DK THE SOCIOLOGY BOOK

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 49

political, and economic systems. Unemployment can lead to people Wright Mills’ ideas were, in many
But Wright Mills was calling for blaming themselves for their situation. ways, ahead of their time, and his
them to address the ways in which But a sociological imagination would, untimely death in 1962 meant that
rationalization and the shift of says Wright Mills, prompt such people he did not live to see many of them
social control to an elite were to look to wider causes and effects. gain general acceptance. His work
affecting people on an individual foreshadowed the emergence of
level too. The adoption of a outside the social science new socialist thinkers, especially
sociological imagination implied establishment. The philosophers in France, with the counterculture
a move from the objective study and political activists who emerged of the 1960s. Michel Foucault’s
of “what is” to a more subjective from the period of McCarthyism emphasis on the notion of power
answer to the question of “what were particularly attracted to his bears a particularly strong
ought to be?” He advocated that description of a power elite. Many resemblance to ideas that were
power should effectively be of his ideas were adopted by the first raised by Wright Mills.
transferred to an intellectual elite. social movements of the US New
Left (a term that Wright Mills Today, the so-called War on
A pioneering spirit popularized in his “Letter to the Terror in the aftermath of the
Unsurprisingly, Wright Mills’ New Left” in 1960), which in turn 9/11 attacks and the disastrous
criticism of sociology was met paved the way for sociologists financial crises of the early 21st
with hostility and he became such as the German scholar century have led to a growing
isolated from the mainstream. Herbert Marcuse to adopt a New realization that much of our
His interpretation of the changing Leftist approach in the 1960s. everyday lives is shaped by wider
nature of the class struggle was social and historical issues.
also largely dismissed. The US urban policy analyst Professor
conservative establishment also Peter Dreier claimed in 2012 that
shunned him, rejecting his claims Wright Mills would have loved
of a concentration of power in the the Occupy Wall Street movement
military, business, and political against social and economic
elite, which was seen as a direct inequality. This example of
attack on the basis of Cold War ordinary people objecting to
policy in the West. a power elite that they claim is
controlling society and affecting
Nevertheless, the books and their lives is the sociological
articles of Wright Mills were widely imagination being exhibited in
read, and became influential a campaign for social change. ■

Charles Wright Mills degree in philosophy. An spent the rest of his career.
obviously talented, but difficult, Although his outspoken
Fiercely independent and student, he went on to study at criticism of the social science
critical of authority, Charles the University of Wisconsin, where establishment saw him pushed
Wright Mills attributed his he fell out with his professors out of the mainstream, he
unconventional attitudes to an and refused to make revisions gained much popular attention.
isolated and sometimes lonely to his doctoral thesis. He was, His career ended abruptly when
childhood because his family however, eventually awarded his he died of heart disease in 1962,
moved around frequently. He PhD in 1942. By this time, he had at the age of only 45.
was born in Waco, Texas, and taken up a post at the University
initially studied at Texas A&M of Maryland, and with one of his Key works
University, but found the doctoral supervisors, Hans Gerth,
atmosphere there stifling and wrote From Max Weber: Essays 1948 The New Men of Power:
left after his first year. He in Sociology. America’s Labor Leaders
transferred to the University of 1956 The Power Elite
Texas in Austin, graduated in In 1945 Wright Mills moved, 1959 The Sociological
sociology and gained a master’s on a Guggenheim fellowship, to Imagination
Columbia University, where he

50

PAY TO THE MOST
COMMONPLACE ACTIVITIES
THE ATTENTION ACCORDED
EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS

HAROLD GARFINKEL (1917–2011)

IN CONTEXT The structure of society is not I n the 1930s, the US sociologist
determined “top down” by a Talcott Parsons embarked
FOCUS upon a project of bringing
Ethnomethodology limited set of general rules. together the various strands of
sociology in a single, unified theory.
KEY DATES Instead, the rules are built His 1937 book The Structure of
1895 Émile Durkheim “bottom up,” from our small Social Action combined ideas from
advocates a strict scientific exchanges and interactions. Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, and
methodology for the social others, and attempted to present
sciences in The Rules of These rules can be seen in our a universal methodology for
Sociological Method. spontaneous behavior in sociology. In the years after World
everyday life, rather than War II, Parsons’ ideas gained him
1921–22 Max Weber’s in social structures and a significant number of supporters.
methodological individualism institutions.
is explained in Economy Among his admirers was Harold
and Society, published Pay to the most Garfinkel, who studied under
posthumously. commonplace Parsons at Harvard. While many
activities the of the followers were attracted by
1937 Talcott Parsons attempts attention accorded the idea of a “grand theory” of
to form a single, unified social extraordinary events. sociology, Garfinkel picked up on
theory in The Structure of Parsons’ idea of examining the
Social Action. roots of social order, rather than
social change, and in particular his
1967 Harold Garfinkel methods of researching the subject.
publishes Studies in
Ethnomethodology. The workings of society
Parsons had suggested a
1976 Anthony Giddens “bottom up” rather than “top
incorporates ideas of down” approach to analyzing
Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology the foundations of social order.
into mainstream sociology This meant that to understand how
in his book New Rules of social order is achieved in society,
Sociological Method. we should look at micro interactions
and exchanges rather than at social
structures and institutions.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 51

See also: Émile Durkheim 34–37 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ Anthony Giddens 148–49 ■ Erving Goffman 190–95; 264–69 ■
Talcott Parsons 300–01

This approach turned traditional Procedurally it is my they use the theories to explain the
sociological methodology on preference to start with examples—a circular argument.
its head: until then, it had been Instead, they should examine
thought that people’s behavior familiar scenes and particular social interactions
could be predicted by finding the ask what can be done independently, and not set out to
underlying “rules” of society. find an overall pattern or theory.
to make trouble. He referred to jury deliberation
Garfinkel took the idea further, Harold Garfinkel and standing in lines as “familiar
developing what amounted to an scenes” that we simply know how to
alternative to the conventional formally as “Mr. X” or “Mrs. X” or organize intelligibly in recognizable
sociological approach, which he to act as though they were lodgers— ways. Any social setting, he argued,
called ethnomethodology. The often provoked exasperation or can “be viewed as self-organizing
underlying rules of social order are anger, as the foundations of the with respect to the intelligible
built from the ways that people social order were challenged. character of its own appearances as
behave in reaction to different either representations of or as
situations, and it is by observing Ethnomethodology not only evidences of a social order.”
everyday interactions that we offered an alternative method of
can gain insight into the social research, but also indicated Garfinkel’s approach was set out
mechanisms of social order. a flaw in conventional methodology. in Studies in Ethnomethodology in
According to Garfinkel, social 1967. In an age when “alternative”
New perspectives researchers support their theories ideas were popular, Garfinkel
One category of experimental with evidence from specific attracted a large following, despite
methods Garfinkel advocated examples, but at the same time his impenetrable writing style. His
became known as “breaching ideas were initially dismissed by
experiments.” These were designed mainstream sociologists, but by
to uncover social norms—the the end of the 20th century had
expected, but largely unnoticed, become more generally accepted,
ways people construct a shared perhaps not as an alternative to
sense of reality. Breaching these sociological methodology, but
norms—for example by asking his offering an additional perspective
students to address their parents to the field of social order. ■

Harold Garfinkel gained his PhD He then taught An orderly line is a collectively
at Princeton and Ohio State negotiated, member-produced form
Born in Newark, New Jersey, universities before settling of organization that is based on the
Harold Garfinkel studied in 1954 at the University of unspoken rules of social interaction
business and accounting at the California. Garfinkel retired in in a public space.
University of Newark, then later 1987, but continued to teach as
earned an MA at the University an emeritus professor until his
of North Carolina. At the same death in 2011.
time, he began his writing
career, and one of his short Key works
stories, “Color Trouble,” was
included in the anthology The 1967 Studies in
Best Short Stories, 1941. Ethnomethodology
2002 Ethnomethodology’s
After noncombatant service Program
in the army during World War 2008 Toward a Sociological
II, he studied under Talcott Theory of Information
Parsons at Harvard, where he

52 IN CONTEXT

WHERE THERE IS FOCUS
POWER THERE Power/resistance
IS RESISTANCE
KEY DATES
MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926–1984) 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels describe the oppression
of the proletariat by the
bourgeoisie in their book
The Communist Manifesto.

1883 Friedrich Nietzsche
introduces the concept of
the “Will to Power” in Thus
Spoke Zarathustra.

1997 Judith Butler’s Excitable
Speech: A Politics of the
Performative develops
Foucault’s idea of power/
knowledge in relation to
censorship and hate speech.

2000 In Empire, Italian
Marxist sociologist Antonio
Negri and US scholar Michael
Hardt describe the evolution
of a “total” imperialist power,
against which the only
resistance is negation.

T he power to maintain
social order, or to bring
about social change,
has conventionally been seen in
political or economic terms. Until
the 1960s, theories of power usually
fell into two types: ideas of the
power of government or state over
citizens; or the Marxist idea of
a power struggle between the
bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
However, these theories tended
to concentrate on power at the
macro level, either ignoring the
exercise of power at lower levels
of social relations, or seeing it
as a consequence of the primary
exercise of power (or only of
secondary importance).

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 53

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Max Weber 38–45 ■ Charles Wright Mills 46–49 ■
Herbert Marcuse 182–87 ■ Erich Fromm 188 ■ Jürgen Habermas 286–87

Power is not simply Power is something
wielded by one level of that is enacted rather
society over another, but
is present in every than possessed...

level of society.

Power relations ...it is not a thing, Michel Foucault
involve discourse but a relation.
(systems of ideas), which A brilliant polymath,
allows the possibility influential in the fields of
philosophy, psychology,
of resistance. politics, and literary criticism
as well as sociology, Michel
Where there is power Foucault was often associated
there is resistance. with the structuralist and
post-structuralist movements
Michel Foucault, however, thought has, but something that is done to in France, but disliked being
that in today’s Western liberal others, an action that affects the labeled as such. He was
societies, these approaches are an action of others. born in Poitiers, France,
oversimplification. Power, he said, and studied philosophy
is not just exercised by the state Power relations and psychology at the École
or capitalists, but can be seen Instead of thinking of power Normale Supérieure in Paris.
at every level of society, from as a “thing,” Foucault sees it as a He taught in Sweden, Poland,
individuals through groups and “relation,” and explains the nature and Germany in the 1950s,
organizations to society as a whole. of power through examination and received his doctorate in
In his words, “power is everywhere, of the power relations present at 1959. He lectured in Tunisia
and comes from everywhere.” He every level of modern society. For from 1966 to 1968 and when
also disagreed with the traditional example, a power relation exists he returned to Paris was
view of power as something that between a man and the state in appointed head of philosophy
can be possessed and wielded, like which he lives, but at the same at the University of Vincennes.
a weapon. This, he says, is not time, there are different forms Two years later, he was
power, but a capacity to exercise of power relation between him elected to the Collège de
power—it does not become power and his employer, his children, France as professor of “the
until some action is taken. Power is the organizations to which he history of systems of thought.”
therefore not something someone belongs, and so on. ❯❯ He died in 1984, one of the
first prominent victims of HIV/
AIDS-related illness in France.

