Night To His Day Analysis

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I found Johnson’s definition of patriarchy incredibly insightful and intuitive. First, I appreciated the simplicity of the definition in that the three components he enumerates effectively address a very complex and overarching concept that can be challenging to define, much less articulate. Yet, what struck me even more than the simplicity of the definition was the fact that as I contemplated those three components I realized that they address three absolutely pivotal social themes and motivators: 1) power, 2) perspective, and 3) value. Power is the underlying principle behind domination since domination is born of a desire for power. Perspective, meanwhile, intimates the views, opinions, or more simply, beliefs of individuals or groups. Value …show more content…
Although we have certainly come a long way from women’s suffrage, we still fall short in terms of male and female equality. Judith Lorber, in her article entitled “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, points out, “Men dominate the positions of authority and leadership in government, the military, and the law; cultural productions, religions, and sports reflect men’s interests,” (Lorber, 1994, p. 43). Indeed, males are at the forefront of American business, finance, politics, and entertainment, creating an environment in which male preferences, ideologies, and interests …show more content…
Lorber makes a keen observation when she states, “For human beings, there is no essential femaleness or maleness, femininity or masculinity, womanhood or manhood, but once gender is ascribed, the social order constructs and holds individuals to strongly gendered norms and expectations,” (Lorber, 1994, p. 41). Such norms and expectations center around and are organized by ideas of “sameness” and “difference,” with “sameness” involving the “production and maintenance of a limited number of gender statuses and of making the members of these statuses similar to each other,” (Lorber, 1994, p. 40). This results in members of a specific gender group identifying with and considering themselves similar to those of their gender group, and as such, being amenable to specific roles and responsibilities society has deemed appropriate to their group. “Difference,” meanwhile, refers to the culturally-prescribed differences that distinguish one gender group from another. Lorber explains, “Once a child’s gender is evident others treat those in one gender differently from those in the other, and the children respond to the different treatment by feeling different and behaving differently,” (Lorber, 1994, p. 38-39). Lorber points out that the social concepts and statuses associated with gender assignment are “are carefully constructed through prescribed processes of teaching, learning, emulation, and