Social Science Paradigms

Social Science Paradigms

Feminism is a movement aimed at establishing equal rights among all sexes, either politically, socially, or economically. Feminist theories emerged in 1794, but it gained its popularity in the 1970s. The feminist movement is divided into three waves; the first one in the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, the second wave occurred in the 1960s and 1970s; finally, the third wave occurred in the 1990s to date — feminist theory aimed at understanding inequalities among women in politics, sexuality, and power relations. The theory advocated for legal rights among women, that is, right to vote, rights to own property, right to autonomy and bodily integrity, reproductive and abortion rights. The theory mainly focused on gender inequality. The themes included sexual objectification, oppression, discrimination, stereotyping, aesthetics, patriarchy, among others. It also focused on the upgrade of women’s civil rights and interests. The feminist theory views the social world as playing the role of illuminating forces that promote inequality; therefore, the approach was established to counter such evils. The theory focused on interactions and relationships in society so that every individual can understand social relations and problems experienced in the nation.

Critical race theory is a social, science framework that examines the society and its cultural issues and how it relates to race, power, and laws. It began in the 1980s within the law schools in America, having focused its studies mainly on racial issues. The theory proposed that racial power and white supremacy be maintained, and the transformation of law and racial energy as a way of achieving racial liberation and anti-subordination. The theory describes the convergence of interests of the whites who satisfy their self-interest hence ignoring the grievances of other individuals of color. The theory maintains the noncompliance sanctions by terminating the benefits of those workers who do not meet the stated compulsory work necessities. The theory views the concept of race as being constructed socially and functions as a way of maintaining the interests of the whites. According to this theory, racial discrimination arises from differences encountered either socially, economically, or politically between the whites and the blacks. It is alleged that the whites create the racial differences with an aim of maintaining their interests politically and in labor markets, therefore, leading to poverty and criminality among the minority groups.

Both theories have an agenda of endorsing system change; feminism and the critical race theory focused on political, economic, and social inequalities experienced in the society. They emerged with an aim of fighting evils concerning disparities in all aspects of life. Both theories focused on matters concerning race, gender, and political rights. However, some of the differences between the arguments are that feminist theory concentrates on issues of inequality that majorly affected privileged women, while the critical race theory focused on the whole American population concerning racial discrimination. Feminist theories advocated for legal rights and racial rights among privileged women, whereas critical race theory only advocated for equal rights regardless of race in all sectors.

Feminist theories illustrate the sexual hierarchies and social and political dynamics experienced by women. Social workers should be familiar with matters of equality amongst all genders and races to avoid malpractices related to inequality. The theory applies to the social and human delivery services, especially during the recruitment of workers, whereby they ensure employment of workers fairly without partiality across all races and genders. They advocate for equal rights besides the oppression of women, and they aim to keep the issues that affect women at the forefront in society. They tend to recognize the welfare of women, reproductive rights, voting rights, etc.

Critical Race Theory provides a framework that examines structures of power that maintain racial discrimination and therefore provides action for countering evil. The theory helps human and social workers to serve a set of a diversified set of clients equally without favor. The approach plays the role of encouraging social and human workers to administer the public welfare programs and highlight the persuasiveness of racial discrimination in all life aspects, therefore, helping the social workers to understand the negative impacts of racism in people’s lives.