IS THE FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF THE ROBUST DISTINCTION BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE JUSTIFIED?

While feminists have shared the widely accepted view that women have been [and indeed remain] oppressed, many of them have differed in their accounts of the actual origin of that oppression. For liberal feminists, the gendered separation of public and private spaces; with women being largely associated with the private, domestic sphere and men with the public one, is a major target for reform; that is reforms that would intend to equalise the situation between men and women. However, this attitude fails to recognise certain aspects of society highlighted by some radical feminists, who believe that the source of women's oppression lies at a much deeper level. Patriarchy, they say, infects the public as well as the private spheres, along with all other "man-made" institutions and their consciences, including liberalism [and thus liberal feminism itself]. The public/private distinction then, is, according to this argument, at best a distraction from the real underlying cause of women's continuing subordination. An attempt will be made below to claim that the continuing monopolisation of the public sphere by men is no more than one [albeit very important] feature of patriarchal society.
In spite of years of talk of women's "liberation", "rights" and "equality", men are found to be at an advantage in modern, western countries. Numerous studies have found that women still earn substantially less than their male counterparts. Women's jobs are also more likely to be insecure, low-paid and part-time and many feel that women who spend much of their time in "traditional" domestic and caring roles are not valued as much as "traditional" male "breadwinners". Thus women's position in society is still found to be subordinate to men and many feel to a greater or lesser extent, oppressed by what remains a male-dominated society.
Many commentators have asserted that the disproportionate positioning of women in domestic roles in private, as opposed to men's roles in the public realm has been a main source of women's subordinate place in society. As Carole Pateman has said:
Today, women still have, at best, merely token representation in authoritative public bodies; public life, while not entirely empty of women, is still the world of men and dominated by them. (Pateman, in Benn & Gaus, 1983: 296)
Perhaps even more important is the expectation that women have a natural leaning towards roles associated with "femininity", making socially-prescribed femininity appear natural and inevitable, as Oakley noted of the "housewife" role:
The equation of femaleness with housewifery is basic to the structure of modern society, and to the ideology of gender roles which pervades it. (Oakley, 1974: 29)The argument goes that this social prescription of values extends to supposedly "feminine" characteristics attributed to women that includes passivity [as opposed to male aggression] and emotionality [as opposed to male rationality] as well as a domestic orientation. Thus women are seen primarily as carers and "home-makers" within the domestic sphere while men are seen as active "doers" who go out into the world to make decisions and earn money. Women restricted in, or even prevented from participation in the public/ political sphere leads to a situation in which "the rules" are made primarily by men, in men's interest, and thus at the expense of women. It is then often argued that girls and women are socialised into feminine behaviour [and associated roles] thus reproducing these gender stereotypes and role separations, and therefore women's subordination into future generations [socialisation within the family is an issue that will be returned to later when discussing Okin and Mill].
Some writers [socialist feminists among others] see this kind of gender role separation as fulfilling a function necessary for the maintenance of capitalism. For Talcott Parsons, the separation of instrumental "bread-winning" by the husband and domestic and emotional work by his wife ensures the avoidance of ". . . contaminating the intimacy of the family home by over-exposure to the competitive rational world of work" (Jamieson, 1998: 31) .
For some feminists, usually falling into the category of liberal feminism, this separation of gender roles within the context of a distinction between public and private spheres is seen then as the primary source of women's subordination. So while social "progress" was fought for, [both historically and it terms of contemporary debates] in the public realm [by men], women were not considered a part of the process, as Seyla Benhabib notes:As the male bourgeois citizen was battling for his rights to autonomy in the religious and economic spheres against the absolutist state, his relation in the household were defined by non-consensual, non-egalitarian assumptions. Questions of justice were from the beginning restricted to the 'public sphere', whereas the private sphere was considered outside the real of justice. (Benhabib, 1992: 109)
By this account, for many liberal feminists the clear prescription for women's emancipation would appear to be the extension of rights and opportunities to women by reforming the public sphere [and its male domination]. This stance amounts to a call for "equal rights" and is mainly concerned with the raising of the economic, legal and political status of women, particularly with reference to women in the workplace and education and the raising of women's profiles in positions of authority.
However, some feminists think that this is just not nearly going far enough. To talk of boosting the status of women may ignore underlying structures that may be infused with features that subordinate them. Liberal feminism tends to ignore, for instance, the pivotal role of the "traditional" family as a source of oppression, rather than as being politically neutral as is the view of many liberals.
Susan Moller Okin, although broadly a liberal herself, takes the argument ". . .an important step away from the classic liberal insistence on the non-political nature of the family" (Bryson, 1992: 179). She has considered John Rawls's famous "Theory of Justice" (1971) and rather than rejecting it outright because it ignores unjustifiable divisions of labour by the assumption families are headed by men, She chooses to argue that Rawls's theory can be extended to include the family.
Rawls discusses the sort of society that could be designed, assuming that its members did not know beforehand what positions they would occupy in it [thus these people would plan the society from behind a "veil of ignorance"]. Rawls argues that given this scenario, people would only accept inequalities that benefited the least well off [his "difference principle"]. But the decision makers operating behind his veil were taken to be male heads of households because he assumed that the family was politically harmonious in the sense that justice already existed within it. So Okin argues for the extension of Rawls's principles to include the individuals within the family. This would have consequences that would broaden egalitarian principles and mean, for example that in households choosing to maintain a traditional family structure, all income would be distributed on an equal basis between husband and wife (Okin, 1990: 25). Okin also believes that justice in the home is linked with that in the wider society at large in two main ways, as summarised by Valerie Bryson; firstly through socialisation within the family:-it is within the home that children learn the values on which they will base their adult life, and that the virtues of democratic citizenship cannot be learned in a family based on domination and inequality. Secondly, her proposed redistribution of all forms of work will not simply free women from domestic responsibilities, but means that men as well as women will develop qualities of neutering and caring (Bryson, 1992: 178).
Bryson mentions that the first aspect was shared in the writing of John. Stuart Mill a century earlier (ibid). Mill, in line with much contemporary liberal feminism believed that the traditional family set up with male breadwinner and female domestic manager was generally the most appropriate one (Mill, 1970: 178-179) assuming the re-ordering of the family in a just manner; " -if marriage were an equal contract, not implying the obligation of obedience" (ibid: 179), and if the wife was able to follow her individual interests and be free to consider employment opportunities, she would most likely find that in such a marriage, according to Mill, it would not be necessary to take these opportunities up (ibid).
However, some radical feminists would argue that all sections of society, including all institutions and both the public and private spheres are underscored by patriarchy, the all-pervading system of male domination and female oppression. From this standpoint, the institution of marriage is itself a tool of, and a product of this oppressive regime. Indeed liberal thinking in general is attacked by some radical feminists as one of the primary [male] discourses of power, with the liberal public/private distinction forming a principal target.
While liberals have attempted to highlight the separation of public and private spheres, many radical feminists reject this as amounting to something of a false premise and claim instead that public and private are interrelated aspects of society connected by their infusion with patriarchy. Pateman highlights the ambiguity of the liberal conception of private and public and says that this very ambiguity; "obscures and mystifies the social reality it helps to constitute" (Pateman in op cit.: 282) meaning that the supposed distinction hides the subordination of women by men under an apparently egalitarian order (ibid: 283). Underlying the complex social reality Pateman talks of is:...the belief that women's natures are such that they are properly subject to men and their proper place is in the private, domestic sphere. Men properly inhabit, and rule within, both spheres. (Ibid) [My emphasis].
The traditional family emerged, in Pateman's terms, as "paradigmatically private" in which the separation of private and public resulted in public life being conceptualised as the sphere of men (ibid: 283). Women's nature has been categorised as being orientated towards the home but perhaps more importantly, the characteristics and "natures" attributed to women are given a subordinate role in the liberal-patriarchal hierarchy. Thus ["men's"] work [in its traditional conception of paid employment] is afforded not just high renumeration [relative to women], but also high levels of societal worth.
There seems to be no logical reason to think that domestic management, including home economy, care work and the rearing and educating of children can possibly be thought of as being of less value than almost any other kind of work, unless it is within the context of a patriarchal hierarchy.
Women are thus identified with so-called "private" work within a system in which an ideology of public/private distinction has been adopted, and while this remains the case, in Pateman's words; " ...their public status is always undermined" (Ibid: 299) . What is required then, as many modern feminists point out, is both a reconstruction of social perceptions of family life that challenge the "naturalness" of the traditional nuclear family, and a wholesale reordering of what is frequently perceived as the "private"; such that child-rearing, care of elderly relatives and all the other tasks associated with the "private" or "personal" life is seen to be laid equally as the responsibility of men and women. As the feminist movement is famously apt to point out; the personal is the political, as activities which take place in domestic settings may be both crucial in their interconnectedness with society at large and the subject of a spurious ideology that implies otherwise. The categorisation of genders and gender issues around a public/private framework is misleading to the extent that it obscures the origin of female oppression which seems more likely to lie at the fundamentally patriarchal nature of society.
Copyright Jonathan Tarplee 1999.

Bibliography




Benhabib, Seyla (1992). Situating The Self, gender, community and postmodernism in contemporary ethics, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Benn, S.I. & Gaus, G.F. [Ed's], (1983). Public and Private in Social Life, London: Croom Helm.

Bryson, Valerie (1992). Feminist Political Theory, London: Macmillan Press.

Charvet, John (1982). Feminism, London: J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd.

Jamieson, Lynn (1998). Intimacy, Personal Relationships in Modern Societies, Cambridge: Polity Press.

McMillan, Carol (1982). Women, Reason and Nature, Oxford: Blackwell.

Mill, John Stuart & Mill, Harriet Taylor (1970- Edited by Alice S. Rossi). Essays on Sex Equality , Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Oakley, Ann (1974). The Sociology Of Housework, Bath: The Pitman Press.

Rawls, John (1971). A Theory of Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Copyright Jonathan tarplee 1999.

The Representation of Women in the Countryside,a magazine's portrayal of 'The Countrywoman'.

Keele University.School of Social Relations.Final Year Dissertation.