Key works

1969 The Archaeology of
Knowledge
1975 Discipline and Punish:
The Birth of the Prison
1976–84 The History of
Sexuality (three volumes)

54 MICHEL FOUCAULT

Foucault acknowledges that conduct could be corrected and Foucault’s History of
power has been, and continues regulated, and above all monitored Sexuality... warns us against
to be, the major force in shaping and controlled.
social order, but describes how imagining a complete
the nature of power relations has This element of surveillance liberation from power.
changed from medieval times to is especially important in the There can never be a total
today. What he calls the “sovereign” evolution of the way power is liberation from power.
exercise of power, such as public exercised in modern society.
torture and executions, was the Foucault was particularly struck Judith Butler
method that authority figures in by the Panopticon, the efficient
feudal society used to coerce their prison design inspired by British behavior. Rather than an authority
subjects into obedience. With the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, forcing people to act in particular
advent of the Enlightenment in with a watchtower that enabled ways, or preventing them from
Europe, however, violence and continual observation of inmates. behaving differently, people
force were seen as inhuman and, The cells, Foucault points out, are participate in a complex system of
more importantly, as an ineffective backlit to prevent inmates from power relations operating on many
means of exercising power. hiding in shadowy recesses. levels, regulating the conduct of the
Prisoners can never be certain of members of a society.
Surveillance and control when they are under surveillance,
In place of harsh physical so they learn to discipline their This pervasive sort of power is
punishment came a more pervasive behavior as if they always are. determined by the control society
means of controlling behavior: Power is no longer exercised by has over people’s attitudes, beliefs,
discipline. The establishment coercing people to conform, but and practices: the systems of ideas
of institutions such as prisons, by establishing mechanisms that Foucault refers to as “discourse.”
asylums, hospitals, and schools ensure their compliance. The belief system of any society
characterized the move away from evolves as people come to accept
the notion of merely punishing to Regulating conduct certain views, to the point that
a disciplinary exercise of power: The mechanisms by which power
specifically, acting to prevent is exercised, the “technology of
people from behaving in certain power,” have since become an
ways. These institutions not integral part of society. In the
only removed the opportunity modern Western world, social
for transgression, but provided norms are imposed not so much
the conditions in which people’s by enforcement, as by exercising
“pastoral” power, guiding people’s

The Panopticon, Prisoners are unsure of when
designed by Bentham, they are being watched.
is the supreme eye of
power for Foucault. An overseer in a central Backlit cells eliminate
The circular space tower closely monitors shadows, where inmates
enables a permanent the movements and might hide from the
visibility that guides behavior of inmates. overseer’s gaze.
prison inmates to
comply with their
own disciplining and
control. Foucault argues
that not only prisons,
but all hierarchical
structures (such as
hospitals, factories, and
schools) have evolved to
resemble this model.

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 55

A shepherd tending his flock is
the analogy Foucault uses to describe
“pastoral” power, whereby people are
guided to act in certain ways and then
allow themselves to be governed.

these views become embedded in nothing specific that can be possibility of resistance—without
that society, defining what is good resisted. Indeed, Foucault points resistance, there is no need for the
and bad, and what is considered out that political resistance, in the exercise of power.
normal or deviant. Individuals form of revolution, may not lead to
within that society regulate their social change, as it challenges only The deployment of power
behavior according to these norms, the power of the state, not the Foucault’s concepts of power–
largely unaware that it is the ubiquitous, everyday way in which knowledge and discourse are subtle
discourse that is guiding their power today is exercised. and at the time were rejected
conduct, as it makes opposing by many scholars as speculative
thoughts and actions unthinkable. However, Foucault argues that and vague. But his lectures and
there is a possibility of resistance: writings became enormously
Discursive regimes what can be resisted is the popular, despite the difficult
Discourse is constantly reinforced, discourse itself, which can be concepts and his sometimes
as it is both an instrument and an challenged by other, opposing convoluted prose style. The ideas of
effect of power: it controls thoughts discourses. Power that relies on power described in Discipline and
and conduct, which in turn shape complicity implies at least some Punish and The History of Sexuality
the belief system. And because it degree of freedom of those subject gradually gained acceptance
defines what is right and wrong, it to it. For the discourse to be an by some in the mainstream of
is a “regime of truth,” creating a instrument of power, those subject sociology (if not among historians
body of what is considered to it must be involved in a power and philosophers), and eventually
undeniable common knowledge. relation, and he argues that if there influenced the analysis of how
is a power relation, there is also a discourse is used in society as
Foucault challenged the idea an instrument of power in many
that “knowledge is power,” saying Discourse transmits different arenas.
that the two are related more and produces power;
subtly. He coined the term “power– it reinforces it, but also The development of modern
knowledge” for this relationship, undermines and exposes it. feminism, queer theory, and
noting that knowledge creates Michel Foucault cultural studies owes much
power, but is also created by to Foucault’s explanation of how
power. Today, power is exercised norms of behavior are enforced.
by controlling what forms of Today, opinion is still divided as
knowledge are acceptable, to whether his theories are the
presenting them as truths, somewhat vague conclusions of
and excluding other forms of poor research and scholarship
knowledge. At the same time, or whether he should be considered
accepted knowledge, the discourse, one of the 20th century’s most
is actually produced in the process original and wide-ranging thinkers
of exercising power. in the social sciences. ■

Unlike the way power had
traditionally been used to compel
and coerce people to behave in a
particular way, this form of power–
knowledge has no immediately
recognizable agent or structure.
And because of its all-pervasive
nature, it would appear to have

GENDER IS A KIND OF

IMITATION

FOR WHICH THERE IS NO

ORIGINAL

JUDITH BUTLER (1956– )



58 JUDITH BUTLER People perform Traditional
in ways that are expectations
IN CONTEXT expected of them of gender are based
on how most people
FOCUS by their culture. behave in their
Gender performativity
culture.
KEY DATES
1905 Austrian psychoanalyst Gender is a kind of imitation
Sigmund Freud describes the for which there is no original.
formation of infantile sexuality
in Three Essays on the Theory Gender is what you do, rather than
of Sexuality. a universal notion of who you are.

1951 French psychoanalyst
Jacques Lacan begins his
weekly seminars in Paris,
further developing Freud’s
idea of “sexual drives”
and sexuality.

mid-1970s Michel Foucault
talks about regulatory regimes
in Discipline and Punish, and
about sex, power, and the
social construction of sexuality
in The History of Sexuality.

1996 Steven Seidman
examines the sociological
implications of the emergence
of queer theory in Queer
Theory/Sociology.

I t was not until after World masculine) paved the way for a published in the 1930s, but were
War II that gender and reappraisal of the role of gender more openly considered by a post-
sexuality were recognized in society. It also kick-started war generation that was addressing
as issues for sociological study. The the women’s liberation movement previously taboo subjects—such
so-called “second-wave” feminism of the following decades. as promiscuity and extramarital
of the 1960s to 1980s snowballed sex—as social phenomena rather
from the insight of the French Attitudes toward sex in than deviant behavior.
feminist Simone de Beauvoir in Western society were also
The Second Sex (1949) that “one being reshaped by the work of Challenging convention
is not born a woman: one becomes anthropologists, such as Margaret At the forefront of this examination
one.” Her idea that there is a Mead. Her studies of tribes in the of sexual conventions in Western
difference between sex (what South Pacific and Southeast Asia society was Michel Foucault, who
determines whether one is showed that many behavioral tackled the subject head-on in
biologically female or male) and differences between males and 1976 in The History of Sexuality.
gender (the social forces that females were culturally, rather than Running through this text was
act upon one to be feminine or biologically, determined. These his central theory of the way that
findings were shocking when

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 59

See also: Michel Foucault 52–55; 302–03 ■ Margaret Mead 176–77
Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Jeffrey Weeks 324–25 ■ Steven Seidman 326–31

(or at least, decriminalization) of
homosexuality in many countries,
and the sexual liberation brought
by the Women’s Lib movement.

Gender is an impersonation... Gender identities Judith Butler
becoming gendered involves Among the “baby boomers” of the
impersonating an ideal that post-war generation was US scholar One of the most influential
Judith Butler, who took these ideas figures in feminist and
nobody actually inhabits. yet further. While accepting de LGBTI issues from the 1990s
Judith Butler Beauvoir’s main point that gender onward, Judith Butler has
is a social construct, Butler felt that also been a prominent activist
power in society is exerted by the traditional feminism ignores the in anti-war, anti-capitalism,
imposition of social norms, and in wider implications of this notion, and anti-racism movements.
particular that not only our gender and merely reinforces male and Her parents were of Russian
but our sexuality is shaped by the female stereotypes. Gender is and Hungarian Jewish
culture in which we live. Just as not as simple, she contends, as descent. She studied at
de Beauvoir had brought the issue masculinity and femininity, nor Yale University, where she
of gender into the social sphere, is sexuality as simple as gay and received her doctorate in
Foucault broadened the debate straight. Gender and sexuality are philosophy in 1984. In 1993,
significantly to include sexual neither as polarized in this way, after teaching at various
orientation, and indeed the whole nor as fixed and unchanging as universities, she took up
of sexual behavior. we have come to believe, but a post at the University of
can be fluid, covering a whole California, Berkeley, and
The generation after Foucault spectrum of gender identities. ❯❯ was appointed Maxine Elliot
grew up in an era marked by a Professor of Rhetoric and
relaxation of sexual mores: the “free Gay Pride events, which were Comparative Literature in
love” of the 1960s, acceptance first held in the US in 1971 to protest 1998. Other posts include
against persecution of gays, challenged chair of the board of the
the notion that sexuality was confined International Gay and Lesbian
to masculinity and femininity. Human Rights Commission.
She was awarded the Theodor
W. Adorno Prize in 2012.
Butler lives with her partner,
the political theorist Wendy
Brown, in California.

Key works

1990 Gender Trouble:
Feminism and the Subversion
of Identity
1993 Bodies That Matter: On
the Discursive Limits of “Sex”
2004 Undoing Gender

60 JUDITH BUTLER

...laughter emerges It is, Butler says, these “gender To escape the restrictiveness
in the realization acts”—which include such things of this kind of sexual typecasting,
that all along the as dress, mannerisms, and all sorts Butler advocates subversion,
original was derived. of everyday activities as well as deliberately performing in a way
Judith Butler sexual activity and choice of sexual that goes against the conventional
partner—that determine the sex gender acts. Using what she calls
Butler argues that both sex and we perceive ourselves to be. Even “performativity of gender,” such as
gender are socially, not biologically the language we use reinforces cross-dressing or drag, the norms
determined. At the heart of the social norms, ensuring that are challenged, but also one’s
her argument is the idea that we perform in a certain way. perception of gender and even
“gender is not something that one sex can be changed. Butler insists
is, it is something one does... a Subversive acts that this should not be merely a
‘doing’ rather than a ‘being’.” Butler claims that, crucially, it is trivial lifestyle choice—we cannot
the constant repetition of this kind wake up and decide what gender
Conventionally, our anatomical of performance that molds gender we want to be that day—but a
sex (female or male) is considered identity, so that .”..the actors genuine act of subversion, and like
to be the cause of our gender themselves come to believe and the gender acts it is subverting,
(femininity or masculinity), to perform in the mode of belief.” one that is performed on a regular
according to the cultural norms
associated with them. But Butler Gender identity, according to Butler, is not a part of a person’s
challenges the idea of a stable and essence but the product of actions and behaviors. It is the
coherent gender identity. According repeated performing of these actions and behaviors—combined
to her, it is the things that we do, with the taboos imposed by society—that produce what is seen
our “gender acts,” that determine as an essentially masculine or feminine identity.
our gender, and even the way
we perceive our biological sex. Taboo Dress
When we behave in ways that are
“appropriate” to our sex, we are Gender acts
imitating the norms of gender
identity, which are based on the Behavior Gestures
ways that each sex behaves. We
are performing a role that does
not in fact exist; in essence, there
is no original template for “female”
or “male”—the original itself is
derived. So, if one is born female,
one behaves in what is considered
to be a “feminine” way (by, for
example, desiring a male partner),
and comes to accept the fact that
sex with men is associated with
that gender.

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 61

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a
1994 cult movie about two drag queens
and a transsexual. Some claim it
merely reproduces stereotypes; others
that it brings LGBTI issues to the fore.

basis, through constant repetition.
In this way, the sexual norms
imposed by society are “troubled,”
shown to be artificial and based on
a nonexistent status quo, and the
rights of all kinds of different sexual
identities (straight, gay, lesbian,
transgender, and beyond) can be
asserted as having equal validity.

