Feminism

Question 1

What do feminists say about social class inequalities?

Answer 1

• feminist theories have focused primarily on gender inequalities and are discussed further in the next chapter
• however some feminists have also been highly critical of traditional sociological theories of high class for neglecting women and gender inequalities

Question 2

why did Abbott (1990) criticise Goldthorpe (1980)?

Answer 2

• Abbott criticises Goldthropes study of social mobility for completely ignoring women
• Abbott argued that there is a need to study women social mobility, as women experiences of work are different from men
• the fact that women actually have lower rates of absolute mobility because they have less chance of reaching top jobs helps to boost menus chances of upward mobility
• this has encouraged more recent studies of social mobility to include both women and men in their research

Question 3

What do feminists say about social classifications?

Answer 3

• some feminists also argue that social classifications such as Hope-Goldthorpe scale are based around menus occupations and are not well suited to exploring the class situation of women
• this has led some researchers to develop new classifications such as the Surrey scale which differentiates between women and men in different occupational classes more effectively