The Representation of Women in the Countryside,a magazine's portrayal of 'The Countrywoman'.
Jonathan Tarplee.

CONTENTS

Abstract 1
Introduction 1 - 2
Literature 3 - 10
Methods 11 - 18
The Sample 11 - 14
Sample Analysis 14 - 18
Notation 14 - 16
Categorisation 16 - 17
Quantitative and Qualitative Data 17 - 18
Findings 18 - 23
Rurality and Class (The Context) 18 - 20
Representations of Women (in Context) 21 - 23
Women as Property 21 - 23
Representations of Countrywomen 24 - 35
Women's Activities - 'Recreation ' 24 - 26
Women, Community and Charity 26 - 31
A Closer Look at Charity Events 31 - 35
Summary and Conclusions 35 - 40
Considerations for Further Research 38 - 40
Bibliography 41 - 43

Appendices (including illustrations) 44 - 49
Appendix A
Table 1. Representations of Women in the Sample 44

Explanation of Categories in Table 1. 44 - 46

Fig 1. Passive Women Represented 46

Fig 2. Active Women Represented 47


Appendix B
Fig 3. Women's 'Recreation' Represented 48 - 49


Acknowledgements
I would especially like to thank Gordon Fyfe for his inspiring lectures and helpful manner, and Sharon for her patience and spelling ability.


Abstract Studies relating to women and rurality have tended to concentrate on the influence of 'the rural idyll' on expectations of women's roles in the 'domestic ' sphere. This study explores wider images surrounding rurality which impact upon the conception of 'The Countrywoman ' as an identity and investigates how this is played out in the public, as well as private spheres. Drawing on evidence from a documentary analysis covering five decades of a county-themed magazine, this enquiry illustrates a remarkably stable portrayal of countrywomen as exceptionally community-orientated organisers who promote the well-being of the local, and wider communities. When not involved in charity-based work, 'the countrywoman 'is typically depicted in activities which uphold romantic notions of rural life and allude to memories of an 'older' social order. The magazine asserts a particularly class-based bias in its presentation of rural living dominated by the activities of affluent women, in which other kinds of women are invisiblelised. Within the sample, an underlying dichotomy was found in the tendency towards, on one hand, a desire for traditional definitions of rurality, and on the other, a sensitivity towards crude stereotyping of rural people by non-rurals.
Introduction
Images of rurality may be seen to contain innumerable facets, dimensions and human characters. In seeking to examine a specific character or set of characters (in this case women) set within the wider scene or context of the countryside, it is hoped that further light may be shed on a specific detail of the social construction of 'the rural life'.
The representation of women in society has been a source of much interest for some years, particularly in the context of their subjugation within patriarchal understandings of women's place. This study is not primarily concerned with women's subjugation, but rather with more particular portrayals of women within the context of a specific time and place, in this case; the post-war English countryside as portrayed in the pages of a county magazine. Sociological work on women and rurality has tended to focus on women's domestic arrangements and activities. This study aims to broaden the focus to include wider issues of rural women's activities, as portrayed through the pages of a magazine. Such portrayals are important because of their bearing on rural women's (perceived) role(s) and overall identity. The representation of women's identity as a specific sub-section within the construction of the rural life may cast further light on the relationship between images of rurality and representations of 'the countrywoman '. Furthermore, by tracking these portrayals over a period of several decades, it may be possible to discern a notion of the degree of change or stability pertaining to such an identity or identities.
Also (and importantly), the notion that the rural-life is 'under threat' from a variety of sources (sources which are not, in themselves, a subject of interest here) demands a clarification of the nature of rural social relations in order to discern what, more precisely, is 'under threat' in terms of the 'the rural' as a community in general, and specifically in this case, 'the countrywoman', as an identity, in particular.Literature
One of the first hurdles to be encountered when researching aspects connected with socially constructed representations in the countryside, is the problem of defining that which is deemed to be rural, and that which is not. Jones (1973) began her study of rural life by emphasising the difficulty in actually defining 'Rural' and 'Rurality' in England, a nation which while idealising country living remains largely 'urban' in many respects (ibid: 3). The Countryside Agency, in its 'State of the Countryside 2000' report also admits that though 'most people have an image of what is meant by "rural" ', the task of defining it consistently is 'challenging' (2000: 4).
Mingay (1989), Williams (1973) and others have long recognised the idealisation of certain aspects of the English countryside that helps to construct a social account rurality and its 'Rural Idyll':
'The term has been used to describe the positive images surrounding many aspects of the rural lifestyle, community and landscape, reinforcing, at its simplest, healthy, peaceful secure and prosperous representations of rurality'. (Emphasis added, Little and Austin, 1996: 101).
Little and Austin (1996) claim that many sociologists, while widely acknowledging the existence of an idealised Rural Idyll (Mingay, 1989, Williams, 1973 and others), have tended to neglect its impacts on different groups amongst the rural population, specifically in this case; the role of the rural idyll in maintaining (traditional) gender relations.
The authors argue that these positive images surrounding 'rurality', including those of community, solidarity (Gemeinshaft- see Tonnies (1957) ), health and simplicity in which rural culture is perceived as being 'caring and paternalistic' (Little & Austin, 1996 : 102) are related to both nostalgia for the past and a romantic escape from modernity, helping create a perceived harmony of rural social relations '...where relationships are unfailingly "tight knit" '(ibid).
Little and Austin assert that the rural idyll, ultimately, operates through a system of power relations which it both reflects and reproduces (Little & Austin, Op Cit: 103). This idyll was found to contain many traditional images and expectations of women's place in society. In their research on village women, the authors' found that 'the family' was often cited as a main reason for having moved to, or remaining in, the village through positive associations between rural living and 'the countryside' being seen as a good place in which to bring up children (see also Valentine, 1997). Much of the work surrounding children; ferrying them to school, clubs and so on is done by women:'There can be no doubt that the woman of the rural idyll is the wife and mother, not the high-flying professional, the single childless business entrepreneur.' (Austin & Little, Op Cit: 106).
The research suggested that rural life was constructed as being community-orientated (and thus the women's expectations of their life in the countryside as revolving around 'community-life') resulting in greater pressure being exerted on women in carrying out what are traditionally perceived as their motherhood and indeed womanhood-related duties ; 'One mother described being "sucked in" to a life that was dominated by organising and facilitating her children's involvement in local activities ' (ibid).
The wide involvement of women in local society was found to underpin many village social events and organisations and this impacted upon women's employment opportunities; 'one woman replied that she was "too busy to have a job" ' (ibid: 108). The authors found a relationship between the rural idyll and the women's deep involvement in these kind of community activities 'through the belief that not only was it expected of them as members of the community, but it was also part and parcel of what "rural life" was all about' (ibid). Crichton (1964) and Frankenburg (1990) both found women to be more integrated into village 'community' than men, re-enforcing the idea that women's role may be constructed as being oriented towards 'the locale'. This suggests, perhaps, that the construction of the public roles of rural women, in their community, is a subject worthy of further study.
It would seem that any relationship or interplay between positive/romantic rural images and negative stereotypes of rural identity would also be worthy of note, because some authors account for the existence of a countering rural anti-idyll which plays on negative images and fears connected with rural isolation, depictions of in-bred 'village-idiots' and a close proximity to unrestrained 'nature'' (as constructed in a fearful context). Such images provide constructions of negative rural stereotypes which are reproduced in various places, including the horror industry (David Bell 'Anti-Idyll,Rural Horror' in Cloke and Little, 1997: 94-108).
One community institution with a particularly rural association is the Women's Institute (hearafter W.I.), which is still the largest women's organisation in the U.K. (The Guardian, 08/06/2000), nearly 60% of rural parishes still having a local group today (Countryside Agency, 2000: 27). Bracey (1959) claims that the W.I., though essentially a village organisation, it is more than merely a federation of village clubs ;
'...for it possesses a mystique which creates in its members a sense of belonging, and a sense of responsibility for the village, as does no other secular organisation.' (Emphasis added, Ibid: 144).
This sense of being rooted into local rural life is fostered by the organisation, the Institute's primary overt aim being the promotion of the well-being, and the improvement of conditions under which countrywomen work and live (culminating in an Annual General Meeting known as 'The Countrywomen's Parliament' (ibid: 145) ). The Women's Institute has claimed that in spite of its conservative, respectable image, 'radicalism....has always nestled beneath its middle Britain respectability ' (The Guardian, 08/06/2000). This came to the fore recently when they heckled, slow handclapped and staged a walk-out of a talk by the Prime Minister prompting The Guardian to surmise;
'...perhaps this episode...will rid the WI forever of its jam-and-Jerusalem image.' (The Guardian, 08/06/2000).
Davidoff, L'Esperance and Newby (1976) have identified the twin ideals of Home and Village Community which are themselves related to the overarching rural and domestic idylls in their construction as a haven, sheltered from the public life of power (the authors called the combination of the two ideals as the 'Beau Ideal'). The authors argue that this dual ideology has increased the traditional (male) authority of the household head and thus maintained female subjugation. Both home and village in their idealisation as 'organic' communities (see also Durkheim's (1964) distinction between 'organic' and 'mechanical' solidarity) require the full set of stereotyped characters who are both romanticised and subjugated (see Newby's 'Green and Pleasant Land' (1979) for patronising attitudes toward rural locals by incommers).
The twin ideals are also self-promoting in the sense that the 'traditional' rural environment is seen as the 'natural' setting for the ideal domestic life in which women are still expected to create and protect a 'miniature version of the domestic idyll' (ibid: 175). The modern housewife's role in 'creative homemaking'(ibid: 173) is thus idealised, as seen in the fetishisation of traditional farmhouse-cooking, home-baking and so on. This idealisation seems enhanced as globalisation makes society seem more centralised and corporate (Ibid: 172-173).
The relationship between countryside and class has often been highlighted as a highly significant one. John Urry (1995) however, reminds us that the middle classes are a group of many divisions which therefore cannot be assumed to have a particular, unitary relationship with the countryside. He further stresses the importance of changing leisure practices which have consequential effects on rural social relations.
Urry points to some particular groups (cross-cut by gender, educational experience, age and region) identified as having their own specific relationship with the rural through these new practices. Urry implies that the 'ascetics' may be a particularly important group in relation to recent constructions of the countryside because of their maintenance of holistic notions of physical well-being that connect 'the body' to 'nature' in activities such as 'climbing, camping, rambling and simply being in the countryside.' (Urry, 1995: 213).
The author points to a particularly striking contrast between the 'ascetics' and the 'indistincts' (or managers) (ibid) whose activities involve 'interventions' in nature (such activities might include shooting and golf for example) and a desire for heritage preservation (ibid).
The countryside is also affected by what Urry calls 'new sociations' acting as sites for identity-formation, emotional satisfaction and reciprocracy (ibid: 215). Examples might include countryside 'hobbyists' such as bird-spotters, off-road cyclists and war-gamers as well as organisations with some kind of political agenda (to a greater or lesser extent) like road protesters, civic amenities groups, railway preservation societies and environmental communes (ibid). Urry suggests that the proliferation of new ways of interacting with, and consuming the countryside is changing the way it is perceived:
'...the historic compromise between landed interests and the professional service class, which had been organised around the concept of "quiet recreation", is dissolving' (ibid: 219).
Finally, before we turn to female representations in the countryside, the nature of representation must itself be considered. Catherine King (1992) points out that 'representation' can have many connertations including 'the creation of a convincing illusion of reality' (King, 1992: 131). The term can also imply the possibility of showing a genuine slice of life or be overtly highly reductionist and symbolic (King gives the example here of the symbols for women and men on public toilet doors (ibid) ). But, all images are constructions which King reminds us can never be totally value-free, but are constructed by both creator and apprehendor.
The construction of images (and other kinds of representations such as depictions within a text) is, of course especially pertinent to this study, as this requires careful consideration during the processing of information by documentary analysts.