Controversy and change society. It is not necessarily just our followers than critics, and the field
Butler’s widening of the issue sexual identity that is shaped by of gender and sexuality in sociology
of sexuality and gender was a repeated performance of certain has been much influenced by her
cornerstone of what came to be behaviors, but our whole social and broadening of its scope. Whether
known as queer theory. As well as political outlook. Butler maintains in part as a result of her work, or
moving the discussion away from that we can challenge other simply contemporary with it, there
traditional ideas of masculinity and aspects of the status quo by has been increasing liberalization
femininity to include a broad deliberately performing in new, of attitudes to different forms of
spectrum of sexuality and gender subversive ways. sexuality in Western society, to the
identity, her ideas showed how our extent that same-sex couples and
perceptions of sexuality are socially Butler has faced considerable LGBTI issues are accepted in
molded, rather than an essential criticism, not least from feminist mainstream and popular culture
part of us. But she is also a political thinkers such as US scholar almost without controversy in some
activist, and beneath her theories Martha Nussbaum. Some have places, changing the nature of
of gender are the Foucauldian ideas argued that she implies a lack of the “gender acts” that inform our
of power and how it is exercised in free will in those imitating the individual sexual identities. But in
sexual norms of society, whereas those countries where the cultural
Drag is subversive to the in fact those norms have frequently mores continue to be restrictive,
extent that it reflects on been broken by those who felt and regimes push ferociously
the imitative structure uncomfortable with them. And, straight agendas, the impact of
by which... gender is itself as with many postmodern thinkers, those not conforming to the rigid
produced and disputes her writing has attracted the sexual norms is that much greater,
heterosexuality’s claim criticism that its convoluted form and more clearly demonstrates the
conceals some basically simple power of subversion. ■
on naturalness. ideas. Butler has, however, more
Judith Butler

SOCIAL
INEQUAL

ITIES

64 INTRODUCTION

Harriet Martineau Karl Marx and Max Weber argues The Universal Richard Sennett,
highlights the Friedrich Engels that ethnic groups Declaration of with Jonathan Cobb,
call for a socialist are distinguished by Human Rights is
unjust treatment revolution in socially specific adopted by the examines the
of women, the The Communist world views rather United Nations negative effects of
than by biological General Assembly. class consciousness
working class, and Manifesto.
black people in the differences. in The Hidden
Injuries of Class.
US and Britain.

1830S AND 40S 1848 1906 1948 1972
1845 1903 1920 1964

Friedrich Engels describes W.E.B. Du Bois Max Weber outlines his The US Civil Rights
the oppression and describes socially Three Class System Act outlaws
constructed racial
exploitation of working prejudice against theory of social discrimination
people in The Condition of African Americans in stratification, based on based on race, color,
The Souls of Black Folk. wealth, social status,
the Working Class in religion, sex, or
England in 1844. and political power. national origin.

T he modernity that emerged it was not the utopian dream that proletariat) and the capitalist class
from Enlightenment ideas had been expected. By the 19th (the bourgeoisie). Later sociologists
and the technological century, many thinkers had begun also recognized that social
innovations of the Industrial to realize that this progress came inequality is manifested in a class
Revolution offered the promise not at a cost, and that some of the system, but suggested that the
only of greater prosperity but also promises had yet to be kept. stratification was more complex.
of a more just society. In Europe, Instead of becoming more just, Max Weber, for example, proposed
at least, the absolute power of modern industrial society had that as well as economic situation,
monarchs, the aristocracy, and created new inequalities. status and political standing also
the Church was challenged, and play a part. Perceptions of class and
old dogmas were discredited by Among the first to study the the issue of class consciousness
rational and scientific thought. new social order was Friedrich became focuses for sustained
At the same time, advances in Engels, who saw the emergence sociological study of inequality,
technology brought mechanization of a working class exploited by the including the concept of “habitus,”
to many trades and gave birth to owners of the mills and factories. as explained by Pierre Bourdieu.
new industries, increasing wealth With Karl Marx, he identified
and bringing hope of improvement oppression of this class as the Racial oppression
to people’s working lives. result of capitalism, which in turn While Engels and Marx
fueled and fed off industrialization. concentrated on the economic
Class consciousness disparity between the classes,
As the modern industrialized Marx and Engels considered the others realized that it was not only
society became established, social problems of industrial society the working classes that suffered
however, it became apparent that in material, economic terms, social injustice. Harriet Martineau
and saw inequality as a division
between the working class (the

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 65

In A Place on the Corner: In Distinction: A Social Paul Gilroy’s There Ain’t In Theorizing Patriarchy,
A Study of Black Street Critique of the no Black in the Union Sylvia Walby identifies a
system of patriarchal
Corner Men, Elijah Judgment of Taste, Jack argues that ideas of social structures and
Anderson begins his Pierre Bourdieu a fixed national identity,
research into the stigma ethnicity, or culture can systems in which
of being black, and its explains “habitus,” women are exploited.
link with the ghetto. a sense of belonging foster racism, and
should be abandoned.
to a social group.

1978 1979 1987 1990
1978 1979 1984 1987 2009

In Orientalism, Edward In Poverty in the In Feminist Theory: In Gender and Power Richard Wilkinson
Said challenges the United Kingdom, Peter From Margin to Center, R.W. Connell says and Kate Pickett
Townsend argues for bell hooks argues that masculinity is a argue that most
stereotypical view of poverty to be defined forms of oppression— social construct things are affected
the East he says is still that reinforces a not by wealth but
in relative rather of women, race, and patriarchal society. social equality.
prevalent in the than absolute terms. class—are connected.
Western world.

highlighted the gap between the that have persisted to the present injustice in societies that remained
Enlightenment ideal of equal rights day. Sociologists such as W.E.B. fundamentally patriarchal through
and the reality of modern society. Du Bois examined the position the 20th century and up to the
Her experiences in the US, where of ethnic groups in predominantly present day. It had taken “first
she encountered slavery, showed white European industrial wave” feminism over a century to
that even in a democracy founded societies, and in the 20th century get women the vote, and the task
on ideals of liberty, some groups— attention became focused on the of the second wave, starting soon
women, ethnic minorities, connections between race and after World War II, was to examine
and the working classes—were social inequality. Elijah Anderson and overcome persistent social
excluded from participation in began his study of black people injustice based on gender.
shaping society. The connection and their association with the
she made with these various forms concept of “the ghetto”; Edward Rather than simply addressing
of oppression was re-explored by Said analysed negative Western the economic and political
bell hooks some 150 years later. perceptions of “the East”; and factors underlying the continued
British sociologists such as Paul oppression of women, Sylvia
Even when slavery was finally Gilroy sought to find ways of Walby suggested a comprehensive
abolished, true emancipation was eradicating racism in modern analysis of the social systems that
incomplete; the political exclusion multicultural societies. maintain society’s patriarchal
of black people—by being denied structure, while R.W. Connell
the vote—persisted in the USA Gender equality pointed out the prevalence of
well into the 20th century. Black Women likewise struggled for conventional perceptions—socially
people in the USA and Europe also political suffrage, but even after constructed forms—of masculinity
faced prejudices as a hangover from this had been achieved they faced that reinforce the concept of
slavery and European colonialism patriarchal society. ■

66

I BROADLY ACCUSE
THE BOURGEOISIE
OF SOCIAL MURDER

FRIEDRICH ENGELS (1820–1895)

IN CONTEXT L iving in England from He claimed the bourgeoisie was
1842 to 1844, the German turning a blind eye to their part in
FOCUS philosopher Friedrich the early deaths of their workers,
Class exploitation Engels had seen, first-hand, when it was within their power
the devastating effects of to change things, so he accused
KEY DATES industrialization on workers and them of “social murder.”
1760 The Industrial Revolution their children. The bourgeoisie, or
begins when the “flying capitalist class, he said, knowingly In the 1840s, England was
shuttle” weaving machine causes the workers’ “life of toil seen as the workshop of the world;
shifts textile manufacture and wretchedness... but takes no it enjoyed a unique position at the
to England. further trouble in the matter.” center of the Industrial Revolution.
Engels observed that it was
1830s–40s The British
railway system expands In the 1840s, mortality in working class streets in
rapidly, allowing easy Manchester was 68 percent higher than in those of the “first class.”
movement of people,
products, and capital. Bourgeois society condemned the workers to
unhealthy living conditions, insecure wages,
1844 Graham’s Factory Act
lowers the minimum age and physical and mental exhaustion.
for working in factories in
the UK to eight years old. If society puts people in such a position that they
die an early and unnatural death, it is murder.
1848 Marx and Engels publish
The Communist Manifesto. I broadly accuse the bourgeoisie
of social murder.
1892 James Keir Hardie is
the first socialist elected to
the British parliament.

1900 The Labour Party is
formed in Britain to represent
the interests of the workers
and trade unionists.

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 67

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Peter Townsend 74 ■ Richard Sennett 84–87 ■ Max Weber 220–23 ■
Harry Braverman 226–31 ■ Robert Blauner 232–33

undergoing a massive but silent epidemics of consumption and entire families starved to death.
transformation that had altered typhus. Workers were packed The worker, Engels explained,
the whole of English civil society. into one-room huts or the cellars could only obtain what he needed—
of damp houses that had been healthy living conditions, secure
Industrialization had driven built along old ditches to save employment, and a decent wage—
down prices, so handcrafted work, the house-owner money. They from the bourgeoisie, “which
which was more expensive, was lived in conditions that defied can decree his life or death.” He
less in demand; workers moved all consideration of cleanliness was insistent that this hugely
to the cities only to endure harsh and health, Engels said—and this exploitative, capital-owning class
conditions and financial insecurity. in Manchester, “the second city of should therefore take immediate
The industrialized, capitalist England, the first manufacturing steps to change workers’ conditions
economy lurched from boom to city of the world.” and stop its careless murder of an
bust, and workers’ jobs could entire social class. ■
quickly disappear. Meanwhile, the The proletariat were worked to
bourgeoisie grew richer by treating the point of exhaustion, wearing Working-class families in England
the workers as disposable labor. cheap clothing that gave no during the 1840s endured social
protection against accidents deprivation, crippling financial
The legacy of industrialism or the climate. They could buy instability, and terrible sickness due
In Engels’ first book, The Condition only the food spurned by the to the effects of industrial capitalism.
of the Working Class in England bourgeoisie, such as decaying
in 1844, he described the appalling meat, wilted vegetables, “sugar”
way of life of the workers, or that was the refuse of soap-boiling
proletariat, in Manchester, London, firms, and cocoa mixed with earth.
Dublin, and Edinburgh, and found
similar situations in all these cities. When work disappeared and
He reported filthy streets with pools wages failed, even this meager
of stagnant urine and excrement, diet proved impossible, and many
filled with the stench of animal workers and their families began
putrefaction from the tanneries. to starve; this caused illness and a
Widespread cholera outbreaks continued inability to work, should
occurred, along with constant work become available. Doctors
were unaffordable, and very often

Friedrich Engels Political theorist and philosopher financial sponsor. They
Friedrich Engels was born in jointly wrote The Communist
Germany in 1820. His father Manifesto, and worked together
was a German industrialist who until Marx’s death in 1883, after
struggled with Engels’ reluctance which Engels completed the
to attend school or work in the second and third volumes of Das
family business. As a teenager, Kapital, along with many books
he wrote articles under the and articles of his own.
pseudonym Friedrich Oswald,
which gained him access to a Key works
group of left-wing intellectuals.
1845 The Condition of the
After working for a short time Working Class in England
in a family factory in Manchester, in 1844
England, he became interested in 1848 The Communist Manifesto
communism. In 1844 he traveled 1884 The Origin of the Family,
to Paris, where he met Karl Marx Private Property and the State
and became his colleague and

THE PROBLEM OF THE

20TH CENTURY

IS THE PROBLEM OF THE

COLOR LINE

W.E.B. DU BOIS (1868–1963)



70 W.E.B. DU BOIS The US Civil War freed slaves in the South.

IN CONTEXT The government introduced schools, home ownership,
a banking system, and legal redress for freed slaves…
FOCUS
Race and ethnicity …but this increased the enmity of white people.

KEY DATES Black people were legally free, but racial prejudice made them
1857 US Chief Justice Roger B. “slaves of society.”
Taney rules against a petition
for freedom from enslaved Prejudice cannot be legislated away:
Dred Scott, saying that blacks the continuing problem of the 20th century
cannot be granted citizenship
and therefore equal protection is the problem of the color line.
under the law because they
are inferior to whites.

1906 Max Weber says that
shared perceptions and
common customs, not
biological traits, distinguish
ethnic groups from each other.

