Patriarchy

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(Redirected from Patriarchal)

A patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arch� means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. The word patriarch also denotes certain high-ranking bishops in some hierarchical churches; see patriarch; the word patriarchy (or patriarchate) in that case refers to his seat and domain.

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Example

Under patriarchy, if a man whose father (and whose father's father, etc.) has died, has two married sons and two married daughters and 15 grandchildren, then any money earned by either of his two sons belongs, not to the individual who earns the money, but to the family, and he, as patriarch of the family, has authority to decide how the money is to be distributed among the family members. He has no similar authority over his married daughters, who are under the authority of the patriarchs of the families into which they have married.

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In anthropology

Anthropologists define patriarchy relatively narrowly, as a society in which men are the "dominant element" in public political affairs. This is also known as andrarchy or androcracy. By this definition, anthropologist David Brown considers patriarchy to be a "human universal" (Brown 1991, p. 137). Patriarchy is distinct from patrilineality and patrilocality, neither of which are universal.

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In gender politics

In gender politics the word patriarchy refers to any form of social power given disproportionately to men. Many construe this to mean a gender hierarchy in which men dominate or exploit women, but that doesn't need to be the case.

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Feminist view

Many feminist writers have considered patriarchy to be the basis on which most modern societies have been formed. They argue that it is necessary and desirable to get away from this model in order to achieve gender equality.

Some critics argue that these writers are oversimplifying the complexities of society, or that such gender roles are not necessarily harmful.These critics would also argue that this theory ignores that even in highly patriarchal societies, there are areas in which women enjoy significant benefits, such as being the first on lifeboats whenever a passenger liner begins to sink. They would also argue that feminist theories of Patriarchy rarely pass the self-consistency test required of accepted scientific principles as they attack male privileges as patriarchal but defend female privileges as necessary in a patriarchical world.

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External links

Cattle ownership makes it a man's world (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994220) New Scientist (1. October 2003): Early female-dominated societies lost their power to men when they started herding cattle, a new study demonstrates

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