In Connell’s article its states that sociology became a canon because it need a core discipline and a way to define itself as its own field which gave sociology a foundation. Although, it established sociology as a field, the canon presented many problems. The problems brought about by the canon were a narrow perspective, the lack of communication between the three major sociologists and the classical and contemporaries sociology, and the strong sense of white, capitalistic men creating the canon. Sprague, who specifically states that white middle-class capitalist men were defining sociology through the canon, also mentioned these ideas. This, in turned, cause problems such as: social hierarchy, poor analytic categories, and a misguided social theory. Sprague also mentioned feminist solutions for these problems through praxis, the merge of theory and action. Chafetz’s article emphasized the importance of feminist theory and provided four criteria that make something feminist. The four criteria emphasize the focus on gender, problematic gender relations, not essentializing gender, and challenging things that disadvantage women.
A problematic issue that is not fairly discussed is domestic violence. There are a large amount of stereotypes about domestic violence that, as feminist theory would agree, shows gender power inequalities, especially in heterosexual relationships. Some of these stereotypes include things like: the idea that women provoke their husbands to mistreat them, domestic violence only occurs in lower class families and to people of color, violent backgrounds influence domestic violence, and the belittling of women for not initially leaving a violent relationship. These stereotypes of domestic violence sent messages of male violence and aggression and women’s submissiveness in an intimate relationship.
The problems mentioned by Sprague about classical theory are present in the ideas of domestic violence. The stereotype that domestic violence occurs in lower class families and between people of color empathizes the problem of social hierarchy because its stereotypes a group of people to domestic violence. In reality, this abuse can happen to anyone regardless of race or class. Women who remain in domestic violence relationships are regarded as foolish for not leaving their abusive husbands, which exemplifies the poor analytic categories. This stereotype splits women into two distinct categories: those who leave abuse relationships and those that are foolish enough to stay. Women have personal reason to leave or stay in an abusive relationship so it’s not a fair reason for them to be judged harshly. The last problem mentioned by Sprague is that social theory is misguided, this is seen as true in consideration of domestic violence because the stereotypes of women and men in abusive relationships causes gender roles to be essentialized.
The feminist theory perspective of domestic violence tries to eliminate stereotypes by focusing on gender. This means to pay attention to the gender relations in abuse relationships. According to feminist theory, it’s important to see gender relations as problematic. In the case of domestic violence, society condones men to behave in violent manners, which in turn makes women seem as the non-violent gender. This socialization of gender causes men and women to be essentialized based on their behavior towards each other in an intimate relationship. Feminist theory tries to challenge things that disadvantage women, like the idea that women in abusive relationships are submissive and weak. Discussing domestic violence in terms of feminist theory, feminist can help empower women victims of abusive relationships, provide resources and shelters for them, and create mediation between the victim and offender, which are things that are not mentioned in discussion of domestic violence by classical theorist.
A problematic issue that is not fairly discussed is domestic violence. There are a large amount of stereotypes about domestic violence that, as feminist theory would agree, shows gender power inequalities, especially in heterosexual relationships. Some of these stereotypes include things like: the idea that women provoke their husbands to mistreat them, domestic violence only occurs in lower class families and to people of color, violent backgrounds influence domestic violence, and the belittling of women for not initially leaving a violent relationship. These stereotypes of domestic violence sent messages of male violence and aggression and women’s submissiveness in an intimate relationship.
The problems mentioned by Sprague about classical theory are present in the ideas of domestic violence. The stereotype that domestic violence occurs in lower class families and between people of color empathizes the problem of social hierarchy because its stereotypes a group of people to domestic violence. In reality, this abuse can happen to anyone regardless of race or class. Women who remain in domestic violence relationships are regarded as foolish for not leaving their abusive husbands, which exemplifies the poor analytic categories. This stereotype splits women into two distinct categories: those who leave abuse relationships and those that are foolish enough to stay. Women have personal reason to leave or stay in an abusive relationship so it’s not a fair reason for them to be judged harshly. The last problem mentioned by Sprague is that social theory is misguided, this is seen as true in consideration of domestic violence because the stereotypes of women and men in abusive relationships causes gender roles to be essentialized.
The feminist theory perspective of domestic violence tries to eliminate stereotypes by focusing on gender. This means to pay attention to the gender relations in abuse relationships. According to feminist theory, it’s important to see gender relations as problematic. In the case of domestic violence, society condones men to behave in violent manners, which in turn makes women seem as the non-violent gender. This socialization of gender causes men and women to be essentialized based on their behavior towards each other in an intimate relationship. Feminist theory tries to challenge things that disadvantage women, like the idea that women in abusive relationships are submissive and weak. Discussing domestic violence in terms of feminist theory, feminist can help empower women victims of abusive relationships, provide resources and shelters for them, and create mediation between the victim and offender, which are things that are not mentioned in discussion of domestic violence by classical theorist.