1954 The legal case of “Brown
vs Board of Education” rules
that establishing “separate
but equal” schools for
black and white children
is unconstitutional.

l964 The Civil Rights Act
outlaws public segregation
and ends discrimination based
on race, color, religion, or sex.

T oward the end of the In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois investigated begins his study by pointing out
19th century, the US social the idea of the color line in The that no white person is willing to
reformer and freed slave Souls of Black Folk. A literary, talk about race explicitly, choosing
Frederick Douglass drew attention sociological, and political landmark, instead to act out prejudice in
to the continuing prejudice against it examines the changing position various ways. But what they really
black people in the US. He of African-Americans from the US want to know is this: “How does it
claimed that although blacks had Civil War and its aftermath to the feel to be a problem?”
ceased to belong to individuals, early 1900s, in terms of the physical,
they had nevertheless become economic, and political relations of Du Bois finds the question
slaves of society. Out of the depths black and white people in the unanswerable, because it only
of slavery, he said, “has come South. It concludes that “the makes sense from a white
this prejudice and this color line,” problem of the 20th century perspective—black people do not
through which white dominion is the problem of the color line”— see themselves as “a problem.”
was asserted in the workplace, the continuing division between He then examines how this duality
the ballot box, the legal courts, the opportunities and perspectives of perspective has occurred and
and everyday life. of blacks and whites. Du Bois gives the example of his first
encounter with racism. While

SOCIAL INEQUALITES 71

See also: Harriet Martineau 26–27 ■ Paul Gilroy 75 ■ Edward Said 80–81 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■
bell hooks 90–95 ■ Stuart Hall 200–01

at primary school, a new pupil That central paradox two thoughts, two unreconciled
refused to accept a greeting card of the South—the social strivings; two warring ideals in
from Du Bois, at which point “it separation of the races. one dark body.”
dawned on me that I was different
from the others.” W.E.B. Du Bois The unfolding history of
the black person in the US is,
He felt like them in his heart, he through the reflection of the white Du Bois claims, the history of this
says, but realized that he was “shut world, which views them with inner conflict, which itself is a
out from their world by a vast veil.” amused contempt and pity, and result of the external, worldly battle
Initially undaunted, he says that he through their own sense of self, between black and white people.
felt no need to tear down the veil which is more fluid and less well He suggests that a black person
until he grew up and saw that all defined. These combine to form wants to merge the double-
the most dazzling opportunities in what Du Bois calls a double- consciousness into one state, and
the world were for white people, not consciousness: “...two souls, find a true African-American spirit
black people. There was a color that does not Africanize America,
line, and he was standing on nor “bleach his African soul in
the side that was denied power, a flood of white Americanism.”
opportunity, dignity, and respect.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Identity crisis How had black people become
Du Bois suggests that the color the “problem”? To try to explain
line is internal too. Black people, this issue, Du Bois looks to the
according to him, see themselves history of slavery in the US and the
in two ways simultaneously: turning point of the Civil War. ❯❯

African-American
professional man’s
self-image.

Double-consciousness is Du Bois’ term The racial stereotype of
for the peculiar problem of “two-ness” faced African-Americans held
by African-Americans, who must develop by many white people
a sense of self while simultaneously being in society.
aware of how they are seen through the
eyes of others. A young black man may be
a doctor (above and right), but he will also
be acutely conscious of white society’s
stereotyping of black males as dangerous
and threatening and as, for example,
criminals or ghetto gangstas (far right).

72 W.E.B. DU BOIS

Ulysses S. Grant and his generals
advance on horseback in the Civil
War. In 1868 the votes of a new black
electorate were vital to Grant’s election
as Republican president.

According to him, slavery was the Du Bois points out that this was that a nation which today sneers
real cause of the war, which started seen as a problem, because “the at Negro shiftlessness has never
in 1861. As the Union army of the South believed an educated Negro yet made good.”
northern states marched into the to be a dangerous Negro.” The
South, slaves fled to join it. At opposition to black education in The Bureau had set up a system
first, slaves were returned to their the South “showed itself in ashes, of free (non-slave) labor and ex-slave
owners, but the policy changed and insult, and blood.” proprietorship, secured the
they were kept as military labor. recognition of black people as free
At the same time, the Bureau people in courts of law, and
In 1863, slaves were declared sowed division in legal matters. founded common schools. The
free, and the government set up the According to Du Bois, it used its greatest failing of the Bureau was
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and courts to “put the bottom rail on that it did not establish goodwill
Abandoned Lands (also called the top”—in other words, it favored between the former masters and
Freedmen’s Bureau) to issue food, black litigants. Meanwhile, the the ex-slaves; in fact, it increased
clothing, and abandoned property civil courts often aided the former enmity. The color line remained,
to the “flood” of destitute fugitive slavemasters. Du Bois describes but instead of being explicit it
former slaves (men, women, and white people as being “ordered now operated in more subtle ways.
children). However, the Bureau was about, seized, imprisoned, and
run by military staff ill-equipped to punished over and over again” Compromise or agitation?
deal with social reorganization. The by the Bureau courts, while black Following the post-war period
Bureau was also hampered by the people were intimidated, beaten, known as the Reconstruction,
sheer size of the task: the promise raped, and butchered by angry and some of the newly won black rights
of handing over slave-driven revengeful (white) men. started to slip away. A ruling in a
plantations to former slaves “melted US legal case (Plessy vs Ferguson,
away” when it became clear that The Bureau also opened a 1896) made segregation in public
over 800,000 acres were affected. Freedman’s Bank in 1865 to handle places permissible and set a
the deposits of former slave men pattern of racial separation in the
One of the great successes of and women. This initiative was South that lasted until Brown vs
the Bureau was the provision of free hampered by incompetency, and Board of Education, 1954. Anxiety
schools for all children in the South. the bank eventually crashed, taking caused by modernity also fueled
the dollars of the freedmen with it. a rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan and
Slavery is gone, but its Du Bois says that this was the least its nativist white supremacism,
shadow still lingers… of the loss, because “all the faith in accompanied by a rise in racist
and poisons… the moral saving went too, and much of the violence, including lynchings.
atmosphere of all sections faith in men; and that was a loss

of the republic.
Frederick Douglass

US social reformer (c.1818–1895)

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 73

In 1895 the African-American during the Nazi occupation, and of African descent everywhere, and
politican Booker T. Washington 85 percent of the city lay in ruins. during the 1920s he helped found
had given a speech now known He was shocked by the experience, the Pan-African Association in
as “the Atlanta Compromise.” He which he said gave him a “more Paris, France, and organized a
suggested that black people should complete understanding of the series of pan-African congresses
be patient, adopt white middle- Negro problem.” Faced with around the world. However, at the
class standards, and seek self- such absolute devastation and time of writing about the African
advancement by self-improvement destruction, and knowing that it soul, in the early 1900s, he said
and education to show their worth. was a direct consequence of racist that the conditions that were
By foregoing political rights in segregation and violence, Du Bois necessary to achieve a true and
return for economic rights and legal reassessed his analysis of the unified African-American spirit
justice, Washington argued that color line and declared it a had not yet been reached.
social change would be more phenomenon that can occur to
likely in the longer term. This any cultural or ethnic group. In his Du Bois applied systematic
accommodating stance became 1952 essay for the magazine Jewish methods of fieldwork to previously
the dominant ideology of the time. Life, “The Negro and the Warsaw neglected areas of study. The use
Ghetto,” he writes: “The race of empirical data to catalog the
Du Bois disagreed strongly, problem... cut across lines of color details of black people’s lives
and in The Souls of Black Folk he and physique and belief and status enabled him to dispel widely held
said that while black people did not and was a matter of... human hate stereotypes. For example, he
expect full civic rights immediately, and prejudice.” It is therefore not produced a wealth of data on the
they were certain that the way color that matters so much as effects of urban life on African-
for a people to gain their rights “is the “line,” which can be drawn Americans in The Philadelphia
not by voluntarily throwing them to articulate difference and hatred Negro (1899), which suggests
away.” Du Bois had hoped to in any group or society. that rather than being caused by
eliminate racism and segregation anything innate, crime is a product
through social science, but he came Activist and scholar of the environment. His pioneering
to believe that political agitation Du Bois became one of the sociological research and thinking
was the only effective strategy. founder members of the civil was a huge influence on later
rights organization, the National prominent civil rights leaders,
Stretching the color line Association for the Advancement including Dr. Martin Luther
In 1949, Du Bois visited the Warsaw of Colored People (NAACP). His King, Jr. Du Bois is recognized
Ghetto in Poland, where two-thirds ideas were concerned with people as one of the most important
of the population had been killed sociologists of the 20th century. ■

W.E.B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Atlanta University, and from
Du Bois was a sociologist, 1934 to 1944 he was chairman
historian, philosopher, and of the department of sociology.
political leader. He was born in In 1961 Du Bois moved to
Massachusetts three years after Ghana, Africa, to work on the
the end of the Civil War. Encyclopedia Africana, but
died two years later. He wrote
After graduating from high numerous books, articles, and
school, Du Bois studied at Fisk essays, and founded and edited
University, Nashville, and the four journals.
university of Berlin, Germany,
where he met Max Weber. In Key works
1895 he became the first African
American to receive a PhD when 1903 The Souls of Black Folks
he gained a doctorate in history 1920 Darkwater: Voices from
at Harvard University. From Within the Veil
1897 to 1910 he was professor 1939 Black Folk, Then and Now
of economics and history at

74

THE POOR ARE EXCLUDED
FROM THE ORDINARY LIVING
PATTERNS, CUSTOMS, AND
ACTIVITIES OF LIFE

PETER TOWNSEND (1928–2009)

IN CONTEXT P overty was defined by However, in 1979 the British
the social campaigner sociologist Peter Townsend said
FOCUS Seebohm Rowntree at the that “poverty” should be defined
Relative poverty beginning of the 20th century as a not in absolute terms, but in terms
state in which “total earnings are of relative deprivation. He indicated
KEY DATES insufficient to obtain the minimum that every society has an average
1776 Scottish economist necessaries for the maintenance of level in terms of living conditions,
Adam Smith says the merely physical efficiency.” This is diet, amenities, and the type of
necessities of life include, the “subsistence level” definition activities people can participate in.
“whatever the custom of the of poverty, which has been used by Where an individual or family lacks
country renders it indecent for governments to determine the cost the resources to obtain these, they
creditable people, even of the of a person’s basic needs such as are socially excluded from normal
lowest order, to be without.” food, rent, fuel, and clothing. life, as well as being materially
deprived. Other factors, such as
1901 British sociologist Food banks have faced surging poor skills or bad health, must also
Seebohm Rowntree publishes demand in recent years. They meet be taken into account.
Poverty: A Study of Town Life. basic needs, but often include
non-essential foodstuffs that are now Townsend—a leading
1979 Peter Townsend considered normal for people to have. campaigner who cofounded the
publishes Poverty in the Child Poverty Action Group—
United Kingdom. pointed out that there was an
assumption that poverty had been
1999 The UK government steadily decreasing in affluent
carries out the Poverty and societies. But he drew attention to
Social Exclusion survey the increasing income gap between
of Britain. those at the top and lower levels
of society, and said that when a
2013 French economist country becomes wealthier, but
Thomas Piketty publishes income distribution is markedly
Capital in the 21st Century, uneven, the number of people in
documenting extreme income poverty is bound to increase. ■
inequality in 20 countries.

