ABSTRACT
Feminist scholars and the feminist movement in general now use these concepts in the theoretical discussions about the basis for women’s subordinate position as a second sex – stressing male domination as an integrated system. Patriarchy is the opposite of matriarchy, the third possibility being a truly egalitarian society in which no gender/sex dominates the other. Anthropologists differ in opinion about the existence of early matriarchal societies. The fact that male dominance seems to be somewhat universal speaks in favour of constructing a universal concept. A universal concept of patriarchy implies that male dominance is not just an effect of, for instance, capitalist society, or a left-over from feudalism, but an independent structure of its own. The socialist-feminist discussion of patriarchy started as a criticism of the shortcomings of marxism in dealing with those kinds of oppression which are not directly based on the extraction of surplus value.
