Orientations to Feminism: A Multifaceted Alternative to Feminist Consciousness
In this study, the concept of orientation to feminism is developed to address some of the difficulties with traditional conceptualizations of feminist consciousness. These include an overly restrictive definition, reliance on a linear model of feminist development, and a lack of consideration of the many facets of women's lives. Orientation to feminism is defined as the way one relates to the world with regard to gender issues across a variety of life domains. A sample of 235 Midwestern women was surveyed with regard to their opinions and behavior on gender issues. An analytic strategy with the capacity to explore diversity was needed, and cluster analysis was seen as ideally suited to the task. Cluster analysis identified five groupings of women, each with a recognizable pattern of opinions and behavior, and cluster stability was established. These orientations to feminism, the Antifeminist orientation, the Independent Individualist orientation, the Power Feminist orientation, the Family-Oriented Feminist orientation, and the Feminist Activist orientation were validated on several external criteria such as age, amount of education, political perspective and importance of religion. As no other study has empirically investigated alternative conceptualizations of feminist consciousness, the study provides important new information for feminist theory.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign