Sociology

Women have for decades been fighting the system, first for the vote, then for their independence, then for careers, and eventually for the equality of the sexes.  Unfortunately women should have watched what they wished for before now.  Currently women are more independent and liberated than ever before, and yet these same women are crying foul.  They are depressed, they are lonely, but they have their careers and their independence.  However, the price was higher than anyone expected. Women from all areas and womens advocates and magazines are all united in their belief that women were victims of themselves and are now paying the price.

Even television shows, movies and books are making it known that independent women are lonely, crazy, and even vicious spinsters that live in their own reality rather than in the world.  In the real world, the statistics show that the more liberation the female gender feels is available to her, the more crimes she is likely to commit.  The fact also remains that psychologists are saying that not only did the female identity change in the face of the feminine liberation, but it created a crisis that no one foresaw.

However, the reality is that women really are not that liberated.  In fact, most women who work full time make 20,000 or less a year, which does not sound very equal. Women still are more likely to live in subsidized housing, do not have insurance, have less retirement and make less then men even though that was to be taken care  of 20 years ago.  Women are stuck in what are deemed womens work such as secretaries and receptionists.  Companies work against mothers, single or married in regards to day care and family leave.

With this type of evidence and more, the claim that the feminist movement hurt women more than helped is unfounded. All the afflictions thrown on women in todays world were not started with women, but with big business, media, and other influential groups that want to keep women from truly gaining their equality. All the statistics are actually showing decreases in the ground that was gained in the 1970s and 1980s.  Women are more often discriminated at work and receive less pay then men in the same position.  Women are also feeling more threatened in the home and outside the home, the belief being that women need to be kept down.

Today, most women know the inequality it still there.  The feminist movement has made women more aware of their inequality rather than remorse for the supposed equality. The main problem for the depression and ill feelings in to the supposed equality but the lie of the media and corporations that it is the feminist equality that is causing all the problems for women.  The truth is that women are no more equal in todays world than 30 years ago.  As stated, the inequality is again growing, causing women to feel the need to push and keep the footing they have obtained.  The real culprit is those trying to keep women in their place, when the place is not gender specific, but enforced by gender.

Theory wars and cultural studies summary
In the past 10 years the world has endured extreme upheaval and change in all facets of live and government. These changes have influenced life and work with the media being the most influential factor of the times.  The media not only involves the intellectual news and events, but infiltrates the lives of people with sex, violence, and inane shows that serve no purpose. Cyber space and satellite television are taking over the lives individuals in society and influencing how they live, what they buy, and what they believe.

The biased undertow of the media is conservative in nature, and out to ensure the liberal governments of the world are held back and ineffective so that the more conservative and more media friendly leaders will regain power.  This phenomenon is not just occurring in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, France and all over Europe.  Conservatives is regaining its hold on the governments of the world with the help of the media.

The first factor in the media blitz is the theory wars.  From the 1960s through today, more theories have surfaced for more phenomena in social sciences as well as empirical sciences.  The liberal views began as theories for civil rights, human rights, feminism and such.  Without these theories the world would have remained conservative, but even a little notice and liberals try to gain their way. So it has been for the past 40 years.  Liberals gain the leadership only to have the media turn the public on them and reinstate the conservatives.

There are several ways in which to study the culture in which we live.  The Frankfurt School began in the 1930s and was based in the changes to industry and mass-production as well as the communications with the public through media. By the 1960s the Frankfurt School dwindled and the British cultural studies came to the forefront of the social production and reproduction as well as the overcoming of the social domination by one culture over others.

Now the world is changing again and the post-modern cultural studies are abounding throughout the world.  This post-modern view is focused on the social and racial influences and integration in every nation, the need for equality and the lack of discrimination of those of differing cultures. Disseminating the differences between modern and post-modern is not that easy.  Depending on the concept, the distinction can change.  There are phenomena that started in the 1960 that are considered post-modern.  However, that time frame was not even the modern phase.

The true concept of post-modern culturalism is not just media but the arts.  It is no longer about the political beliefs, but the cultural understanding of the citizens of a nation and the influence that the arts have on those citizens.