserve analysis, especially when doc- solely or predominantly male. Ostensibly, the pace of umenting changes in patterns over time. In situations social change in given societies, so far as objective where women have reached something approaching patriarchal patterns are concerned, is indicated by parity with men in previously male-dominated fields, charting temporal shifts in the ratio of males to females the apparent victory for women is often pyrrhic-too who hold key institutional positions. Within the gov- often symbolic rather than substantive. The field of ernment of the United States, for example, the presi- medicine in the U.S. is a case in point. Medicine was dent, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the traditionally a man's profession, but women now chief justice of the Supreme Court, and holders of account for half of all medical students. Objectively, numerous other crucial offices have been men through- one might ask, has medicine ceased to exhibit a patri- out the more than 200-year history of the country. This archal pattem? Ostensibly, yes, but the deeper answer objectively verifiable pattern presents a classic object is negative. While it is true that women are entering lesson in enduring patriarchy. From a purely quantita- the medical profession in equal numbers with men, tive perspective, a further 200 years of placing only they do not enter the same medical specialties. Men women in the key positions of the U.S. government generally gravitate to the high-paying, highly compet- would be required before reaching equity in the ratio itive specialties, such as neurosurgery, whereas of males to females who have occupied these positions women tend to specialize in lower-paying, less presti- over time. The occasional future election or sporadic gious specialties of gynecology and family practice. appointment of women to the top government posi- These differences translate into continuing patriarchal tions will at best indicate potential for dismantling patterns that can be documented when looking at what remains at root a deeply entrenched pattern and hospital directorships, deanships at medical research should not be mistaken as a sign that patriarchy has hospitals, and the editorships of the most prestigious 632 Patriarchy medical joumals. Yes, women have been admitted to illusion that male privileges and prerogatives are in the medical profession, but men continue to dominate sharp and unrecoverable decline now that the world and control the field, albeit now in less obvious and has entered the 21st century. Positive images of inde- more subtle ways. pendent, capable, and instrumental women are The aggressive pursuit of power, prestige, and undoubtedly inspiring models, but thoughtful critics financial reward in capitalist as well as socialist soci- admonish consumers to avoid mistaking self-affirm- eties is an enduring competition dominated by men, ing images, however inviting and attractive, for the especially in the world's wealthiest and most influen- hard institutional realities of the lived world. tial nation-states. When a field of play becomes less The operation and persistence ofpatriarchal privilege lucrative or provides ever more limited opportunities is open to objective scrutiny, but the data required for for advancement, the most competitive men typically comprehensive study are often unavailable, are fre- abandon the field to women and their less competi- quently veiled in secrecy and privatization, and are tive male colleagues and go elsewhere to advance subject to significant temporal shifts in the institutional their careers. This may well be the ultimate future of locations of the most lucrative hierarchiCal competi- medicine, as physicians"become mere employees of tions. Media laments and progressive fictions to the massive hospital systems run not by doctors but by contrary, the objective patterns of patriarchy show few, businessmen. The feminization of the U.S. teaching if any, signs of socially significant or culturally mean- profession provides an instructive example, in that ingful erosion, especially in the more aggressive and the average salary for teachers-in what was once an industrially advanced countries of the world. all-male profession-is now lowest in the grade Compared with the objective, overtly oppressive schools, where women predominate, but highest aspects of patriarchy, the internalized, repressive among tenured university professors, where men still dimensions of patriarchy are more subjective. The outnumber women by large margins. And among pro- internalization of patriarchal beliefs (for example, fessors, as in medicine, men tend to predominate in the idea that men make better leaders, are the most precisely those scholarly disciplines offering the stalwart, make the best soldiers, etc.) is relatively highest remuneration, and generally, men occupy the straightforward where men are concerned, because most powerful and instrumental university admi- such beliefs generally serve their collective inter- nistrative positions. As tenure and other professorial ests. On the other hand, the