Kyriarchy

Kyriarchy is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission. The word itself is a neologism coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 to describe her theory of interconnected, interacting, and self-extending systems of domination and submission, in which a single individual might be oppressed in some relationships and privileged in others.^[1] It is an intersectional extension of the idea of patriarchy^[1] beyond gender. Kyriarchy encompasses sexism, racism, homophobia, economic injustice, and other forms of dominating hierarchies in which the subordination of one person or group to another is internalized and institutionalized.^[2]

Etymology

The term was coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza^[3] in 1992 when she published her book But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation.^[4] It is derived from the Greek words κύριος, kyrios, "lord, master" and ἄρχω archō, "to lead, rule, govern".^[4][2] The word "kyriarchy" in Greek (Greek: κυριαρχία, kyriarchia, a valid formation, though it is not found in ancient Greek) can now be used to mean "sovereignty," i.e. the rulership of a sovereign.

Structural positions

Schüssler Fiorenza describes interdependent "stratifications of gender, race, class, religion, heterosexualism, and age" as structural positions assigned at birth.^[4] She suggests that people inhabit several positions, and that positions with privilege become nodal points through which other positions are experienced.^[4] For example, in a context where gender is the primary privileged position (e.g., patriarchy), gender becomes the nodal point through which sexuality, race, and class are experienced.^[4] In a context where class is the primary privileged position (i.e., classism), gender and race are experienced through class dynamics.^[4]

Tēraudkalns suggests that these structures of oppression are self-sustained by internalized oppression; those with relative power tend to remain in power, while those without tend to remain disenfranchised.^[2]

See also

• Intersectionality
• Social ecology
• Marxism

References

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