Laurens Buijs
Amsterdam Gender Theory Research Team
Thinking about alternatives to today’s patriarchal society is more relevant now than ever. Indeed, there are all kinds of indications that patriarchy has entered the final stage of its existence. I therefore refer to the present time as the late patriarchy.
Patriarchal culture began on Earth as much as 12,000 years ago with a great apocalyptic catastrophe and the agricultural revolution that followed (see AGTRT-BA3). After millennia of effortless domination, the system is currently shaking on its foundations. The patriarchy is currently highly unstable due to major shifts on the global level, and the future of this cultural system is more uncertain than ever. Therefore, we are currently at a fork in the road.
One path leads to a final establishment of patriarchy. Through totalitarianism, the current instability in the patriarchal system can be stabilized again, but the price to be paid would be incredibly high: our freedom. The totalitarian system will be based on high-tech surveillance capitalism, a veritable dystopia.
The other path leads to a great social turn, and the establishment of a new world culture based on matriarchal values: equality, empathy and balance. The last time humans lived in large-scale matriarchal relationships was before the last Ice Age and the Young Dryas, 12,000 years ago (see AGTRT-BA10). Instead, this path offers all sorts of utopian vistas, through radical new interpretations of democracy and our relationship with the planet.
The arrival of this new world has long been speculated about in spiritual circles, for example when reference is made to the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, on December 21, 2020. But there is also scientific evidence to suggest that this great societal turn may be taking place because the great challenges associated with the anthropocene are forcing us to do so.
I find that there are many misunderstandings and incorrect sentiments about what patriarchal societies actually are, and how they can be distinguished from matriarchal societies. So I will be writing more about this in the near future, because there are relevant things to say about this from both spiritual and scientific literature.
I want to begin this paper by making a basic distinction in definitions: patriarchal and matriarchal societies differ in that they make different assumptions about masculinity and femininity. Because male and female are fundamental building blocks of existence (see AGTRT-BA8), this duality is also incorporated into the foundation of our society.
Read more about why humans are inextricably linked to masculine and feminine:
Gender neutrality as an aberration: why emancipation cannot exist without masculinity and femininity
Because gender is the most fundamental social structure, the way this distinction is culturally shaped thus also has far-reaching implications for society as a whole. There are ultimately two flavors: a hierarchical ordering of gender (patriarchal), or an equivalent ordering of gender (matriarchal) (see AGTRT-BA24).
In these two forms of society, masculine values (such as individual fulfilment, competition and control) and feminine values (such as empathy, mutuality and intuition) are arranged differently. In patriarchy, male and female are ordered vertically; in matriarchy, male and female are ordered horizontally. In Androgyny-Based Gender Theory (ABGT), masculinity and femininity are defined as two different forms of knowledge that every person has access to through the secondary gender identity (SGI, see AGTRT-BA24).
Learn more about the role of masculine and feminine knowledge in secondary gender identity (SGI):
The secondary gender identity (SGI) determines the androgynous personality structure
As a matter of fact, most societies are somewhere on the spectrum between patriarchy and matriarchy, although the contrasts are particularly evident in contemporary times. In millennia, societies have not been as patriarchal as the present one, and the society that is coming will also be at the mariarchal extreme.
The rest of this piece covers the following issues (click through):
- The definition of patriarchy
- The definition of matriarchy
- Summary table: patriarchy and matriarchy compared
- Topics for follow-up research
Patriarchal societies
A patriarchal society makes the following two fundamental cultural assumptions about gender:
- Men are only masculine, women are only feminine; therefore, the man and the woman are only complete together.
- Masculinity is valued higher than femininity; the man owns and rules over the woman.
This hierarchical gender system operates in all aspects of society. This leads to patriarchal cultures having the following characteristics:
- Focus on power and possession.
- Institutions are vertically organized and ultimately driven by fear and control.
- Child rearing takes place primarily within the nuclear family.
- Emphasis on living beyond the local: national and international lifestyle.
- Decision-making ultimately takes place top-down, whether by appeal to status, position or objective facts.
- Overvaluing rationality and logic, undervaluing emotions and intuition.
- Individualism and self-development are central.
- Trouncing others in a competitive context is seen as the definition of success.
