Men and the Problem of Women's Persuasion: Analyzing the Rotation of Men's Exercise of Power in the Experience of Everyday Marital Life

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Master of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Objective: Marital life is the cause of the development of social relations and provides a ground for the exercise of power, from domination to hegemony. The purpose of this study is to investigate the methods of persuasion used by women in the experience of everyday life among married people in Guilan province, Iran.
Methods: This research used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling among 45 married men and women in Guilan province. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data obtained from the interviews.
Results: The data analysis revealed 15 basic themes, 7 organizing themes, and 2 global themes. The findings indicate that, in the past, men used social, economic, and psychological dominance against women, in addition to physical dominance. However, in the new society, with women's resistance, such dominance has become negative and illegitimate. Women now accept men's superiority not by force but through internal desire and persuasion. Therefore, today, the exercise of men's power against women has shifted from a state of dominance and asymmetry to a more symmetrical but hegemonic state.
Conclusion: In the past, men used more dominance but less authority against women, but today's men use less dominance and more authority. New men's exercise of power is more persuasive, hidden, and corresponding to Rutherford's new masculinity, Connell's hegemonic masculinity, and Bourdieu's symbolic violence.

Keywords

References

Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 385-405. Doi:10.1177/146879410100100307
Bilgin, E. (2004). An analysis of Turkish modernity through discourses of masculinities [Ph.D. - Doctoral Program]. Middle East Technical University. https://hdl.handle.net/11511/15000
Bourdieu, P. (2001). Masculine domination, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge, 2001), 64. https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=1279
Bromberger, C. (1991). Housing and architecture in Gilan`s rural community. Translated by Goushegir, A. First Edition. Tehran: The Institute for Cultural Research and Studies Press. https://ketab.ir/book/bf8ebd6d-2e9b-476c-9867-14a9b1f69fd0
Campbell, K., & Wright, D. W. (2010). Marriage today: Exploring the incongruence between Americans’ beliefs and practices. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 41(3), 329-345. Doi:10.3138/jcfs.41.3.329
Connell, R. W. (2005). Masculinities University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Angeles. https://www.ucpress.edu/books/masculinities/paper
Connell. R. W. (1987). Gender and Power Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics. Stanford University Press. Doi:10.1177/027046768800800490
Dańczak, A. (2011). Dialogue as a Means of Building the Spirituality of a Married Couple: An Experience of the Domestic Church Movement in Poland. Marriage, Families & Spirituality, 17(1), 61-68. Doi: 10.2143/INT.17.1.2126632
Enayat, H. & Soroush, M. (2009). The level and Type of Women's Resistance in Facing the Power Structure in Everyday Life, Women's Research, 7(2): 85-112. (Persian). https://jwdp.ut.ac.ir/article_19512.html?lang=en
Hajiabasi, R., & Taher, M. (2022). Relationship between Action Flexibility and Personality Traits with Marital Adjustment in Married Students of Shahrood Azad University. Journal of Family Relations Studies, 2(5), 15-22. Doi:10.22098/jhrs.2022.10086.1039
Khorshidi Mianaie, H., Karimi, F., Boland, H., & Ayadi, N. (2023). Comparison of Communication Skills, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Communication Patterns in Women with and Without Experience of Domestic Violence (An Analytical-comparative Study). Journal of Family Relations Studies, 3(8), 40-46. Doi:10.22098/jhrs.2022.11460.1067
Kulik, L. (1999). Marital Power Relations, Resources and Gender Role Ideology: A Multivariate Model for Assessing Effects. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 30(2), 189–206. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41603625
Larner, L. R. (2009). The role of feminine rhetoric in male presidential discourse: achieving speech purpose. CUREJ: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal. http://repository.upenn.edu/curej/102
Mahdavi, M. S., & Sabouri Khosrowshahi, H. (2003). The Structure of Power Distribution within the Family. Women's Studies Sociological and Psychological, 1(2), 25-65. Doi:10.22051/jwsps.2003.1248
Rodríguez-González, M., Lampis, J., Murdock, N. L., Schweer-Collins, M. L., & Lyons, E. R. (2020). Couple Adjustment and Differentiation of Self in the United States, Italy, and Spain: A Cross-Cultural Study. Family process, 59(4), 1552–1568. Doi:10.1111/famp.12522
Saroukhani, B. (2022). Sociology of Family, Tehran, Soroush press. (Persian) https://ketab.ir/book/ddb45d49- ba12-eb4bae70c108
Sharifi Saei, M., & Azadarmaki, T. (2021). Women's power and resistance in the Iranian family: Women’s narrative of cultural resistance strategies in the family. Journal of Iranian Cultural Research, 14(1), 1-36. (Persian).  Doi:10.22035/jicr.2021.2676.3081
 Sharifi Saei, M. H. & Azadarmaki, T. (2022). Emotional Capital as Power; How do Women use their Emotional Power as a Weapon of Resistance, Quarterly  Journal of Women's Studies Sociological and Psychological, 19(4),81-128. (Persian). Doi:10.22051/jwsps.2021.36855.2468
Ünal, Ö., & Akgün, S. (2020). Conflict resolution styles as predictors of marital adjustment and marital satisfaction: an actor–partner interdependence model. Journal of Family Studies, 28(3), 898–913. Doi:10.1080/13229400.2020.1766542
Weber, M. (2020). Economy and Society, Translation by  Abbas Manouchehri, Mehrdad Torabinejad and Mostafa Emadzadeh, Tehran, Samt  Press. (Persian) https://ketab.ir/book/9ff9d0df-f2c3-4388-b104-b30cca791fe4
Yaghoobi, A. (2016). The Comparative Study on the Culture of Masculinity in the People of Guilan Province, doctoral dissertation in sociology, Isfahan University, Faculty of Literature and Humanities. (Persian). https://ganj.irandoc.ac.ir/#/articles/7e895ab9c3806c0edfc51b5a7e30e40c
Zarei Toopkhaneh, M., Janbozorgi, M., & Ahmadi, M. R. (2015). The Relationship Between Power Structure of Man-Powered in the Family and Family Function. Journal of Family Research, 11(2), 203-218. (Persian). https://jfr.sbu.ac.ir/article_96372.html?langen
Zhang, C., & Liang, Y. (2023). The impact of education level on marital satisfaction: Evidence from China. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 7(1), 100487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2023.100487

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 07 December 2023
  • Revise Date: 22 August 2024
  • Accept Date: 24 August 2024

Share

How to cite

Statistics