Methods
The Sample
Cheshire Life is a magazine in which, as well as having a particularly localised (that is; county) interest, seems also to form a predominantly rural view or construction of the county, many of its front-covers depicting rural hunting scenes and 'pretty' villages. But such a rural construction of Cheshire, though seemingly obvious on encountering copies of the magazine, would have to be substantiated (or refuted) during the course of its analysis (especially in terms of its qualitative analysis -see below). The issues of Cheshire Life magazine available for this research stretched from January 1950 to the present. The magazine is issued monthly, thus being represented by twelve copies each year (normally - see below).
The technique used for (an otherwise unrelated) magazine-based study by Sandford, Dornbusch and Hickman (1959) was employed as an approximate template in drawing a sample from the total number of available copies. This was done so that a reasonable spread of issues could be selected for comparison of data over time. The said process for sample-selection is set out precisely below.
Each decade of issues was assigned a number '1' to '120', every individual number representing one issue of the magazine; as an example, for the decade 'The 1960s ', number '99' would correspond with the ninety-ninth issue that decade, which would be the third issue of its eighth year, or March 1968. Then, an internet-based random-number generator (www.randomizer.org) was used to select five numbers (thus five issues) from each decade. The issues chosen, were also examined in the order randomly produced, which was as follows :
1980s; November 1983, November 1986, July 1983, March 1985, and March 1987.
1950s; May 1952, June 1952, September 1956, March 1950 and November 1954.
1960s; July 1967, June 1961, December 1966, November 1967 and March 1964.
1990s; March 1993, June 1996, March 1995, March 1999 and February 1994.
1970s; June 1976, March 1973, August 1976, July 1978 and February 1978.
As can be seen above, the order of reading each decade and the order of individual issues read within each decade was randomly selected, but the magazines had to be analysed one decade at a time. This was due to constraints set by the comparative difficulty of retrieval of the magazines for library staff (due to the place of storage and need for strict chronological ordering). In the Sandford, Dornbusch and Hickman study (ibid), the order of magazine analysis was entirely random (at individual journal level) so as to prevent 'changes in the perspective of the content analysists from producing shifts' in apparent results (emphasis added, ibid: 164).
The significance of this potential problem was not, however, considered to be particularly important in this case, A) because any trends between individual issues within a decade sample would be far less significant (if not entirely insignificant) when compared with trends between whole decades, a far more substantial unit of time, and B) because of the fact that detailed analysis of material was to take place before categorisation (discussed below) so that any trends would be less likely to be apparent at the initial analysis stage (the 'notation' stage).
The sample was to be drawn only from complete decades in order that it would be theoretically possible to tabulate, into clear time-categories, any trends over time that might be observable in the results. It is for this reason then, that no issues could be sampled after the 1990s, the last complete decade.
As the total population of magazines available for sampling was taken to number 600, this sample represents a little over 4% of the total population. However, it was to transpire during the course of the research that for at least two of the years within the sample period; a thirteenth, extra issue was published (as end-of-year 'reviews '). The existence of these additional issues was discovered through their reference in issues analysed, and it could not be assumed that other years within the sample period would not also contain additional issues. The presence of these extra issues, occurring outside what was perceived to be the total population meant that the sample might represent a slightly lower percentage of the total population than initially anticipated.
This was not, however, considered significant enough to re-select the sample and start again because a review issue is considered unlikely to be particularly representative, (set apart as it is, as a 'special', extra issue, outside of the usual, monthly character of the magazine). Any such re-sampling (followed by re-analysis) could also prove highly disruptive to the overall research process, given the constraints of available time.
Sample Analysis
Notation Stage
The first stage of the content analysis of the sample would be a protracted one. The entire texts (and visual depictions) of each issue were to be read and examined excluding advertisements. It was decided that adverts would not be included in the content analysis so that the focus of the research would be centred on the representation(s) of country-women as constructed by the magazine. It was thought likely that although advertising may well play a major role in social constructions and reproductions, the relationship that a magazine pursues and fosters with its readership seems likely to occur in its most overt form in the main texts of that journal's articles and their associated visual representations (mainly photographs but also including drawings and other visual information). Thus the articles of the magazine rather than advertisments, may be more likely to be the prime locus of symbolic constructs, where representations are made in a way that is deemed appropriate to the ethos of the magazine in the targeting of, and fostering relationships with, its readership. It was therefore decided that advertising was not likely to the best focus for the research given the inevitably limited resources for study.
Notes would be taken on every representation of a woman (or women, womanhood in general or femininity and so on) in the articles. This is a more problematic process than it at first seems, for a single photograph or sentence (as just two examples) can display or create a myriad of different (and possibly differing) themes and symbols, so it is important that it is explained here what is meant by 'a representation' for the purposes of this stage of the research:
A representation noted would certainly include any (and indeed every) adjective or other kind of description pertaining to a woman or women. It would also include any activity that a woman or women is/are described or pictured as doing. This is also a potentially problematic area because, again, a host of things could be regarded as 'activities' and represented in just one incidence (such as eating, looking, talking, thinking and so on). For the purposes of this research (and to make categorical distinctions possible), activities would be taken to be any overt or obviously displayed (though problems of interpretation are still at the fore), activities such as riding a horse for example, plus any roles, hobbies and jobs described as being associated with a woman (or women in general).

Categorisation
Once the collection of data in the manner described above had been completed, it was to be organised into categories. These would depend upon the content of the material studied but would certainly include categories connected with various types of descriptions of women, and various activities and roles that women are depicted as doing. As discussed earlier, categorical distinction is, in itself a potentially highly problematic area, where the perceptions of the person organising categorisations (in this case the content-analyst) can affect the outcome (of both categories chosen, and the content of the categories). This was to be something to be considered throughout this stage of the research.In practise, decisions had to be made about the representations noted and the category into which they would be included (another form of representation or re-representation). For example, it was decided that the activity of dried flower-arranging was to be categorised under 'Arts and Crafts' rather than, say, 'Gardening'. Similarly, decisions were made to separate the representations of women in 'Competitive Sport' (such as women described as a competitor in a 'Ladies' steeplechase) and women shown taking part in an 'Outdoor Leisure' activity (simply riding a horse, for instance). The grey areas that can problematise categorical distinctions were perhaps most clearly expressed in the course of this research in the difficulty in deciding to file the activity of (fox) hunting under 'Outdoor Leisure' rather than 'Competitive Sport'.

Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Finally, although this study may appear on the face of it to be a primarily quantitative one (in terms of its concern with counting-up the numbers of representations in each category), the importance of the qualitative aspects of the data analysis should not be underestimated. It is often the qualitative material that sets the tone, style and context in which, and through which, representations can be portrayed to, or interpreted by the reader (or the content analyst). The qualitative context(s) which the magazine produces, provides a symbolic backdrop or landscape onto which the portraits and characterisations (representations) are painted and through which roles and values can be interpreted. It is imperative that the character of the magazine (and any changes to it over time) is considered in the its' overall analysis.

