Essay: Sociological Perspectives of the Conflict Theory of Feminism

This essay aims to discuss the contribution theorists have made to the sociological perspectives of the conflict theory of Feminism and of the micro theory of Internationalism. Feminism focuses on female oppression, gender and patriarchy, whilst Interactionism examines interaction and the process by which an individual has become to be defined a particular way. The theories of Morgan, Heindsohn, Becker and Mazta will be analysed and the key elements will be evaluated to understand the contributions made to female crime and deviance.
There are various sociological perspectives of feminism, such as Radical, Marxist, Socialist and Liberal and all have different views on the causes of inequality and how to change it; however, they all share the belief that living in a patriarchal society leads to inequalities for women. Feminist sociologists argue that society is patriarchal and consequently women are seen to be inadequate and are expected to be in all ways subordinate to men. They believe that the root of oppression and disadvantages that women face in society is on account of their sex, other factors are class and ethnicity, and this is not exhaustive and is primarily experienced within the family.
Feminists such as Adler (1975) and Wallace (2005) focus on women’s liberation and put forward that political societal changes has led to an increase in women committing ‘male’ like crimes. There is no data in the decades immediately after women achieved emancipation to justify Adler’s argument, the only data available is from recent years and therefore could be argued that the data is misleading and is not substantial to support Adler’s argument. During 1674–1913 women accounted for 21% of the defendants and this reduced to 9% by the early 19th century, (Emsley, Hitchcock, Shoemaker, 2016), however in 2002 this figure increased to 19%. (Trueman, 2016) James and Thornton (1980) conducted studies on women in prison to understand their reasoning for committing crime. Those surveyed were from uneducated and deprived backgrounds and liberation did not appear to be their motivation; this contradicts Adler’s theory of female emancipation contributing to the increase of female crime. (Trueman, 2016). Morgan (1980) argues that men have maintained their power over women through acts of rape and male violence, often referred to as a weapon of war, designed to terrorise the enemy, this was encouraged through pornography. Pornography is seen as a deviant act; however rape is a criminal offence, of which a higher proportion of men are arrested for sexual offences compared to women. Of the known crimes reported it is documented that in 2008/09 0.4% of women and 2.3% of men were arrested for sexual offences and women were more likely to experience domestic violence and were generally well acquainted with their attacker. (Ministry of Justice, 2010). This evidence supports the notion that the root of female oppression is predominantly experienced within the family and Morgan’s view that men use violence as a means of control to exert power over women.
‘Gender is on the agenda’ wrote Heidensohn. She agreed that men have exerted their power over women by means of a patriarchal society through-out the process of primary socialisation. (Thompson, 2011). Identities and roles are assigned through learning gender norms based on masculinity and femininity, which has resulted in women being socialised to accept submissive roles in the home, whilst boys are socialised to believe they are superior (Zuleyka, 2014). Heidensohn argues that poverty and an inferior status is the motive and reaction to an unequal society and why women turn to crime. In 2004 women’s average pay was 86% of men’s and 11% of women held senior positions compared to 18% of men, this highlights gender division of labour in favour of men, which gives them social mobility and power to reach the ‘glass ceiling’. (Diversity Toolkit, 2016). Furthermore, Heidensohn believes that women have less opportunity to commit crime because society controls them and consequently female crime statistics are lower than men, however if crime is committed the majority are petty misdemeanours. (Thompson, 2011). In England and Wales between 2007 and 2009 there was a reduction in female crime of 2%, compared to 1% for males, the figures in 2009 were 247,127 compared to 1,215,012 in favour of women. Violence against the person and handling stolen goods were recorded as the most common offences for women and men in 2008/09, of which women exceeded, however in almost every other offence such as burglary, criminal damage and drug offences men offended more than women. (Ministry of Justice, 2010).