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Friedrich Engels 66–67 ■ Richard Sennett 84–87

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 75

THERE AIN’T NO
BLACK IN THE
UNION JACK

PAUL GILROY (1956– )

IN CONTEXT I n his book There Ain’t No a concept created in society. Where
Black in the Union Jack, some sociologists have suggested
FOCUS British sociologist Paul Gilroy a discussion of “ethnicity” or
Racism focuses on racism in Britain in “culture” instead, Gilroy proposes
the 20th century. He points out that we should abandon all of these
KEY DATES that in the 1970s Britain worried ideas. Whatever terms we use, he
18th–19th centuries about its “national decline” says, we are creating a false idea
Biological-based ideas of race almost obsessively, and many of “natural” categories by putting
are used to justify slavery commentators ascribed this disparate people into different
and colonialism. to the “dilution of homogenous groups, leading to a division
and continuous national stock”— between “them” and “us.”
1940s The Nazi party uses specifically, Gilroy says, to the
“race” to justify political arrival of black people in Britain. Raciology
inequality and introduces According to Gilroy, all these types
ideas of “racial purity.” Gilroy indicates that fixed of discussion leave us enmeshed
notions of nationality, such in what he calls “raciology”—a
1950 UNESCO declares that as “Britishness,” may not be discourse that assumes certain
“race” is a social myth. intentionally racist, but they have stereotypes, prejudices, images,
racist consequences. In seeking and identities. Anti-racists find
1970s Michel Foucault argues to define Britishness, 20th-century themselves inverting the position
that biological ideas of race, writers always seemed to imagine of racist thinkers, but are
linked with certain essential a white Britain—black people were nevertheless unable to displace
traits, arose with colonialism. seen as permanent outsiders. They the idea of racism altogether. The
were denied authentic national solution, Gilroy suggests, lies in
1981 US sociologist Anne membership on the basis of their refusing to accept racial divisions
Wortham publishes The Other “race,” and it was often assumed as an inescapable, natural force,
Side of Racism, identifying that their allegiance lay elsewhere. and instead developing “an ability
five black movements that to imagine political, economic,
prevent society from reaching While accepting that the idea and social systems in which
a position “beyond racism.” of race has been a historical and ‘race’ makes no sense.” ■
political force, Gilroy says that it
1987 Paul Gilroy publishes is no more than a social construct,
There Ain’t No Black in the
Union Jack. See also: Michel Foucault 52–55; 270–77 ■ W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■
Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■ bell hooks 90–95 ■ Benedict Anderson 202–03

76 IN CONTEXT

A SENSE OF FOCUS
ONE’S PLACE Habitus

PIERRE BOURDIEU (1930–2002) KEY DATES
1934 The essay “Body
Techniques” by French
sociologist and anthropologist
Marcel Mauss lays the
foundations for Pierre
Bourdieu’s re-elaboration
of the concept of “habitus.”

1958 Max Weber suggests
that “a specific style of life can
be expected from those who
wish to belong to the circle.”

1966 English historian
E.P. Thompson says class is
“a relationship that must
always be embodied in real
people and in a real context.”

2003 US cultural theorist
Nancy Fraser says that
capitalist society has two
systems of subordination—the
class structure and the status
order—which interact.

F rom Marx to Durkheim
and Weber to Parsons,
sociologists have been keen
to determine how the social class
system is reproduced, in the belief
that it is structurally bound to
economics, property ownership,
and financial assets.

But in the 1970s Pierre Bourdieu
claimed, in Distinction, that the
issue was more complex: social
class is not defined solely by
economics, he said, “but by the
class habitus which is normally
associated with that position.” This
concept was first discussed by the
13th-century Italian theologian
Thomas Aquinas, who claimed that
the things people want or like, and

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 77

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Émile Durkheim 34–37 ■ Friedrich Engels 66–67 ■ Richard Sennett 84–87 ■
Norbert Elias 180–81 ■ Paul Willis 292–93

The habitus is a set of It is created from activities were all similar to one
socially internalized the interaction of the another. The French upper classes,
dispositions that informs he noted, enjoyed reading poetry,
a person’s perceptions, individual self, philosophy, and politics. They liked
feelings, and actions. group culture, and the going to classic or avant-garde
social institutions of theater, museums, and classical-
Habitus is reproduced the family and the school. music concerts; they enjoyed going
and evolves over time camping and mountaineering.
through the interplay of an Acting out these
individual’s subconscious dispositions Within the working classes,
with the social structures Bourdieu found that people liked
strengthens the reading novels and magazines,
they encounter. habitus of the individual betting, visiting music halls and
boutiques, and owning luxury cars.
the way they act, is because they and the group. The choices were relatively limited
think of themselves as a certain and they were determined not by
kind of person: each of us has a members of their social class cost, but by taste. He realized that
particular inclination, or habitus. group. An individual from one people who were members of a
class will “know” that something certain class, or “class fraction”
Bourdieu, however, develops is “pretentious” or “gaudy,” whereas (class subset), shared tastes
the idea significantly. He defines a person from another class will because they shared dispositions,
habitus as an embodied set of see the same thing as “beautiful” or “habitus.” They had somehow
socially acquired dispositions that or “stunning.” He suggests that a come to like and dislike the same
lead individuals to live their lives child learns these things from their things. And this awareness of
in ways that are similar to other family, and then from their school shared habitus gave them a
and peers, who demonstrate to the distinct sense of place; they
Habitus is society written growing child how to speak and “fitted” into this or that class.
into the body, into the act, and so on. In this way, he says,
biological individual. “the social order is progressively The construction of habitus is
Pierre Bourdieu inscribed in people’s minds.” due neither to the individual nor
the existing environment—it is
created through the interplay of the
subjective mind with the structures
and institutions around him or ❯❯

Class dispositions Fox hunting is a leisure pursuit
While researching class divisions that feels natural to some as a result
in France in the 1960s, Bourdieu of their habitus, or disposition. The
noticed that people of the same same tendency makes other types of
class exhibited similar cultural activity (such as karaoke) feel strange.
values. The things they knew and
valued, the way they spoke, their
choice of clothes and decoration
of the body, and their views on
art, leisure, and entertainment

78 PIERRE BOURDIEU

Expressing a view about something,
such as a work of art, provides another
person with information that enables
them to assess the speaker’s cultural
capital and judge his or her social class.

her. Individuals are born into a Habitus gives individuals a unique Bourdieu says the habitus is often
particular social class group. Each “sense of one’s place,” because obvious through “judgments
is defined by a specific lifestyle, their internalized self perfectly of classification,” which are
referred to by Bourdieu as the matches the structure of their pronounced about a thing, such as
habitus of the group. Every social external world. But if they were to a painting, but act to classify the
class group has a group habitus stray into the “fields” (institutions person speaking. Where one person
that simultaneously defines, and or structures) of a different class, describes a painting as “nice,” and
differentiates it from, all the other they would feel like “a fish out of another as “passé,” we learn little
group habitus in society. water,” wrong-footed at every turn. about the artwork, but much more
about the person and their habitus.
The habitus of the group is also Forms of capital People use these judgments
inscribed in the bodily dispositions Bourdieu maintains that the deliberately to distinguish
and gestures of the individual. habitus of an individual is made up themselves from their neighbors
The social class of a person can of different types and amounts of and establish their class.
be discerned from how they walk, capital (economic, cultural, and
talk, laugh, cry, and so on—from social), which he redefined as In addition to economic and
everything they do, think, and “the set of actually usable resources cultural capital, people may have
say. For the most part, because and powers” that a person has. social capital—human resources
they are born and raised within (friends and colleagues) gained
a particular group habitus, Economic capital refers, quite through social networks. These
individuals are generally unaware simply, to monetary resources and relationships give a sense of mutual
of the ways in which habitus both property. A person’s cultural capital obligation and trust, and may offer
enables and restricts how they is their capacity to play “the culture access to power and influence.
think, perceive, act, and interact game”—to recognize references in
with the world around them. books, films, and theater; to know This idea of social capital
how to act in given situations (such can be seen in the success of
Habitus—as the embodiment as apt manners and conversation at social networking websites such
of the dispositions of the wider the dinner table); to know what to as Facebook and LinkedIn, which
group to which the individual wear and how; and even who “to provide ways for individuals
belongs—provides people with a look down your nose at.” Because to increase their social capital.
clear sense of the type of person habitus defines a person within any Bourdieu also saw scholastic
they are and what it is that people situation as being of a certain class
like themselves should think and or class fraction, it is critical in Scientific observation shows
feel, as well as the manner in delineating the social order. that cultural needs are
which they should behave.
the product of upbringing
and education.

Pierre Bourdieu

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 79

capital (intellectual knowledge), During their lifetimes, people put Pierre Bourdieu
linguistic capital (ease in the their various forms of capital to
command of language, determining work. They also “strategize,” Born in 1930 in a rural village
who has the authority to speak and figuring out how to compete with in southwest France, Pierre
be heard), and political capital each other for increased power Bourdieu was the only son
(status in the political world) as and capital. The particular forms of a postman. A teacher
playing a part in class. that these strategies can take are recognized his potential and
governed by habitus, and yet most recommended he go to Paris
The class game people are not consciously aware to study. After graduating
The class struggle, outlined so of the extent to which their actions from the prestigious École
comprehensively by Marx, can be and choices in life are determined Normale Supérieure with
played out on an individual level by these acquired dispositions. a degree in philosophy, he
using Bourdieu’s terms. He says taught at the University of
that an individual develops within The possibility of change Algiers during the Algerian
relationships (the family and Because Bourdieu’s idea of cultural Liberation War (1956–62).
school), before entering various capital rests so heavily on the
social arenas or “fields” (such as constantly reproduced habitus, While in Algeria, he
institutions and social groups), which is embedded in all of us, undertook ethnographic
where people express and he seems quite pessimistic about studies that resulted in his
constantly reproduce their the possibility of social mobility. first book, The Sociology of
habitus. Whether or not people are Algeria (1958). On his return
successful in the fields they enter However, the habitus is open to France he became Director
depends on the type of habitus to change through different forces of Studies at the École des
they have and the capital it carries. within the field. The interaction of Hautes Études en Sciences
institutions and individuals usually Sociales, Paris, and began
Every field has a set of rules reinforces existing ideas, but it is an acclaimed career in social
that reflects the group habitus, possible for someone from a lower studies. He believed research
to the extent that the rules seem social class to gain cultural capital should translate into action,
“common sense” to them. People by, for instance, being sent to and was involved in many
are recognized for their “symbolic a “good” school. This might raise political protests against
capital” and its worth within their economic capital—and inequality and domination.
the field. Their symbolic capital their children, in turn, might be Bourdieu died in 2002.
represents the total of all their other privately schooled and benefit from
forms of capital, and is reflected increased economic and cultural Key works
as prestige, a reputation for capital and a different habitus. So,
competence, or social position. for Bourdieu, all forms of capital are 1979 Distinction: A Social
interrelated: people convert their Critique of the Judgment
Those who talk of equality economic capital into cultural and of Taste
of opportunity forget social capital in order to improve 1980 The Logic of Practice
their life chances. 1991 Language and Symbolic
that social games… are Power
not ‘fair games.’ Bourdieu’s habitus has had a
major impact on sociological debate
Pierre Bourdieu in the last few decades. More than
any other idea, it captures the
extent to which impersonal social
structures and processes influence
what are regarded as seemingly
unique personal dispositions. In
short, habitus brings together
insights of a number of prominent
thinkers in one compact and
versatile concept. ■

80

THE ORIENT IS THE
STAGE ON WHICH
THE WHOLE EAST
IS CONFINED

EDWARD SAID (1935–2003)

IN CONTEXT T he idea of “the Orient” The concept of Orientalism, he
evolved from Western says, works in two important
FOCUS colonial powers and is a ways: it presents the East as one
Orientalism politically dangerous and culturally homogenous region that is exotic,
biased idea that continues to infect uncivilized, and backward; and at
KEY DATES Western views of the Eastern the same time, it constructs and
1375 Chaucer refers to the world. This powerful argument fixes the West’s idea of the East
Orient as the lands lying is made by Edward Said in his in a simplified, unchanging set
east of the Mediterranean. influential text, Orientalism (1978). of representations.

Early 19th century French European “experts” (historians, scientists,
academic Silvestre de Sacy and linguists) report on what “the Orient”
sets out the terms of modern
Orientalism. is like, from their own perspective.

1836 Edward William Lane’s Their ideas are reduced still further into stereotypes and
book Manners and Customs representations that construct and fix Western views
of the Modern Egyptians
becomes an important of “the East” and its peoples...
reference work for writers
such as French novelist ...and fuel and perpetuate Western fears about the East,
Gustave Flaubert. especially Arabs, as dangerous and “other.”

1961 Franz Fanon writes The Orient is the stage on which
about the dehumanizing the whole East is confined.
forces of colonialism in
The Wretched of the Earth.