Findings
Representations of Rurality and Class (The Context)
Throughout the sample, a decidedly rural account of the county of Cheshire was presented by Cheshire Life Magazine (hereafter 'C.L.'). In one instance a (then) new magazine 'Farm and Country' was described as its contemporary (C.L., June 1961), and Cheshire is frequently and consistently described as 'Farming country '. This rural account of the county often blends romantic countryside imagery (in-line with romantic notions of the rural idyll) with that of hunting and the hunter. In this extract for instance, the relationship of country-people (in this case 'the countryman' ) with the country landscape is represented as one of unity:
'Nature, like the countryman, grows old gracefully. Venerable trees, an imperial stag; the forest patched brown with long straths of larch, sheltered oaks wrapped in rustling dead leaves; sycamores cloaked in yellow. These are the glory of Cheshire.' (Emphasis added, C.L., November 1986).
The centrality of hunting (specifically fox-hunting) to the magazines' representation of rurality is clear throughout the sample; with frequent coverage of hunts through photographic centre-features with full reports, on front-covers and through regular coverage of related events like hunt-balls. The magazine claims (at various points through the sample) that Cheshire indeed is home to the oldest hunt of all, that of the Tarporley Hunt which had its first 'meet' in 1762 (C.L., August 1976).
The depiction of the county as fundamentally rural, or of having the country at its heart is a consistent theme, in spite of perceived threats to its rural identity from development and change. The perceived threat to rurality from modern development may work to actually strengthen the rural identity of the county portrayed in the magazine, in terms of the rural idyll as constructed through nostalgia for the past, and a reaction against modernity (Davidoff et al, 1979). The county's rural nature is portrayed as something that is deeply-rooted and as (so-far) defying all attempts to change it through encrouching developmental modernisation. Mobberley village cricket is, for example, described as 'something the Arabs can't buy ' (C.L., August 1976). Similarly, the following description of Lymm is typical in its insistence of the maintenance of a rural identity in spite of physical change:
'...it has become residential and urbanised. But it has never ceased to be a "country" place, with an abundance of natural qualities which countrymen and women regard as their birthright.' (C.L., August 1976).
This localised rural identity promoted by the magazine occurs within particular class-contexts. The landed classes and (probably upper) middle classes are cited by the journal as bastions of stability, as in this description of a Cheshire village;
'... the most Conservative spot on earth - God's little acre for the Tory party.....one of the last remaining citadels of the middle classes, a place where the champions of the status quo finally turn at bay and defend themselves against the encroachments of what is some-times known elsewhere as "progress" (C.L., June 1961).
The magazine has an implicit leaning towards the promotion of the idea and values of old and rural Cheshire; a timeless representation of the county as being fundamentally and at heart, unchanged in its basic character in spite of the development, for example, of successful car, chemical and aerospace industries.Representations of Women (Countrywomen in Context)
The notes made about all the representations of women in the sample were collated and organised into categories (as described in 'methods' -see Table 1 and the accompanying explanation of categories in Appendix A).

Women as Property.
Changes in the position of women in society are suggested by some of the findings displayed in Table 1 (Appendix A). Early in the issues of the magazine through the 1950s, 1960s and the early 1970s, pages of individual photographs of women who had been announced as recently engaged to be married are displayed. These photographs were then often the only place where women are depicted on their own, rather than as an appendage to a man, though clearly their status is one as someone soon to gain status through their attachment to a man, the details of whom were listed below the photograph. The percentage of women shown as newly engaged drops from some 20% in the 1950s to less than 3% in the 1970s before this section of the journal disappears altogether. Similarly, the percentage of women who are portrayed in terms of their connection with an important, 'high status' man (often important people in a local hunt, high-ranking military and business men) is initially high and drops gently overall, though this aspect never entirely disappears.
Overall, women in the sample are portrayed in (generally) increasingly 'active ' roles, and decreasingly 'passive ' (see fig 1 and fig 2 in Appendix A), reflecting wider changes to expectations of women's place in society. One of the most dramatically rising categories through the sample is that of concern with attractiveness and/or fashionability. This rise is probably mainly due to the far greater amount of magazine space and interest given over to fashion articles. The tone of these articles, however, changes greatly over the years.
Early issues often imply women's possession of a yearning for fashionable and appropriate clothes. The rewarding of oneself with 'quality' clothes often being portrayed as not only normal and natural for women, but as being good for the soul. For example in the wearing of new fashions being described as 'a booster of morale' (C.L., November 1967) or the account of 'the tonic properties of a new hat....no woman is unaware of them' (C.L., March 1950).
Though the overall incidences of concern with fashionability and looks increases, the extent to which this is seen as a deeply-felt and natural urge seems to subside. Throughout the sample women are portrayed as being increasingly independent, both socially and financially; business-women emerging as a notable force in the 1980s and reaching some 13% in the 1990s. The number of women shown as being successful educationally rises after the 1950s, though never reaches particularly notable levels.
The incidences of overtly expressed needs for female emancipation are perhaps surprisingly at their highest through the 1950s, mostly in reports on meetings of the Women's Institute. Some early features on the W.I. include those that focus on talks in which both the past and continuing emancipation of women is clearly portrayed as desirable. One such feature, for example, reported on a talk which '...put the emancipation of women as perhaps the most important thing that has ever happened ' (C.L., May 1952).
The magazines representation of the W.I. shall be examined in more detail below, due to the significant role played here in representations and constructions of countrywomen.







Representations of Countrywomen.
Women's Activities - 'Recreation '
Table 1 (Appendix A) shows the significance played by some of the creative and sporting activities portrayed in the sample. Reference however, to fig 3 (in Appendix B) illustrates more clearly the relative importance of differing activities as a fraction of all 'recreational' activities (though 'recreational' is not a perfect definition as some of these activities may involve 'earnings' such as prize-winnings and the word may tend to under-play their cultural significance).
We can see in Fig 3 (Appendix B) that 'artistic' activities play a highly significant role in the lives of Cheshire women as portrayed in the magazine. The high incidences of 'arts and crafts' may, to some extent, point to the need to protect a domestic idyll as a miniature, recreated equivalence to the rural idyll as expounded by Davidoff, L'Esperance & Newby (1976). There is relatively little sign however, of farmhouse cooking, gardening or other especially domestic forms of creativity. Nevertheless, 'the arts' in general, and craftwork in particular (including basket-weaving, flower arranging, textile work and so on) feature very strongly and can surely be seen as upholding some traditional aspects of a rural idyll.
Theatre, and especially musical theatre, along with choirs and other musical events, often organised in aid of charity, also feature very strongly. Such events can perhaps be seen as both consolidating community-spirit while fostering a sense of worthiness, directed to a good cause (see a detailed account of the significance of charity later).
The (high) incidences of women's competitive sports were dominated again by traditional country events like show-jumping, (horse) racing, hunting, shooting and to a lesser extent other sports associated with the comfortably affluent classes like 'Ladies' golf and tennis. Overall, sport and other outdoor activities can be said to be dominated by those involving what Urry (1995) calls 'interventions in nature', namely more traditional and old-fashioned, often middle-management based 'organization-persons' or 'indistincts'.
Casual (uncompetitive) horse-riding completely dominates the category labelled 'outdoor leisure '. Activities involving a 'holistic' approach of bodily-wellbeing to nature that seem commonplace elsewhere; climbing, cycling, canoeing and rambling, Urry's (1995) 'ascetics' hardly feature at all, even in the most recent issues, and neither do his 'new-sociations', suggesting that interactions with the countryside by the women portrayed in Cheshire Life alludes to a more traditional, high-culture form of involvement of the old-fashioned, moneyed-classes rather than a (post-modernist) mix of high-brow 'culture' with 'recreational' fun.

Women, the (Rural) Community and Charity
The W.I. is afforded significant prominence by the magazine firstly by the positioning of the 'W.I. Notes of the Month ' articles near the beginning of each journal, and secondly (and probably more importantly) through the appearance of these articles every month on a long-term basis (that is, at least for every issue in this sample). So for long-term readers, those who are most likely to identify themselves what we might call the 'character' of the magazine (or to put it another way; those who are most likely to internalise the constructions and representations portrayed by the journal); the Women's Institute may appear of significant importance.
The magazine's portrayal of the W.I. is one that seems to emphasise its role as a focal point for country-matters, that is; country-matters expressed in terms of the concerns of county-women (or 'countrywomen' as one word, differentiated as a distinct specie from other kinds of women or people), made explicit, for instance, in a reported W.I. meeting, the subject of which was said to be 'What is of most concern to countrywomen?' (C.L., March 1964).
It seems that women are prescribed a particular kind of role in expressing and acting upon the perceived concerns of the countryside, a role that is particularly oriented towards the 'values' of community (epitomised by the W.I.). Organised groups of countrywomen are seen as being politically active in an especially social, communitarian and neighbourly way, supporting Little and Austin's (1996) account of high levels of social-orientation amongst rural women. This particular brand of small 'p' politics often expresses itself in local charity events, in which home-made food products and art-and-craft items are sold to raise funds. Such events form the mainstay of reported W.I. activities throughout the sample.
There appears, in places, a degree of sensitivity towards 'outsider' perceptions of countrywomen's groups (extendable to rurality generally?) as being rather too cosy or lacking in gravity. An article entitled 'The Same Difference' (C.L. , July 1983) compared two locally based women's groups, one held to be widely perceived as a 'radical' organisation, the other - a local W.I. group. The groups are compared and initially contrasted. Interestingly the magazine claimed that a third, 'feminist' group had declined involvement with the article; 'they said they didn't wish to be editorially linked with jam makers.' (Ibid).
The peace group was portrayed as an organisation notable firstly by its radical stance in opposition to military bases. They were compared with the suffragettes (through facing potential imprisonment) and the group's own sense of connection with the past struggles of the Women's movement itself was evoked in the choice of interview quotes. A second distinctive feature of this group noted in the article was the informality of its organisation, indicated by its lack of a committee structure and the presence of a 'facilitator' encouraging everyone to speak, rather than a formal chair at meetings (in contrast to the formality of W.I. meetings). The peace group was thus afforded a form of credibility in its appeal to more modern, egalitarian and radical (or at least unconventional) methods of political participation.
The same article then went on to debunk the idea that the W.I. is a 'fuddy-duddy' organisation, portraying it as essentially and in its own way radical , as is demonstrated by the use of quotes from Cheshire W.I.'s press officer:
"Look at the subjects we're debating and voting on at conference hardly scones and sewing is it? ....We were discussing breast cancer screening long before it hit the headlines. In 1922 we voted on VD health education, and in 1943 equal pay for equal work....people think we all wear wooly stockings and make corn dollies. But it's not all jam and jerusalem you know." (Emphasis added, C.L., March 1964).
However, while at pains to emphasise the radical stance and achievements of the group, the article seemed simultaneously keen to promote some of the more traditional aspects and images of the organisation, especially the construction of its character as being essentially British, locally orientated (rural) and conscious of middle-class values and identity :

