critical victimology essay

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A level sociology revision – education, families, research methods, crime and deviance and more!

Victimology

Victimology for A-Level sociology students studying the crime and deviance option

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Last Updated on August 20, 2021 by Karl Thompson

Victimology is the study of who the victims of crime are, why they are victims, and what we can do about this.

Victimology is a relatively recent edition to the A-level sociology Crime and Deviance specification, and is mainly addressed through applying the sociological perspectives.

Patterns of Victimisation

The (Telephone) Crime Survey of England and Wales

The largest Victim Survey in England and Wales is the (Telephone) Crime Survey of England and Wales. The survey used to be face to face but has been conducted by phone since the outbreak of Covid-19, and samples about 38 000 Households a year.

TCSEW crime shows a year-on-year fall in the number of victims of crime for the last 20 years, except for Cyber Crime and Fraud. If we include the later two types of crime (which have only been recorded by the survey for a few years, then the overall crime rate has been increasing for the last few years.

The risk of being a victim of crime varies by social groups and by type of crime. Below is a summary,

• Social Class – people from deprived areas are more likely to be victims of violent crime.
• Age – Younger people are more at risk of victimisation than older people, for crime in general.
• Ethnicity – minority ethnic groups are at greater risk than whites of being victims of hate crime.
• Gender – Males are at greater risk of being victims of violent attacks, about 70% of homicide victims are male. However, women are more likely to victims of domestic violence than me, sexual violence, people trafficking and rape as a weapon of war. Trans people are more likely to be victims of hate crime.
• Repeat Victimisation – There are a few people who are unfortunate enough to be a victim of crime many times over. According to the Crime Survey of England and Wales, a mere 4% of people are victims of 44% of all crimes in any one year. In contrast, 60% of people experience no crime in any given year.

For a more detailed look at how patterns of victimisation vary by class, gender, age and ethnicity please see this post – Who Are the Victims of Crime?

Sociological Perspectives applied to Victimology

The remainder of this post simplifies approaches to this topic by distinguishing between Positivist and Critical Victimology….

Positivist Victimology

• Mier’s (1989) defines Positivist victimology as having three main features:
• It aims to identify the factors that produce the above patterns in victimisation
• It focuses on interpersonal crimes of violence
• It aims to identify how victims have contributed to their own victimisation.
• Earlier Positivist studies focussed on the idea of ‘victim proneness’, seeking to identify the social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them different from and more vulnerable than non-victims. For example, Von Hentig (1948) identified 13 characteristics of victims, such as that they are more likely to females, elderly and ‘mentally subnormal’. The implication is that the victims in some sense ‘invite’ victimisation because of who they are.
• An example of positivist victimology is Marvin Wolfgang’s (1958) study of 588 homicides in Philadelphia. He found that 26% involved victim precipitation – the victim triggered the events leading to the homicide, for instance, being the first to use violence.

Evaluations of Positivist Victimology

• It is easy to tip over into ‘victim blaming’.
• Positivism tends to focus on ‘traditional crime’s – it doesn’t look at green crime and  corporate crime for example.
• It ignores wider structural factors such as poverty and powerlessness which make some  people more likely to be victims than others.

Critical Victimology

Critical victimology is based on conflict theories such as Marxism and Feminism. From a critical point of view the powerless are most likely to be victimised and yet the least likely to have this acknowledged by the state (this is known as the ‘hierarchy of victimisation’ ).

