Betty Friedan's Social Theory

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Social Theory edited by Charles Lemert gave a clear depiction of the 1800’s through the 2000’s. This book contained theories from some of the world elite social theorist. With its vast illustration of America, Europe, and other players in the global arena this book covered over a century of highs, lows, challenges and down falls. Each part of this book covered a period of history that allowed for you to get a better understanding of what was going on in during the respective times. The text gives you a look at what was happening in society from a Social Science point of view. Part One Modernity’s Classic Age 1848-1919 This age is considered classic because people often refers to it to talk about things that maybe going on today. During this…show more content…
However, this did not include women equality and women rights. In Betty Friedan’s “The Problem that has No Name” deals with the issues facing women in society that no one wants to talk about. "The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning [that is, a longing] that women suffered in the middle of the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries … she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question — 'Is this all?" "I want something more than my husband, my children, and my home” (Friedan, 1963). During this and for previous years women were told that their role was to focus on being a housewife or mother. Society only saw women as homemakers. In the nineteen-fifties, the average marriage age dropped to 20, and was still dropping, into the teens. Fourteen Million girls were engaged by 17 (Lemert, 2013). In addition to being told that ‘basically stay at home cook, clean and have kids” there were a litany of insults regarding body imaging. It was total colonization of the mind. In the 1950’s women withdrew from higher education, younger marriage, and higher birthrates. The language of male/female superiority/inferiority wasn’t even on the

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