'Doreen lives luxuriously in rural Cheshire in a large house with a Union Jack flapping jauntily from a tall pole in the garden. She rarely, if ever, wears wooly stockings, and is more interested in Aztec art than corn dollies. "Because we are quiet and unassuming, there is no reason to think we are fuddy-duddies....W.I. officers tend to be better off because they often need transport to get to county meetings" (Ibid).
The article again emphasises the sense of neighbourliness instilled in, or by the groups members, through the evocation of a sense of belonging (Bracey, 1959):
'When a friend of Doreen's broke her wrist, a fellow W.I.-er baked enough food to fill a freezer for weeks. When Doreen came out of hospital last year, a neighbour from the local W.I. came round with a huge casserole. "You won't feel like cooking a meal tonight" she said." '(C.L., March 1964).
The more traditional characterisation of countrywomen is evoked again in an article about a rural nanny living with, and working for a family in a large country house. The portrayal of this nanny is also extended to include 'the British Nanny' in general. The article, like portrayals of the W.I. in the sample, conveys the sense in which the work and principles of this nanny and others like her extend to benefit the health and well-being of the community, or rather the wider communities of family, rural community and indeed nation :
'The British nanny built the British Empire. Her crisp uniform, her starched principles and rigid discipline moulded generations of stiff upper lips. Her regime of brisk walks and wholesome food turned her charges - and the globe they would eventually govern - a gratifying well-scrubbed shade of pink.' (C.L., November 1983).
There is evidence here of Davidoff et al's (1979) notion of a 'Beau ideal ', combining the rural and domestic idylls. The specific nanny featured is described as possessing;
'...homely features and a sturdy figure ..the nanny of them all - "I'm a disciplinarian. There's so little discipline in schools." ' (Emphasis added,C.L., November 1983).
What the depiction of the rural nanny and those of the W.I. share is that sense in which the values and attitudes (portrayed more perhaps as deeply-rooted, naturally occurring instincts) of both kinds of countrywomen aid the welfare of their own community and those of the wider community, extending ultimately to the entire nation. Countrywomen portrayed here are locally-orientated pillars of the (both local and national) community. They are represented as nurturers (of community rather than motherhood specifically in this case), who cultivate an environment favourable to the well-being of society at large.

A Closer Look at Charity Events
'Doing-good ' for both local and wider community is then a major pre-occupation of countrywomen portrayed in 'Cheshire Life'. A major site for such activity is the charity function or Society ball. Coverage of such occasions dominate the magazine, every issue in the sample featured several such events, often devoting full or double-page spreads (sometimes more) to each one. Women often dominate the coverage of such events.
These kind of occasions were so widespread and featured so prominently as to render their inclusion in table 1 (Appendix A) virtually meaningless, as many of the other activities noted and counted-up for inclusion in the table came from coverage of such functions (in other words, many of the 'Representations ' featured in Table 1 are a sub-group to charity events). However, one extra 'Representation' category is that of 'Important Public works' (in Table 1) which relates to portrayals of people specifically described in terms of their 'good works ' for charity or 'the public good ' in general. This is a category that generally seems to rise from the 1970s onwards to hover vaguely around 10% of all representations. However, it is important to re-emphasise the extent to which the context of charity functions dominate the magazine compared with these more specific examples of those who 'do good '.
The charity aspect of the functions and balls so frequently featured in 'Cheshire Life' is but one facet of the representation of such occasions. These functions are portrayed as a glittering showpiece where the most important, wealthy and glamourous people of the county meet and socialise. Though a large proportion of women portrayed here have what might easily be deemed authentic rural connections; with farming, hunting, the homely village-orientated aspects of the W.I. or as wealthy owners of large county manors, often it is the sheer glamour of such occasions that is stressed. However, the authenticity of the local roots of the participants of these events, is consistently implied:
'The Cheshire Set...They are as elusive to define as mist over Rostherne Mere. They are as sleek and jaunty as the grin on the face of a Cheshire cat. They have class, flair, style, poise and panache - and like stars over Jodrell Bank they came out mainly at night, when they can glitter more brilliantly...Shimmering they might be, superficial they are not.' (C.L., March 1995)
The same article gives a tongue-in-cheek account of how someone might become a member of this county set, one which emphasises both their (class) status and exclusivity:
'Give generously to charity, join your Best Kept Village team, develop an accent as sharp and brilliant as a Boodle's diamond and most of all deny the very existence of the Cheshire Set to anyone who lives south of the Dee or North of the Mersey.' (Ibid).
Some years later, an article appeared in reaction to what was described as a 'pertinent, patronising and pretentious portrait of the Cheshire Set' (C.L., March 1999) by a BBC television documentary:
'...It had more to do with Hollywood Wives than anyone we at Cheshire Life would recognise from the hard working, quick thinking, real women who are reflected in the pages of this magazine.....If they were looking for a tall blond to typify Cheshire perhaps they could have turned to the formidable Ann Winterton MP. The reality behind the polo set at Henbury Hall might have been balanced by the hard work Naomi de Ferranti has put into the drugs charity turning point.' (C.L., March 1999).
The portrayal of the Cheshire Set as 'hard-working, quick thinking' and 'real' extends to cheshire countrywomen generally, for example in a feature called 'Lymm, home for fighters and doers':
'They (Lymm women) are tireless do-it-yourselfers, and whether their "thing" is painting, flower arranging, archaeology, singing...or raising money for charity they do it with a wholehearted zest that is both heart-warming and admirable.' (C.L., August 1976).
The continual representation of countywomen as feisty 'doers', who get things done, whether for themselves or more probably for a wider good, permeates the sample.
Summary and Conclusions
The sample represented just over 4% of Cheshire Life magazines published over a fifty year period. While this is not a large figure, the format and style of the magazine changed comparatively little over the years and a larger sample may not have changed the results significantly.
However, this small study represents a portrayals of countrywomen from just one source. Many other such potential representations may be portrayed elsewhere, with their own construct(s) of 'the countrywoman'. Furthermore, the choice of categories, dictated as far as possible through a qualitative assessment of the content (see 'methods'), is related to the perspective taken by the researcher and therefore bound to affect outcomes. Thus research taking another perspective of the same content but using different categories may find differing interpretations and outcomes to some degree.
It would be most surprising if no significant changes in the representation of women could be detected in the sample, covering, as it does, some fifty years. A considerable growth was found in expressed concerns about looking fashionably attractive , something that may be of more concern to studies in the relationship of women (and men) to consumer culture than here. Overall however, contextual change discerned included the significant increase in occurrences of women presented in 'active' roles and the corresponding decrease in 'passive' ones. The presentation of women as property has dropped very markedly along with a rise of socially and financially independent women successful in education and business.
However, what is perhaps most marked about the findings, is the extent to which a very clear and stable portrayal of countrywomen is made throughout the sample. The stability of the portrayed identity of rural women may be related to the desire to maintain a continuous and continuing sense of rural identity, a theme which is applied to the whole county (as well as individual places) by the magazine. The rural women in the sample tend to be prescribed particular kinds of roles; they are overwhelmingly presented as being community-orientated, a factor that is extendable from concern for neighbours, to that for the local community (often village-orientated), to finally that of the whole country. The role of 'motherhood ' hardly features in the sample, the countrywomen represented though are nurturers in another sense; as people who foster a sense of well-being, through a sense of belonging (Bracey 1959) and as pillars of the local community and promoters for good in society as a whole.
Many women's 'recreational' activities portrayed involve what Urry calls 'interventions in nature' (Urry, 1995: 213) that may seem equivalent to his managerial-class category of 'organisation persons' but seem more likely, in this case, to be the wives of bureaucrats or at least as representing a similar level in the class hierarchy, but alluding to a more 'authentic' perception of rurality and community-based rural values, seen in opposition to their perceived threats (from Urry's (1995) 'new sociations' amongst others).
Thus when women in the sample are not overtly 'doing good', they are frequently portrayed in activities associated with horses, hunting and especially in the arts and crafts , activities which may support a traditional view of the countryside -The Rural Idyll- through their participation in 'traditional' rural crafts and activities in a way which promotes an harmonious sense of rural living (Little and Austin, 1996). Thus in spite of an overall increase, for instance, in the number of business-women represented, the position of many of the women portrayed is not 'lived-out' so much through jobs (as in paid employment), as though unpaid roles, which help to bind the social fabric of community. This supports Little and Austin's (ibid) assertion that such a rural construct may inhibit women's employment chances.
In reflecting upon the relevance of the findings, it is important to consider that the magazine asserts a particularly class-based portrayal or construction of rurality and countrywomen. Titled women, (wives of) large land-owners and others high in the class hierarchy form a significant part of the content, otherwise, many of the women portrayed are the monied middle-classes, the zestful 'doers'of the community. The dominance of the affluent classes in the sample may also help to explain the defence of a traditional view of rurality in which country-people are seen as bastions of stability, stood in defence against threats (including Urry's (1995) 'new sociations') to idealised and romantic conceptions of the countryside (the rural idyll ) which happen also to threaten memories of an older order of landed gentry.

Considerations for Further Research
The dominance of affluent classes may be largely missing out entire sections of the rural life. Indeed, it may be as appropriate to reflect upon those women who rarely, if ever, feature in the content, women invisibleized in such constructions of the rural life. There is little place here, for example, of the rural poor, or for women who feel trapped by preconceived notions of their engendered role(s) through a patriarchal system of rural social relations, as suggested elsewhere (see Little and Austin, 1996). Many of the women portrayed had access to resources (of time as well as money) enabling the active pursuance of charitable and other community-based deeds. The absence of such resources, combined with a construction of countrywomen that emphasises community work, may accentuate feelings of disenfranchisement amongst less-resourced rural women.
Another potential area in which women may be invisibleized is in the wider, ongoing debate on the countryside and (perceptions of) threats to it. Any differential in conception of threats to rurality by women and men is surely a worthy avenue of research, as would any differences in the political representation of and by women, in such debates.
Furthermore, given the notion that the countryside is 'under threat', the findings reveal a more clearly discernible view, reproduction or portrayal of what precisely it may be that is perceived as being under threat when we hear of 'the rural life'. Rural living is clearly revealed in the sample as being portrayed as its own, distinctive culture possessing strikingly community- oriented values. 'The Countrywoman' is portrayed as a distinctive specie, differentiated from other kinds of women or people.
Finally, the somewhat radical stance held by the W.I. in certain areas, combined with their simultaneous sensitivity to their portrayal as a conservative organisation, while maintaining many conservative traits, is illustrative of something of a dichotomy that can be found within this construction of rurality and rural women. The tendency towards sharp definitions of rural characters (that may closely relate to stereotyping) may provide both a source of patronising subjugation by non-rurals (Newby 1979) while simultaneously promoting the romanticised idealisation of a differentiated rural life (Davidoff et al, 1976) from which it may gain much of its identity and sway.
This dichotomy may be found at the center of the portrayals and perceptions of 'the rural life ', as a site of struggle for its very definition and meaning. Thus further investigation is warranted in order to explore how this dichotomy is apprehended and played out in performances of rural identity among the real people of 'rural' worlds.