1981 Sadik Jalal al-’Azm
argues that Orientalism tends
to categorize the West in the
same way that Said says it
packages the East.

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 81

See also: Michel Foucault 52–55 ■ W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Paul Gilroy 75 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■ Stuart Hall 200–01 ■
Benedict Anderson 202–03 ■ Stanley Cohen 290

Said explains that the idea of rational, civilized, hardworking, and A memorial to victims of the
modern Orientalism arose when progressive. The reports sent back bombing in Oklahoma in 1995. The
a French army led by Napoleon to Europe by Napoleon’s “experts” attack was first blamed by media on
Bonaparte conquered Egypt in meant that the East was presented “Muslims“ and “Arabs” (the Other), but
1798. This conquest was significant to Europeans in a highly packaged was the work of a white American.
because Napoleon took with him way; the East was explained by the
not only soldiers, but also scientists, West, and in the process molded us that the peoples of the East are
philologists, and historians. These to suit the Europeans. This idea different and frightening. In this
experts were given the job of of what “Orientals” were like was context, “the Arab” is viewed as a
recording and categorizing what appropriated and disseminated violent fanatic, and Western nations
they saw. In describing their widely by literary figures such as feel the need to protect themselves
experience of “the Orient” as Lord Byron, who romanticized the from “the infiltration of the Other.”
objective knowledge, their words Orient but continued to emphasize The challenge, he says, is to find a
gained an unquestionable authority its inalienable difference. way of coexisting peacefully. ■
and influence in Europe.
Perpetuating fear
Categorizing the East The problem continues, Said says,
However, as Said suggests, they because the idea of the Orient has
were looking at the peoples around prevented people in the West from
them through the lens of imperialist being able to view the East in all its
conquest. They saw themselves as complexity. The same repertory
the superior power and therefore of images keeps arising: the Orient
as superior people. They drew an is seen as a place of mythical
imaginary line between Us and exoticism—it is the home of the
Them, West and East, and began Sphinx, Cleopatra, Eden, Troy,
to define both sides in opposition Sodom and Gomorrah, Sheba,
to one another. Where the peoples Babylon, and Muhammad.
of the East were perceived as
irrational, uncivilized, lazy, and Orientalism is a framework used
backward, those of the West were to understand the unfamiliar, says
Said, but at the same time it tells

Edward Said Cultural theorist and literary critic Said stated that he was
Edward Said was the founder of politicized by the Six-Day War
postcolonial studies. Born in West of 1967 between Israel and its
Jerusalem during the British Arab neighbors, after which he
Mandate in Palestine, his father became an important voice for
was a wealthy Palestinian- the Palestinian cause, especially
American of Christian faith, and in the US. In 1999 he founded
Said went to private international an Arab-Israeli orchestra with
schools in Lebanon, Egypt, the conductor Daniel Barenboim,
and the US. He later studied in the belief that music
at Princeton and Harvard before transcends politics.
becoming a professor of English
Literature at Columbia University, Key works
where he taught until his death
in 2003. Said wrote prolifically on 1978 Orientalism
a wide range of topics, including 1979 The Question of Palestine
music and Palestinian issues. 1993 Culture and Imperialism

82

THE GHETTO IS
WHERE THE BLACK
PEOPLE LIVE

ELIJAH ANDERSON (1943– )

IN CONTEXT When white people see a black stranger in public...

FOCUS ...they associate them with “the ghetto,” with
The iconic ghetto lower-class status, criminality, violence, and poverty.

KEY DATES Middle-class black Working-class black
1903 W.E.B. Du Bois says the people may overcome this people are unable to
problem of the 20th century is stigma by emulating the escape the stigma and
the problem of the color line. upper class and providing
discrimination.
Early 20th century Blacks proof of address.
migrate from the rural South
to cities throughout the US. “The ghetto” acts as a reference point
to interpret black identity.
1920 Black political leader
Marcus Garvey holds an I n 2012, Elijah Anderson wrote impoverished, drug-infested,
international convention in “The Iconic Ghetto,” which chaotic area of the city, ruled
Harlem, the traditionally black argued that many Americans by violence. So when they think
area of New York City. associate the ghetto with a place of “black people,” they imagine
where “the black people live.” He them as immoral, drug-addicted,
1960s There is a “white flight” said that to these same Americans, criminal “hoods,” deserving of
from areas in the US where the ghetto symbolizes a lawless, prejudice and discrimination.
black people live, leading to
“black ghettos.”

1972 The Equal Employment
Opportunity Act is passed in
the US.

1992 Riots take place in Los
Angeles after police are filmed
beating a black motorist,
Rodney King, and then
acquitted of his assault.

See also: Michel Foucault 52–55 ■ W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Paul Gilroy 75 ■ SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 83
Edward Said 80–81
Elijah Anderson
Working-class black people who says that middle-class black
live in impoverished areas are, says people do this by “speaking white” Elijah Anderson is one of the
Anderson, routinely stigmatized and (mimicking the formal speech leading urban ethnographers
“demoralized by racism.” style of upper-middle-class whites), in the US. He was born
or demonstrating exceptional on a plantation in Mississippi
Anderson gives the example of intelligence, manners, and poise. during World War II. His
a racist incident while he was on They deal with insults by laughing parents were originally
holiday in a “pleasant Cape Cod them off with friends, but in fact sharecroppers who picked
town full of upper-middle-class these small events, like Anderson’s cotton, but after his father’s
white vacationers.” As he enjoyed jogging incident, can make “the experience of fighting as a
a jog through the town, a middle- scales fall from one’s eyes” and soldier in Europe during the
aged white man blocked the road induce a feeling of having been war, the family found the
with his car, and shouted “Go a fool for believing that they fitted racism of the South intolerable
home!” to Anderson. Bemused, seamlessly into society. and moved to Chicago and
Anderson later questioned what then Indiana, both in the
the man meant, and realized that Disproving the ghetto north of the country.
it was an order to “go home” to the Middle-class black people can
ghetto. The institution of the ghetto work to disabuse others of this Anderson studied sociology
is persistent, says Anderson, and it “assessment,” Anderson says, but at Indiana University and
leads many to think that the black the problem for poorer black people then Chicago, where his
person’s place is most often in the is less easily solved. If they actually dissertation on black
ghetto, not in middle-class society. live in a ghetto, how can they streetcorner men became his
distance themselves from all its first book, A Place on the
Iconic status associations? How do working- Corner (1978). He was Vice
Most black people in America do class black people signify that they President of the American
not come from a ghetto, and legally are not violent drug addicts, or in Sociological Association (ASA)
they have access to the same any way counteract the prejudice in 2002, and has won many
schooling and job opportunities as already operating against them? awards, including the ASA’s
white people. However, because Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award.
“the ghetto” has reached iconic Anderson points to the shooting
status, it operates as a mindset, of Trayvon Martin in 2012: the Key works
and black people of all classes find unarmed, innocent 17-year-old
themselves having to prove that was shot dead by a neighborhood 1990 Streetwise
they are not from the ghetto before watch coordinator, who said Martin 1999 Code of the Street:
they do anything else. Anderson looked “out of place.” This exposes Moral Life of the Inner City
the danger of many white people’s 2012 “The Iconic Ghetto”
belief that black people come from,
and should remain in, “the ghetto,” The black man is treated
not white neighborhoods. as a dangerous outsider

According to Anderson, the idea until he proves he is
that black people have a specific worthy of trust.
“place” in society (the “ghetto”)
persists in the imagination of white Elijah Anderson
people. This is despite a black
presence in every social class and
neighborhood. The iconic ghetto
acts to continually stigmatize
people with black skin, and treat
them as “dangerous outsiders.” ■

84 IN CONTEXT

THE TOOLS FOCUS
OF FREEDOM Class inequality
BECOME THE
SOURCES OF KEY DATES
INDIGNITY 1486 Italian philosopher
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
RICHARD SENNETT (1943– ) says that unlike animals,
people search for meaning
and dignity in life.

1841 In “Self-Reliance,” US
philosopher and essayist Ralph
Waldo Emerson sees self-
reliance as a moral imperative
that enables individuals to
shape their own destiny.

1960s French philosopher
Jean-Paul Sartre says that a
class society is a society of
resources unfairly distributed
because some people have
arbitrary power.

1989 British academic Richard
Hoggart says, “Every decade
we swiftly declare we have
buried class, each decade the
coffin stays empty.”

S ociologists and economists
traditionally accepted the
idea that social class was
linked to money: as workers earned
higher incomes and gained more
possessions, they would move
into the middle class and enjoy
not just prosperity, but also an
increased sense of dignity. But
this concept was challenged when
US sociologist Richard Sennett, in
collaboration with Jonathan Cobb,
investigated a paradox that seemed
to afflict working-class people who
moved into the middle class.

What Sennett discovered in
his interviews with workers, as
outlined in The Hidden Injuries
of Class, published in 1972, was

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 85

See also: Friedrich Engels 66–67 ■ W.E.B. Du Bois 68–73 ■ Pierre Bourdieu 76–79 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■
Georg Simmel 104–05 ■ Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis 288–89 ■ Paul Willis 292–93

But highly educated Education is said But higher education
working-class students to offer the best results only in jobs
become alienated from that working-class
their peers and exposed route to personal people regard as
development not “real work.”
to middle-class and freedom.
social ridicule.

The tools of freedom become
the sources of indignity.

that an increase in material for example. Here the old languages and switched the focus of their
power and freedom of choice were spoken and cultural traditions machinery to replacing the more
was accompanied by a significant were kept alive. expensive, skilled labor. Hostility
crisis in self respect. In reaching arose toward the newcomers and
for greater freedom, workers were This mass immigration meant there was a rise in racist attitudes.
being asked to use “tools,” such that industrialists soon realized
as education, that left them feeling that unskilled labor was cheaper A kind of “moral hierarchy”
alienated and incapable. than machine production. So they among nationalities soon gained
hired large numbers of immigrants widespread acceptance. Western ❯❯

Immigration and racism
To explain how this might be
happening, Sennett looked
first at the history of the working
class in the US. During the
urbanization of the 19th century,
rural workers moved from small
farms to towns and then cities,
which grew quickly under this
sudden influx. In addition, most US
cities had large enclaves of newly
arrived European immigrants from
Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Greece,

Immigrants disembark from a
ship in New York in the early 20th
century. These “foreigners” were
often used for cheap labor, which
led to hostility from some US citizens.

86 RICHARD SENNETT

The pyramid of achievement were not considered “real work.”
These jobs were not worthy, so
Middle- and upper-class a worker could not view himself
people at the top look with respect while doing them.
down on those below.
In addition, although intellect
The working-class ACADEMIC AND As the laborer and education were held in high
laborer climbs PROFESSIONAL JOBS moves up the pyramid, esteem by the middle and upper
he feels a sense of classes, it seemed to the workers
the achievement betrayal—both to that “the educated” did nothing
pyramid, striving himself and to those worth respecting; on the contrary,
for a high-status job. he has left behind. they were often seen to use their
privileged position to cheat, lie,
The laborer experiences and avoid working, while at the
conflicting emotions as same time commanding high
he ascends the pyramid. salaries. How, therefore, could a
worker aim to maintain his dignity
TRADES AND MANUAL LABOR JOBS and self-respect in this position?

Europeans (apart from the Irish) from their own. In the wider US The workers interviewed by
were at the top of this hierarchy; society, higher educated, “cultured” Sennett use the word “educated”
they were seen as diligent, hard people were treated with the most to stand for a range of experiences
working, and skilled. However, respect. An honest, hard-working and feelings that move beyond
at the opposite end of the scale, man or woman who may have been pure schooling. Education’s
Sennett notes that “Slavs, highly regarded in the “old elevated status results from the
Bohemians, Jews, and Southern neighborhood” was now viewed fact that it is thought to increase
Europeans… were accused with disdain and suspicion for rationality and develop the finest
of dirtiness, secretiveness, or being ignorant and “foreign.” human capacities. But Rissarro, a
laziness.” The new immigrants shoeshine boy turned bank clerk,
found that they could depend only Education and failure explains how this works differently
on their countrymen for support, Sennett says that the working class across the social divisions. He
so ethnic communities flourished. was being challenged to become believes that people of a higher
“cultured”; education seemed to be class have the power to judge him
But during the mid-20th the way to acceptance and respect. because they are more “internally
century, US cities underwent urban However, there were several developed.” Despite Rissarro’s rise
renewal programms that broke notable problems with this. First, to professional employment, his
up the immigrant communities. to people who had always valued
Immigrant families were integrated hard, physical labor, the “pen- The educated... middle-class
into the larger society, which had pushing” jobs of the middle class people... [with] the ‘right’
different attitudes of social respect
values stand out from a mass
whose understanding... they
believe inferior to their own.