• Critical Criminology focuses on two elements: the role of structural factors in explaining patterns of victimisation and power of the state to deny certain victims victim status.
• Structural factors are important in explaining why some people are more likely to be victims of crime than others. Factors such as poverty and patriarchy make some people more likely to victims of crime than others.
• Structural factors are important, because from a Marxist perspective because poverty and inequality breed crime and thus living in a poor area means that you are more likely to be both a criminal and a victim of crime while Feminists emphasise that the structure of Patriarchy perpetuates crimes against women such as sex-trafficking and domestic violence, meaning that women are far more likely to be victims of sex-crimes than men.
• At another level, global power structures mean that many people are the victims of harms done by Western Corporations and State Crimes carried out by Western World Governments (Bhopal and the Drone Wars are two good examples) and yet victims in faraway places are highly unlikely to see justice.
• Criminologists who focus on ethnicity and crime would also suggest that Structural Racism means it more likely that ethnic minorities are going to face not only racial crime from the general public, but also discrimination at the hands of the police. Refer to the ethnicity and crime material for more details!
• To overcome this, critical criminologists suggest that criminologists should focus on ‘Zemiology’ (the study of harm) rather than the study of crime, to pick up on the true nature and extent of victimisation in the world today.
• The state’s power to apply or deny the label of victim can distort the actual extent of victimisation. From a critical criminological perspective, the state often sides with the powerful, and does not define their exploitative and harmful acts as crimes. Tombs and Whyte (2007) for example showed that employers’ violations of health and safety law which lead to thousands of deaths of workers in the UK each year are typically explained away as industrial accidents, thus leaving no one to blame and leaving the injured and dead workers as non-victims.
• From a Feminist point of view sexism within the CJS means that most women who are victims of DV and rape fail to come forward, and those who are do are often treated as the guilty party themselves in court, and so are often denied formal victim status and justice.
• Tombs and White note that there is an ideological function of this ‘failure to label’ or ‘de- labelling’ – by concealing the true extent of victimisation and its real causes, it hides the crimes of the powerful and denies the victims any justice.

Evaluations of Critical Victimology

• It disregards the role victims may play in bringing crime on themselves (e.g. not making their home secure).
• Realists argue that it isn’t the job of criminologists to criticise governments and the police, this isn’t the most effective way to reduce crime and thus help victims of ‘ordinary crimes’ such as street violence and burglary.

A combination of the main A-level text books were used to write this post.

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4 thoughts on “Victimology”

what A level textbooks did you use? as i want to reference them in my University paper. if you could get back to me asap that would be fantastic

Yes- I thought that too- he’s got a picture of the Hillsborough victims instead!

Thanks for pointing that out, I will look into correcting it.

The photo of the Grenfell Tower is incorrect – where are the BAME people? The Guardian shows lots of muslim women, there are none in your photos.

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14. Victimology

14.2 Theories of Victimisation

Dr. Jordana K. Norgaard and Dr. Benjamin Roebuck

One of the central concerns of victimology was identified by Quinney (1972), when he famously asked, “Who is the victim?” Quinney argued that “the victim” is a socially constructed phenomenon meaning that for someone to be recognised as a victim, there needs to be some agreement within society. This means that power dynamics within society will influence collective understandings of victimisation, allowing some people to be more easily recognised as “victims” when they are harmed (Holstein & Miller, 1990; McGarry & Walklate, 2015). Christie (1986) developed a typology of the “ideal victim,” suggesting categories of people who are most likely to receive “the complete and legitimate status of being a victim” when they are harmed (p.18). Christie (1986) suggests this is most likely to happen when the victim is perceived as weak, engaged in a respectable activity, not seen as responsible for contributing to their victimisation, and the offender is big and bad and unknown to the victim. The opposite is also true; when people’s experiences of victimisation do not align with these characteristics, they may not be recognized as legitimate victims. For example, Scott (2021) argues that single offences that occur in public spaces with strangers tend to receive harsher penalties from the criminal justice system than offences that occur in private, even when these are repeat offences by a person in a position of trust.  This can lead to an erosion of trust in the criminal justice system and subsequently, reluctance to report future victimisation.

Early Theories of Victimology

There are early references to victims of crime in ancient texts like the Code of Hammurabi (Hammurabi & Harper, 1904), or religious scriptures, where one of the earliest recorded events includes an account of Cain murdering his brother Abel ( English Standard Bible , 2001: Gen 4:1-16). And yet, despite historical texts and diverse legal systems and approaches to justice across cultures, the contemporary discipline of victimology is commonly described as beginning around the time of World War II (Godfrey, 2018; Wemmers 2017). One of the first known scientific studies of victims of crime was a doctoral dissertation by Nagel (1949), a Dutch scholar whose work was interrupted by WWII and published afterwards (Kirchhoff, 2010). In 1948, Hans von Hentig published his book The Criminal and His Victim: Studies in the Sociobiology of Crime where he explored the characteristics of victims that might make them more prone to victimisation. Von Hentig (1948) introduced the duet frame of crime, arguing that both the victim and offender shared a degree of responsibility for crime. However, the most notable scholarship at the time was from Benjamin Mendelson who first introduced the term “victimology” at a lecture for the Rumanian Psychiatric Society in 1947, followed by an influential article in 1956 calling for the creation of a discipline of victimology that would be independent of criminology, and would bring needed attention to victims of crime. For this contribution, Mendelsohn is often called the “father of victimology” (Scott, 2016; Wemmers, 2017). Mendelsohn’s (1956) early work also explored relationships between victims and perpetrators, focusing on how responsible victims were for what happened to them.