internalization, legiti- perquisites disappear, the increased feminization of mation, and perpetuation of the same set of ideas by higher education becomes ever more likely. The women contributes significantly to the maintenance mirror image of feminization is playing out in the and persistence of objective patriarchal patterns, to field of nursing, traditionally an all-female occupa- the overall detriment of women's collective inter- tion. As men enter nursing in larger numbers, salaries ests, and in this sense is clearly repressive. A woman are increasing, the professional scope of nursing duties who recently reported, "I really think it's gentle- is widening, and male nurses are rising to take a dis- manly when a man lights my cigarette" and then proportionate share of the top administrative posi- reflects-as an afterthought-that she doesn't actu- tions open to nurses. ally smoke, illustrates the subjective, internalized Images of objective patriarchal patterns are further side of patriarchy that is passed unwittingly from subject to media manipulation, such that casual woman to woman and mother to daughter, not to observers of the social scene are well advised to ques- mention from man to man, father to son, and mother tion the veracity and objectivity of images portrayed to son. Internalized visions of patriarchy as the in movies, novels, and television comedies and proper order of things influence decisions made by dramas and conveyed in newspapers, magazines, men and women in the marketplace, voting booth, televised news, and the Internet. While notable courts, schools, and boardrooms and in countless exceptions do exist, it remains the case that the influ- homes, businesses, and bureaucratic offices. It is ential motion picture studios, major publishing unlikely that overt, visible patriarchal patterns will houses, television networks, and large newspapers in change without significant shifts in consciousness the United States are run predominantly by men. The on the part of women who have internalized the ide- underlying pattern of control is decidedly patriarchal, ologies and worldviews that support the objective even if the images presented sometimes promote the patterns of patriarchy. 633

Conclusion Gilman, C. P. (1979). Herland. New York: Panrheon. (Originally published in The Forerunne r, l9l5) Patriarchy is a pervasive and enduring coercive social Gilman, C. P. (1997). With her in Ourland: Sequel to pattern wherein hold key men all or most of the Herland (M. J. Deegan & M. R. Hill, Eds.). Westport, CT: decision-making positions in virtually every society Praeger. (Originally published inThe Forerunner 191.6) around the globe. Power, privilege, and prestige are Hartmann, H. (1976). Capitalism, patriarchy, and job typically distributed in patriarchal systems along hier- segregation by sex. Signs, I, 137-169. archical lines, resulting in competitions between men Hine, D. C. (2000). Paradigms, politic, and patriarchy in the for the very top positions. While it is often possible making of a black history: Reflections on from slavery to for some women to achieve higher positions than freedom. Journal of Negro History,85, 18-21. some men in patriarchal systems, the rise of a few Howard, G. E, (1904). A history of matrimonial institutions. women to positions in the upper echelons of power Chicago: University of Chicago Press. is commonly more symbolic than consequential for Lemons, G. L. (2001). Womanism in the name of the the society as a whole. The objective dimensions of "Father": W. E. B. Du Bois and the problematics of race, patriarchal organization in any given society can be patriarchy, and art. Phylon, 49, 185-202. mapped by carefully observing the gender composi- MacKinnon, C. A. (1989). Sexuality, pornography, and tion of the command and leadership positions in a method: Pleasure under patriarchy. Ethics, 99,314-346. nation's highest courts, elected offices, largest busi- Rothman, B. K. (1989). Women as fathers: Motherhood and child care a nesses, prestigious law firms, leading universities, and under modified patriarchy. Gender and Society,3, 89-104. top military units. The subjective aspects of patriarchy Scott, A. F. (1974). Women's perspective on the patriarchy in (that is, the extent to which women internalize the the 1850s. Journal of American History,61,52-64. "rightness" of patriarchal dominance) are more diffi- Stacey, J. (1975). When patriarchy kowtows: The significance cult to study but are nonetheless real and consequen- of the Chinese family revolution for feminist theory. tial. There is no inherent reason why patriarchy should Feminist Studies, 2, 64-112. continue to prevail, except that males have traditionally worked to retain the perquisites of power for themselves. Patriarchy, as a widespread pattern, appears safe from significant social or political challenges in the near term and wi{ most likely survive well into the foreseeable future. Michael R. Hill

See also Economy: History of Women's Participation; Family, Organization of; Feminization of Labor; Gilman, Charlotte Perkins; Glass Ceiling; Masculinity Studies; Matrilineal Systems; Privilege, Male