Apply a Sociology Theory to a Social Issue

Sociology

Which feminist theories provide the best explanation of women’s situation in contemporary America? Catharine MacKinnon’s and Hill Collins’ theories provide good context and

explanation of women’s situation in contemporary America. MacKinnon’s difference and dominance approach discusses the two routes to equality and the paradoxes that exist in feminism and gender inequality thought. Collin’s theory is essential to understanding women’s situation in America because she addresses intersectionality which is something the other theorists either don’t mention or fail to consider as a main point. MacKinnon discusses how women are constantly held to a male standard, and offers the example of how jobs are structured on the “gender neutral” expectation that the ideal employee is not someone who is a primary care-taker. This inequality forms when women are being held to a male standard despite the existing differences between men and women. She suggests the route of the difference path in the situation in which women should be compensated/ viewed through the lens that they are different and have become different due to existing conditions, in this case their assigned role as caretakers.

MacKinnon discusses the wage gap in her theory in terms of how women on average have lower wages than men, but she does not dive deeper into discussing the gaps between women themselves. In American society today women of different races and ethnicities earn different pay, the White women earning more than the African American women who earns more than the Hispanic/Latinx women on average. Collin’s Afrocentric Feminism is essential in understanding how intersectionality exists in contemporary America and how it should be discussed more widely. It is unfitting of MacKinnon to compare the feminist/women’s fight for equality in comparison to the African American fight for equality, suffrage, and emancipation because she fails to realize the Black struggle in America is the struggle of many women, of Black women in America. Collins articulates that only a couple token Black women are allowed into the white man’s club, and that is at a significant personal cost. Furthermore, Black women and minority women’s unique history and challenges in America have given them access to both the Afrocentric and the Feminist standpoints, Collins’ alternative theory is neccessary so that ALL women are representated in feminist theory. All in all, despite the shortfalls mentioned, MacKinnon’s and Collins’ theories are two good explanations for women’s situation in contemporary America.

Which classical theorist best captures the critical issues facing society today? Karl Marx’s classical theory best captures the issues of capitalism that arose from

industrialization that are facing society today. Capitalism is important to consider for Marx because it is easy to see where the accumulation of wealth at the expense of others occurs, this being the profit off of labour power of the labor classes. Labor power is a commodity

according to Marx, the labor power is the product of the proletariat that the bourgeoisie appropriates as they make money off the surplus of the proletariat. Marx thinks that his theory continues because of the establishment of the state as private property and ownership. He argues that the state is a tool the ruling class uses to exploit the lower classes.

There is an American irony that Americans live in a democracy in terms of state governance, but there is a large existence of tyrannies all over the country which are the workplaces. Big companies like Amazon, Apple, and Walmart exercise their ultimate power over their workers since the employees have no protections in place against their employers. Capitalism has grown to the point that companies, even in blue collar and the service industries, have control over what their workers do both on and off duty. Usually the off-duty acts that concern companies are those concerning religion, political association, or recreational preferences like smoking or drinking.

It is clear that in today’s modern world, what matters most is efficiency in the workplace. Skill, morals, and equity all come second place to efficiency. Efficiency is defined as getting/draining the most labor possible out of workers in the allotted time. This makes even bathroom breaks and casual conversations while at work taboo, because the workers aren’t viewed as individuals but as cogs in a machine that are replaceable, workers are selling their time to companies and the employers dictate how the time can be used. Marx lays this out explicitly in the Manifesto of the Communist Party, skills and specialized work has lost its value in capitalism because people look for the cheapest and fastest way to do things. Under capitalism workers become just another commodity, skill isn’t preferred over subordinate. We are told that since workers freely enter and exit the labor contract, they are perfectly free under it. The whole world is forced to give into capitalism and open their markets because if they don’t they won’t be able to succeed. Modernization and industrialization are huge improvements to society that when an industrialized society interacts with other nations they are forced to follow the same path of industrialization-- becoming the world model.

All the examples given proves Marx’s point that the abuse of workers proves that capitalism is a game that benefits the bourgeoisie and dehumanizes the proletariat. The working class people are growing tired of the abuse and have been revolting, there are other groups such teachers, and even New York’s MTA workers that go on strikes for better pay and benefits. Many suggest that we create reforms the workplace similar to those we have long insisted should apply to the state. Marx however would argue that this is not enough and would insist that all workers should unite and dismantle the entire system instead of rewriting the system and granting rights that would still leave the bourgeoisie in power. More and more radical methods are being seen today in response to the mistreatment of workers.