In the following section, we will examine some common theories and perspectives used to explain why victimisation occurs such as victim precipitation theory and routine activity theory.  We also discuss critical victimology.

Victim Precipitation Theory

Victim precipitation, also known as victim facilitation, refers to situations where the victim was the initial aggressor in the action that led to their harm or loss. The theory was first coined by Marvin Wolfgang, in his 1957 study of homicide. Wolfgang (1957) examined 588 homicides that occurred in Philadelphia between 1948 and 1952 and found that in a quarter of his sample (26%), the victim was the first to engage in physical violence, or in other words, the victim was the initial aggressor. A major criticism of this theory is the assumption that the victim and the offender enter into an interaction as equals, dismissing any power imbalances and/or dynamics at hand (Scott, 2016).   Research like Wolfgang’s (1958) has given rise to the phenomenon of victim blaming.  Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime is held responsible, in whole or in part, for their own victimisation (Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime [CRCVC], 2009a). Blame stems from a belief that there are specific actions people can take to avoid being harmed. When such actions are not followed, others are not likely to sympathise with the victim as they see the crime as avoidable had the victim chosen to take the appropriate measures to avoid potential harm. Victim blaming can take the form of negative social responses from legal, medical, and mental health professionals as well as from the media, immediate family members and other acquaintances (CRCVC, 2009a).

You may ask yourself, why do people blame victims? Some research has suggested that blaming crime victims helps reassure the person assigning blame that they are safe; as long as they do not act as the victim did at the time of their victimisation, they will be unharmed (Fisher et al., 2016; Karmen, 2020). Another reason victims are blamed is attribution error. Attribution error occurs when individuals over-emphasize personal characteristics and devalue environmental characteristics when judging others, resulting in victim blaming (CRCVC, 2009a). People who make this error view the individual victim as partially responsible for what happened to them and ignore situational causes.  For example, if a victim was sexually assaulted by someone while attending a party, some individuals may blame the victim for being assaulted based on what they were wearing and/or for consuming alcohol at that time rather than taking into consideration the motivation of the offender. A recent Canadian court decision in a sexual assault case highlights victim blaming from within the criminal justice system.  The judge presiding over the case stated in his ruling that “people need to exercise extreme care when out drinking in public,” inferring that despite the victim being sexually assaulted by the offender, it was still the victim’s responsibility to take precautions while drinking in public to ensure they do not face potential harm (CBC, 2021, para 9). This type of statement can be extremely dangerous and unfair to victims of crime.  Both the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime and Ottawa Victim Services criticized the judge’s wording, stating that it is “unacceptable and perpetuates violence” (CBC, 2021, para 18). Victim blaming can have serious and negative effects on survivors, who have been deemed at fault even though they bear no responsibility for the crime(s) committed against them. Victim advocates argue that victim blaming undermines victim status while simultaneously excusing the offender for the crime (Petherick, 2017). Survivors who receive negative responses and blame tend to experience greater distress and are less likely to report future victimisation (CRCVC, 2009a).

Routine Activity Theory

Routine activity theory (see 16.4 Theoretical Approaches Within Environmental Criminology ) was first proposed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979. Cohen and Felson (1979) posited that the risk of criminal victimisation increases when there is the convergence of 1) the presence of a motivated offender, 2) an availability of suitable targets, and 3) a lack of capable guardianship (i.e. someone who could intervene to prevent the crime from being committed). Without any one of these three elements, the likelihood of a crime occurring decreases. This theory has met some criticism in the context of victimology as it assumes that a victim can lessen the offender’s motivation by being less of a suitable target (Scott, 2016). Furthermore, it assumes equality exists between all three parties: the victim, the offender, and the guardian, ignoring the different power imbalances at play (Scott, 2016).

Critical Victimology

Critical victimology combines the concept of the ideal victim with intersectionality in an effort to deconstruct victim blaming by calling attention to the ways race, gender, class, and other identities shape social constructions of victimisation (Spencer & Walklate, 2016). For example, critical victimologists would recognise that the violence against women movement has increased the resources available to female survivors of partner violence and sexual violence, but that women who are Indigenous, trans, or homeless may not have equal access to those resources and may be treated differently within victim services or the criminal justice system. Similarly, male survivors of partner violence or sexual violence have reported difficulties accessing services or being believed when they ask for help (Cohen, 2014; Roebuck et al., 2020a; Roebuck et al., 2020b).