Bibliography

Bracey, H.E. (1959). English Rural Life, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Cloke, P. and Little, J. (eds.), (1997). Contested Countryside Cultures, Otherness, Marginalisation and Rurality, London: Routledge.

Countryside Agency (2000). The State of the Countryside 2000, Cheltenham: Countryside Agency Publications.

Crichton, R. (1964). Commuters' Village, A Study of Community and Commuters in the Berkshire Village of Statfield Mortimer, London: Macdonald.

Durkheim, E. (1964). The Division of Labour in Society, New York: New York Free Press.

Davidoff, L., L'Esperance, J. & Newby, H. 'Landscape with figures: Home and community in English Society 'in Mitchel, J & Oakley, A (eds.) (1976). The Rights and Wrongs of Women, Hammondsworth: Penguin.

Frankenburg, R. (1990). Village On The Border, a social study of religion, politics and football in a North Wales community, Illinois: Waveland Press.

Jones, G. (1973). Rural Life, Patterns and Processes, London: Longman.



King, C. (1992). 'The Politics of Representation ' in Bonner, F., Goodman, L., Allen, R., Janes, L. and King, C. (eds.) Imagining Women, Cultural Representations And Gender, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Little, J. and Austin, P. (1996). Women and the Rural Idyll in Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 101-111.

Mingay, G. (ed.) (1989). The Rural Idyll, London: Routeledge.Newby, H. (1979). Green and Pleasant Land: Social Change in Rural England, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Sanford, M. Dornbusch and Hickman, Loren, C. (1959). 'Other-directedness in Consumer-goods Advertising: A test of Riesman's Historical Theory ' in Rose, G. (1982). Deciphering Sociological Research, London: Macmillan Press.

Tonnies, F. (1957). Community and Society, New York: Harper and Row.

Urry, J. (1995). 'A Middle-Class Countryside? ' in Butler, T. and Savage, M. (eds.) Social Change and the Middle Classes, London: UCL Press Limited.

Williams, R. (1973). The Country and the City, London: Chatto and Windus.

Valentine, G. (1997). "A Safe Place to Grow Up? Parenting, Perceptions of Children's Safety and the Rural Idyll" in Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 137 - 148.





Newspaper Sources:
Vikram Dodd, "Fearless WI Reveals its Radical Side", The Guardian, 08/06/2000.

Author not cited, "Mr Blair Gets The Bird, The magic has gone. Now he has to fight.", The Guardian, 08/06/2000.


Internet Sources:
The Countryside Agency, 'The State of The Countryside 2000', http://www.countrydide.org, 19/06/ 2000.
Research Randomizer, http://www.randomizer.org, 12/11/2000.
Appendix B.
Fig 3 . *Fig 3 is a pie-chart to illustrate various categories of women's recreation portrayed in the total sample of 'Cheshire Life ' magazines.
Song & Dance - Women represented as taking part in musical, theatrical and/or dance events.
Art & Crafts - Women represented as taking part in the visual arts and/or doing craft-work.
Writing - Women represented as authors.
Competitive Sport - Women represented as competitors in a sporting event.
Outdoor Leisure - Women represented as taking part in 'non-competitive' outdoor pursuits such as horse-riding, cycling, wildlife spotting.48Cookery - Women shown or described as cooking.
Gardening - Women shown or described as gardening or garden-designing.
[Categories are defined as for Table 1 (in Appendix A)]

Consensual Democracy in Scandinavia

"Consensual democracy": what do is meant by the term, and is its application to Denmark, Norway and Sweden still appropriate (if it ever was)?

