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Patriarchy

from Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence

Patriarchy is a system of social organization that institutionalizes male power over women and puts male interests

and values at the center of social life. Rather than a single factor, patriarchy is made up of a number of interrelated

institutions and ideologies that have a pervasive effect at multiple levels of social organization. Since patriarchy is a

social system, all men do not participate in or experience patriarchy in the same way. Although patriarchy is one of

the most fundamental realities of contemporary social life, it is so pervasive that it is naturalized and often invisible.

The concept of patriarchy has three primary meanings. First, patriarchy is a form of social organization in which the

father is the head of the family. Second, patriarchy describes the cultures and social institutions that are organized

around male leadership. Third, patriarchy also refers to the principles and philosophies upon which male power is

based.

Patriarchy is relevant to interpersonal violence because it influences a variety of factors from the motives for violence

to cultural and individual responses to it. Patriarchy is a multilayered, multifac-eted social structure that extends

across all levels of the social ecology, from personal beliefs and behavior to interpersonal relationships, family

organization, community norms, and cultural ideals. Patriarchy takes different forms over time and in different

locations. These changes have implications for shifting patterns of violence within individual relationships and

communities.

Patriarchy in the Family

Familial patriarchy is perhaps the most well known. Patriarchal families are organized around a male head of

household. In patriarchal families, men have more power and authority than women. Their influence may include

control over decisions made within the family, the allocation of resources, household duties, and marriage and

childrearing practices. Although patriarchy refers literally to the rule of the father, patriarchal authority extends to

other males in the household.

Patriarchal families are often patrilineal, meaning that the family line descends through the man’s side. In patrilineal

families, money, class status, property, and wives and children may be passed from male relative to male relative,

with women and girls excluded from inheritance rights or allowed to inherit only in the absence of male heirs.

Patrilinearity is also visible in the custom of women taking their husband’s name upon marriage. The family name

descends through the men, while the women are incorporated under the husband’s family identity. Even when

women retain their own names upon marriage, the children often assume the father’s last name.

The multiple forms of social organization linked to patriarchy institutionalize male power over women and contribute

to women’s oppression. Familial patriarchy has been linked to men’s abuse of women in research on violence in

married, unmarried, divorced, and separated couples. Patriarchy in the family is also related to violence by male

relatives against female relatives, such as in acid attacks, dowry related violence, and so-called honor killings. These

forms of violence use women to negotiate men’s status relative to one another. In this sense, women are

instrumental to men’s relationships with one another rather than valued as distinct entities with the same rights and

freedoms as men.

Patriarchy in Society

Familial patriarchy both provides a model for and reflects broader patriarchal structures. In societies organized

around patriarchal families, it may seem natural that social institutions and organizations are also headed by men.

Likewise, in a culture where social institutions such as religion, education, government, and business are run by men,

it may seem natural for men to run the household. The pervasiveness of patriarchy contributes to the appearance of

its immutability and naturalness.

Social institutions like the law, courts, government, and media are dominated by men in most places throughout the

world. This domination has multiple implications for interpersonal violence. Some forms of violence are not

considered illegal because of the presumption of men’s patriarchal authority over women in the family. For example,

wife battering and marital rape have not always been illegal in the United States and are still condoned in many

countries. Even where these forms of violence are considered crimes, they are often not as aggressively prosecuted

as other crimes. Men’s crimes against women they know may be subject to higher standards of proof and scrutiny

compared with other offenses. The male prerogative to control what happens in the family often extends to child

sexual and physical abuse as well. Historically, violence by men in the family was considered a private issue that was

not subject to outside intervention due to the man’s position as guardian of the wife and children. Therefore, men’s

violence against family members was seen as appropriate or necessary to his role as leader and disciplinarian of the

family. In that context, a man’s violence against his own family was not considered a crime or even violence.