A victim of crime is held responsible, in whole or in part, for their own victimization.

The over-emphasis of personal characteristics while devaluing environmental characteristics when judging others.

Introduction to Criminology Copyright © 2023 by Dr. Jordana K. Norgaard and Dr. Benjamin Roebuck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Critical Victimology

Last updated 7 Aug 2018

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Critical victimology relates the incidence of victimisation with social groups in society and seeks to point out how some social groups (such as women and the poor) are structurally more at risk of crime.

Positivist criminology concentrates on the actions and behaviour of the individual, but society is structured in such a way that some groups are more vulnerable than others. Homeless people living on the street, for instance, are much more likely to be victims of crime than the general population. While you can explain this in positivist terms ‐ sleeping on the street is putting oneself at enormous risk, it makes little sense to only consider this in terms of the individual's behaviour rather than considering the structural factors that put that individual in that situation in the first place.

In terms of the 2017 CSEW data, critical victimologists would suggest that, for instance, structural problems in society account for the high proportion of unemployed people and people in deprived areas being the victims of crime.

Evaluating Critical Victimology

Statistics suggest that men are more likely to be the victims of crime than women, though clearly there are certain types of crime where women are more likely to be the victims, such as sexual assault and domestic violence.

The very rich are structurally at risk of crime because they make an attractive target to those seeking to profit from crime, yet they are not of significant interest to most of those taking an interest in critical victimology. For example, in the CSEW data from 2017 a higher proportion of those with a household income over £50,000 had been victims of crime than those with a household income of under £10,000.

• Victimisation
• Crime Survey of England and Wales
• Crime and Deviance
• Critical Victimology

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Critically evaluate the contribution of feminist perspectives to victimology and the subsequent development of criminal justice policies.

During the 1970s the feminist movement broke a long-lasting silence by bringing up issues related to the victimization of women. At the same time, feminist criminology emerged, introducing issues of female victimization into criminological discussion. This, in sequence, led to the development of strong, politically activists views that influenced law making and courtroom dynamics. The work by feminist criminologists has been decisive in framing women’s victimization as a legitimate social problem, and in making substantial changes in the criminal justice system. This essay will critically evaluate the contribution of feminist perspectives to victimology and the subsequent development of criminal justice policies.

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Revisiting the “Ideal Victim”: Developments in Critical Victimology

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Revisiting the ‘Ideal Victim’ is a collection of academic responses to the late Nils Christie’s (1986) seminal piece on the ‘ideal victim’ in which he addressed the socially constructed concept of an idealised form of victim status or identity. Highlighting the complex factors informing the application or rejection of victim status, Christie foregrounded the role of subjective and objective perspectives on personal and societal responses to victimisation. In sum, the ‘ideal victim’ is: “ a person or category of individuals, who – when hit by crime – most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim ” (1986: 18, original italics). This concept has become one of the most frequently cited themes of victimological (and, where relevant, criminological) academic scholarship over the past thirty years. In commemoration of his contribution, this volume analyses, evaluates and critiques the current nature and impact of victim identity, experience, policy and practice in light of Christie’s framework. Demonstrating how the very notion of what constitutes a ‘victim’ has undergone significant theorisation, evaluation and reconceptualization in the intervening three decades, the academic contributors in this volume excellently showcase the relevance of this ‘ideal victim’ concept to a range of contemporary victimological issues. In sum, the chapters critically evaluate the salience of Christie’s concept in a modern context while demonstrating its influence over the decades..

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The Green Victimology: Saving Non-Human Victims Essay (Critical Writing)

Green victimology summary, evaluation and integration, application.

Degradation of the environment is a severe problem that has terrible effects on plants, animals, and the ecosystem, impacting daily life. The physical, emotional, and financial impact of illegal dumping, illicit logging, and animal poaching on victims. For example, causing ecological degradation that results in environmental withdrawals, such as the extraction of natural resources that results in severe effects such as deforestation or pollution. Therefore, environmental pollution is a significant crime that causes harm to the environment and, as a result, has a severe impact on human existence that results in unfavorable health conditions. Consequently, a multidisciplinary study of green victimology is required to create solutions to protect victims and mitigate the detrimental effects of environmental crime. It also examines how environmental crime victims might be empowered to seek justice and hold offenders accountable.