One of the identifying features often attributed to Scandinavia is the distinctively consensual nature of the political decision making process. This characterisation of Scandinavian politics as being especially consensual and co-operative is frequently seen through british eyes in sharp contrast to the combative, confrontational nature of "winner takes all" competitive politics characterised in the entertaining confrontations that occur across the floor of the British House of Commons. This consensual description of Scandinavian politics will be examined below [using the said three metropolitan countries], the validity, in terms of "how democratic?" this co-opting environment really is will be questioned and consideration will be given to perceived threats to consensual democracy observed in more recent times of changing political culture.
Consensual, as opposed to adversarial [UK style] politics has been described as one of the main features of the Nordic model of government (Arter, 1999: 148). Moreover a culture of consensus is said to form a part of, and evan be deeply rooted in Scandinavian life. This does not have to mean a perfect world in which political conflict does not exist but rather that the way in which decisions are reached is achieved through through a system in which the overriding desire is that for collective deliberations and compromise:
The notion of a culture of consensus does not imply the total absence of conflict and dissension but has to do with the existence through a special procedure for arriving at collective decisions. A crucial element of this method is that all the parties concerned are given a chance to have their say and be heard. Another aspect of the procedure is that decisions grow out of deliberations and consultations between the parties. (Peterson, 1994: 37)
This orientation towards collective action through wide and thorough consultation with all interested parties seems to for a mainstay of Scandinavian [political] culture and may be divisible to individual psychology; In his study of political elites in Sweden for instance, Thomas Anton found that the willingness to compromise was deeply embedded in their attitudes resulting in long, drawn-out procedures involving preparatory research and pre-planning before the long process of deliberation itself got underway (Anton, 1980: 159). The resulting policy decisions " -are themselves structured to avoid lasting opposition" and " -distributes a little bit of some benefit to all involved participants, excluding none from some share of the 'action'. " (Ibid)
Evidence for the "collective" orientation in Scandinavia can be seen in the ubiquity of groups not only in the sense of those we usually tend in Britain to think of as organised, political "interest groups" but also in a myriad of social (such as sports associations), as well as economic group interests included in the policy-making arena. Indeed, sports associations form some of the largest organisations, and it has been noted that these, along with cultural and humanitarian groups have tended to form national bodies (Kvavik, 1976: 4). The exceptionally high membership levels of to one kind of association or another is a notable feature of Scandinavian life, as Peterson notes of Sweden:
Only a small minority, less than ten percent, of the adult population, remain outside associational life. An even smaller minority of eight percent are members of seven or more different kinds of organisation. There is therefore a cosiderable degree of variation around the average of three memberships per adult Swede but the great majority of Swedes are members of between one and four associations. (Peterson, 1994: 157)
The consensual and collective orientation towards decision making is commonly attributed to a high of homogeneity in the Scandinavian countries, which in turn is oft put down to the relatively late arrival of capitalism to Norden. This meant a relative absence of an early capitalist middle class [unlike in the UK] and a comparatively free ["un-oppressed"] peasantry. Plus, the large new populations of workers were brought into a system that was ready- "socialistic" to use Korpi's term (Korpi, 1978: 72) and suffrage was extended during a period when the working class was still forming (ibid) contributing to the early strength of the Left [which we will come back to later].
This can be said to be most true of Sweden, then Norway and less true of Denmark whose capitalism developed in a way more akin to the UK-a situation which is repeated in other cultural/political area where Sweden can be seen as the most ideally or classically Scandinavian of the three countries, Denmark the least [or more "Western" or British-like], with Norway somewhere in-between.
The co-operative aspect to Scandinavian politics must owe itself not least to the fact that the countries are governed through proportional systems of representation and not a first-past-the-post "winner takes all" like the one we are used to here in Britain [at least still in general elections]. Proportional representation means that parties are much more likely to co-operate and form coalitions with one-another, and perhaps even more importantly; parties will often try to make a wider appeal in the sense that they may "tread on other parties' territory" as it were to steal some support across usual party loyalties.
In Sweden, which has an exceptionally proportional system, minority rule [across the Left-Right spectrum] has been the norm, thus cross-party negotiation has been traditional and indeed, unavoidable. Denmark has seen a mixture of minority and majority rule while in this case, it is Norway that stands out as having had an extended period of [labour party] majority rule through the 1940s and 1950s. In all three countries, "Earthquake elections" have land marked times of increasing voter-volatility of late -and is an issue tat will be returned to later.
How policy is actually decided and formulated is a drawn-out and very deliberative affair in the three countries. This can be shown by the frequency, for example, of royal commissions when compared to those of the UK. A royal commission in Britain is a relatively rare and grandiose affair whereas in Sweden, hundreds of royal commissions take place every year and these, along with other commissions and committees of all sorts make up a normal part of Scandinavian political life.
Politicians from different parties, officials from public authorities, local government and interest organisations plus academics from research institutes are likely to sit on commissions of enquiry (Peterson, 1994: 90). This type of commission is especially common in Sweden where there are a large number of relatively small government departments. Commissions of enquiry investigate policy areas and develop proposals (ibid). Olof Peterson notes that the commission system has been of central importance in Sweden:Commissions of enquiry have paved the way for many of the major reforms and have often served as a forum for achieving compromises and arriving at a broad consensus. (Ibid)
The parliaments of all three countries also have systems of standing committees which reflect the balance of power in parliament, where in Norway for example, every MP belongs to one of twelve standing committees on major areas of policy (Arter, 1999: 218).Denmark's standing committees used to be temporary, ad hoc affairs set up to attend to particular bills [like in the UK] until this system was abolished in 1971 (ibid). Politicians in Scandinavia seem to attach great importance to this stage of policy formation:The vast majority of Nordic parliamentarians are orientated towards the detailed work of legislation rather than attracting the attention of the media or advertising themselves generally. They excel in considering the 'small print' of government proposals and feel most at home in the usually informal environment of the standing committees. Indeed, the Nordic parliaments may be considered 'working parliaments' in that there isa strong legislative culture and members are both recruited with, and subsequently consolidate, an area of policy expertise. (Ibid: 215)
This emphasis on policy expertise, through both the specialisation of political representatives in certain policy areas, and the recruitment of academics and policy experts also makes the committee stage a particularly attractive access point for interest groups (Kvavik, 1976: 93-94).
Major policy proposals, once finally made then go to yet another level of deliberative consultation. At the "Remiss" stage, all interested parties, including representations of any section of people likely to be affected by the proposals are invited to make critical comments on them. The thoroughness of this stage, in terms of regulation by formalised powers is again stronger in Sweden and Norway than in Denmark. But whatever, all interested parties are usually seen to have their say before cabinet can finally draft legislation.
One of the paradoxes of Scandinavia has been the relatively peaceful coexistence and co-operation between a very strong left-wing political force within a capitalist economic order (Castles, 1978: 119). Negotiations between LO [the main, enveloping union wing of the left], the foremost political parties of the left [the Social Democrats in Denmark and Sweden and the Labour party in Norway] and the bourgeois block, have formed a primary focus of political life in Scandinavia. Corporatist [that is, the incorporation of organised group interests into government processes] negotiations have, in Scandinavia lead to a situation that has historically, explicitly expressed, and even tended to favour left-wing thinking [at least, that is, within a scenario in which economic growth can still be maintained]. As Francis Castles has stressed:"Only in Scandinavia have the Social Democrats been fighting battles on a ground of their own choosing"
and
"-only in Scandinavia do the capitalists oppose social democracy on grounds of interest rather than principle" (ibid: 142).
This is not least because the high level of corporate pluralism in Scandinavia has historically been used by the working-class organisations to enable social democratic thinking to be integrated into the very fabric of capitalist society:Four decades of progressively increasing representation at every level and in every institutional sphere have made the trade unions not only the most powerful single veto group in society, but also amongst the most influential forces in defining the prevailing image of society. (Ibid: 131)
So all in all, it does indeed seem that Scandinavian politics is markedly deliberative in nature. However, this is not necessarily at all the same as to say it is truly consensual -in an "across the board", all inclusive kind of way. The explicit inclusion of powerful interests such as the LO is all very well, but what about smaller, less powerful or less well organised interests? How democratic is the process really?
Smaller political parties for instance, have sometimes found they do not get a seat at standing committees [which reflect the balance of power in assemblies]. The Left-Communists in Sweden were too small for entitlement to an automatic place on standing committees through much of the 1970s and 1980s and only gained places through agreements with the ruling Social Democrats (Arter, 1999: 214).
Other interests may be quite large but have little voice in Scandinavian deliberative procedures through being simply too disorganised. Young people are underrepresented in Scandinavian power bases and many may now be turning to new forms of political expression outside the established channels (Peterson, 1994: 221). These new outlets might include participation in "direct actions" and demonstrations that by-pass traditional political activity. Also, Sweden set up a Sami Parliament to offer official recognition and representation of the Sami population, but this has mainly a consultative role and the Sami still feel they are politically suppressed, a feeling not helped by Sweden's refusal to ratify the International Labour Organisation's convention on indigenous peoples (ibid: 218).
As well as the problem of representation, an additional question-mark has been identified by Rune Premfors (1989, Policyanalys, studentlitteratur: Lund in Arter, 1999: 153) as hanging over the possibility of disproportionate significance attached to detail-deliberation and policy preparation " -at the expense of their execution, evaluation and feedback" (Arter, 1999: 153). There is the further danger that the co-opting of organised interests in a lengthy and highly systematic fashion may be seen as a method of diffusing [or even to some extent dis-arming] opposition rather than seeing it as a way of truly taking differing interests on board. Indeed protracted procedures of policy deliberation that can take years to work through can be a useful way of deferring policy; knocking difficult political questions "out of bounds" as it were, in terms of the immediate future through entering into a process which can be relied upon to " -postpone issues of a highly divisive and partisan character" (ibid: 158).
In recent decades, changes to Scandinavian political culture have been noted that could be seen as threatening or even undermining the consensual aspect to policy formation. The "Earthquake elections" that have, to a greater or lesser extent, affected the three countries [in 1973 in Denmark and Norway and to a lesser extent - Sweden's mini-earthquake of 1991] may have marked the end of the classic five-part model of Scandinavian government. With the classic party model broken new parties have risen, gaining support from across traditional party loyalties. New radical parties appeared on the far left and right, while other populist movement were affirmed in elections by the rise for instance, of the Swedish Green party [that gained support from both the socialist and bourgeois blocks]. Class-dealignment and thus increased voter-volaility [a Europe wide phenomenon] are trends that have scoured deep into the traditional patterns of government formation, and legislative culture:
The advent of populist protest parties since the early 1970s has made the legislative culture of the Nordic parliaments less consensual and pragmatic. The small parties, especially on the radical right, have been able to exert blackmail influence in relation to the formation of coalitions, as well as in sustaining or dismissing cabinets in office. (Arter, 1999: 218)
During this period, the growth in party conflict seems also to have lead to declining consensus at the standing committee stage of policy scrutiny (ibid: 217). Commissions of enquiry in Sweden are now expected to work more quickly and cannot advance new reforms that increase expenditure (Peterson, 1994: 90-91), a sign also of the pressure of Norden's new economic pressures. Commissions have also seen levels of agreement drop:
The major interest organisations have lost an important channel of influence with direct access to the political decision-making process. The reduced significance of the commission system also reflects the shift of Swedish politics away from a consensus-oriented political culture towards a more conflictual one. (Ibid)
Peterson also implies that in an age of increasing globalisation, and especially considering Scandinavia's' location at the forefront of the information [technological] revolution; new and larger numbers of organisational groupings have appeared and "the number of actors involved in conflicts has also risen as have the points of interaction." (ibid: 204)
The consensual nature of Scandinavian democracy is however, overall, still appropriate in the application of the term to the modern condition of these three countries. Seen for example, in comparative perspective with the UK; while Sweden, Denmark and Norway may may be moving towards increasingly adversarial [ or more UK-like] styles of political conflict, by more polarised and less homogeneous political actors, they are still three countries that as we have seen, still openly invite all organised group interests into the policy-making arena, and exist within the context of a more democratic, proportional system of representation.

2463 Words.



Bibliography


Anton, Thomas J. (1980). Administered Politics, Elite Political Culture in Sweden, Hingham: Martinus Nijhoff Publishing.

Arter, David (1999). Scandinavian Politics Today, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Board, Joseph B. (1970). The Government and Politics of Sweden, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Castles, Francis G. (1978). The Social Democratic Image of Society, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.

Elder, Neil, Thomas, Alastair H. & Arter, David (1982). The Consensual Democracies? The Government and Politics of the Scandinavian States, Oxford: Martin Robertson.

Peterson, Olof (1994). SwedishGovernment and Politics, Stockholm: Publica.

Rustow, Dankwart A. (1955). The Politics of Compromise, Oxford University Press.

Plato's Republic and the rule of the wise

Plato's argument is that rule by philosophers is preferable to political equality. In view of the structure of the Republic , should we suppose that Plato offered his account of an ideal polis as a practical proposal, as a utopia, or simply as an example to illustrate a philosophical argument?