Richard Sennett

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 87

middle-class colleagues look down the rules and lacking in wider Richard Sennett
on him and he lacks respect for cultural knowledge. Their
himself, because he feels that he is educational achievement exposes Literary author and sociologist
not doing “real work.” He accepts them not to respect but to disdain Richard Sennett was born in
society’s admonitions to “better from the middle-class people Chicago to parents with
himself,” but he feels like an around them and they suffer a communist beliefs. Both his
imposter and is puzzled by his sense of failure and alienation. father and uncle fought as
sense of discomfort. He believes internationalists in the civil
that the only explanation is that According to Scottish-American war in Spain. Sennett was
there is something wrong with him. businessman Andrew Carnegie, brought up by his mother in
the justice of industrial capitalism one of the first racially mixed
Sennett maintains that workers is that society will always reward public housing projects.
tend to see their failure to fit in and “a man of talent.” If a person is
achieve respect as personal failure, worthy of escaping poverty, he Sennet studied cello at
not as a condition of societal or she can do so. If he or she does Juilliard in New York City, but
divisions and inequalities. He not have the ability to “make it,” a wrist operation in 1964
quotes James, a highly educated however, what right does that brought his musical career
son of an immigrant, who sees person have to complain? As to an end. He began a career
himself as a failure, whatever he Sennett notes: in a meritocracy, if in sociology at Harvard
does. “If I really had what it takes,” you fail, you have no merit. Failure University, and has taught at
he says, “I could make this school to succeed is due to personal Yale and the London School of
thing worthwhile.” On the other inadequacy. In this way the Economics (LSE). In the 1970s
hand, if he “had the balls to go out inequalities of class become hidden he cofounded The New York
into the world” and get a real job, by the widespread “personal Institute for the Humanities
that would earn him real respect. failures” of working people. with writers Susan Sontag and
James holds himself responsible Joseph Brodsky. Sennett made
for not having more self-confidence The Hidden Injuries of Class is his name with The Hidden
and for having failed to “develop.” a subtle and sensitive exploration Injuries of Class, which he
of working-class lives that exposes wrote after spending four
The political is personal how social difference can be made years researching with
This conjunction of class and self to appear as simply a question of Jonathan Cobb. He is married
is a uniquely US phenomenon, says character, competence, and moral to sociologist Saskia Sassen.
Sennett, that is tied up with the resolve, when it is essentially a
prizing of “the individual.” Success matter of inherited class. ■ Key works
in IQ tests and schooling is seen as
a way of freeing an individual from Arthur Miller was a working-class 1972 The Hidden Injuries of
his or her social conditions at boy who rose to become one of the Class (in collaboration with
birth—everyone who truly has merit leading US dramatists of the mid-20th Jonathan Cobb)
or intelligence will rise. This belief century—he was, however, largely 1974 The Call of Public Man
in equality of opportunity is at the looked down upon by US critics. 2005 The Culture of the New
heart of the American Dream. Capitalism

Working-class children do
not have the same opportunities
as children from more affluent
backgrounds, and those who strive
to excel are seen as traitors. They
are exiled from their peer groups,
with a subsequent loss of self-
worth. The tools of freedom are a
source of indignity for them, both
at school and at college, where they
are looked down on for not knowing

88

MEN’S INTEREST IN
PATRIARCHY IS CONDENSED
IN HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY

R.W. CONNELL (1944– )

IN CONTEXT Patriarchy Hegemonic masculinity
is a power system... is a power system...
FOCUS
Hegemonic masculinity ...that empowers men ...that ranks “male” men
and enables their above those who display
KEY DATES
1930s Italian social theorist domination of women. “feminine” traits.
Antonio Gramsci uses the
term “hegemony” to explain Patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity both value and
how the views of the dominant empower men above women.
class become seen as
“common sense.” Men’s interest in patriarchy is condensed
in hegemonic masculinity.
1957 US sociologist Helen
Hacker writes about the social I t is often assumed that any extended period of time, and,
nature of masculinity. masculinity is a natural, she says, we should speak about
biological state that cannot masculinities, not masculinity,
1985 Carrigan, Connell, and be altered. R.W. Connell claims, when exploring what it means
Lee publish Toward a New however, that it is not a fixed thing, to “be a man.”
Sociology of Masculinity. but an acquired identity: there
is no one pattern of masculinity Masculinity also has multiple
1990 US sociologists Messner that is found everywhere or over definitions within multicultural
and Sabo use hegemony to societies. In any one setting, such
explain homophobia and
violence at sporting events.

1993 US sociologist James
Messerschmidt publishes
Masculinities and Crime.

2003 Japanese sociologist
Masako Ishii-Kuntz traces
the emergence of diverse
masculinities in Japan.

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 89

See also: Harriet Martineau 26–27 ■ Judith Butler 56–61 ■ bell hooks 90–95 ■ Margaret Mead 298–99 ■
Adrienne Rich 304–09 ■ Christine Delphy 312–317 ■ Jeffrey Weeks 324–25 ■ Steven Seidman 326–31

as a school or workplace, a position aligns with the hegemonic Most men find it difficult to
particular form of masculinity ideal in Western societies. As men be patriarchs... but they fear
will be seen as the “best” and reap significant benefits from
most effective way to be a man. maintaining dominance over letting go of the benefits.
women, their general interest bell hooks
This idea lies behind Connell’s and investment in patriarchy is
concept of hegemonic masculinity, formidable—it is what gives them patriarchal religions and romantic
which claims that in any time or social, cultural, and economic narratives, and their perpetuation
place, different forms of masculinity control. The closer a man’s of gender expectations of
are organized into a hierarchy. masculinity is to the hegemonic children, sustains the power
The dominant form—seen as the ideal, the more power he has. of the patriarchal ideal and the
ideal masculinity and the one hegemonic masculinity associated
that others will be judged against— Practicing gender with it. By describing masculinity
is the hegemonic form. It will Connell claims that the European/ within the terms of hegemony
constitute that society’s idea of American hegemonic form, which or hierarchy, Connell grants it a
“manliness” and those few men is linked closely to the patriarchal fluidity, which means that there
who can embody this form of ideal of the powerful, aggressive, is an opportunity for change.
masculinity will be “the most unemotional male who will often A move to establish a version of
honored and desired.” use violence to get his way, is masculinity that is open to equality
being extended across the world with women, she says, would
Subordinate masculinity through processes of globalization. constitute a positive hegemony. ■
Subordinated or marginalized The media glamorizes the
forms of masculinity are those hegemonic ideal through its
that deviate from the norm; men adulation of ruthless billionaire
espousing these suffer humiliation, entrepreneurs and fit, contact-
exclusion, and loss of privilege. sports stars.
When the masculine role moves
toward a more “female” position (as Women are complicit in
in homosexuality), there is a recognizing a hierarchy of
corresponding loss of status and masculinities, according to
power. In this way, the patriarchal Connell. Their continued loyalty to

Exclusion of homosexual desire R.W. Connell chair when she was appointed
from the definition of masculinity professor of sociology at
is, according to Connell in The Men R.W. Connell was born in Macquarie University, New
and the Boys, an important feature of Australia in 1944 as Robert South Wales, in 1976. Although
modern-day hegemonic masculinity. William (“Bob”) Connell. A best known for her work on
transsexual woman, Connell the social construction of
completed her transition late masculinities, Connell has also
in life and took the first name lectured extensively and written
of Raewyn. Educated in high on poverty, education, and the
schools in Manly and North northern hemisphere bias of
Sydney, Connell went on to gain mainstream social science.
degrees from the universities of
Melbourne and Sydney. Key works

During the 1960s Connell 1987 Gender and Power
was an activist in the New Left. 1995 Masculinities
She became one of the youngest 2000 The Men and the Boys
people to attain an academic

WHITE WOMEN HAVE BEEN

COMPLICIT IN THIS

IMPERIALIST

WHITE-SUPREMACIST

CAPITALIST

PATRIARCHY

BELL HOOKS (1952– )



92 BELL HOOKS White women...

IN CONTEXT ...do not ...do not wish ...have a
experience to be seen as vested interest
FOCUS “unfeminine” in exploiting
Feminism and the same (a fear of breaking class and race
intersectionality intersectionality
of oppressive away from privileges,
KEY DATES forces as black patriarchy’s so they can be
1979 The Combahee River women, so may gender roles).
Collective, a black feminist freed from
lesbian organization in the not recognize “dirty work.”
US, claims it is essential to them.
consider the conjunction of
“interlocking oppressions.” White women have been complicit
in this imperialist white-supremacist
1980s US economist Heidi
Hartmann says that in the capitalist patriachy.
“unhappy marriage” of Marxist
feminism, Marxism (the
husband) dominates feminism
(the wife), because class
trumps gender.

1989 US law professor
Kimberlé Crenshaw uses
“intersectionality” to describe
patterns of racism and sexism.

2002 German sociologist
Helma Lutz claims at least 14
“lines of difference” are used in
power relations, including age,
gender, skin color, and class.

T he “second-wave” feminists women as the “sisterhood” masked “intersectionality.” She likened this
of the 1960s to 1980s what she saw as the “opportunism to a place where traffic flows in four
presented a far more of bourgeois white women.” directions. Discrimination, like
formidable and thoroughgoing traffic, may flow in one direction or
challenge to male domination than hooks says that the situation is another. If an accident happens at
earlier feminists. Their broadening more complicated than the second- an intersection, it could have been
agenda included issues such as wave feminists recognized. Worse caused by cars traveling from any
legal inequalities, sexuality, rape, still, these women helped maintain number of directions—sometimes
the family, and the workplace. an intersecting network of from all directions. If a black
oppressive forces that impacted the woman is harmed because she
But the US feminist bell hooks lives of working-class women of is “at the intersection,” this may
criticized the feminism of the 1980s color: white women have been have been caused by sex or race
in particular as representing the complicit in perpetuating white discrimination, or both.
view of privileged white women. patriarchal domination.
In Feminist Theory: From Margin As a lawyer, Crenshaw found
to Center, published in 1984, she In 1989, US lawyer Kimberlé that black women in the workplace
claimed that an emphasis on Crenshaw described the criss- were discriminated against on both
crossing forces of oppression as

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 93

See also: Harriet Martineau 26–27 ■ Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Judith Butler 56–61 ■ Friedrich Engels 66–67 ■
Paul Gilroy 75 ■ Elijah Anderson 82–83 ■ R.W. Connell 88–89 ■ Christine Delphy 312–17

Second-wave feminism of the been their color, as black men still acts are in the minority no
1960s to 1980s, with its emphasis on worked there. The law could only matter the class standing of the
“sisterhood,” is criticized by hooks as deal with one or other form of neighborhood,” racial prejudice
opportunistic and as representing the oppression, not the two together. is still apparent in beliefs that
interests of middle-class white women. a person is lazy, stupid, or more
Hierarchy systems violent, for instance, because of
counts—being black and female— bell hooks was to take the idea of their racial background. This form
but fell through a legal loophole. intersectionality still further. In The of stereotyping means that an
They were the last to be hired and Will to Change (2004), she says: “I Indian doctor or Hispanic teacher
the first to be laid off, but their often use the phrase ‘imperialist might be viewed as less competent
employers denied this had anything white-supremacist capitalist than white Europeans.
to do with discrimination. When a patriarchy’ to describe the
case went to court, the judge ruled interlocking political systems that Capitalism refers to the
that they could not have been laid are the foundation of our nation’s economic system that is
off because they were women, as politics.” The phrase is used to characterized by private or
other women still worked in the describe a set of systems that corporate ownership of firms and
firm. Neither could the reason have combine to situate people within goods, together with control over
the power hierarchies of society. the prices, goods, and the labor
force. It has an inherent hierarchy:
White supremacy is the those who own the means of
assumed superiority of lighter- production and control the labor
skinned or “white” races over force are privileged over the
others. While hooks acknowledges workers. hooks agrees with the
that “those who allow [racial] US writer and prominent activist
prejudice to lead them to hostile Carmen Vázquez, who she ❯❯

Intersections are hotspots
for motor collisions. Lawyer
Kimberelé Crenshaw uses
traffic as an analogy to show
how discrimination can have
multiple causes that are hard
to determine.