It investigates how individuals, communities, and societies are affected by environmental disasters and how these occurrences can have lasting effects on social, economic, and political systems. By researching the impact of environmental disasters on vulnerable groups and communities, green victimology tries to identify solutions for environmental justice challenges. Green victimology’s strength is its emphasis on comprehending the broader repercussions of environmental calamities. It tries to investigate these occurrences’ social, economic, and political repercussions instead of their immediate physical effects. Moreover, “human victims of environmental devastation are not typically acknowledged as ‘crime’ victims” (White, 2018). However, one critique of green victimology is that it does not emphasize prevention. Although it addresses the long-term effects of environmental disasters, it does not offer advice on preventing their occurrence. Moreover, green victimology does not address the fundamental causes of environmental damage, such as poverty and inequality (Johnson, 2017). As a result, green victimology needs a complete method for comprehending and addressing environmental justice challenges.

The genesis of the Flint water crisis was in 2014 when the Flint River was the city’s primary water source. Due to the corrosiveness that was caused by lead pipes, the city water was contaminated. This caused severe harm to the residents, thus, alerting the city Governor Rick Snyder who declared a state of emergency in early 2016 (NRDCflix, 2017). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also declared an emergency and advised Flint residents not to drink tap water. In later years, the city endeavored to replace its lead-contaminated pipes and enhance the quality of its water supply (NRDCflix, 2017). The water crisis has had far-reaching repercussions on the population, including health issues related to lead exposure.

The situation also resulted in severe economic hardship, with many businesses abandoning the area and residents paying inflated prices for bottled water. Numerous investigations, including a 2016 report from the US House of Representatives, found that the state of Michigan failed to respond promptly and did not take adequate measures to ensure the safety of Flint’s drinking water (NRDCflix, 2017). In 2017, Michigan announced a $97 million replacement plan for lead-tainted pipes in Flint. In addition to the state and federal governments, many nonprofits and organizations have stepped up to assist the inhabitants of Flint (Fighting for safe water in Flint, n.d). These groups have offered vital services like clean water, medical treatment, and other resources to assist the community in recovering from the catastrophe. Even though the water issue has had catastrophic impacts on the community, the city is beginning to recover slowly. In 2020, Flint’s mayor, Karen Weaver, proclaimed the city’s water safe for consumption. The city is still replacing its remaining lead pipes and enhancing water quality (NRDCflix, 2017). Despite the gains made, the city of Flint and its inhabitants are still dealing with the long-term impacts of the water crisis, and the path to recovery remains lengthy.

Johnson, D. S. (2017). The status of green criminology in victimology research. McNair Scholars Research Journal , 10 (1), 8. Web.

NRDCflix. (2017). Fighting for Safe Water in Flint [Video]. YouTube. Web.

White, R. (2018). Green victimology and non-human victims . International Review of Victimology , 24 (2), 239-255. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, December 21). The Green Victimology: Saving Non-Human Victims. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-green-victimology-saving-non-human-victims/

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IvyPanda . "The Green Victimology: Saving Non-Human Victims." December 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-green-victimology-saving-non-human-victims/.

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Feminism, positivism, and radical victimology.

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            Victimology refers to the scientific study of the "extent, nature and causes of criminal victimisation, it's consequences for the persons involved and the reactions thereto by society". (World Society of Victimology, cited in Goodey 2005, pp.10) Various perspectives of victimology have been put forward since the mid-twentieth century when it first emerged. The main perspectives include; feminist victimology, positivist victimology, radical victimology, and critical victimology. Each of these perspectives offer different theories of victims and crime, some more controversial than others. Nevertheless, this essay will critically appraise what feminist victimology has offered to the discipline, and further go on to discuss what it has offered that positivist and radical victimologies have not.              Founded in the 1970s and significantly influenced by radical feminism, feminist victimology primarily recognises victimisation as the product of unequal power relations, sexism, and other types of prejudice within the law and Criminal Justice System. The feminist approach to victimology is therefore concerned with combatting societal sexism, achieving gender equality, and campaigning for women's rights. (Barberet, 2010) In essence, feminist victimology concentrates on the social construction of gender, and heavily focuses upon "uncovering, assessing and responding to the victimisation of women and, in particular, men's violence against women" (Newburn, 2013, pp. 322). Subsequently, the field of feminist victimology includes women in what has traditionally been male-dominated research. It has also adopted qualitative methodologies, such as detailed interviews and case studies, in order to obtain stronger awareness of the forms of female victimisation which have been largely ignored by mainstream (malestream) ideologies. For example, feminist victimology research has shown that females are more likely to be the victims of certain types of crimes, such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, and that the perpetrators of these crimes are more likely to be men.