- Relationships (friendly, familial and romantic) are characterized by codependence.
- Romantic sexuality takes shape in monogamous relationships.
- Causal worldview: specialization and fragmentation are important values.
You could say that patriarchy is ultimately defined by power relations, and that this can be traced back to the power relationship established between masculine and feminine knowledge in the SGI.
Matriarchal societies
A matriarchal culture (which we will hopefully move back to in the coming decades) makes the following two fundamental cultural assumptions about gender:
- Human beings are androgynous: men are also feminine, women are also masculine. Each person is complete as an individual (see AGTRT-BA5).
- Masculinity and femininity are different but equal qualities and need each other for balance.
Thus, matriarchal culture does not assume superiority of femininity, but balance between the genders. The reason these societies are still called matriarchal is because female values define the frameworks within which male values can express themselves.
This equal gender system, like patriarchy, works its way through all levels of society. This leads to the following properties:
- Focus on balance and commonality. The aspiration is not only balance between masculine and feminine, but also man and nature, body and mind, etc.
- Institutions are designed horizontally and are ultimately driven by trust and empathy.
- Raising children is done in a collaboration between parents and immediate social environment.
- Emphasis on local life and connection to the land.
- Decision-making is always collective and democratic, with as many different (including non-human) voices being heard as possible.
- Emotions and intuition are seen as equally important sources of knowledge as logic and rationality.
- The balance between individual and collective is central; individual development is facilitated by the collective and vice versa.
- Optimal cooperation in which everyone’s role is at its best is seen as the definition of success.
- Relationships (friendly, familial and romantic) are characterized by equality and reciprocity.
- Romantic sexuality also takes place outside the main love connection in everyone’s life.
- Holistic worldview: humans are seen as intrinsically connected to each other, the earth and the universe.
Even in matriarchal societies, it can be argued that all norms and values ultimately stem from the way gender is arranged. Space is made for the androgynous core of humans (see AGTRT-BA1), and from there, balance is sought in other areas as well.
Learn more about the androgynous core of humans:
What we can learn about masculinity and femininity from hunters and gatherers
Do you want to get involved in the great transition to the new matriarchal world? Then center your own inner process of shadow work, and face your own dark sides bravely and honestly (see AGTRT-BA7). The upheaval will first have to begin with healing our split and traumatized psyche (see AGTRT-BA4 and AGTRT-BA19).
Read more about our split psyche, and how it can be healed:
How patriarchy has split the psyche, and how we can repair the damage
Summary table
| Patriarchal society | Matriarchal society |
| Focus on power and possession | Focus on balance and commonality |
| Institutions are vertically organized, float on fear and control | Institutions are horizontal in structure, float on trust and empathy |
| Child rearing takes place primarily within the nuclear family with separate gender roles | Raising children occurs in a collaboration between parents and immediate social environment |
| Emphasis on living beyond the local: national and international lifestyle | Emphasis on local life and connection to the land |
| Decision-making is ultimately top-down | Decision-making is always collective and democratic |
| Overvaluing rationality and logic, undervaluing emotions and intuition | Emotions and intuition are as important sources of knowledge as logic and rationality |
| Individualism and self-development are central | The balance between individual and collective is central |
| Success is trumping others in a competitive context | Success is optimal cooperation in which everyone’s role is at its best |
| Relationships are characterized by interdependence (codependence) | Relationships are characterized by equality and reciprocity |
| Romantic sexuality takes shape in monogamous relationships | Romantic sexuality also takes place outside the main bond of love |
| Causal worldview: specialization and fragmentation are important values | Holistic worldview: man is seen as intrinsically connected to environment |
Follow-up research
I will return to this in future pieces, and will discuss the following issues, among others:
- Why can we see today’s high-tech neoliberal society as patriarchal, even after the feminist waves and the sexual revolution?
- Why is there a risk of patriarchal society settling permanently through high-tech surveillance capitalism?
- Why did patriarchal society begin 12,000 years ago with the agricultural revolution and the rise of property, and why does the present time actually offer leads and opportunities to shift to a matriarchal society?
- Why are there fundamentally only two forms of cohabitation possible, patriarchal and matriarchal, despite the many manifestations these forms of cohabitation can have?
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