Amir H. Payberah - 2025-11-11

Why do people, even those who are harmed by the social order, still accept and reproduce it? Pierre Bourdieu raises this question in his book, The Masculine Domination, and seeks to answer it by examining the issue of gender inequality. He uses the persistence of male domination to reveal how power becomes deeply embedded in everyday life, appearing natural and self-perpetuating.

In the first chapter, he explains that domination operates through what he calls "symbolic violence": a quiet and invisible form of power that works not through force, but through language, habits, and shared cultural meanings. Over time, it shapes how people think and act, making inequality seem normal and inevitable. He shows how this process creates cultural oppositions such as high/low, outside/inside, and masculine/feminine, which become part of both thought and behavior, perpetuating unequal roles for men and women.

In the second chapter, Bourdieu moves from theory to lived experience. He shows how symbolic violence seeps into people's bodies and minds through socialization, education, and daily routines. From an early age, women learn that their value lies in being seen as attractive and caring, while men grow up under constant pressure to prove their strength and success. As a result, both women and men become trapped in a system that continually reproduces itself through shame, approval, and the search for recognition.

In the third chapter, Bourdieu examines how this system is upheld by institutions, such as family, schools, religion, and the state, that have helped reproduce male domination for centuries. Even in modern societies where women have gained access to education, work, and financial independence, inequality reappears in new forms: women's work is undervalued, care work is overlooked, and cultural norms continue to reinforce traditional gender roles. For Bourdieu, true equality cannot be achieved simply through new laws or equal opportunities; it requires a deep transformation of the cultural and symbolic systems that make inequality appear natural in the first place.