It was clear to black Race
women... that they were Gender
never going to have equality Social class
within the existing white- Disability
supremacist capitalist

patriarchy.
bell hooks

94 BELL HOOKS

Systematic exploitation of black
colonized peoples by white colonizing
nations in the 17th and 18th centuries
has contributed to the perpetuation of
discrimination and social inequality.

quotes as saying that the the most about while growing every institution of a community,
“American capitalist obsession up. In The Will to Change, hooks from families, schools, and sports
for individualism” means that explains how she and her brother arenas to courtrooms.
“anything goes so long as it gets were schooled in the meaning
you what you want.” Capitalism of “patriarchy.” If challenged, these ideas may
values money more than people, be reinforced through violence;
so the wealthy are seen as more At church they were told God but sometimes the cold stares
important than the poor. was a man and had created man to or mockery of a group of peers is
rule the world and everything in it. enough to pull someone back into
The attitudes encased in white Women were created to obey and behavior more appropriate to their
supremacy and capitalism continue serve men. Men must be strong, gender role. A crying boy or an
to cause problems, according to provide for their family, strategize, angry girl may quickly become
hooks. Imperialism and colonialism and lead—they could also expect to aware of having transgressed
also remain relevant because, be served. These are the patriarchal the gender roles that have been
historically, non-white peoples and gender roles that are apparent in defined for them.
their countries’ resources have
been plundered and exploited by Only privileged women One of the most insidious things
white supremacist capitalists in had the luxury to imagine about patriarchy, hooks says, is
their pursuit of wealth. working outside the home that it is not spoken about, and we
would provide them with cannot dismantle a system as long
The rules of patriarchy as we are in “collective denial
hooks defines patriarchy as an income... to be about its impact on our lives.” Men
“a political-social system economically self-sufficient. rarely even know what the word
that insists that males are “patriarchy” means—they don’t use
inherently dominating, superior bell hooks the term in everyday life, despite
to everything… and endowed with rigidly enforcing its rules while also
the right to dominate and rule over suffering from them. Boys submit
the weak and to maintain that to the rule of the father just as girls
dominance through various forms do, and neither talks about what
of psychological terrorism and is happening to them.
violence.” She says that of all the
interlocking political systems we The aim of feminism
encounter, this is the one we learn This interlocking system, hooks
says, means there is no sense in
making “equality between the
sexes” the goal of feminism.
Since men are not equals among
themselves in white supremacist,
capitalist, patriarchal class
structure, “which men do women
want to be equal to?”

She notes that women in lower-
class and poor groups, particularly
black women, would not define
women’s liberation as equality with
men, because men in their groups
are also exploited and oppressed—

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 95

Feminism is a movement have been suspicious of the In addition, according to hooks,
to end sexism, sexist feminist movement since its some women tend to shun
exploitation, and inception. They realized that if its identification with any political
oppression. stated aim was equality with men, movement, especially one that
bell hooks it could easily become a movement is considered radical; or they do
that would mostly improve the not wish to be associated with a
they too may lack social, political, social standing of middle- and “women’s rights” movement of any
and economic power. While these upper-class women. Privileged form. This fear of being seen to join
women are aware that patriarchy white women, hooks argues, have a movement that challenges male
gives those men privileges, not been anxious to call attention rights and behaviors has been
they tend to see exaggerated to race and class privilege because inculcated into them from an
expressions of male chauvinism they benefit from these; they could early age through the influence
in their own group as stemming “count on there being a lower class of patriarchy, whose rules they
from a sense of powerlessness of exploited, subordinated women continue to abide by and enforce.
compared to other male groups. to do the dirty work they were
refusing to do.” Once we see that it is the
The continuing effect of system of patriarchy, and not men,
imperialist, white-supremacist, Privilege and politics that is the problem, we can then
capitalist patriarchy is a complex Women with multiple social begin to find an answer, suggests
“intersectionality” that must be privileges (such as being white, hooks. She says that feminists must
examined in its totality of effect heterosexual, and wealthy), may call attention to the diversity of
on women, if feminists are to see a situation as demonstrating women’s social and political reality,
improve the lives of all women. just one form of oppression, rather and recognize that race and class
hooks claims that black women than the intersectionality of many oppression are also feminist issues.
different types of oppression. This The feminist movement will then
may be due in part to ignorance, not solely benefit any specific
hooks suggests—in the town in group of women or privilege women
which she grew up, black people over men. The real solution lies,
frequently traveled to the white hooks maintains, in changing
district to work, but white people the philosophical structures that
did not visit her neighborhood. underlie oppression. For this
They had no knowledge or reason, feminism is a political
experience of that world at all. movement, not a “romantic notion
of personal freedom.” ■

bell hooks US social activist and scholar class. In 1973 hooks gained a
Gloria Jean Watkins took the degree in English from Stanford
name of her maternal great- University, then took an MA
grandmother, Bell Hooks, as a pen and a PhD before becoming
name to honor her and to gain a professor of ethnic studies
strength from her ability to “talk at the University of Southern
back.” She uses lowercase letters California. Since writing her
to signal to the reader to focus on first book at the age of 19, she
her ideas, rather than herself. has published more than 30
books on different topics.
Born in 1952 in rural Kentucky,
her father was a janitor and her Key works
mother was a parent to their
seven children. She went to a 1981 Ain’t I a Woman?
racially segregated school, but 1984 Feminist Theory: From
then attended an integrated high Margin to Center
school, where she became acutely 2000 Feminism is for Everybody
aware of differences in race and

96 IN CONTEXT

THE CONCEPT OF FOCUS
“PATRIARCHY” IS Patriarchy
INDISPENSABLE FOR
AN ANALYSIS OF KEY DATES
GENDER INEQUALITY 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft,
English advocate of women’s
SYLVIA WALBY (1953– ) rights, publishes A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman.

1969 In Sexual Politics,
US feminist Kate Millett
says patriarchy is a universal
power relationship that is
all-pervasive and enters into all
other forms of social divisions.

1971 Italian feminist
Mariarosa Dalla Costa argues
that women’s unwaged labor is
an essential part of the
functioning of capitalism.

1981 In “The Unhappy
Marriage of Feminism and
Marxism,” US feminist
economist Heidi Hartmann
suggests that the “dual
systems” of capitalism and
patriarchy oppress women.

I n 1990, the British sociologist
Sylvia Walby published
Theorizing Patriarchy, a
groundbreaking book that claims
“patriarchy” is a highly complex
phenomenon made up of many
intersecting forces. Whereas
earlier feminists had focused
on identifying a single cause of
patriarchy, linked to a particular
historical era or culture, Walby
defines patriarchy as “a system of
social structures and practices in
which men dominate, oppress, and
exploit women.” She claims there
are six interacting structures: the
family household, paid work, the
state, male violence, sexuality, and
cultural institutions. To examine

SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 97

See also: Karl Marx 28–31 ■ Judith Butler 56–61 ■ bell hooks 90–95 ■ Teri Caraway 248–49 ■ Christine Delphy 312–17 ■
Ann Oakley 318–19

...paid work. ...the family ...the state.
household.

Patriarchy is a system of social structures and practices
in which men dominate, oppress, and exploit women through...

...male violence. ...cultural institutions. ...attitudes to sexuality.

these six structures, Walby looks or to gain higher-level education, a “patriarchal mode of production.”
back through the struggles and and violence by husbands was Patriarchy within the household is
work of previous feminists. legally sanctioned. the first of Walby’s six patriarchal
structures; it undervalues the work
First-wave feminism The first-wave feminists of housewives (as unpaid labor),
Walby notes that the “first wave” of addressed these issues on a legal while apparently valuing them only
feminism of the 19th and early level, but Walby maintains that within this role (this was women’s
20th centuries in Europe and the the significant rights they won for “rightful place”).
US focused on the private, rather women failed to eliminate all forms
than public, nature of patriarchy. of inequality. This was because Walby points out that in
At this time, she says, married the family and the household Marxist terms, housewives are the
women were excluded from continued to function effectively as producing class, while husbands ❯❯
paid employment, so patriarchal
domination occurred mainly within
the family, where it was “the man
in his position as husband or father
who [was] the direct oppressor and
beneficiary... of the subordination of
women.” The idea of “domesticity”
intensified during this era. Middle-
class women were confined to the
private sphere; they were denied
the right to vote, own property,

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928)
was a militant, first-wave feminist who
fought hard to advance women’s basic
rights and to secure married women
the vote in the UK.

98 SYLVIA WALBY

Women are not passive As she says: “if women are working patriarchy’s six structures) and
victims of oppressive for capitalists they have less time work through a set of arrangements
structures. They have to work for their husband.” whereby one person is controlled
struggled to change both by another. Men’s violence (or
Conflicts between patriarchy threatened violence) against
their immediate in the home and in the workplace women plays an important part
circumstances and the have often been resolved through in their continuing control and
wider social structures. the intervention of Walby’s third domination of women.
patriarchal structure: the state.
Sylvia Walby For example, during World War The fifth of the structures is
II, British women were needed sexuality. Walby says that societies
are the class that benefits to work in munitions factories. prize heterosexual relationships
“individually and directly” The trade unions were unhappy above all others, in many
from women’s unpaid labor. about this and persuaded the UK cases seeing them as the only
government to introduce legislation permissible option. Sexuality is a
Women within capitalism (the Restoration of the Pre-War major area in which men exercise
By the 20th century, capitalism Practices Act 1942) to ensure that domination of women: they impose
had become the dominant global women would be removed from their ideas of femininity onto
economic model. As capitalism employment in factories at the women and have constructed
grew, women lost forms of work end of the war. In this way, women sexual practices that revolve
that had once been open to them were moved to service the public around male notions of desire.
(in textiles, for instance) through or private arenas according to the
the growth of industrialization. needs of men, regardless of their Walby points out that the
They moved into a position that own preferences. second-wave feminists of the 1960s
was disadvantaged in two ways: to 1980s looked at a wider range
vertical segregation (being offered In the West, the state has also of “unofficial” inequities than the
employment only in the lower intervened to enhance women’s first-wave feminists. They queried
grades of work) and horizontal rights, such as the 1970 Equal Pay sexuality, the family, the workplace,
segregation (being seen as suitable Act in the UK. However, many and reproductive rights—although
only for particular areas of work). of the apparent gains have led some present-day, third-wave
For this reason, Walby proposes to little change in practice, with feminists have criticized them for
that “patriarchal relations in paid women still earning less than men. “unfinished business.” However,
work,” which give men the highest Walby says that this is because when oppressive laws on sexuality
opportunities in jobs available and the state is “a site of patriarchal were abolished, some of the hard-
level of employment, constitute the relations,” which is necessary to won changes became traps for
second of the six structures that patriarchy as a whole. She notes women. Sexual liberty led to the
maintain patriarchy. that there have been important mainstreaming of pornography and
changes in state policy over the
However, Walby notes that in last 150 years but these also include Male violence against women
the 20th century an interesting some very significant limitations. is sufficiently common and
conflict began to arise between “The state is still patriarchal as well repetitive... to constitute
patriarchy and capitalism, because as capitalist and racist,” she says. a social structure.
they had rival interests in the Sylvia Walby
exploitation of women’s labor. Male violence and sexuality
The fourth of Walby’s six structures
is male violence against women.
Domestic violence includes
controlling or threatening behavior,
and violence or abuse between
intimate partners or family
members. These intimate
relationships are power-structured
(as is the case with all of