The dominant voice in sociology is white, heterosexual, and male. This is certainly true of the “classical” theorists and forebears Georg Simmel and Max Weber. Over the years, sociology has recognized diverse voices in the tradition, opening the door to feminist theory and theorists such as Candace West, Don H. Zimmerman, Judith Butler, Patricia Hill Collins, Dorothy E. Smith, and Raewyn Connell. These sociologists attempt to offer a point of view different from the dominant one, a point of view that can find some of its roots in the works of the sociological fathers. West and Zimmerman's Doing Gender was a seminal sociological work. The authors stated that “the essential male and female natures are an achieved status of objective fact, they provide the logic for the different destinies of women and men” (Kivisto 2011: 319). Max Weber's views on status complement this idea. Weber states that “a status group can exist only to the extent that others accord its members prestige or degradation, which distances them from the rest of the social actors and establishes the necessary social distance” (Coser 1977: 229). West and Zimmerman continue to discuss the difference between sex, sexual category, and gender. They also focus on gender, arguing that instead of being an essential part of our nature it is an act we perform on a daily basis (Kivisto 2011). West and Zimmerman's approach to gender was revolutionary, but at its core was the idea of status in American society. In general, gender difference has been used to subjugate the female sex category. Georg Simmel also dealt with status in his essay on Fashion. He discussed the acquisition of material objects by the lower classes to imitate the upper classes. Similarly, West and Zimmerman discussed gender manifestations in… midway through the paper… (2011). Many jobs considered masculine earn more, such as businessman and professional footballer. While teachers, nurses and cleaners, traditionally female positions barely manage to survive. It says a lot about what gender we value in society. Advocating for a living wage from a feminist perspective would highlight the contradictory act of teaching one thing and practicing another. The feminist perspective might emphasize that the feminine and the masculine are social constructions. This ideal would balance the female and male sexual category (Kivisto 2011). Make “female” activities just as valuable as male ones. They would accept knowledge from all groups. Use a variety of perspectives to make salary decisions (Kivisto 2011). Trying to dismantle the hierarchical gender structure of the university and denying the "masculine" and the "feminine"””.
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