Plato's 'Republic' in many ways set the tone for numerous other works that followed it through the ages as the first political utopia. In it, he sets out and describes his ideal state in which an authoritarian form of rule dominates; the rule of the wise. For Plato, only the philosophers have the privileged insight into true knowledge so that a just state must be organised on the basis of those having this knowledge and thus knowing what the good is, ruling. Indeed, he is quite explicit in stating that philosophers are the only people who are fit to rule. Plato sees however, that the setting-up of such a state is far from problematic, with the majority of people seen as being more or less blind to reality and thus unable to appreciate the rule of the few over the many or to know what is really good for them. He does describe ways in which some of the problems associated with this might be at least partly overcome, but some doubts seem to remain as to whether he thinks that the ideal polis is entirely achievable. Running throughout the 'Republic' though, is an undoubtedly strong desire for change and an anxiety to revolutionise the way that human life is organised.
One of the most striking aspects of Plato (in Republic and elsewhere) is the way he deviates from the stances taken by his beloved teacher Socrates, whose dialectic was always one of questioning everything and raising doubt. Plato conversely, developed his doctrine, claiming to have a privileged view of true reality itself, unhidden from the cloaking effects of the superficial world of images which most people accept as the real. For Plato this hidden (to most people) reality, available only to the wise, could be accessed by philosophers by getting beyond the imperfect world of appearance and could be demonstrated through mathematics. The Republic is, though, presented in the form of a dialogue and confusingly gives voice to the character 'Socrates' who we can more accurately take to represent the view of Plato himself and not Socrates. The text could be taken, at least initially as Socretean in nature through the way in which much of the time the dialogue takes the form of questions followed by doubts raised, before answers are found, but the character 'Socrates' spends much of his time answering questions and demonstrating the truth rather than raising doubt at every turn through the lines of thinking. Though Plato honours the memory of Socrates in the dialogue, in many ways he is also abandoning him. Reeve thinks that Plato believed Socrates to have had; '...his philosophical nature "perverted and altered [strephesthai kai alloiousthai]" ' (Reeve, 1988:23-4) by society and suggests that the 'Socrates' in the Republic is true to the essential nature of the real Socrates had he not been 'perverted and altered' by living in the wrong kind of Polis (ibid).
A major assumption that Plato makes is that justice at the level of the individual can be seen as basically equal to that at societal level. Plato begins with the idea of justice in the whole community before scaling it down to individual level. He compares the examination of justice in the state and the individual with trying to read small letters at a distance (analogous to individuals) with reading the same letters, when we find them; written large (analogous to the state) (in Lee, 1987: 57-8):
'....We may therefore find justice on a larger scale in the larger entity, and so easier to recognise. I accordingly propose that we start our enquiry with the community, and then proceed to the individual and see if we can find in the conformation of the smaller entity anything similar to what we have found in the larger.' (ibid: 58).
Plato sees no real problem in equating justice at either level with each-other, though It might well be asked if justice on the individual level really is the same kind of justice as is to be aimed for in a community, though no doubt it might seem easy to criticise him on this point with the benefit of hindsight, and years of sociological enquiry as to those facets of social life that cannot be reduced to individual psychology.
Nevertheless, Plato proceeds to examine justice at societal and individual levels and identifies three main elements of the soul ,which he extrapolates to the three main classes of the ideal state.
One element is characterised as that of 'appetite', that which drives people in their most basic and fundamental desires, such as those of hunger, thirst and '....the agitation's of sex and other desires, the element of irrational appetite - an element closely connected with satisfaction and pleasure' (emphasis added, ibid:156). This element is represented in Plato's ideal state in the order of people who are ruled by appetite above all else and who he calls 'producers'. The producers include the great majority of the population who do most of the ordinary work, with a main incentive being that of satisfying their appetites. For this reason, the producers are allowed private property, an incentive for work.
A second and in a sense higher element of the soul is described as the 'spirit', characterised by the drives of ambition and courage. The class of people who represent the embodiment of spirit for Plato are the auxiliaries or warriors. The auxiliaries undergo extensive programs of education, socialisation and training, for it is they who must carry out the orders of the ruling class in society. In a sense, their description as 'warriors' conceals that part of their function which is more akin, looking at it from our modern perspective, to that of civil servants, in their role of the efficient execution of leader's orders.
The final element of the soul is 'reason'. This is the ultimate element that is used to moderate the other elements. In a wise person, Plato says that the other elements would be balanced by reason, making up a harmoniously well attuned and just individual:
'... by keeping all three in tune, like the notes of a scale (high, middle and low, and any others there be), will in the truest sense set his house to rights, attain self-mastery and order, and live on good terms with himself.' (ibid: 161).
Similarly, for the proper running of a just and ordered state, it would be necessary for the members of that state to take their rightful positions in it, which for Plato corresponds with their class (defined in the terms laid out above, that is; according to the mix of elements that make-up their character). This is necessary because if as Plato insists through 'Republic', the person's soul is a microcosm of the state, then a well balanced state as with a well attuned individual, requires the rule of wisdom and reason over all other attributes. This is the basis of Plato's assertion for rule by philosophers.
For this to work requires people's acceptance of their position in society. Plato deems this to be based on characteristics that are largely pre-ordained and inherited in nature, though there is facility for movement across the classes through the noting (normally by auxiliaries) and selection of people who display appropriate attributes, and their allocation (be it promotion or demotion) to the appropriate class (this would normally be done during member's formative years whilst in their initial education). The producers would be expected to accept their place in the social order on the grounds that the defining and dominant element of their character is 'appetite'. As they are the only class allowed private property and monetary gain, this provides the main motivating factor in satisfying their material desires.
The successful positioning into society of the auxiliaries would be achieved through a long process of education and socialisation, extended to about the age of twenty (Nettleship, 1898: 131). They would undergo various tests and live in spartan conditions so as to have nothing around them that would prevent their becoming successful guardians whilst not being tempted to prey upon other parts of the community, through living a highly disciplined life:
'...it shall be suitable for brave men living under military training and discipline ....They shall eat together in messes and live together like soldiers in camp. They must be told that they have no need of mortal and material gold and silver, because they have in their hearts the heavenly gold and silver given them by the gods as a permanent possession' (in Lee, 1987:125).
Indeed people would be told that their class in society is dependant upon the precise blending of the metals in their souls; that the philosophers would be constituted primarily of gold, the auxiliaries of mainly silver and so on. Even the philosopher-rulers would eventually (after some years) come to believe this 'noble lie' (ibid: 122-4). As well as promoting cohesiveness and allowing people to accept their natural place in social life, the noble lie would encourage fierce defence of the land whenever it were to come under threat if the people believed that;
'...they were fashioned and reared, and their arms and equipment manufactured, in the depths of the earth, and Earth herself, ...they must think of the land in which they live as their mother and protect her if she is attacked, while their fellow citizens they must regard as brothers born of the same mother earth.' (ibid: 122).
The auxiliaries would be trained to treat the other citizens as if partners and friends rather than behave like 'savage tyrants' (ibid: 124), their training compared with the breeding and training of sheep dogs. If a badly reared sheep dog can 'behave more like wolves' (ibid) and worry the sheep, then mis-trained auxiliaries, occupying as they would a pivotal position in society, could cause dissension and society's cohesiveness would be threatened.
Enhanced cohesiveness would also be the effect of the abolition of the private family. It is clear that society in Plato's time was highly patriarchal (see Bosanquet, 1906: 17-21.), and while calls are made in the Republic for equality of women, it is not equality in the form modern feminists would recognise, Plato being only interested in the good of society as a whole, not any particular factions within it. Unanimity is a chief goal and the state is compared with the body in which the part should experience the pleasure and the pain of the whole, the part meaning the individual and the whole body, society; the entire society behaving as one (body) rather than being filtered through smaller and potentially fractious (family) units (Lee, 1987: 190). Dissension, that can so easily start over disputes of private property, Plato claims will also be averted through the inability of men to claim women and/or children as their own (ibid).
Selective breeding would be used to enhance the characteristics of 'stock' (again comparison is used with animal-breeding, this time hunting-dogs and game birds (ibid: 180) ) in each of the classes. This would be done secretly by the manipulation of lottery-based unions between the sexes at organised festivals.
Another important point pertaining to the promotion of stability in 'Republic' is the expressed need for censorship of the arts. Plato thought stories to be very important and that appropriate ones should be used to train the mind at an early age '...before the body is trained ' when '....any impression we choose to make leaves a permanent mark.' (ibid: 72). Inappropriate stories encompassed any that, from Plato's point of view, misrepresented the true (glorious and perfect) nature of the gods and included most of the prominent stories of the time (even the classics of Homer and Hesiod).
All of this paints a picture of Plato's ideal state as a place in which stability, cohesiveness and unanimity are a chief aim. Everyone must accept their largely pre-determined position in life. Society is decidedly totalitarian with all the general and fundamental discussions originating from the top, from the wisest people in it. Little time in the 'Republic' is spent on pondering any possible rebellion from large sections of this perfect state because Plato assumes (at least at the time of writing 'Republic'), that the institutions described above that educate, socialise and order people's lives would maintain stability and allow philosophers' rule to be upheld. Plato believed that it is in everyone's best interest (even the 'lower orders' of society for want of a better definition) to accept the rule of the wisest, though putting such a blatantly undemocratic system into practise (and one greatly at odds with prevailing attitudes in Athens at the time) would have been far more problematic than Plato seemed to anticipate.
What is wrong with democracy, according to Plato, is that a democratic state is not run by philosophers. Only philosophers see the truth and possess knowledge, whereas non-philosphers can only hold opinions based on superficiality. Non-philosophers '.....set their hearts on the field of opinions, not on knowledge '(ibid: 214), they may have an interest in ideas but are '....lost in multiplicity and change ' (ibid: 216). Everywhere around him, Plato saw conformation of what he must have thought of as the inadequacies of democracy, believing politicians' desire for power to be in compensation for their own inadequacies; '....they start fighting for power, and the consequential internal and domestic conflicts ruin both them and society ' (ibid: 264).The expressed need for the rule of the wise is founded on beliefs about access to the truth and beliefs about truth itself. Plato's belief in truth as being a sole understanding of the philosophers is based first of all on the maintenance of the idea of the existence of an ultimate truth in the first place, as opposed to relativism or other opposing stances. His idea that philosophers alone have access to the truth are best and most famously expressed in his parable of the cave, in which only the philosophers, outside in the open, can see reality in full daylight while the ordinary people remain chained deep inside the cave living in continual gloom and seeing only shadowy images. There may be;
'....a certain amount of honour and glory to be won among the prisoners, and prises for keensightedness for those best able to remember the order of sequence among the passing shadows and so best able to divine their future appearances. '(ibid: 258).
For Plato, these passing shadows represent a false sense of reality as experienced by most people, and false ideas about wisdom and the wise are represented by those who revel in finding sequence, order and definition among those shadows, not realising that this is all based on entirely superficial images.
But Plato's cave simile also reveals what may have been his greatest doubt about any possible attempt to put his version of an ideal state into practise. If one of these prisoners were to be forcibly dragged from the cave into the glaring brightness of daylight;
'....the process would be a painful one, to which he would much object, and when he emerged into the light his eyes would be so dazzled by the glare of it that he wouldn't be able to see a single one of the things he was now told were real. ' (ibid).
It seems then that Plato may have had some doubt about the setting-up of his kind of Republic in actuality. If the chances of the blind majority grasping anything of the underlying principles of philosophers' claim-to-rule are remote, then gaining support for such a proposal would seem unlikely, even given institutionalised systems of socialisation discussed above that might enhance the prospect.
Plato's doubts seem further revealed in his change of mood in later writings. In the Laws he again proposes a very authoritarian style of state (in what can again be seen as a rejection of the subversive style of Socrates), but this time he is '....much more ready to compromise with principle in order to find something that will work in practice ' (Honderich, 1995: 686).
Republic is utopian in that it does provide a clearly laid-out blueprint for an ideal society, but it seems that some of its aims might have been in any influence it might have had on more practical points about institutional reform. Given the criticism levelled at the existing institutions and opinions of a very democratically orientated Athens of the day, Republic may be taken to be, at least in part, a hefty critique of established practise. As Richard Nettleship observes; 'The book may be regarded not only as a philosophical work, but as a treatise on social and political reform.' (Nettleship, 1898: 6). Much of Athenian life at the time revolved around both formal, and (private) informal debate. Plato provided an argument (presented very much in the form of an informal, conversational debate of a kind that must have been common at the time) that in some ways went beyond the purely philosophical, to provide food for thought in the contemporary debating arena, in favour of authoritarian control and rule by the wisest in society, rather than democracy.
2729 Words.
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