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Essays Related to Feminism, Positivism, and Radical Victimology

1. positivism.

Definitions Abound • Positivism is a broad philosophy, and there are many different interpretations of the original Positivism Doctrine. However, whether dealing with Radical Positivism, Vienna Positivism, or Comte Positivism, the main ideology running through all of them is this: Knowledge that is not based on hard scientific fact, mathematical reasoning, or of logical deduction is inferior and lacks true substance or meaning in reality. ... So, weird, freaky dude started Positivism anyway? ... It first appeared in 1830, in the book "Course of Positive Philosophy" (actually, there...

• Word Count: 501
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Socialist and radical feminism

"Radical feminism" came into existence in the late 1960's with the emergence of the civil rights and peace movements in America. ... The main "theory" behind radical feminism is that men dominate women in all circumstances; work, home, education, health. ... The main difference between socialist feminism and radical feminism is that of who the "enemy" is perceived to be. ... One criticisms directed toward radical feminism is that it looks upon all women universally. ... Another major criticism of both radical and socialist feminism has come from women of different ethnic or racial backgro...

• Word Count: 1571

3. Division, Classification and Feminism

First-wave feminism had the central motive of giving speech to the voiceless by obtaining women's right to vote with the Nineteenth Amendment. ... Also described as liberal feminism, the first wave worked within society's constraints to make small advances in integration over time. ... The second wave also birthed the unfortunate stereotype of a feminist as a raging "man-hating", hairy, radical beast causing the deterioration of traditional values. ... Third-wave feminism's parameters are unspecific: beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the present and beyond...

• Word Count: 651
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Graduate

4. Victimology

When breaking down the word victimology, there is "victim" and "-ology." ... So the meaning of victimology is "The study of people who experience injury, or hardship due to any cause,". ... A victimologist's definition of victimology is, "The scientific study of crime victims, focuses on the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer at the hands of criminals,". Many people think victimology and criminology are the same, but they are not. Actually victimology is a category within criminology, along with fields like delinquency, and drug abuse. ...

• Word Count: 1521
• Grade Level: High School

5. Stereotyping Feminists

It also doesn't help that the media only focus on the radical feminist. ... They see the very radical feminists and assume that they represent the entire width and breadth of feminism. ... With the rich great history I don't understand how the radical feminist get to represent feminism everywhere. ... While there is ton of feminist who fight equality for all human beings the media tends to only focus on what we call radical feminist. Radical feminist are the one on T.V. usually completely naked holding up a sign saying I'm free. ...

• Word Count: 1042
• Approx Pages: 4

6. feminism

FEMINISM Feminism is the doctrine that advocates equal rights for women. ... Feminism has been around for centuries. ... Feminism " in all its manifestations is radical in that it seeks to redefine the basic human relationships between the sexes and to redistribute power and other social goods." ... The younger branches issue was weather the women's liberation movement should remain a branch of the radical new left movement or become independent women's movement like the older branch thought. ... During the 1970's cultural feminism emerged. ...

• Word Count: 717

7. Feminism

Feminism "A doctrine advocating for women the same rights granted men, as in political and economic status" (Soukhanov 405) is one of the definitions used by the dictionary to describe Feminism. ... At times, some people due to radical ideas expressed by some feminists dismiss the idea of feminism. Published literature on the subject includes radical utopian views by some women that picture the ideal society as man-free, reproducing artificially. These women are viewed as radical lesbian man-haters and present a distorted view on feminism and feminists. ... Maybe the problem is not femini...

• Word Count: 1151
• Approx Pages: 5

8. ESSAY ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF F

Marxist or Postmodernist feminists (and this explains the need to talk of Feminisms - in plural). ... Wise suggest (1993), the question of epistemology is fundamental for feminism. ... Before turning our attention to the different feminist epistemologies (mainly the "feminist empiricist" and the "feminist standpoint") we should explicate how feminists take concepts, as well as research practices dominant in conventional epistemology (such as "empiricism" "objectivity" "positivism" and "scientific methodology"), and deconstruct them in order to challenge the hegemony of such epistemologies. ......

• Word Count: 2946
• Approx Pages: 12