Gender and Family in Relation to Politics and Class - Book Report/Review Example

GENDER AND FAMILY IN RELATION TO POLITICS AND IN MILL'S AND TAYLOR'S ON THE PROBABLE THEORY OF LABOURING ES Introduction Issues on gender, family, and social class confront the whole society. They are burning concerns that gained so much attention and sensitivity especially in the present context where there is global economic crisis and political aggressions. Gender many be defined in many ways. In Boston it is defined as: A person's actual or perceived gender, as well as a person's gender identity, gender-related self-image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression whether or not that gender identity, gender-related self image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression is different from that traditionally associated with a person's sex at birth. (http://www.tgender.net/taw/lang-alt.html) The meaning of family has also changed and developed from its traditional definition as a basic unit of a society. Today it is taken as "any of our immediate social groups within which we feel a strong sense of friendship, bonding or belonging (http://www.corefamilyvalueshomeport.com)." In reality, definition of family varies according to the needs and the demands of the society. Diem (1997) also stressed this in one of his articles: "It is the state's needs and objectives that determine the definition, not the society's, the individual's or the family's needs and objectives. (Diem 1997). Social class, on the other hand, is referred to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in societies or cultures (Habernas 2006 as cited in Wikipedia)." As to the definition of working class, this includes but not limited to the following:(1) Craft workers; (2) Laborers in factories; (3) Restaurant workers; (4) Nursing home staff; (5) Repair shops, garages; and (6) Delivery services. (http://copland.udel.edu/) There are varied connotations to gender, family, and social class. It is important to have a clear understanding on those terms as this paper intends to find out the relationship of such factors to politics and classes. In the present context, it is a glaring reality that social class and standing is very much affecting the condition of the labourers, especially the working women of lower class. This paper however, will have to base its discussion based on a review of a relevant piece of work. Specifically, this paper intends to present a step by step discussion of what Mill and Taylor had to say as regards to the effect of gender and family that are described in Chapter 7 of the book entitled, Principles of Political Economy - With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy. The paper thus deals with the two conflicting theories presented by Mill (1848) on labourers and class: (1) theory of dependence and protection, and (2) theory of self-dependence. The researcher intends to dissect each of the paragraphs to closely look into Mill's and Taylor's perception as regards to the relationship of gender and family to social class and politics. The paper also investigates on the writers' view on the effect of the class to the working condition of the women labourers. Gender and Family: Relations to Politics and Class The Theory of Dependence Analysis of the work of Mill and Taylor indicates that social class to which a family belong affect the chances and the opportunities of a family. The dependence theory explains and reflects the protection of the interest of the rich and the ruling class. It does not have regard of the interest and the sentiments of the poor. Regardless of gender, the poor could be controlled, manipulated, and exploited in the process by the elite or the rich who has the power over them. The poor are not given the right to think for themselves or to dream for their future. They are not given the right to speak for themselves. The poor are relegated as automatons that will have to think and work according to the wills of those who control them. The preceding paragraph is the text on the theory of dependence: According to the former [Dependence] theory, the lot of the poor, in all things which affect them collectively, should be regulated for them, not by them. They should not be required or encouraged to think for themselves, or give to their own reflection or forecast an influential voice in the determination of their destiny. It is supposed to be the duty of the higher classes to think for them, and to take the responsibility of their lot, as the commander and officers of an army take that of the soldiers composing it. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 2 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) The poor working class are not treated as equals but they are treated as children and women who do not have enough knowledge for who could have when they are not given enough training and education to think for themselves and for their future. They are designed to stay innocent of their rights as men who should be equal to any other men. They are treated inferior and their actions are restricted. Mill and Taylor present such relationship as in loco parentis. However, if the rich would really act as a parents to the poor, they would not want their own children remain poor and undeveloped. The rich should be in loco parentis to the poor, guiding and restraining them like children. Of spontaneous action on their part there should be no need. They should be called on for nothing but to do their day's work, and to be moral and religious. Their morality and religion should be provided for them by their superiors, who should see them properly taught it, and should do all that is necessary to ensure their being, in return for labour and attachment, properly fed, clothed, housed, spiritually edified, and innocently amused. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 3 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac. Uk) The condition of women differs according to the class they belong. While the poor wives need to work, the wives of the rich men are to be protected and to be provided well by their men. Still there is the indication that women are regarded as inferior over men. Women need to submit to the authority of their husbands like the poor men who need to submit to the will of their masters. The relation between rich and poor, according to this theory, (a theory also applied to the relation between men and women) should be only partly authoritative: it should be amiable, moral, and sentimental: affectionate tutelage on the one side, respectful and grateful deference on the other. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 3 as cited in http://www. Mdx.ac.uk) It doesn't mean however that the elite and the ruling class can always control and shape the plight of the poor men according to their interest. Mill and Taylor despised the powerful elite for their greed for power and wealth and believe that the exploitation and manipulation of poor men could come to an end. The poor men would get to realize and develop themselves to struggle against the whims of the ruling class who have enslaved them: I do not affirm that what has always been must always be, or that human improvement has no tendency to correct the intensely selfish feelings engendered by power; but though the evil may be lessened, it cannot be eradicated, until the power itself is withdrawn. This, at least, seems to me undeniable, that long before the superior classes could be sufficiently improved to govern in the tutelary manner supposed, the inferior classes would be too much improved to be so governed. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 5 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) The Theory of Self-Dependence The condition of poor working class and the condition of women can be more liberating with the theory of self-dependence. Mill and Taylor presented that in more advance countries of Europe where patriarchal or paternal system of government no longer exist, the poor working class, men, women, and children are accorded with their civil and cultural rights. They are protected by laws and are given the opportunities to be educated and to exercise their political rights. They are free to organize and unite themselves and look for employers and jobs that suit them best. The theory of self-dependence provides dignity and power to the working class thereby eradicating the negative effect of the social standing to the cultural and political life of the poor. They working class can now define what they want in life and pursue them. They now hold in their hands their future and their destiny. The working classes have taken their interests into their own hands, and are perpetually showing that they think the interests of their employers not identical with their own, but opposite to them. Some among the higher classes flatter themselves that these tendencies may be counteracted by moral and religious education; but they have let the time go by for giving an education which can serve their purpose. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 10 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) The theory of self-dependence reflects that the poor labourers who are equipped with the training and knowledge and now getting higher wages and could no longer be bribed or harassed to remain submissive and passive to the wills of the ruling class. They have been educated of their rights and freedom. They are no longer ignorant and innocent. They are provided the faculty to be free from exploitation and manipulation by those who want to control them. The deplorable situation where they wallow before is something they would never like to happen again: It is then, that the would-be revivers of old times which they do not understand, would feel practically in how hopeless a task they were engaged. The whole fabric of patriarchal or seigniorial influence, attempted to be raised on the foundation of caressing the poor, would be shattered against the necessity of enforcing a stringent Poor-law. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 11 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) The theory of dependence speaks of the eradication of the effect of social class and politics that serve as barriers for a better way of life for the working class family. The ruling class must understand that social class must no longer be taken to the disadvantage of the poor working class. The division between the rich and the poor must not prevail. Rich and poor are of equal rights and the future of the world rest on the right education of the people in the society. Whatever advice, exhortation, or guidance is held out to the labouring classes, must henceforth be tendered to them as equals, and accepted by them with their eyes open. The prospect of the future depends on the degree in which they can be made rational beings. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 11 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) Mill and Taylor believes that once the working class gets proper education they become less willing to be dictated upon and to be controlled. Most likely they will demand for social reforms that would cater to their sentiments and needs. The theory of dependence and protection will be more and more intolerable to them, and they will require that their conduct and condition shall be essentially self-governed. It is, at the same time, quite possible that they may demand, in many cases, the intervention of the legislature in their affairs, and the regulation by law of various things which concern them, often under very mistaken ideas of their interest. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 16 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) Women workers Mill and Taylor also speaks of industrialization and with such change, the giant industries will have to employ both men and women to have enough manpower. It is expected, however, that as the working class having enhanced their knowledge and skills the industries must be able to provide both sexes jobs that are suitable to their skills and training. Where women become educated and are given jobs, they are liberated from their second class status. Women should be given equal opportunities and should not be discriminated in their place of work. It is like liberating the poor from the clutches of the rich. Women must be given all the chances to grow professionally and should not be relegated only to menial jobs. They should not only be left at home to serve their husbands and to attend to their children needs. Women advancement should not be neglected because this is a form of social injustice that must be condoned. They should be treated as equals of men: ...by ordaining that a woman, who does not happen to have a provision by inheritance, shall have scarcely any means open to her of gaining a livelihood, except as a wife and mother. Let women who prefer that occupation, adopt it; but that there should be no other career possible for the great majority of women, except in the humbler departments of life, is one of those social injustices that which call loudest for remedy. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 18 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) Mill and Taylor also presented that the social standing of the working class dictates the wage that they earn but for how long will the working class be contented with their meager fees' The working class must be afforded enough wages to live a decent life or the working class would struggle and unite to achieve better status in life. I cannot think that they will be permanently contented with the condition of labouring for wages as their ultimate state. To work at the bidding and for the profit of another, without any interest in the work - the price of the labour being adjusted by hostile competition, one side demanding as much and the other paying as little as possible - is not, even when wages are high, a satisfactory state to human beings of educated intelligence, who have ceased to think themselves naturally inferior to those whom they serve. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 19 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) The world will be more productive if everyone is treated equally. The present society is no longer a society of slaves and masters. It should be a society where men and women are given the same status and privileges at work. It should be a society where men and women are protected by laws: The arrangements of society are now such that no man or woman who either possesses or is able to earn an independent livelihood, requires any other protection than that which the law could and ought to give. This being the case, it argues great ignorance of human nature to continue taking for granted that relations founded on protection must always subsist, and not to see that the assumption of the part of protector, and of the power which belongs to it, without any of the necessities which justify it, must engender feelings opposite to loyalty. (Mill and Taylor 1848 par 8 as cited in http://www.mdx.ac.uk) Conclusion Mill and Taylor have clearly shown the plight of the labouring class in the society through the book, Principles of Political Economy - With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy. They have presented that the future of men and women of the labouring class are controlled by those who are in power. This is part of the theory of dependence and protection which rationalize the manipulation and exploitation of the working class in serving the interest of the elites. The theory of self-dependence was presented to be beneficial to the working class. This empowers men and women and as they are awakened to their rights they no longer wish to become victims of the caprices and whims of their masters. Mill and Taylor then pointed on the reality about the relationship of gender and family to politics and class. Where the society imposes on the theory of dependence and protection, social class affects gender and family negatively. On the other hand, where the theory of self-dependence is allowed and practiced in the society, social class would not make a significant bearing on gender and family. Bibliography: Core Family Values Home Port. What does it really mean to be a family. Retrieved, April 29, 2009 from http://www.corefamilyvalueshomeport.com/family.html Mill, J.S. (1848). 'On the Probable Futurity of the Labouring Classes' from Principles of Political Economy (First edition). Retrieved, April 29, 2009 from http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xmil1848.htm Habermas, J. (2006). The European nation state: its achievements and its limits. On the past and future sovereignty and citizenship", in G. Balakrishan (ed.) Mapping the Nation. London: Vernon. p. 281 - 294 www.mdx.ac.uk. Summary of the relation of gender and family to politics and class in Mill and Taylor's essay on the future of the labouring classes (1848). Retrieved, April 29, 2009 from http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/ymilla.htm www.tgender.net Alternatives to explicit gender inclusive language. Retrieved, April 29, 2009 from http://www.tgender.net/taw/lang-alt.html Read More