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The patriarchal organization of society exists on the most abstract levels of culture as well as in the most intimate

and internalized aspects of individual behavior and identity. Patriarchy is linked to polarized gender roles that

mandate very different and distinct behavior for women and men. Rigid gender roles are enforced in a number of

ways in patriarchal cultures, including by the use of violence and the threat of violence. Women are not the only ones

at risk for this violence. Patriarchal gender norms contribute to hate crimes such as gay bashing and violence against

men by males who feel that their masculinity has been called into question, just as they contribute to rape and

femicide. Men perform their gender to demonstrate their place in patriarchal hierarchies that rank men relative to

one another as well as in relation to women.

Not all men experience patriarchy in the same way. Racism, class discrimination, and homophobia all shape men’s

status and experiences within particular patriarchal cultures. These intersecting oppressions affect the privileges

men are able to gain from patriarchy in a particular time and place. Expectations for the performance of gender vary

over time as well as from culture to culture. However, research has identified men’s desire to perform masculinity

and defend it against threats of inadequacy as a significant factor contributing to male violence in a variety of

contexts. Patriarchy can create conflict among men as well as between men and women. As men jockey for position

at the top of patriarchal hierarchies, some men use violence to offset the shame they feel at not being in a dominant

position. Although patriarchy literally refers to the rule of the father, it also applies to men’s interactions with other

men who are not family members.

Theories of Patriarchy

Theories of patriarchy explain why and how families and other social institutions are organized around male

supremacy. There are theories that justify this arrangement, theories that challenge it, and theories that attempt to

clarify how patriarchy came to exist. Each of these theories applies to multiple layers of social interaction: personal

beliefs and ways of understanding the world, expectations for interactions with others, ways of behaving in

interpersonal relationships, and ways of thinking about these things in relation to the larger society.

Patriarchy has both psychological and material components. For example, patriarchy shapes the distribution of

resources through concepts like the family wage that guarantees men higher wages for work than women, since it is

presumed that they are supporting a family. Patriarchy also shapes the way we think about ourselves and others

through factors such as conventions of language use, observation of the media, and our personal experiences. The

combination of psychological and material aspects of patriarchy contributes to its tenacity. Changes in material

culture and social institutions may be resisted because patriarchal values and beliefs are internalized by women and

men. At the same time, material concerns may outweigh psychological factors when it comes to people’s individual

decisions about how to act.

Influence

As an organizing principle behind gendered identity and institutions, patriarchy is a key concept for thinking about

human behavior. An understanding of the concept of patriarchy is essential to the study of interpersonal violence

because, along with other factors, it shapes human behavior, including violence at all levels of the social ecology.

This understanding should include awareness that patriarchy is not a single factor; rather, it is a principle of social

organization that has a pervasive influence on human violence over time and in multiple geographic locations. This

influence is present in the most personal internalized identities and gender performance to the most impersonal and

structured institutions that organize social life.

See also

Battered Women’s Movement; Feminist Movements to End Violence Against Women; Misogyny; Sex

Discrimination

Further Readings

Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women and rape. New York: Bantam Books.

Frye, M. (1983). The politics of reality: Essays in feminist theory. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press.

Gilligan, J. (2001). Preventing violence. New York: Thames and Hudson.

Johnson, A. G. (1997). The gender knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Schwartz, M. D.; DeKeseredy, W S. (1997). Sexual assault on the college campus: The role of male peer support.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Walby, S. (1990). Theorizing patriarchy. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.

Websdale, N. (1998). Rural woman battering and the justice system: An ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Molly Dragiewicz

Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Chicago Harvard MLA

Dragiewicz, M. (2008). Patriarchy. In C. M. Renzetti, & J. L. Edleson, Encyclopedia of interpersonal violence.

Sage Publications. Credo Reference: https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sageiv/patriarchy/0?

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information to clarify critical issues and educate the public about different forms of

interpersonal violence, their incidence and prevalence, theoretical explanations, public

policy initiatives, and prevention and intervention strategies.

Author(s): Claire M. Renzetti, Jeffrey L. Edleson

Edition: 1st

Articles: 555

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